• Blog your pepper progress. The first image in your first post will be used to represent your Glog.

juanitos 2020 glog

After doing this for a few years and loving it my goal has always been to go bigger.
I keep limping along by improving my setup, automation, lighting, hydroponics, reading reference text, developing business plans, researching new products, but i just never have the resources or time to really go big.
It's quite annoying and depressing to have ideas and never get to really do what you want.
I'm kinda scaling back until i find a solution. go big or go home.
 
Although common knowledge is once you make a hobby a business it stops being fun.
Everything in moderation.
having a stable career and enjoying time with family is more important than business.
farming industry is dying, why make a new farm.
idk lol
 
To go bigger i need:
land (~100k, financed)
cheap greenhouse (~5k)
equipment: shelves / tables, irrigation, etc (~4k)
consumables: pots, trays, shelves, baggies, stickers, labels etc (~1-5k)
custom shipping supplies(~2k minimum order)
business expenses(~1k)
 
I'm going to be moving house soon, i could try to get a large 10ac+ lot; but also considering having a separate commercial property so i can actually sell locally.
Or i could just quit and grow a few plants at my house and not worry about business.
 
feel free to give your thoughts
 
for now i'm just getting back to my roots, starting a few plants in a utility closet lol
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I understand your quandary, Jonathan. There
comes a point of diminishing returns, when the
labor and expense increases don't provide a
commensurate return of enjoyment. I guess
the point is to find that balance and keep a
lid on the stress.
 
I agree with Inoks, Trent Lawrence is a great
example of what it takes to face down adversity
and create a profitable business.  You might
consider a crop switch as he has done!
 
I have always enjoyed your grow logs, so I hope
you keep growing for many seasons to come!
 
You could easily get by with an acre. You have the process down. I think a good amount of your cost is in the grow bags and dirt. If you could switch to the ground, and use your same fertigation system you would probably cut a ton of upfront cost.  That's assuming you know someone with a tractor and attachments.
 
My ground isn't the best but using drip tape and fertigation makes it perfect.
 
I hope you continue, but it's a tough choice.
 
I'm a grower, not a breeder, not a scientist .... I grow hundreds of plants and it's just a hobby for the most part. I'm not in it for financial gain.  My hobby is a sinkhole to throw my time and money into. 
I used to be a tournament bass fisherman.  It didn't take long for bass fishing to become a job and no fun.    
But on the other hand .... Sometimes we need to follow our dreams.   
 
i was considering crop change but my mexican side of family has uh history in that industry so we kinda agreed not to get into it.
 
hawkins i could plant a small field on an acre and grow some for cheap yea, but that's not really what i want to do.
 
looking to be more like an isolated seed bank/vendor.
 
I never hear it brought up, but I'd think there would be a niche market for a growers seminar, you being one of my sources for all manner of technique and information, I figure you'd be great at it. It might boost clientele and expand your market...
 
Just as a side-gig, of course...
 
Like Paul I also enjoy your gripe logs. You have a system that seems to work very well and I know you could expand on that and go bigger. Bigger doesn't have to be all shy once it could mean just adding a few more plants each year. Best of luck whatever you decide
 
i had them in my garage for a freeze and the ones on the floor (the smaller ones) froze i guess because they all died. (tray on the right)
 
big ones are just fine, seems last frost for real this time so should be good.
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my dad and i decided to just use slow release ferts this year so we don't gotta do the injection, see how that works.
 
btw if you are thinking about injectors, i have no idea what's going on but the mixrite injectors are up like 100% in price from when i bought them in 2015.
i asked why and they didn't have an answer, i guess they just getting greedy markup?
there are cheaper, made in china injector on amazon now, wonder if those work good
 
I started as an auto technician, did that for 25 years, started full time @14 years old. In 1996 I opened a dialup Internet company, did pretty good, quit cars in 1999. I was 41. A year later a job opened up and I got it. I retired just shy of 20 years as an IT Director of a school district. The business we started crashed when DSL came out. We went from good money to owing $187,000.00 in business debt. We did pay that off, @ $2,600.00 a month for many, too many years, and hindsight would have been declare bankruptcy, but I could not go that route. :banghead:  <-- 10 of those please..
 
They say do what you love and your career will flourish. Not true when it comes to business. We grew like crazy and then the bottom fell out. Any small business is risky. So do what makes you happy, and doesn't kill you financially, or burn you and the family members out. Just take your time and do it as an ever increasing hobby, as long as the time and money costs are not too great. I have 20 acres and 2 wells. I lease my land. Cattle are a pain in the ass, did that for 28 years. I just grow for US, and that's still fun ;)
 
planted my 50 or so plants
 
i wanted to see what the difference was between some of the black / purple ornamentals so this should be a little fun to see:
black cobra
black knight
black pearl
purple haze
sbs purple
 
also some other random ones
yatsufusa
orange thai
red thai
redgum nagabrain tiger mamp ?? ??
ks lemon starburst
 
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bonus brisket
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