Southernontariogrower
Well-Known Member
Congrats man! Just alot of 4x4s put together. Enjoying your work isnt work. So enjoy!
Interview to lead a commercial grow
- Thread starter Shucks
- Start date
Shucks
Well-Known Member
Literally NO, I am cool with whatever vision they have but
Word
Shucks
Well-Known Member
Literally NO, I am cool with whatever vision they have but
Kinda thought that, funny you said it...thx...
rootedrichie
Active Member
That’s wild a commercial head position, and no clue as to what substrate being used?
Shucks
Well-Known Member
Agreed, our discussions included soil, ebb and flow and DWC. The first step there is to equip the room. Currently it is just an empty office like space. It needs power, water and environmental equipment installed. Gonna suggest we start in soil but hey, whatever they want!
Learning1234
Well-Known Member
Congratulations! That’s awesome. Best of luck with it!
Bears_win
Well-Known Member
Prepare .
1. print out your SOPs and have sections For:
H/R
Administration
Nursery
IPM
Veg/bloom
Veg/bloom
Harvest
Hang/cure/process
2. Have a game plan for the interviewers questions
Ask yourself why are they hiring you ?
Is the grow failing?
What needs to be shored up?
And where are strengths and weaknesses in the facility?
Why are they looking for new employees ? Expansion or is the ship sinking?
Anticipate softball questions and have consistent answers.
Good luck
1. print out your SOPs and have sections For:
H/R
Administration
Nursery
IPM
Veg/bloom
Veg/bloom
Harvest
Hang/cure/process
2. Have a game plan for the interviewers questions
Ask yourself why are they hiring you ?
Is the grow failing?
What needs to be shored up?
And where are strengths and weaknesses in the facility?
Why are they looking for new employees ? Expansion or is the ship sinking?
Anticipate softball questions and have consistent answers.
Good luck
Shucks
Well-Known Member
If my dispensary agent card arrives I start Tuesday.
Shucks
Well-Known Member
Thank you!
Shucks
Well-Known Member
Hi everyone and thanks for all the positive vibes! I'm now working as a commercial grower and my task is to work on the build out of the facility. Its bigger than than expected and there is a sister dispensary doing the same thing in the company. The growers at the sister company want to go with Rockwool with either drip or ebb and flow. I have always used expanded clay instead of Rockwood, just a preference but my question to the community is... if you were facing a 1st time (both for me and the new grow environment) large scale grow in a newly built facility what medium would you use? I would like to split it up between tables, dwc and soil. The reason is to dial in the genetics and see what the numbers are with each medium.
thenasty1
Well-Known Member
tables with either leca (if youre running vegged out plants) or no medium at all (if youre running no veg sog). i would be focusing on minimizing labor input, material costs, and potential points of failure. personally, i would save the whole running multiple systems thing until you have completed a few runs, and ideally i would set up a small room for r&d stuff like that. keep the main production rooms simple and uniform.
Shucks
Well-Known Member
When you say no medium at all, what would that mean?
thenasty1
Well-Known Member
no clay, rockwool, or anything like that. bare rooted plants into a covered flood table with a neoprene collar holding them in place relying on trellis for support as they grow
Bears_win
Well-Known Member
I’m just a dummy but I would put them in 3 gallon fabric pots with Coco/perlite or a peat based ( promix, Berger and sunshine 4 are popular )
Build your own tables and irrigation
and drain to waste ( but process it 1st before you put it in the sewer)
feed with a simple 3 part and cal mag plus a couple selected additives .. keep IPM basic and make it so a dummy can run it .
you can reuse the pots for 3 runs , and all coco can be recycled ( outdoor grows, landscaping or ?)
Keep it simple . Don’t experiment just produce .. have an offsite location
to
”experiment” on.
Build your own tables and irrigation
and drain to waste ( but process it 1st before you put it in the sewer)
feed with a simple 3 part and cal mag plus a couple selected additives .. keep IPM basic and make it so a dummy can run it .
you can reuse the pots for 3 runs , and all coco can be recycled ( outdoor grows, landscaping or ?)
Keep it simple . Don’t experiment just produce .. have an offsite location
to
”experiment” on.
Shucks
Well-Known Member
Gotcha! Thx!
I agree, however it seems this is gonna be 7000sf professionally designed and built out by contractors. So like you say keep it simple...I just got to get the owners to decide what simple means to them. Its gonna be fun as hell tho...
quiescent
Well-Known Member
Rockwool blocks on top of rockwool slabs is the only way to go. You're not going to be vegging plants more than a couple of weeks. They are not going to be able to pay people to transplant cuts into coco, potentially twice, or dispose of it and thoroughly sterilize the containers at the end of the cycle. On top of the financials anything but rockwool gives you more of a potential pest headache.
Definitely the most important details for you to get right follows...
Make sure you're building a space that provides an area that's positively pressured for your crew to shower, change/store belongings and wash their clothing. They should be told to wear clean clothes that haven't seen their home grow in and expect them to be washed during the shift for them to wear the next day or to wear out after a shower if they so choose. They will only be able to wear clothing that has been washed on site/shoes that stay in the building, after they shower, with a disposable suit or washable coveralls. Look into an air shower.
If any of the above gets any flak based on budget or necessity, walk away, these people will fail just fine without you.
Design your space so it's impossible for someone to go into the wrong room based on a day's work flow. You should have a veg crew and flower crew to limit cross contamination and put your aces in their places.
Have several smaller rooms/tents for R&D. Keep them in your veg space, if possible, to prevent possible pollen contamination.
Your flower crew is mostly going to be low skill, low knowledge people being led by yourself or someone whom is working in lockstep with you. Don't be afraid to hire the guy that will replace you, you're going to need someone who is a maverick on your side to keep YOUR job.
The veg crew is going to need to be very strong, people that have an eye for detail and actual abilities with extensive knowledge on strains and horticulture. If you were going to do coco anywhere, your mothers are the only place I'd use it. This is probably going to be an older person that requires a higher rate of pay and might take some finesse to get on board with your SOPs. Again, don't be afraid to hire top notch folks. This person or people might be able to help you tighten things up, take feedback and carefully consider whether they have a path to improvement.
Look into a water ionizer for ipm in flower. Alternating between high/low ph water should kill any pathogens and not allow a pest population to get established.
This is a game of seconds, you're going to want to make things as streamlined as possible from the get go. Sounds like the other location's crew might be able to help you out with this.
If you have any questions feel free to pm me.
ComfortCreator
Well-Known Member
Wow there is a lot to get strategized and in place to make it work right. Best of luck it is going to be an adventure. Maybe you can update us as you develop the plan.
Shucks
Well-Known Member
Very good information, thank you!
sunasun
Active Member
So, no new episode this week? Been a good read.