Do you know why automation is important for cannabis cultivation? The cannabis industry has been booming for years after legalization in many countries and laws relaxation. People’s perception of cannabis has changed a lot, and with increasing demand, companies are finding new ways to cater to customer needs by maintaining efficiency and quality.
Automation changes the whole scenario, from production to supply to packaging. Let us delve into the benefits of automation in cannabis farming for increasing production without compromising on potency.
What is Automation in Cannabis Cultivation?
Automation in cannabis is all about using technology to streamline tasks and create a more controlling environment. It is similar to having a team working constantly to monitor and adjust a cannabis plant’s need for optimal growth.
The Growing Trend of Automation in Cannabis Home Grows
With technology and advancements, automation in cannabis production has changed the way of cannabis farming for industries and home growers. It has minimized labor-intensive work, constant monitoring, and providing consistent quality. Now, growers can provide potent quality cannabis with precision.
What is the need for Automation?
Automation in cannabis farming is necessary for the following reasons:
Firstly, it provides consistency. Second, it allows constant monitoring and control of factors like pH, watering, fertilization, etc. It reduces plant stress by helping plants fulfill their needs timely.
With its tremendous benefits, automation is helpful in various fields like manufacturing, logistics and warehousing, agriculture, healthcare, customer service, finance, construction, transportation, and space exploration.
The possibilities of automation are endless. As AI and machine learning evolve, expect even more sophisticated automation solutions across various fields.
Benefits of Cannabis Automation
Cannabis Automation offers a revolution for growers seeking to optimize their operations and elevate their products. Let us know the numerous advantages of automating cannabis cultivation to growers. It is how it works:
- Environmental Control: Automation takes the manual guesswork out of maintaining ideal growing conditions. Sensors monitor factors, like temperature, humidity, and CO2 levels, while automated systems adjust lighting, ventilation, and irrigation accordingly. It ensures consistent, optimal environments that promote healthy plant growth.
- Nutrient Delivery: Precise feeding is crucial for cannabis plants. Automated fertigation systems deliver customized nutrient solutions directly to the root zone, eliminating the risk of over or under-fertilization. Sensors monitor factors like electrical conductivity and moisture content, allowing the system to adjust nutrient delivery based on real-time needs.
- Automated Irrigation: Cannabis has specific watering requirements that vary depending on the growth stage. Automated irrigation systems take the guesswork out of watering by dispensing precise amounts of water directly to the root zone. It reduces water waste and ensures plants receive the hydration they need to thrive.
- Data Driven Insights: Modern automation systems collect valuable data on various aspects of the growing environment. It can be analyzed to identify trends, optimize growing conditions for future cycles, and ultimately improve overall yields and quality.
- Increased Yields and Efficiency: Automation streamlines repetitive tasks like watering and nutrient delivery. By automating irrigation systems, you can maximize hydration while minimizing waste. Similarly, fertigation systems provide customized nutrient solutions, eliminating over- or under-fertilization and optimizing plant growth. This precise control leads to healthier plants, improved yields, and increased production capacity.
- Reduced Labor Costs: Cannabis cultivation can be labor-intensive, requiring constant monitoring and adjustments. By automating, manual intervention is greatly reduced. Sensors and automated systems manage environmental controls, irrigation, and nutrient delivery, freeing up valuable labor for other tasks like plant observation, trimming, and processing. It translates to lower labor costs and a more efficient operation.
- Improved Scalability and Growth Potential: Automation paves the way for easier scaling of cannabis cultivation operations. As businesses grow, adding more plants or expanding a growing space becomes less daunting. Existing automation systems are adapted to accommodate larger grow areas or increased production volumes. Scalability and growth opportunities can be capitalized on with this flexibility.
- Improved Safety for Workers: Certain aspects of cannabis cultivation can involve exposure to hazardous materials. For instance, some extraction processes utilize solvents that pose health risks if mishandled. Automation can significantly reduce worker exposure to these dangers by automating the handling and processing of such materials. Manual handling of hazardous materials can cause accidents, injuries, and health problems.
Types of Automation for Cannabis Cultivation
There are many ways to automate your cannabis harvesting:
- Environment controllers
- Light control and Timers
- Automated Irrigation
- Automated Nutrient Delivery
- Data Acquisition and Monitoring
- Automated Trimming and Processing
The future of automation solutions for cannabis cultivation may include Automated pest and disease control, AI-powered systems to optimize growth, and a Fully integrated grow room.
How do you Automate your Cannabis grow room?
There are many things to look out for before automating a cannabis grow room. Like, look for what is the size of your room. How much automation do you want? What is your budget? Where are you growing, and how many plants are you growing? Before proceeding, you need to check on these questions.
For example, if you don’t have a budget issue, you can get it fully automated, if it is a constraint, you might opt for some simple automation like lights with timers or automated moisture controller.
After sorting, it’s time to set up your grow room if you have many plants. There are many elements stated below worth automating cannabis large-scale grow room, skip some if you have a small-scale operation.
1. Automated Irrigation
For a simple automated irrigation setup, opt for a Drip Irrigation System. It involves piercing tiny holes into water pipes, over the root network. Water slowly drips and provides constant hydration to the roots.
It is a cheap option but not as good as automated ones. You can buy large automated irrigation machines for professional operations. It depends on your type of area and affordability.
2. Total Climate Control
With commercial growth, you might require a proper setup that controls all the aspects of cannabis growing. But this can be highly expensive as it controls lighting, temperature, irrigation, humidity, pH, nutrient dispensing, and CO2 levels.
It looks convenient but requires a hefty amount, so it’s only for large-scale growing. Also, you have to be skilled enough to optimize this automation.
3. Grow Boxes- All in One
Get an automated grow box (all-in-one), if you don’t want to do anything. These are self-optimized systems that know what your marijuana needs. As many cannabis industries, buy various automated machines that require time and extra money. You can save money if you are ready to invest your time.
Many grow boxes are smart systems to monitor and control the needs of your cannabis garden, including lightning, pH control, air circulation, fertilization, and watering. Some may come with carbon fillers to eliminate bad odor and can be controlled via smartphones. High-end machines also help in drying plants during harvesting. You can pick between two systems- hydroponic or soil systems, and monitor them with the camera.
4. DIY Automated Grow Boxes
While DIY systems are not as automated as machines, nor are they as accurate, they are cost-effective, and you can learn a lot with them.
What do you need? You need a container, so either go for a bucket or a box, whatever you have. You can also build a container with any opaque plastic jar.
It’s time to light up! Install lights, heating or cooling, ventilation, and watering systems, as per your environment. If you require less heat- LED grow lights are great and cheap. For a small grower, for ventilation opt for a computer fan or rechargeable fans available. Use stored water connected to the pond pump for watering purposes.
Now you have all the equipment, it’s time to automate. You can connect this via timers and make an interconnected system. You can also add thermometers and hygrometers with this chain. Now, you have a small DIY setup. It may not be fully automated but it is better to have something than nothing.
What is the estimated cost of automated cannabis grow rooms?
It’s tough to estimate the amount for an automated cannabis grow room. But if you are setting up a small grow tent, a timer will cost you around $10. Drip irrigation systems are relatively cheaper than high-end irrigation systems.
Similarly, for automatic fertilization, you may opt for a fertigation system ( a high-end nutrient dispensing machine). Controlling in large spaces requires investment, time, and labor, where an automated setup is a good idea. But you can opt for DIY setups or skip unnecessary products for small-scale operations.
So, in short, you can make it cheaper or costlier depending upon the factors, as mentioned earlier.
How do you Automate your Cannabis grow tent?
Grow tents are useful when home growers run a small-scale operation. Let us see how you can utilize grow tent space efficiently:
1. Light Control
Automated light control is the easiest and most affordable solution to streamline your task. Light is the single most crucial factor influencing cannabis growth. Timers ensure your plants receive the precise light cycles they need. Programmable timers allow you to set vegetative and flowering stages, mimicking natural light patterns. A typical vegetative cycle is 18/6, while a typical flowering cycle is 12/2.
Similarly, Light intensity also plays a role. Dimmer switches paired with timers enable you to gradually increase light intensity during the vegetative stage and decrease it subtly during flowering, mimicking natural sunrise and sunset. It not only optimizes plant growth but also reduces energy consumption.
2. Precise Humidity Control
Maintaining optimal humidity levels is essential for healthy cannabis growth. Humidistats act as the brain of humidity control. These devices continuously monitor humidity levels and trigger connected humidifiers or dehumidifiers to maintain the desired range.
Other essential tools are humidifiers and dehumidifiers. Based on the signal from the humidistat, humidifiers add moisture to the air when it’s too dry, while dehumidifiers remove excess moisture when humidity levels rise too high.
3. Air Circulation
Proper air circulation is crucial for healthy plant development and prevents mold growth. Installing exhaust fans removes stale air and introduces fresh air into the grow tent. Pairing exhaust fans with timers ensures they operate during optimal periods.
In-line fans provide additional air circulation within the grow tent, distributing fresh air evenly and preventing hot spots that can damage plants. These fans often work in conjunction with exhaust fans and carbon filters to create a negative pressure environment, further preventing odors from escaping the grow tent.
Automating your Cannabis grow- is it worth it?
It Depends! Few automations like setting lights or air pumps are okay if you are a home grower or small-scale grower. Save cost and time in the long run.
When it’s about a large scale then investing a hefty amount is okay because you are growing for commercial purposes. But if you have 10 or 20 plants, you can handle it without automation easily.
But if you are ready to invest and want to set up a proper automated cannabis grows, then go for it!
Conclusion
Overall, the Automation of Cannabis Cultivation offers various benefits to home growers and commercial people. From performance enhancement to meticulous monitoring and control, it does it all for you reducing time and labor requirements. You can either go for some smart equipment, as per your budget, or ask experts about it!