Indoor Growing now Profitable?

[AJ Drew]

I am sure a great many readers remember that the DEA once said there is no profitable indoor crop that is legal.  I am sure they were talking about the expense of lighting the grow room.  I do start indoors and it is profitable, but have had a hard time believing you could grow anything from start to finish under lights and turn a profit.  Well, it seems it is now profitable.

From what I can tell from this article, the grow is entirely indoors and looks to be under lights.  They have eliminated labor expense by going to a fully robotic system.  Although not up and running, I gotta figure they have thought it out and believe the indoor grow can be profitable even though they are growing a very low dollar crop of lettuce.

It seems like indoor growing is becoming more viable all the time.  I wonder where the business of food production will take us next.

http://gardengatewin.com/tech2.html

 

[Vicious Vex]

you are NOT supposed to heat a greenhouse with electricity.

you need propane or natural gas.

thats half you problem right there.

 
My grandfather used to use an old propane burner and used bubble wrap to insulate.  I believe he glued the bubble wrap to another piece of plastic so it was easier to install.  I was also 5 or 6 when he did this. 

 

[queequeg152]

 
My grandfather used to use an old propane burner and used bubble wrap to insulate.  I believe he glued the bubble wrap to another piece of plastic so it was easier to install.  I was also 5 or 6 when he did this. 

 
bubble wrap works well, but its expensive.
 
most larger heated greenhouses use a simple two layer system with a small blower installed to inflate the space between the two layers of poly film.
 
problem with most bubble wraps is they are not meant for greenhouse use and have poor transmittance characteristics. and the bubble wrap that is designed for greenhouse use is pretty damned expensive. 
 
the two layers with like 2 inches of air gap can yield like r3 maby a bit higher depending on the temp delta, but given the mass of air inside a typical greenhouse... especially high tunnels, that small r value is enough to keep temps above like 45, 50 degrees through the night with moderate heating.
 
a small greenhouse with very high surface area with respect to air volume will always have a harder time to keep warm... this is down to the simple relationship of volume verses surface area of simple shapes.
 
volume varies with the cube and surface area with the square... a greenhouse with twice the arch span and twice the arch height will have a HUGE advantage in thermal mass than somethign like a 10' span with a low arch.

 

[AJ Drew]

you are NOT supposed to heat a greenhouse with electricity.
 

I am sorry I did not express myself well.  My electric bill is large because of lighting.  I can expect it to stay high because I am just now moving things outside.  But I am curious why you would say such a thing?  Lots of small green houses are heated with electric elements in the soil.

 

[queequeg152]

I am sorry I did not express myself well.  My electric bill is large because of lighting.  I can expect it to stay high because I am just now moving things outside.  But I am curious why you would say such a thing?  Lots of small green houses are heated with electric elements in the soil.

yea ok soil heating cable is not something i considered. thats a good point and ive seen heating cables in alot of greenhouse bedding setups for stuff like lettuce and what ever else.

heating cables are not going to heat your greenhouse however. heating cables use about as much power as a string of christmas tree lights... they are designed to be burried just a few inches deep and are supposed to keep the root zone warm so you can get decent even germ rates. they are not designed to heat the whole greenhouse.

electric heating is almost always more expensive than even propane heat. hell even fuel oil is cheaper than electric heat.

 

[AJ Drew]

Que, yes.  Other than a couple years ago, our propane rates have been very good.  Also, there is the CO2 benefit.  In my case, the hold back on heating anything but the house on propane is the set up cost.  I do not dare try to put in my own propane lines, scared of a leak costing me an entire tank.  Well, that and blowing up.  So I would have to hire someone.

For me, electric would be cheaper in the short run but more expensive in the long run.  Growing during the winter is still just a dream.  Have looked into a million ideas.  Likely start growing outside much earlier with heated green house this coming spring, but not all year round and not start to finish.  Just thinking heating a small green house would be cheaper than continuing to increase the amount of light I have to produce indoors.  That and if I take up any more in house space, wife likely kill me.

It is an odd thing.  This time of the year she complains about the electric bill, the cost of supplies, the endless amount of time I spend in the grow room as opposed to doing dishes or what not.  Oh, but when we have something to sell... no complaints.

 

[Vicious Vex]

It is an odd thing.  This time of the year she complains about the electric bill, the cost of supplies, the endless amount of time I spend in the grow room as opposed to doing dishes or what not.  Oh, but when we have something to sell... no complaints.

 
Mine is the same way.  
"Why do you spend so much time in the garden?"
"Why do you need to go on these weekend hunting trips?"
"Why do you have to do canning right now?"
 
Oh but when there is meat in the freezer, endless vegetables, jams, jellies, candies, etc there are no complaints. 

 

[AJ Drew]

Vex - In our society, folk tend not to notice what goes into a thing.  On a funny side note, I dont think I could give a good answer for the hunting trips.  With a scope, I could take deer, elk, and probably turkey from my dinning room window.  With a great scope, I could probably do rabbit.  Hell, we could survive on what the dogs and cats bring back for us.

 

[robbyjoe01]

My cat tends to tenderize dinner too much

 

[AJ Drew]

Robby, daughter calls our barn cats her Cat Army.  They frigging hunt as a pack, take rabbits twice their size.  It is freaky scary.  Fairly sure they took down a bob cat.  Not sure who killed it, but there it was on the carport getting eaten.

 

[JUR-Z-Devil]

more upfront cost, but add solar panels to run all your led low wattage lights and its nearly all profit when you paid off the initial investment... indoors is absolutely real... even more profitable when you flip crops every 2 weeks selling microgreens like myself... but to each their own... some will never believe despite facts, some will... people also never believed the electric company would pay you, but the check i get every year for feeding back into the grid from my solar panels says otherwise... many many many profitable year round indoor crops...