20,000 Watt Medical Grow Op Construction

[collective gardener]

Here's some pics taken this morning. We'll be harvesting some of this next week through the week after. The room is basicall 2 - 8x8 tables, each lit by 4 - 1000 watt lights. There's 4 more 1000's in the bloom room that I put misc plants under. You'll see a 4x4 tray with 15 plants put into bloom today. There's also about 20 plants in buckets. I place the bucket plants in the walking srea so that I can light that area, but just move them out of the way come watering time. All the plants are in rockwool...either blocks or croutons in pots. I'm dialing in on exactly the best plant density/size/container for maximum yield.

 

[hellraizer30]

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Here's some pics taken this morning. We'll be harvesting some of this next week through the week after. The room is basicall 2 - 8x8 tables, each lit by 4 - 1000 watt lights. There's 4 more 1000's in the bloom room that I put misc plants under. You'll see a 4x4 tray with 15 plants put into bloom today. There's also about 20 plants in buckets. I place the bucket plants in the walking srea so that I can light that area, but just move them out of the way come watering time. All the plants are in rockwool...either blocks or croutons in pots. I'm dialing in on exactly the best plant density/size/container for maximum yield.

dam CG looking mighty awsome congrats on geting it dailed in!!

 

[theexpress]

View attachment 1757205View attachment 1757204View attachment 1757203View attachment 1757202View attachment 1757200View attachment 1757199View attachment 1757198View attachment 1757197View attachment 1757194View attachment 1757193View attachment 1757192

Here's some pics taken this morning. We'll be harvesting some of this next week through the week after. The room is basicall 2 - 8x8 tables, each lit by 4 - 1000 watt lights. There's 4 more 1000's in the bloom room that I put misc plants under. You'll see a 4x4 tray with 15 plants put into bloom today. There's also about 20 plants in buckets. I place the bucket plants in the walking srea so that I can light that area, but just move them out of the way come watering time. All the plants are in rockwool...either blocks or croutons in pots. I'm dialing in on exactly the best plant density/size/container for maximum yield.

lol i just wanna say i hate you cuzz your living my dream and im not.... but also i love you for letting us get a glimps of your op!!!! plus rep bro and keep up the good work!!! im trying to be in your shoes..... how much did you drop on equip for a setup like that? about 15k worth of equip?>

 

[zoombud]

View attachment 1757205View attachment 1757204View attachment 1757203View attachment 1757202View attachment 1757200View attachment 1757199View attachment 1757198View attachment 1757197View attachment 1757194View attachment 1757193View attachment 1757192

Here's some pics taken this morning. We'll be harvesting some of this next week through the week after. The room is basicall 2 - 8x8 tables, each lit by 4 - 1000 watt lights. There's 4 more 1000's in the bloom room that I put misc plants under. You'll see a 4x4 tray with 15 plants put into bloom today. There's also about 20 plants in buckets. I place the bucket plants in the walking srea so that I can light that area, but just move them out of the way come watering time. All the plants are in rockwool...either blocks or croutons in pots. I'm dialing in on exactly the best plant density/size/container for maximum yield.

this is heaven to my eyes. mmm i bet it smells good in there!

 

[collective gardener]

lol i just wanna say i hate you cuzz your living my dream and im not.... but also i love you for letting us get a glimps of your op!!!! plus rep bro and keep up the good work!!! im trying to be in your shoes..... how much did you drop on equip for a setup like that? about 15k worth of equip?>

I don't know the cost breakdown...just the totals. We had to pay for the first 4 months lease and electricity, the materials for the build out, my labor, my helpers labor, and all of the grow equipment. The total cost was $80,000. One of the collective's members, a good friend of mine, loaned the collective the money for the startup. We has our attorney settup the whole loan note when he settup the "Collective Association". We make payments on the loan just like any other business. We're still "not for profit", which is necessary to stay compliant with California's med marijuana law. The cost of the loan payments as well as all other costs (my labor, wife's labor, trimming labor, growing supplies, lease, power, etc...) is compiled and divided by how many pounds are produced each month to establish a per pound price. So, when the loan is paid back, the cost of medicine to our members will go down.

There's a butt-load of paperwork required each month to keep us compliant. Fortunately, it's perfectly legal to be paid by the collective to generate said paperwork. Nobody gets rich if they're running a LEGAL collective. You can make a decent living, though, being paid for time spent on the grow. I recieve an IRS 1099 form from the collective for the money paid to me. I'll pay taxes on that as "non-employment compensation". As the industry moves forward and evolves, it will probablt be necessary to place all collective workers on payroll. For now, our lawyer is comfortable with 1099's.

 

[collective gardener]

this is heaven to my eyes. mmm i bet it smells good in there!

Actually, there's very little smell. Besides the carbon filters scrubbing the exhaust air out of the building, we have 3 - 10" carbon filters scrubbing the air inside the bloom room. These just circulate about 3,000 cfm within the bloom room...scrubbing the air and exhausting it right back into the room. That means the entire room volume is scrubbed about every 2 minutes. This has been very effective in keeping the odor down without affecting the smell of the buds. If you stick your head into the canopy you can smell pot, but just standing in the room you smell nothing. The air is scrubbed again as it exhausts out of the bloom room into the main warehouse, and yet again when it exhausts the warehouse. All in all, we run 6 - 10 inch carbon filters, 2 - 14" carbon filters, and 1 - 6" carbon filter in the drying shack

 

[C.Indica]

Is it too hot to work and think in that room?
I would make it a staple that my grow op is comfortable enough to loiter in.
Otherwise I don't see much productive work happening.

That looks beautiful, and I laughed when I saw party cup in a grow op this big.
I bet the wierd shape of rootball makes some interesting plants.

Great as always

 

[kevin murphy]

excellent mate simple as that pal...excellent ..nout else to say so ill shut up

 

[collective gardener]

Is it too hot to work and think in that room?
I would make it a staple that my grow op is comfortable enough to loiter in.
Otherwise I don't see much productive work happening.

That looks beautiful, and I laughed when I saw party cup in a grow op this big.
I bet the wierd shape of rootball makes some interesting plants.

Great as always

Temp is never over 78f. It's bright in there, but not hot.

Don't knock the party cups.LOL. Those were cuts I got from a friend when my clones weren't ready in time to fill some empty bloom space. I just cut the bottoms out of the cups and plant them right in a Hugo block. My buddy swears by tose cups. He uses a 50/50 mix of rockwoll croutons and #4 perlite in them. His rooted clones go into those cups for 2 weeks of veg time. The mix he uses promotes extremely fast root growth and gets the plants growing far faster than a rockwool block. I still use the blocks because I'm lazy, and my veg room is so big that a few more days in veg doesn't affect me. But those little party cups and the 50/50 mix are the fastest way to get a clone with just a few small roots into high speed growing mode.

 

[Wolverine97]

I don't know the cost breakdown...just the totals. We had to pay for the first 4 months lease and electricity, the materials for the build out, my labor, my helpers labor, and all of the grow equipment. The total cost was $80,000. One of the collective's members, a good friend of mine, loaned the collective the money for the startup. We has our attorney settup the whole loan note when he settup the "Collective Association". We make payments on the loan just like any other business. We're still "not for profit", which is necessary to stay compliant with California's med marijuana law. The cost of the loan payments as well as all other costs (my labor, wife's labor, trimming labor, growing supplies, lease, power, etc...) is compiled and divided by how many pounds are produced each month to establish a per pound price. So, when the loan is paid back, the cost of medicine to our members will go down.

There's a butt-load of paperwork required each month to keep us compliant. Fortunately, it's perfectly legal to be paid by the collective to generate said paperwork. Nobody gets rich if they're running a LEGAL collective. You can make a decent living, though, being paid for time spent on the grow. I recieve an IRS 1099 form from the collective for the money paid to me. I'll pay taxes on that as "non-employment compensation". As the industry moves forward and evolves, it will probablt be necessary to place all collective workers on payroll. For now, our lawyer is comfortable with 1099's.

Ok, now since you're on that topic:
This brings up an issue that I've questioned my attorney about, and he says I can't pay taxes like that. The reason being; it's federally illegal. He tells me that I can't pay federal taxes on an illegal activity... how do you claim the income? Is it just "consulting"? Just curious.

 

[theexpress]

it cost 80k for a 20 light show???? wow!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! im guessing you bought everything from the grow shop huh? better off ordering online

 

[TheLastWood]

Yeah cg pays full markup price for all his gear.

Noobs like him never get good deals, he obviously has no connections either. And things always cost more when you buy in bulk

(/sarcasm)

 

[theexpress]

Yeah cg pays full markup price for all his gear.

Noobs like him never get good deals, he obviously has no connections either. And things always cost more when you buy in bulk

(/sarcasm)

i dont understand are you tryna troll me or him????? bet money at any given time i can get a 1000 watt hps whole kit mh plus hps conversion, a bulb of each, hangers, timers, 6-8 inch vented hoods and temperd glass for like 270 bux a pop shipping included... same goes for everything else needed


ebay and amazon

 

[TheLastWood]

wow now you only need 19000 more watts

A bigass warehouse, lawyers, laborers, medium, ph and ppm meters. Etc etc

And tons more shit.

Not gonna argue here in this thread, too classy for that.

And I would never troll on cg, or act like he's a noob that spent too much on his grow op.

<3 cg

 

[collective gardener]

it cost 80k for a 20 light show???? wow!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! im guessing you bought everything from the grow shop huh? better off ordering online

Thanks Wood for helping with the reply. Saves me my sarcastic reply.

If you read my post you'll see that equipment costs were only a part of the breakdown. I do buy at my local shop. And I pay less there than you pay online...no fucking doubt about it. As an example, I pay well under $300.00 out the door for a 1000 watt Phantom ballast. On everything else I get 25% of retail PLUS another $50 store credit for every $500 I spend. That's 35% off retail on every thing in the store or special ordered.

How bout the electrical sub panels I needed to install to run those 20 lights? The lumber for the rooms? The labor framing? The electrical labor? 4 months power and lease bills....thats 12K right there. How about renting the crane to place the A/C unit of the roof? Wait! How bout the cost of the A/C unit. The roof fans. Labor installing roof fans. A roofer to flash roof fan penetration to 100% ensure against leaks. 15 gallons of primer, 15 gallons of paint...brushes, rollers, thinner. The 2 - 10' ladders we bought for construction and gear upkeep. 2 shop vacs. 6 trash cans...the good ones. Locks and deadbolts for every door. Custom welded security gate for front door...there's 2 grand. A total office settup including computer, internet hookup, files, desk, pens, pencils, and post its. Have you seen the price of post its? How bout all that steel shelving...can't just stack shit on the floor. Not to mention the electrical, HVAC, plumbing, and lighting design time. You think I just draw that shit up for free? There's a ton more. Notice how I dodn't even mention grow equipment? That's all most people think of.

95% of the labor building the op was done by myself and Helper D. I charge the collective a very fair hourly rate considering my construction and growing experience. Those 2 things are what I've done for a living since I was 15....I'm in my 40's. I promise you friend, even if you got the equipment at my price (which you couldn't), there is no way you could build this op for the price I did. 80k may sound like alot. But, I hope I've shown that more goes into a true professional grow op than some lights and fans. This why when I hear of people moving to California to make a fortune in pot, I don't worry. Most people have ZERO idea what it takes to get something like this going and to KEEP it going.

 

[collective gardener]

i dont understand are you tryna troll me or him????? bet money at any given time i can get a 1000 watt hps whole kit mh plus hps conversion, a bulb of each, hangers, timers, 6-8 inch vented hoods and temperd glass for like 270 bux a pop shipping included... same goes for everything else needed


ebay and amazon

That's neat. But, no proffesional commercial grower with a hydro shop within driving distance would EVER buy supplies online. Most of my buddies are large scale commercial growers and all of us shop local. When we build an op we walk in and make a deal with the owner/manager. We negotiate a discount...a deep one for the initial purchase and ALL future purchases. This way when a ballast goes bad (do this long enough and one will), we walk in the shop door and walk out with a new one. How long to replace your online ballast? If you only have a 4 light op, one light down is 25% of your operation. If I try a new nutrient and don't like it, I get store credit for the entire purchase price...even if I used the whole thing. No shipping. No phone calls. No bullshit that I don't have time for.

As for your $270 light settup...you're comparing apples with oranges. I use only Digilux and Pulse Start bulbs. I use only Digital Ballasts because the noise of 20 mag ballasts would have LEO on my ass in 2 days. If spending a bit more to buy the highest possible quality equipment only gets me a 2% increase in yield, it pays for itself and much MUCH more. My bulbs put out 10% more light than a Hort i Eye (which isn't a cheap bulb, either). That 10% tanslates into damn near a 10% increase in yield. That's almost an extra pound a month...every month for the life of the bulb...which is also much longer than budget bulbs. I think an extra 2 grand a month makes it worth the money to buy top of the line.

Growing is just like anything else. Those that wrench on their car for fun buy tools at Harbor Freight, mechanics buy SnapOn. People who grow for a living don't waste their time on cheap gear. It justs costs more money in the long run.

 

[C.Indica]

Temp is never over 78f. It's bright in there, but not hot.

Don't knock the party cups.LOL. Those were cuts I got from a friend when my clones weren't ready in time to fill some empty bloom space. I just cut the bottoms out of the cups and plant them right in a Hugo block. My buddy swears by tose cups. He uses a 50/50 mix of rockwoll croutons and #4 perlite in them. His rooted clones go into those cups for 2 weeks of veg time. The mix he uses promotes extremely fast root growth and gets the plants growing far faster than a rockwool block. I still use the blocks because I'm lazy, and my veg room is so big that a few more days in veg doesn't affect me. But those little party cups and the 50/50 mix are the fastest way to get a clone with just a few small roots into high speed growing mode.

Just read all this page, relax brother, go make some tea and sit out in the sun for a minute.
Hahaha the cups.
I knock them because they dry out fast. How do you combat this?
Actually, make that last question important, I really would like to know how you combat small volumes of dirt drying out.
I still use soil for now, but some day I might check out your method.

Anyways I'm off for some nature, enjoy your day to the fullest CG

 

[theexpress]

wow now you only need 19000 more watts

A bigass warehouse, lawyers, laborers, medium, ph and ppm meters. Etc etc

And tons more shit.

Not gonna argue here in this thread, too classy for that.

And I would never troll on cg, or act like he's a noob that spent too much on his grow op.

<3 cg

lol why you wanna flame me???? 270 x 20= 5400..... also you can get everything cheap has hell on ebay were talking high cfm fans, meters, nutes, fucking soil,huge ass carbon scrubbers anything waaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaay cheaper then any hydro shop...... i woulda got all that same equip he has for like 12-15...........

and i like how you asumed i was trying to be negative to the op ...... your a fool..... ima ignore you from now on...

 

[collective gardener]

lol why you wanna flame me???? 270 x 20= 5400..... also you can get everything cheap has hell on ebay were talking high cfm fans, meters, nutes, fucking soil,huge ass carbon scrubbers anything waaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaay cheaper then any hydro shop...... i woulda got all that same equip he has for like 12-15...........

and i like how you asumed i was trying to be negative to the op ...... your a fool..... ima ignore you from now on...

Please don't call people names here. "you're a fool" is what I'm talking about.

Please read my response on the expenses beyond just grow gear, and the reason I prefer to purchase gear from my local hydro store. I have the technology to buy online...I choose not to. When someone hands YOU a checkbook with 100k of their money in it to build a grow op, you can spend it however you want.

Please end this entire discussion here. Everytime you post, you slip in an insult to me. I'm getting tired of it. If you read my entire thread, you'll see I've never called anyone a name, or insulted anyone in any way. I am proud that there have only been 3 negative posters on the entire thread. You, sir, are #3. Congadulations.

If you have something to share beyond your keen insight into my ignorance on bargain hunting, please feel free to do so. But, I think you've made your point on this topic. I'm a total fool for buying gear at my local store when all this time I could've been saving thousands buying online.

 

[hellraizer30]

always a hater somewhere I dont buy online either!! dont sweat it CG