Forever Flowering Greenhouse

[BubbaG]

I'm looking to buy the 24x24 auto flower greenhouse. Pricey, but looks well done. Can anyone give me advice on their products.... especially from a maintenance standpoint, how do the blackout curtains hold up?

Thanks

 

[BubbaG]

Oh, also I was wondering what the preferred floor would be? Compacted fill? Or 4" concrete pad... I'm leaning towards brushed concrete just due to the OCD factor, but that's likely an expense I don't need. Greenhouse is already going to run me 30K fully automated.

 

[Smokey503ski]

http://www.concretethinker.com/applications/Radiant-Floors.aspx

I wonder if something like this would help? Or even worth the cost?

 

[Greeneye04]

Foreverflowering has partnered with farmtek and put together some sweet packages... But I would also look into Nexus greenhouses ..

 

[lino]

PM if you live by sterling Co.... bro said you could tour his Forever grn house.... Pretty sweet deal but high dollar...

 

[kolah]

I'd def go with heated radiant flooring....using a combo of solar collectors, solar power and a tad bit of electricity to run your pumps. Take full advantage of our 300 plus days of CO sunshine. Keep us posted.

 

[Smokey503ski]

If he added enough solar panels be could run some supplemental lighting also.
I sure wish I had the land to have one of these.

 

[kolah]

that first link never loaded for me . ???

 

[lino]

SOLAR
if you go with solar panels I got some innovational solar engineering that is currently under patent reviews.... if you dont want to pay for solar panel look at all the options, stay away from leases and be leery of solar city, solar city install are backed up at a minimum of a 1/2 year... Power Purchase Agreement are ok but have someone like myself combined with attorney help with the contract, 25 to 30 pages, and decide if its right for you. If your in Xcel Energy power grid especially or United Power and a few others that I legally fought to force power buy back options to make profits on your solar... Also important is to check with your utilities to see the elec buy back option and GET IT IN WRITTING, dbl check the dates... If you buy walmart solar panels make sure you have someone who is not affiliated with installers and solar companies do the engineering of your system. If you got direct South exposure and correct roof pitch with proper azmath than DONT SPEND ANY Cash on panels and get a My Power Agreement and you'll get approx 9K to 12K in tax deduction/returns ... Check with your tax guy and dont trust solar engineers to figure tax part. Your grn house and home will have a 7% - 12% instant equity increase and that can be used to loan, opps to much details ,,, your solar engineer will explain the details if he is worthy of the task.
I'd stay away from solar shingles and solar windows... I'd recommend - Dont attempt to build solar panel unless you have a solar engineer help,,, save lots of headaches...
NetMeter for sure so you can secure profits, they cost about $2k... Buy a good inverter, it worth the extra cash... Make sure if you get into a contract that they cover the inverter in warranty. Make sure in your contract that the panels have a warranty guarantee of .07 power output of degradation per yr.....
Get in a PPA or My Power contract before this year ends.... Obama cutting of ALL tax subsidies and ALL solar credit will be gone soon. And we cant stop him... Solar will become almost worthless for those who dont act now...
solar batteries are not needed unless you're a dooms day type, its better to stay on the grid and a good solar engineer can put a switch if you just have to go off grid occasionally or you're preparing for dooms day stuff. My solar panel produced more cash than my stocks did today... Panels kick ass in colorado on semi cloudy days also, more output than Hot sunny days, and download an online solar monitor , your engineer will help with that.

 

[BubbaG]

@lino

Yeah bro, I'd like to discuss solar with you sometime. A guy I used to work with lives completely off the grid out around Brush. Dude has a fat solar array and a nice size wind turbine and very large battery room. He said his batteries are usually topped up by 10am most days, he did it in lieu of paying to run power to his land. No reason I couldn't run the radiant heat (nice call @Smokey503ski and @kolah ) and such on DC (could do away with inverter if only need DC yeah?), not sure how much capacity I'd need to fire the 25w/sqft supplemental HID lighting I hope to roll with though.... would be cool to be off the grid in the middle of castle rock lol

 

[lino]

Once you fire up lots of watts you need lots of batteries, expensive. but just to run the grn house and home it can be done (off grid). I would not completely unHook from grid cause home equity can take a hit in city municipalities and if your going to use lots current it takes too many solar panels, there is point where the cost of lots of solar panels is just not economical. Tesla batteries are cool but I dont know if I'd spend the cash for em yet. Batteries drain quick... batteries work better for trickling out amps to feed grn house and home at nite . Big grow bulbs drain batteries quick,,, off grid is more like , use panel elec output for utilities during the day and then batteries keep your house lit up at nite. And then you can use the utility company grid if you need to fire up grow lites or do some welding. Many parts of castle rock are forced to pay you for power fed back into the grid with a Netmeter. This is another reason to stay on grid, get a check from the power company and no batteries needed... But a switch and batteries can enable you to go off grid at your leisure and be ready for dooms days stuff, Ebola marshal law, Sun ray blast, terrorist Ebola bio-bombs, and all that fun stuff... Also,,, I'm trying to get solar panels to capture grow room lite, much cooler than sun lite, and feed it back into the grid... its has been impossible this far to brake even cause utility company wont pay you as much as they charge for amps... bastards, but I have panel design that puts out more watts'amps than is put into it,,, I know that sounds impossible until I used a lite intensifies (magnifier) and it works awesome in grow rooms but I need to figure out how to get these to work on roof, not there yet... Indoor grow room, they'll be outdated soon, pollute and are the wrong way to grow in the future. Free sun with the best spectrum, Awesome spectrum in the winter , talk bout color and smell but just not intense enough lite in the winter. We're bout to see some remarkable buds soon once the grow community gets on board with this thinking, winter sun with halides and HPS and halogens and diode lighting WOW!

NetMeter eliminate battery needs,,, your panels should produce more power than you use in the daytime... The netmeter will store your extra power output in the grid, then you can use it at nite,, If you dont use all the power you stored in the grid SOME utility companies are forced to buy it back at approx 3 cents per KWH. batteries dont write a check to you, they save you from electrical disasters.

 

[Texas Kid]

Since your out here in Colorado I would look at Nexus first, the guys at Forever Flower designed their light deprivation setup and the whole package tends to be a little cheaper, plus they are manufactured and delivered from Northglenn, CO not out of state. The guys at American Clay works in Denver are factory reps or you can go directly to Nexus. I am just about to start on a 40'x60' setup that should be tits..on the commercial side I am pretty sure you have to go with a pour concrete floor to account for your SUDP permit so as not to contaminate the soil with your water runoff.

 

[BubbaG]

@Texas Kid much thanks man. I will check it out. Ought to save a grand just in shipping. I'm wanting to go fully automated. I know that's vapor-ware but Ima get as close as I can......

 

[Seamaiden]

Please post up pix once you've got it set up, pretty please? I got the FF tour and info, but quite rich for my blood. Doesn't mean I didn't like it, though!

 

[Texas Kid]

Here is another option, I think this is a spin off of Forever Flower but looks like it could be added to most standard greenhouse setups

http://www.gro-techsystems.com/automated-light-deprivation/

 

[BubbaG]

Word on the groundwater contamination. My thing is I don't know how a 25x25 pad would affect my home value, and I plan to resale in 6 years once I have the ex wife paid off.

Shouldn't be a big deal though as the place I'm buying already has a ~ 30' x 80' graveled area where the previous dude parked trailers, rvs ... Dude had a lot of toys lol... I plan to level the area better and either compact in lifts or pour a pad... my intent is to grow organic in soil in very large raised beds, which I would like to have on casters... which pushs me towards concrete, but the casters aren't 100% necessary.

Dropped Nexus a line, but couldn't see any info on their website talking about light deprivation...

 

[Texas Kid]

Pad is easy to market as RV storage or setup a half court basketball, batting cage, etc..all kinds of ways to repurpose it for the resale pitch

 

[BubbaG]

Please post up pix once you've got it set up, pretty please? I got the FF tour and info, but quite rich for my blood. Doesn't mean I didn't like it, though!

You bet!! I'm so stoked, I'm sure I'll bore the piss out of you all with pics. I plan to journal the whole project. Currently , I'm dying with my grow shut down while selling my place.... But, 4 weeks till my house closes and ima free man and I'll be growing and posting pics regular. I'm going to supplement light with the elite Agro 315w CMH bulbs :-)

 

[BubbaG]

But not with solar lol.... Figure I'm going to need 12-15Kw to do it right.

 

[Seamaiden]

We're on a 12KW solar array, courtesy federal stimulus funds. The total package was around $90K, but that included new HVAC systems (completely new) and new insulation envelope for the house, and an 8KW back-up gennie.

Here's to a smooth escrow and no hiccups!