16 Jul Choosing the Right Greenhouse For My Cannabis Farm
Overview
If you’re reading this blog post you probably already understand the many benefits of at least covering your greenhouse to protect your crop from wind and rain. Here we’re going to dive deeper into the many ways you can cover and protect your cannabis production for a more profitable growing operation that works for your budget, climate, local regulations, and product goals.
Your Goals, Your Budget, & Your End Buyers
Planning Around Your Budget
Correctly budgeting for a marijuana greenhouse project is critical, the last thing you want is to run out of money mid-grow or mid-build. A lot of consideration should go into not only the greenhouse and equipment costs, but also your pad prep and install costs, power and water requirements, growing method and medium, nutrients and plant maintenance, harvesting & curing, etc. There a lot that goes into a successful cannabis grow. If you’re on a tight budget, it’s better to do the manageable minimum and expand as you can. Even covering a row of plants with PVC and poly is going to yield you decent mids and better results than letting your plants stay exposed to heavy rains and drastic temperature swings potentially costing you half your harvest weight to mold or disease. If your budget is a little more flexible, an automated light dep greenhouse with proper equipment and automation controls can yield 3-5 harvests per year and deliver indoor quality flower that every dispensary and buyer is going to want.
What’s the Master Plan?
Every successful grower should have a plan in place before buying a greenhouse. Are you going all out on a huge buildout, throwing caution to the wind because you have the dough to ride you through until harvest and sale? Do you have the team to handle thousands of pounds of flower and a place to dry it? Or would you prefer to scale up slowly, grow a high end product that you’re managing yourself or with a small crew? Do you have to maximize your use of a small piece of land? All these things should dictate not only what style and size of greenhouse you go with but also what type of equipment and automation you choose.
What Product Am I Selling?
There are so many niches within the Cannabis game; massive fields for oil production, mid-grade flower for medical programs, pre rolls, and budget dispensaries, and the ever popular and always desired – high end indoor flower.
I’m Growing for Oil Processing
If you’re growing cannabis for eventual oil production, you have a huge property, and the legal permit to go big, then covering a massive field with super high end greenhouses may not be necessary depending on your climate- (avoid areas with naturally high heat and humidity during the growing season). Plants turned into oil do need protection from pesticides and you can certainly profit a lot more from getting 2-3 turns a year with a budget light dep setup rather than one outdoor pull a year. Plus, if you’re doing budget light dep coverings you can get a harvest in early summer, during the time of year when quality product fetches the highest price point. However this can’t be done everywhere, and we’ll dig into it below under climate and permitting options.