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Startup Sells Pot 'Grow Fridges' That Are Tended By Robots (nj.com)
NJ Advance Media reports on "an Israeli and Maryland-based startup that claims to be able to quadruple the yield of traditional cannabis grows" -- using indoor, climate-controlled 40-inch-tall "grow fridges" that are tended by robots.
You see, despite the old cliche of "growing like a weed," cannabis has actually been something of a high-maintenance slacker when it comes to its cultivation... In shade, it provides far less seed and pollen. It's not tolerant of the cold, and does not reproduce well in drought. It's also very susceptible to fungal infections, so too much water leaves it vulnerable to pathogens... For years, the high price fetched by traditionally farmed cannabis and low cost of human labor conspired to make robotic farming uneconomical.
What else is inside the Seedo container besides the plants, gro-bots and soil? Nothing -- which is kind of the whole point: Seedo uses a patented, beyond-surgical grade filtration system that ionizes the air, making it deadly to bacteria, viruses and mold.... At $150,000 per Seedo container, the costs to achieve this are high, but cutting the usual 10 percent to 20 percent loss to disease of a traditionally farmed cannabis crop to disease to less than 5 percent, they rapidly become economical... A traditionally-farmed 1,000 square meter grow operation produces 600 kilograms of cannabis per year. But Levy says 16 Seedo containers (along with a Seedo robot to tend them) can fit into that same space, producing 2.4 tons of dry bud [2,177 kilograms]. And because they can be stacked 5 high, the same robotically farmed footprint can generate up to 12 tons [10,886 kilograms] of dry bud cannabis. "You can make a return on investment very fast," said Levy, whose backers now include include Daniel Birnbaum, the CEO of SodaStream International, acquired by Pepsi late last year for $3.2 billion.
"Think of Seedo as the first driverless car for hydroponic growing," explains their web site, noting that their gro-bots control each container's temperature, humidity, lighting, pH sensors, and automated CO2-release systems, with internal cameras offering HD-live streaming to their iOS/Android app.
Seedo is now "in negotiations" to export its containers to California and Nevada, according to the article, and also in New Jersey -- assuming New Jersey's state legislature votes to legalize it first.
What else is inside the Seedo container besides the plants, gro-bots and soil? Nothing -- which is kind of the whole point: Seedo uses a patented, beyond-surgical grade filtration system that ionizes the air, making it deadly to bacteria, viruses and mold.... At $150,000 per Seedo container, the costs to achieve this are high, but cutting the usual 10 percent to 20 percent loss to disease of a traditionally farmed cannabis crop to disease to less than 5 percent, they rapidly become economical... A traditionally-farmed 1,000 square meter grow operation produces 600 kilograms of cannabis per year. But Levy says 16 Seedo containers (along with a Seedo robot to tend them) can fit into that same space, producing 2.4 tons of dry bud [2,177 kilograms]. And because they can be stacked 5 high, the same robotically farmed footprint can generate up to 12 tons [10,886 kilograms] of dry bud cannabis. "You can make a return on investment very fast," said Levy, whose backers now include include Daniel Birnbaum, the CEO of SodaStream International, acquired by Pepsi late last year for $3.2 billion.
"Think of Seedo as the first driverless car for hydroponic growing," explains their web site, noting that their gro-bots control each container's temperature, humidity, lighting, pH sensors, and automated CO2-release systems, with internal cameras offering HD-live streaming to their iOS/Android app.
Seedo is now "in negotiations" to export its containers to California and Nevada, according to the article, and also in New Jersey -- assuming New Jersey's state legislature votes to legalize it first.
The only concern is if the AI in the robots advances enough that it decides it wants to get high and smokes all the profits away.
Given how well this works fo ra fussy plant like pot, I wonder what other plants it could be tuned to grow with high productivity?
There are not many crops that can yield the kind of return pot can, but for legal ones I'm thinking at least Saffron...
"There is more worth loving than we have strength to love." - Brian Jay Stanley
Oooooh spend $1000's to grow an OZ of dry weed? LOL Its not the first system either. there been a couple more over the last 5 years. Get a small grow tent. led. fans and an autopot system and you got the same thing for $500. There will be some idiots parted with their money soon.
by TheSpoom (715771) Uncaring Linux user here. I have nothing to add to this but please continue. *munches popcorn*
Legalizing marijuana will probably go a long way towards combating homelessness rather than adding to it. Many of the people who are becoming destitute are that way after becoming addicted to opioids prescribed as pain medication. In many cases, cannabis would not only be far more effective for managing their pain, but it also eliminates the knock-on effects from patients becoming addicted to opioids.
Additionally, once people start turning to illegal drugs, they tend to get impure product that's been cut without god knows what that can have more detrimental health effects than the drug itself. Once a product becomes legal, customers don't have to buy low-grade black market product. We saw the same with alcohol where during prohibition, and now that alcohol is legal again you almost never find anyone who dies from consuming something purchased in a store due to it being a badly prepared batch.
cutting the usual 10 percent to 20 percent loss to disease of a traditionally farmed cannabis crop to disease to less than 5 percent, they rapidly become economical.
I'm pretty sure that the cost for adding 10% more plants is less than one of those robot systems.
Didn't your mother teach you anything? Metric is for cocaine. If you go to your dealer asking for 30 grams of cannabis, they are going to look at you as if you're from Mars.
despite the old cliche of "growing like a weed,"
That saying isn't about fucking weed. It's about weeds. What a stupid line. I'm sure they felt INCREDIBLY clever when they wrote it.