This looks interesting, but high-tech gardening communities almost always seem to turn into thinly-veiled DIY cannabis farmers.
I've grown a lot of different plants in my buckets, including thyme, dill, basil, hot peppers, cherry tomatoes, strawberry and chives :)
Hope you give it a try, it is a very fun hobby.
Are there any concerns about levels of non-growth-limiting (or color-affecting) nutrients in container-grown veggies? Has anyone even looked into that?
It is expensive because of its legal situation. Cannabis is essentially weed and is very easy to grow, thus if not for the law, it is actually very cheap.
But, does it matter? Still some really nice DIY designs here even if you aren't growing weed.
Quick example - lettuce can go from planting to harvest in roughly 7-8 weeks. So 7-8 buckets could provide you with fresh lettuce every week.
Edit: Apparently it's possible to manipulate the light cycles to get lettuce to mature in just 22 days! That's only 3-4 buckets :)
Peppers not being illegal, I didn't need all the indoor lighting or air filters or automation, I just grew them outside in the back yard where anyone could see them.
One year I tried drip irrigation mostly to discover I need to weed and harvest daily and automatic watering means I'd skip that to my detriment also rodents like the taste of drip irrigation tube, the effort to keep it running exceeded the effort saved over simply hand watering.
You can buy "container gardening dirt" that contains weird mysterious substances that hold water so you supposedly don't have to water as often, I found they grow a crop of mold and moss which lowers or eliminates production. Of course if you live in a desert maybe humidity isn't a problem.
It is not rocket surgery for even a noob wood-butcher to turn some 8 foot long cedar planks and some posts into attractive looking planters holding IIRC 7 buckets per planter with plenty of drainage. Cheaper wood is too expensive to use because it rots quickly. My cedar planters are like a decade old and still look new(ish).
The problem with indoor lighting is I ran the numbers on an "Aerogarden" product and it works financially for basil (and apparently weed) but not crops like lettuce. The problem then becomes what do I do with an infinite supply of normally expensive fresh basil? Its possible to get tired of pesto although initially it sounds impossible.
I live in a townhouse and have a very small garden, about a 3x9 foot patch. I grew about a 3x3 area of basil and was able to make enough pesto for about 15 meals thoughout the summer, since I usually pay about $3 per bundle of basil I felt I got about $45 out of my basil patch. Of that $45, I spent $3 on basil seeds, and probably another couple dollars on fertilizer. Of course, there is additional value in having fresh basil on demand.
By the way, basil can root from cuttings purchased at the grocery store. Its easier and more effective to just buy seeds, but some people have trouble with them. I put some store bought basil in water and it rooted just fine, then continued to grow into a nice plant.
my only issue is that once you move off the easy plants (that dont mind alot of water), it basically stops working. it isn't worth it to try to deal with moving and keeping soil in good shape in a closet.
would love to start again with leds someday
High profit crops are needed to push the state of the art environmental control designs forward and costs down for other crops; which will become increasingly common as systems mature and costs decline below that of traditional production methods.
Since pot is legal to grow (either freely or with a medical license) in California, Colorado, Washington, Oregon, New Mexico, Nevada, Alaska, Arizona, Massachusetts, Michigan, Maine, Delaware, Georgia, Maryland, Montana, New Hampshire, Rhode Island, Vermont, Florida, D.C., and Hawaii, I'm not sure it's so "unacceptable" anymore.
The rate of growth is something else to consider. From two states (Colorado and Washington) last year to at least three more this year (MA, ME and CA). And I didn't even notice that DC, NV and OR crept in as well.
Yes, some social stigma exists, but it's on its way out. But I agree with you as far as: It may never reach full U.S.-Wide legalization. And employers may never get over it.
Note though, that medical as > 50% adoption by state in the U.S.
Source: http://norml.org/laws
Says you. I fail to see any reason see why wine making is morally better than growing cannabis, or why alcohol use would be morally better than cannabis use.
One might be more common, but it's certainly not more moral to do.
And a lot of people I know would be in the same boat. Is everyone like that no of course not, but I'd venture to say a significant portion of people are(not necessarily majority, but a lot)
In the states that have legalized marijuana to some extent, this may be less of a problem these days. That still leaves a large amount of states where this may still be an issue, and potentially create hassles. Kansas is not on your list, for instance, and it was pretty easy to Google a similar incident there: http://www.kctv5.com/story/23951053/leawood-family-seeks-7-m...
This is unfortunate, because high tech gardening absolutely has applications beyond weed. Even if it's more niche / luxury (for instance, restaurants having indoor gardens to ensure a supply of super-fresh veggies and herbs) or hobbyist (like the African violet grower comment below... even largely idiot-proof versions like the Aerogardens exist for this market) due to the economics... these applications do exist.
Sort of a bad money pushes out good money scenario. If it weren't for profitable indoor weed farmers, you'd have higher technology level indoor successful lettuce farmers, and eating is more important to the world than getting high.
Its a scalability argument... when used restaurant fryer oil is free, turning it into free biodiesel is a win, until restaurants start selling used oil and making exclusive deals until its cheaper for everyone to burn diesel instead of making biodiesel, at which point the schemes collapse and used oil again becomes worthless trash. You can feed "A" hippie by selling indoor grown weed and buying produce at the store but you can't feed a planet by having everyone grow indoor weed and buy produce (from who?) at the store. Eventually everyone into weed is going to grow their own and the market will collapse until no one can grow indoor weed and the cycle might repeat.
I think you've got it completely backwards, if it weren't for the indoor weed farmers making the market, there would be little development in indoor farming at all.
Presumably this stuff is only checked post-suspicion, and not automated and parallel construction stuff done.
As part of my law degree I spend some time in courtrooms, just watching cases being heard, many of them about small time growers. Many people caught growing at home are punished twice: first through criminal law, and then through civil claims like from energy companies and banks or landlords. Very often these people have no other option then to start growing again, pushing them into a vicious circle. (They made the initial choice themselves, not spinning a sob story here - just saying that the stories behind these cases are quite interesting from a human interest point of view).
Why would the energy company sue you if you paid your electricity bill? Same for landlords or banks, if you paid your rent, who cares?
Essentially yes if you pay your energy bill, there's no problem, but almost always the electricity is taken illegally (by bypassing the meter, or otherwise tampering with it) because otherwise the energy provider will notice straight away that your usage is abnormally high (this is the relation to the GP that prompted me to write this). Also, for a proper growup you need (much) more power than a residential supply line provides. The energy supplier then starts a civil procedure to get their money back, sometimes going after the landlord if that landlord could/should have known something was up (some case law includes that neighbors complained about abnormal heat in the house; the landlord should have followed up and is therefore liable for damages, as well as criminally (!) liable for aiding and abetting.
Land lords: they will cancel rental agreements the moment they find out you're growing weed, whether you pay rent or not. Banks will cancel mortgage agreements when a plantation is found. Furthermore, mayors can close a house for (IIRC) 6 months; meaning nobody can live there, but if the land lord doesn't cancel your rental agreement, you're still liable for the rent. Plus you have to live somewhere, because generally you won't be in jail that long. And if you have a family or live in your parent's house - let's just say that there are some heartbreaking cases arising from this.
(also, I should have specified probably, this is in the Netherlands. People think that NL is an anything goes area when it comes to marijuana, but it's really not - if you're caught with a sizeable (i.e., not just for personal use) grow op, you're royally fucked, especially if you don't have much money to begin with - which is generally why people do it at all, because it's not like you'll be a millionaire from stuffing your attic or basement with a couple dozen/hundreds of plants).
Heck, I remember cases where they've used thermal imaging from helicopter to identify such buildings.