Where are the commercial and legal growers at? 600+ plants

[KRxjoe]

Hey all, new to the forum so maybe these questions have been addressed before but I am having issues finding legit commercial growing advice. My current question is pertaining to indoor hydro set ups. I am looking into a 25k sq ft building to expand our current grow. One of the things kind of stumping me is where to keep all my reservoirs. In my current set up they are under my tables, however I am trying to avoid all the hoses and wires I have running kinda everywhere. Yes I have them tied up and neat as I can but thinking in a larger scale I was wondering if people are using a bank of reservoirs and plumbing them to the tables. I actually think having them under table will work just fine and save some square footage but my employees are bringing up having a bank of reservoirs to deal with easier. Should I just tell them to deal with it?

Background: current 1600 sq ft grow with 400+ plants in flower and 300-500 in veg at any given time. All set up on a hydro drip system. No prior growing experience until August 2013 when cultivation opened. On average yielding 3lbs per 2000 watts( I know I can get better than that) A state licensed medical marijuana dispensary and cultivation in Arizona.

Also not looking for a bunch of people telling me to run a completely different system. What we have works and puts out decent yields without sacrificing much quality. We are sought out for our product daily by other dispensaries looking to fill their top shelf.

 

[St. Phatty]

I actually think having them under table will work just fine and save some square footage but my employees are bringing up having a bank of reservoirs to deal with easier. Should I just tell them to deal with it?

Easier could mean, saving you money ?

Personally I like having tanks near or under tables.

 

[JointOperation]

what about some pictures of this 400+ plants.. would love to see it..

good luck .

 

[TheArchitect]

Ditch the reservoirs and go with fertilizer injectors. Dosatron is a well established brand with a variety of models to suit small to large commercial agri/floriculture. Pretty easy to set up multiple automated zones.

In terms of making teas and such use 250 gal ibc tanks.

 

[KRxjoe]

Ditch the reservoirs and go with fertilizer injectors. Dosatron is a well established brand with a variety of models to suit small to large commercial agri/floriculture. Pretty easy to set up multiple automated zones.

In terms of making teas and such use 250 gal ibc tanks.

So I looked up the manufacturer and watched some videos. My understanding is that I need to have a nutrient concentration container to draw from then it will mix with clean water in the device and distribute the mix to where it is plumbed? If that is correct, besides the price for each, the first issue I see is that mixing my nutrients without proper dilution will cause "lock out". Maybe I just need to see a system that is using it to understand it better or maybe you can describe in text a little more detailed on how the system is set up. Either way I appreciate the advice.

 

[KRxjoe]

Agreed in saving money on labor, but when I look at production per square foot I can afford to have them work a little harder and even pay them a little more down the line.

 

[TheArchitect]

So I looked up the manufacturer and watched some videos. My understanding is that I need to have a nutrient concentration container to draw from then it will mix with clean water in the device and distribute the mix to where it is plumbed? If that is correct, besides the price for each, the first issue I see is that mixing my nutrients without proper dilution will cause "lock out". Maybe I just need to see a system that is using it to understand it better or maybe you can describe in text a little more detailed on how the system is set up. Either way I appreciate the advice.

Yes, a five gallon bucket of your liquid nutrient, or larger if you need it.

The cool part about them is they dose correctly at varying pressures and flow rates, once you set the dilution rate on the unit you're good to go.

It's actually cheap compared to buying all those individual reservoirs, and the associated labor costs of matinence and cleaning, refilling etc.

You run it like this, incoming water > particulate filter(or high flow ro) > check valve > solenoid valve > dosatron > distribution lines.

You can also have individual zones controlled by solenoid valves. This can all be ran manually too. Instead if a solenoid valve trigger by a timer you can just have ball valves that you can turn on and off as needed by hand.

 

[TheArchitect]

http://www.dosatronusa.com/markets-served/horticulture/installation-tips.aspx

http://www.dosatronusa.com/markets-served/horticulture/installation-tips/additional-installation-options.aspx

 

[ScrifflyPimp]

Drain to waste?

Really?

25ksqft of waste. Lot of waste.

Perhaps local place in town use waste?

 

[ScrifflyPimp]

Or dosatron for micro timed drip for no-waste?

Tough to do for healthy plant.

 

[KRxjoe]

Yes, a five gallon bucket of your liquid nutrient, or larger if you need it.

The cool part about them is they dose correctly at varying pressures and flow rates, once you set the dilution rate on the unit you're good to go.

It's actually cheap compared to buying all those individual reservoirs, and the associated labor costs of matinence and cleaning, refilling etc.

You run it like this, incoming water > particulate filter(or high flow ro) > check valve > solenoid valve > dosatron > distribution lines.

You can also have individual zones controlled by solenoid valves. This can all be ran manually too. Instead if a solenoid valve trigger by a timer you can just have ball valves that you can turn on and off as needed by hand.

Ok I totally get how this works now after doing some research and consulting with a trusted grower associate of mine. The question I asked him was how do I monitor PH and he directed me to the Intelladose system. Understanding how those work ( I think) is there a way to use both systems together or how would I monitor PH with the Dosatron. BTW I'm stoked to find a way to eliminate a huge amount of labor hours with either one or both of these systems

 

[Bad Habits]

not too familiar with hydro systems, but pretty much everyone I know who runs soil or coco in warehouses on drippers keeps their rezs outside of the grow rooms, with it plumbed into the room via PVC or poly tubing.

 

[TheArchitect]

Drain to waste?

Really?

25ksqft of waste. Lot of waste.

Perhaps local place in town use waste?

Realistically, if you know what you are doing, you can water with no run off, you just have to monitor media ec using the saturated media extracted procedure.

Not to mention the fact that if people stopped using hydro store nutes they could save a ton of money, particularly at the commercial level.

Ok I totally get how this works now after doing some research and consulting with a trusted grower associate of mine. The question I asked him was how do I monitor PH and he directed me to the Intelladose system. Understanding how those work ( I think) is there a way to use both systems together or how would I monitor PH with the Dosatron. BTW I'm stoked to find a way to eliminate a huge amount of labor hours with either one or both of these systems

You could also get a dosatron to inject acid. If your sorce water is relatively stable ec/ph wise that's a great option.

 

[ScrifflyPimp]

Realistically, if you know what you are doing

No prior growing experience until August 2013 when cultivation opened.

As said.

 

[TheArchitect]

As said.

Over a year of experience. It's not rocket science.

 

[KRxjoe]

Realistically, if you know what you are doing, you can water with no run off, you just have to monitor media ec using the saturated media extracted procedure.

Not to mention the fact that if people stopped using hydro store nutes they could save a ton of money, particularly at the commercial level.



You could also get a dosatron to inject acid. If your sorce water is relatively stable ec/ph wise that's a great option.

I was researching all night on this stuff and it will definitely be the way the new facility is set up. The cost/benefit analysis just makes too much sense. However, I would like to hear your opinion on what is a cost effective nutrient on this large of a scale. We currently pride ourselves on using organic everything so I would naturally want to keep it that way if at all possible. It is one thing that will be very hard for me to do, to switch from organics to anything synthetic. We approach this from a medicine/patient first mentality and dollar signs second.

 

[KRxjoe]

As said.

One would have to assume that at one point you only had 1 year of experience. I have seen very little advice from your point of view but only criticism. Since you elude to the fact that you know a lot why don't you throw your 2 cents in that's worth something. I believe strongly that there will always be multiple opinions and methods to achieve one goal and none of them are usually the exact way things have to be done. So as far as I'm concerned your opinion could be just as valid as the next. Just so long as there is substance and facts to back it up.

 

[hle144]

3lbs per 2000 watts is not very effective. It's rather cost prohibitive.

 

[Dark Lord]

3lbs per 2000 watts is not very effective. It's rather cost prohibitive.

thats 0,7 g/w

not bad

most of the growers pull 1 lb / 1 kW (thats 0,5 g/w)

 

[blastfrompast]

hle144:

I avg 1.5lbs per light... Does that mean I'm a shitty grower too?

My best has been over 2 1/4 lbs per light, but those girls were sat leaning hybrids....

I hear people claiming 3+lbs per light even 4... but I don't see a lot of pictures, I know how dense my cannopy was a 2 1/4 lbs and I had trees standing shoulder high.. buds as long as my arm...

Can't count larf, and the shit that gets made into extract, hash etc....