Tips to Consider When Planning for a Commercial Grow Room

Tips on Commercial Grow Room Design

Setting up an optimal growth environment for cannabis is crucial for achieving a profuse harvest. Plant’s healthy productive growth cycle is a direct result of the professional designing of a grow room.

It is easy to make mistakes while planning a new facility or upscaling the production. Many cultivators realized a mistake in planning related to systems, methods and environmental controls incompatibility, late during facility implementation, which forced assigning additional amounts of time and capital for do-overs. The decisions made often dictate fiscal success or failure. Here are a few vital factors to consider when planning a Grow Room to avoid costly calamities.

Electricity

Electricity – Assure a sufficient supply of electrical power is available. Below figures, provide a metric for comparison of power requirements for 10,000 sq.ft Facility:

– Lights 160 kW
– AC/Dehumidifier 77 kW
– Electric Heat 10 kW
– Recirculation Fans 20 kW
– Exhaust Fans 5 kW
– Miscellaneous 20 kW
– Total: 787 kW

Air

Air – Fresh, and clean with a carbon filter, co² regulator, inline fan for grow room; strong odor production must be controlled. When dealing with average temperatures you will want your fan to exchange the grow room air 3-5 times in one minute.

• Carbon Filtration
– Recirculated air

• Filtration Rate = (Room Volume)/3
– Exhaust air

• Filtrate air being exhausted from space

• Ozone Generator
– Neutralizes odor by oxidizing bad smells with ozone
– Extra Oxygen molecule attaches to contaminants and O³ turns to O², creating a safer work environment

Water

Water – Easy access to water. Check pH levels in the reservoir/nutrient solution, making sure it is as close to 6.0 as possible. The concentration of calcium and magnesium indicates the “hardness” of your water supply.

Water containing 100-150 mg of calcium per liter is fine.

Security

Security – Minimizes the chance of unauthorized access. Some Commercial Grow rooms are designed with direct access to the outside environment, and plants are immediately and directly exposed to the elements. A completely sealed environment is preferred in commercial operations to maintain a more controlled environment.

Ventilation

Ventilation – Proper ventilation is vital for a Commercial Grow Room. As far as ventilation goes, multiple air ducts and extraction fans would cycle in fresh air and pump out hot air. In order to eliminate the strong smell, you would have an Ozone Generator as well. You would also have all the extra goodies like a CO2 Generator,

Temperature

Temperature – A controllable environment must be designed to maintain the temperature in the desired range. Depending on the time of year and Grow Room location, a heater or an air conditioner might be necessary to adjust the temperature. To control the humidity levels a dehumidifier can lower the humidity and a humidifier can be used to raise it. Warm mist & cool mist are the major kinds of humidifiers available – Warm mist humidifier causes

The temperature rises, while a cool-mist humidifier has no effect on temperature. Other types of humidifiers allow for adjustment between a warm or cool mist.

Location

When choosing the location, a question should be asked, why this location is suitable for a greenhouse. Below are few of parameters to consider:

• Where it would essentially be both cheapest to heat and cheapest to cool the greenhouse?
• Proximity to market, supplies and qualified labor.
• Whether or not it is legally permitted to grow in that location.

Resource Availability

Insufficient power availability, water availability or disposal reasons have prevented cannabis cultivation projects for certain otherwise suitable real states.  Before expanding or purchasing, make sufficient research of the location.

Expansion Plans

Expansion is ultimately a process for all businesses, plan ahead for such an eventuality. Envisioning everything from logistics to workflow and refining the plan before initiating the project, will prevent wasting valuable resources constructing a malfunctioning facility.