So you wanna be a commercial grower?

[dj digigrow]

if all conditions are optimal, I don't see why mold would be an issue..

 

[British_Bulldog]

Which raises a good question: What about a properly done grow (humidity, temp etc. controlled) creates mold in a residential building?

As long as you exhaust all the damp air out of the house, there's no problem.

The problems start, for example, when people vent a bedroom into a wooden loft/attic, and all the beams start to rot after a while.


Peace

 

[billy_big_bud!]

lets face it, evry grower dreams of going big. it is a natural progression. "when you love your job you never work a day in your life....." maybe we can start thinking of some good covers for an op in an industrial unit. i have thought of either ceramics because of all the energy or something that involves alot of freezers as they take alot of elec as well. any other ideas?

 

[EddieShoestring]

BB and ChaosC-yeah -good info for the smaller growers in the UK. As it goes i know a guy who managed to run an 8x600w lamp grow off a key meter, thats about as small as commercial gets in my book. The police have lists of known grow Ops that they cannot afford to raid (identifying grows is easy and cheap-processing them and disposing of all the kit is hard and expensive) so doing one or two runs and getting out is also a good tactic-

one a personal note i agree with you guys that it is easier to stay small/pay the bills-but that's not what the commie boys do-and if you want to make it in that world it's necessary to drop alot of the ethical/ideological stuff associated with small time growing.

cheers
eddie

 

[British_Bulldog]

BB and ChaosC-yeah -good info for the smaller growers in the UK. As it goes i know a guy who managed to run an 8x600w lamp grow off a key meter, thats about as small as commercial gets in my book. The police have lists of known grow Ops that they cannot afford to raid (identifying grows is easy and cheap-processing them and disposing of all the kit is hard and expensive) so doing one or two runs and getting out is also a good tactic-

one a personal note i agree with you guys that it is easier to stay small/pay the bills-but that's not what the commie boys do-and if you want to make it in that world it's necessary to drop alot of the ethical/ideological stuff associated with small time growing.

cheers
eddie

Hi Eddie,

It's ok to say forget about what's been said in this thread, but the reason many of the Vietnamese gangs get caught is by stealing power, which usually ends up in a house fire, etc.

Of course the gangmasters don't care, as they're not putting their neck on the line, but it's gonna matter to an English guy who risks prison.

I say ALWAYS pay the bills and on time, and never steal power.

If you're too big for a house, then it's time to get another house (or 2), or risk an industrial unit, but for me, it's better to keep everything under the radar and ticking along smoothly, rather than re-wiring the house and risking a fire or being busted due to stealing electricity - that's not ethics or ideology, it's just good common sense ;-)


Peace

 

[Guest]

My plan is to grow 'off the grid' and utilise energy saving as far as possible. I'm very interested in these new fangled 'light pipes', you install then in the roof and they have a lens which focuses the sunlight down a pipe lined with highly reflective material to light interior spaces. I'm thinking a cluster of these augmented with say 3 400w HPS lamps, would be good for a small comemrcial grow. I am also very interested in wind turbines as I live o nthe coast in a very windy place and there are lots of big wind turbines in this area. A 1.5 kw or 2 kw wind turbine isn't very expensive if you build it yourself and there are many companies offering parts and kits. The expensive part is the accumulators, but one crop should pay for those and batteries are getting smaller and cheaper all the time.

Then again, give me a nice big private garden and I'll just use the power of the sun and just keep mothers and seed plants indoors under lights.

LED lighting could very well change indoor growing very soon. In the next couple of years we are gonna see high power but low wattage LED units become widely available and afforable, imagine replacing a 600w HPS with 150w of LEDs that don't generate heat, straight away you have massing power savings from the lighting, add in the reduced costs of ventilation and cooling and everything changes. Also, you could run a very nice sized grow without drawing suspicious amounts of power. And of course, no-more tell-tale orange HPS glow leaking out of every crack!

 

[kuff23]

[QUOTELED lighting could very well change indoor growing very soon. In the next couple of years we are gonna see high power but low wattage LED units become widely available and afforable, imagine replacing a 600w HPS with 150w of LEDs that don't generate heat, straight away you have massing power savings from the lighting, add in the reduced costs of ventilation and cooling and everything changes. Also, you could run a very nice sized grow without drawing suspicious amounts of power. And of course, no-more tell-tale orange HPS glow leaking out of every crack![/QUOTE]
I agree that the LED lights r goin 2 change a lot of things in commercial growin.I can understand the commercial aspect but what about the medical growin and any how 2s get in the medical growin industry?

 

[Sinfuldreams]

I know of a few that Didn't work

I know of a few that Didn't work

lets face it, evry grower dreams of going big. it is a natural progression. "when you love your job you never work a day in your life....." maybe we can start thinking of some good covers for an op in an industrial unit. i have thought of either ceramics because of all the energy or something that involves alot of freezers as they take alot of elec as well. any other ideas?

A Green House Grower, he was a Large Commercial Grower of Flowers and Veggies. He would Burn his Refuse, By the way this was in town, not out in the country, anyway he was burning BOTH his crop left overs and the Neighbors smelled it and called the cops... BIG TIME BUST

A Plumber who for YEARS ( They say ) never so much as turned a wrench, caught with over 900 plants in his "SHOP and Shop Garage" How'd he get snagged? A Neighbor again smelling it called the cops.

I lost count of the Gang House Busts here this winter, LOTS and LOTS of em. Most everyone was suspect by a Neighbor 1st! Want to use a house, find one in the lower middle Neighborhood, with Middle aged Moms and Kids running all over. One with a Mix of both Owners and Rental Housing. If I where doing one House I'd keep it under 100 plants. Prefer to live with the grow.. but that is not Commercial is it?

You should be in a Larger City Ideally. Or way out, not Mayberry. Even Barney Fife got lucky once and awhile.
Theres this place near where I live, it's like a Movie Set Design Shop or something.. hard to tell from the outside. Really Nice looking Building, with a few trucks with the Company Logo and all on them. Funny thing is I Never See ANYONE there, ever. It's always been for lease, yet it looks like something goes on there. Can't get in, a large fence around the parking lot is always closed and locked with a Nice Fixer upper never fixed up. Always wondered WTF are they doing there?

Sin
Duplexes rock.

 

[Sinfuldreams]

You may be right on that front.. but I still would try and be as forth right as possible. I can only answer for my area of the USA. Here they would be rather more angry that I stole Power than grew the pot..

Then what about guns? Should we have guns in our ops? I say hell NO! I know a good guy in jail now cause he had a gun... never used it, hell of a nice guy..wouldn't ever use it... but felt he needed it in case of home invasion. When he was busted they didn't even charge him with any pot related charges. None. Got 2 years for the hand gun. Now with out the gun he woulda got off with a slap on the hand.. some may see 2 years as a slap on the hand. But not me.. NO GUNS!

If your movin 100's of LBs your right, and I wouldn't want to know those folks! Theres a point where your growing skill is far better than your business skills. My business skills end at the point someone would rather kill me than pay me.

Sin

 

[dj digigrow]

I always liked the idea of a art studio, because 1. I can draw(paint) a lil somethin somethin...
2. cash business(fake reciepts) 3. throw a couple of paintings/sculpures in the front of the spot and use the rest for your grow.
sounds good to me....
just have to find out about the inspections and all that...
personally I'd like to have it in a so/so hood, industrial setting, out of town owner....
sounds too good to be true...
and with the way the economy is right now, there are a lot of spots for lease/rent at the moment...

 

[LiLWaynE]

I'm very interested in these new fangled 'light pipes', you install then in the roof and they have a lens which focuses the sunlight down a pipe lined with highly reflective material to light interior spaces.

hey can you get anymore information on these contraptions?

any links?

 

[THCV]

google Solar Tubes and Hybrid Solar Lighting. Both cool ideas for the future, but not commercial grower material at all. The brightest Tube is equivalent to a 400W bulb, and that is in the middle of a sunny day. If you want to use the sun, go greenhouse or outdoor; bringing it indoors just doesn't work well enough yet.

 

[Guest]

Cheers THCV, I'll go do some googling. I still like the idea though, any extra free lumens are welcome, surely? When I talk commercial, I'm not talking huge scale like many in this thread, just a modest grow, ether 4 x 400w or 4 x 600w, which I realise wouldn't be comsidered commercial by many, but given the cost of good weed here, it's profitable even to have that small an op.

 

[Guest]

I like the looks of Hybrid Solar Lighting, looks like some folks are ahead of me and already designing systems for growing pot!

http://www.sunlight-direct.com/products.html

HSL3010 Lighting System with Installation for Bio-Growth Lighting

Part #: HSL3010-BL

Includes:

1 HSL3010 Solar Collector Unit
1 Fiber Optic Distribution Cable
8 - 4' x 2' Illumination Sheets
1 Light Switch
1 Mounting Post
On-Site Installation and Calibration of Unit (labor and travel included)

A 2 year Limited Liability Warranty

Lighting Applications:

1. GreenHouse Lighting
2. CO2 Bio-Sequestration
3. H2 Bio-Production
4. Pharmaceutical Crop Lighting
5. Much More!

Quick Facts:

1. Delivers 1000 micromoles of Sunlight
2. Sheets provide uniform illumination
3. No UV, no IR wavelengths
4. Waterproof illumination sheets

There's a cool youtube video all about this type of lighting:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hQ5MiLqb5VE

Looks to me like it won't be too long before these hybrid lights in combination with LEDs will be an effective way to grow.

 

[Guest]

Too many good posts to quote, this is a great thread. I have to tend to agree with THCV though I think some people are taking ebills to seriously, but it does depend on where you live. In cali there are a lot of houses with 8-16 light setups and high bills in the 1-3000 range are not uncommon; you must consider there are a lot of large homes, some with many children/kids using all sorts of new aged gadgets/appliances/comps/tvs etc and have $1000+ bills in the summer that have absolutely nothing going on in them. And as to the talk about residential homes and larger grows I dont see why its a problem for anyone with a 150+ amp service...a 16 light CAP MLC only needs an 80 amp line and that includes the 80/20 rule, you could get by with NO other electricity used besides the grow.


I also see a lot of people sayin, oh if you have 4 houses with 4+ lights in each youll be doin it... Thing is I dont see them taking into account all the COSTS of 4 rent payments, 4 light bills, water bills, equipment startup costs, matinence costs, nutrients and supplies for each run, gas for running around to all the houses, then theres your normal life and all the bills and bs that come with that....just some food for thought cause I dont know anyone who would go through all the trouble of finding and setting up a house to only put 4 lights in it, thats just not a soild investment.


Aside from all that, here is a excelent post I read on another site a couple weeks ago regarding generator powered grows in California..hope he doesnt mind me postin this.

But very important for Cali Off grid growers


In doing some research on indoor bust we noticed a small piece of information in police reports that is not mentioned in most ,newspaper articles. In looking close at public requests of legal files a new trend is in the horizon for off grid indoor growers in California. I have no reason why but they feel this is the best approach to an enforcement/ conviction trend . It is a war and each side only has a temporary advantage. SO since no one else is breaking this story i will. ( I hope my boss does not find this and )

Cali generator people who do not and Should not post in this thread need to read but not post comments, just learn and pass it on as a legal NEED TO KNOW .

So there is a fine of $100 min ( will edit) and possible up to $1,000.00 per hr, based on the generators hr meter. Even though a conviction is hard to get fines are just a routine court request where you lose every time. 200 hours =$20,000.00


This applies to 45 k and up. Most growers are selling their 45k's , since the fine alone is more than you can gain. A heads up's on low price 45 k's
NOTICE ! !

Some though do know how to turn back the meter


TIER 3 INFORMATION FOR ENGINES 50-99 HORSEPOWER: Effective January 1, 2008, engines rated between 50 to 99 bhp transitioned from Tier 2 standards to Tier 3 standards. Engines rated between 50 to 99 bhp that currently meet Tier 2 standards will be accepted until June 30, 2008. Effective July 1, 2008, engines rated between 50 to 99 bhp will need to meet Tier 3 standards or show proof of California residency. Engines that require proof of California residency documents will be subject to the registration fees listed on Form 1-B.

Registration fees have changed effective 4/27/07. See Form 1-A for information on the new fees. For more information about other changes, see Regulation Activities below.

The Air Resources Board adopted revisions to accept "resident" Tier 1 and Tier 2 engines that do not meet the current emission standard in effect at the time of registration. PERP is currently accepting applications for all Tier 1 engines and also Tier 2 engines rated between 100 BHP and 750 BHP if documentation of operating in California at any time between March 1, 2004, and October 1, 2006, is submitted with the application. Documentation can include company equipment inventory, purchase records, usage records, or maintenance records. Form 2A must be submitted with the residency documentation.

These Tier 1 and Tier 2 engines that do not meet the current emission standard must also pay an increased fee for registration that includes back registration fees, back inspection fees, and current registration fees. The amount of the fee will be based on year of purchase, year of manufacture, or Tier 2 start date, depending on certain criteria.


The revisions also included provisions to allow registration of "stock" Tier 2 engines within six months after the change to Tier 3. No additional fees are required for these engines.

* PERP Advisory: Application submittal options for those purchasing new portable engines

 

[TGT]

I'm not saying anyone SHOULD do anything, get a grip.
From what I've seen real world.... IF you re going to grow MORE than a few hundred Plants, lets say 1000, like So many People are BUSTED for, in Basements in Homes, think about going to a Business building.

1st this thread is about COMMERCIAL grow ops, at least a few hundred in MY VIEW.

2nd, so these folks will have the where with all to it right the 1st time.

3rd, you only need ONE harvest and move on.

There is nothing wrong with using a HOME, But Be responsible for the place.
TGT uses or used a few houses and that's AOK in my book! ( Just Fine ) So this is no slam on you TGT.

I ran into a place these guys where using, and MOLD EVERY F'n Place in the house! At least they bleached and Kitz'd it,and it will still come back, but it didn't need to go that far. If they had just used some common sense.

So all I'm saying is Be a good citizen, think about who May live in that house after your gone.. would yo uwant your wife and kids living there when all is said and done?
We do need to think about our image.

Sin

You are so right about some growers not caring about the location that they grow in. And yes it does make us all look bad. I had friends a long while ago set up in a few homes and after they were done there was black mold everywhere. They didn't do it right and only cared about making money quickly. This I think is discusting. You should resepect the property and do your best to keep the place as clean and dry as possible. A lot of people don't use plastic to semi seal the room and no dehumidifier. If it's done right there should be no problems at all. The house I use lately has been going for two years now and there is not one speck of mold anywhere to be seen, and I check regularily. It is a friends home and I take care of it like it were my own. If every grower did this it would help our image as a whole. Also the stealing of the power, but thats another topic all together.

TGT

 

[Sinfuldreams]

I like the looks of Hybrid Solar Lighting, looks like some folks are ahead of me and already designing systems for growing pot!


Looks to me like it won't be too long before these hybrid lights in combination with LEDs will be an effective way to grow.

I hope your right, Solar Panels have come down in price and gone up in efficiency. These days 2kw system runs around 15k. New technology in Solar Cell manufacturing should help, Nano Paint and so forth, but still a while off in terms of scale.

As this sits now I don't think it would fit into many larger op's, but I think the idea is a good one, like LEDs though almost there but not quite. I love the idea of reduced heat out put. Leading to less Cooling energy. If we could do what we really should be doing... Legally Outdoors, this wouldn't even be needed.

Thanks for the Info, I didn't know about this.

Sin

 

[sneakyninja]

I've always thought the ideal setup for a commercial grow would be as follows

5 x 4000 Sq. Ft. Suburban house w/ Garage and unfinished room
In each have the following:
6 x 600w Digitals w/ Flip so they amount to 7200w
Sealed room setups w/ dehuey, a/c, co2
computer controlled with a reliable version of something like growtronix doing everything including nute dosing
grow trees in 5gal. buckets using an additional 2 x 600w for veg. which you could do for 3 weeks timed to be ready to flip to flower as the current flowering ones are done

With that assuming 1gpw you get 16lb's per house per yield. Use a good 60 day strain and have a house yielding every 12 days. Essentially a perpetual harvest of sorts.

16 x 5 = 80lbs every 60 days
80lbs @ $3000 a lb = $240,000 every 60 days
$240,000 x 6 = $1,440,000 a year

Just be prepared to make every house seem lived in, or buy a bunch of land and build your own gated community where you are the only owner via several proxies. The only thing on the entire list that cant be bought is a good person to sell the bud too, and that is where the problem can lie, however great weed at the right price will never run out of demand...

Not going to get into money laundering but any service is available in the US of A for the right price...

 

[EddieShoestring]

alright BB
i'm not dismissing this thread-and i perfectly understand your reasons for staying small-as i have too (hence i've never needed to nick the electricity either). What i don't agree with is applying the 'keep it small' mentality to a thread on commie cultivation or to ganja as a whole. As you'll know there has been a huge ganja shortage in UKPLC for the past couple of years-and in my view anybody who is willing to get their finger out and take a risk, whatever their ethnicity, deserves not to be insulted but given a pat on the back and a round of applause. Again-my point is-if we all kept it small there would BE NO WEED.
Sinfuldreams-guns? what is this the John Wayne thread? I remember a news story a few years ago about a couple of lads from London who had been silly enough to shoot at people out of the window of their GRoom with an air rifle-they got nicked-and i made a mental note to self at the time. 'Never shoot anyone in or near your growroom'.

yo
eddie

 

[sladan]

-ganja pasha solar lightning is a nice idea! not only for grow rooms. In my town there is a building with glass fibers to light all the rooms (all offices i think)