Advice on automated growbox?

[turtgisland23]

Hello,

I can legally grow and I have been looking into the automated grow boxes. Although I know the process, I would rather use technology to my advantage. I have been doing research on various ones, but there are so many. I figured I'd just resort to the experts because it would probably save me a lot of time.

Anyways, I can grow 12 plants at a time so I would preferably want to get a setup that holds at least 12.

I know it will be expensive and I will probably have to spend between 1-2k. However, I'm fine with that. I don't want it so I can be lazy, but in my opinion why not have an automated grow box take care of it because they can't make mistakes.

I saw some of them had digital readouts of everything and it would send you updates on your phone so you could monitor it wherever you went and if something somehow went wrong, you would be notified right away.

To give an example of what I am looking for:

The BloomBox All-in-one Grow Box by BCNorthernlights looks very nice.

This second one really peaked my interest. It is called Leaf. Check it out they have a website getleaf.co.

Quotes from one of the pages,

"Leaf is the first ever Plug N' Plant™ cannabis growing system. It allows you to easily grow quality cannabis at home in a fun and interactive way."

That one sounded to good to be true. It has real time monitoring via an app on your cell phone showing pH, Air Temp, Water Level, PPM, Humidity, PAR, etc.

That one seems like it is EXACTLY what I am looking for. However, it sells out right away.

Conclusively, I'm sure there are better ones that the users on here can back up the claims with personal experience or knows someone who has a setup like this.

Sorry for the long post. Thanks in advance. Feel free to show me examples, give me ideas, etc.

 

[WeedHopper]

Sorry cant help you,,,i love building my own. Im a Weed Hugger,,,like keeping things as personal as possible cause im a hands own kinda guy. But to each his own. Good luck and green mojo. Yehaaaaaaaaa

 

[yarddog]

I don't know anyone here that uses a setup like that. Maybe some of the more commercial growers.. Maybe.
I enjoy the hands on part as much as I enjoy smoking the bud. I always look forward to checking on my grow when I get home every day

 

[RubyRed]

I too like to do it all myself. I think there's more gratification. IMO technology doesn't all ways make things better/easier.

tcabs

 

[The Hemp Goddess]

After growing cannabis for decades, I can say that I would never ever go with some kind of automated system. You are going to find that different strains demand different nutrient levels and have other differing needs. Also those boxes are so incredibly small that they will hold 1, maybe 2 plants....but only if they are small. You can never hope to get anywhere close to 12 plants in a space like that. And because your space is so small, your yield will be too. You are also locked into their nutrients aren't you? Growing cannabis is a hands on kind of thing. Your plants really do need almost daily care. I could probably give you at least a dozen reasons why I personally believe that these boxes are a waste UUUUGGGGE of money.

And money wise, if you actually do want to grow 12 plants at a time, it will take you about 1-2K just to set up a non-automated grow right. So, I think you are going to have to decide if you want a tiny very expensive grow or whether you want to set up something that you can actually grow 12 plants in and regulate yourself, though some functions are automated.

As far as someone here who can back up the claims made by the companies....I don't think so. I do not know one single person who has used something like this successfully.

 

[WeedHopper]

Lots of Peeps use the Tents Little Brother,,or build their own. Google Grow Tents.

 

[zem]

imo it is growing what you need to focus on and not the high tech automation. you can later automate according to your needs. there is no such thing as plug n grow, knowledge about growing is absolutely necessary. i always automate the watering never saw the need to monitor my growroom online. to each his own...

 

[turtgisland23]

Thank you all for your answers. They were honest and I greatly appreciate that. I have built my own before, but I am into technology. I'm not expecting just to buy a box throw it together and expect magic. I do know quit a bit about growing, definitely not as much as most of the people on this forum.

The reason I want to get a high tech one, is because technology can make a huge difference. It should increase efficiency, make your grows more consistent and accurate, etc.

And by automation, I'm not implying that everything will be setup and it will just run without any user interaction and will only put a specified amount of nutrients regardless of what it actually needed.

I will no doubt be watching it everyday, but I'd like to have nice digital read-outs on the levels of everything, so I can just look at a digital screen or an app and see the measurements of everything. Then I can make the changes based on how the plant responds.

The Hemp Goddess, you made some great points. I was wondering about the boxes due to the size of them.

I am going to have to do more searching. In this situation I hope to come up with a combination. Some stuff automated, (such as regular digital read outs of everything, so I can make the changes the plant needs based on an exact read out. Also set something up where I can use technology to send what nutrients to each plant based on the read outs.

Technology can cause problems when people abuse it and get lazy. Conversely, technology will allow for the same amount of work, but in a shorter period of time.

But thank you all for the great responses. Now that we have a better understanding, will anyone be willing to share a 12 plant setup they recommend or use.

I don't mind spending 1-2k, I want to buy high quality equipment. So I'll scratch off the box idea because it would be pointless if the plants weren't full grown, but started to fill up the space, which would hinder them from reaching
the full potential.

I like the grow tents. Basically the same thing as the boxes, but way bigger. However, how big of one would I need to make sure I had enough space for 12 plants?

Also wouldn't it be easiest to control temperature and all that inside a tent? Compared to a room?

 

[Hackerman]

I am also thinking about putting together an automated room. Actually, it would be a piece of cake. Most of the work has already been done.

I would probably use the Arduino. https://www.arduino.cc/

It is easily programmed, very powerful and very inexpensive. They have a number of models and packages to choose from and the list of accessories is almost endless.

With the Arduino and some accessories you can monitor (in person, via computer or via phone) from any place in the world, all the attributes of your grow room.

The typical stuff like temp, RH, etc is easy stuff. They have complete weather stations you can set up in the room in about 8 square inches. The Arduino has moisture sensors for the pots so you can tell when they are dry. You can activate a number of automated watering systems from the client (phone, PC, whatever).

If you were really, really slick, you could incorporate a robotic arm that you could clip and trim with while you're on vacation. LOL The arm is only about $200 and you control it with an app you load on your phone. At the very least, you could mix nutes with this.

And, like I said, most of the software is already written for you so if you're not an experienced programmer, you can still put this all together.

I have always thought this would be an awesome project for me since I'm a programmer and have done stuff like this since the '80s.

There is a ton of info if you Google "Grow room Arduino".

https://www.google.com/search?q=Grow+room+Arduino&ie=utf-8&oe=utf-8

As for pre-made boxes, the last I heard, there was a Photron, or something like that. It was a POS. I'm sure people probably make pre-made systems but it takes all the fun out of it and it's never going to be just perfect... just for you. LOL

Check out that search above.