The next diversification direction for EDEN is indoors. In a word, the reason is control—over every aspect of the growing environment: light level and spectrum, climate (temp and humidity), pests, and more. In addition, we’ll be able to grow year round (regardless of the weather) and we can maximize growing cycles by actively determining the length of the “day” in our grow rooms. Changing weather patterns are increasing the risk of getting completely wiped out by rain, storms, or pests.
Last winter, we installed a large propagation table to give us a head start on the grow season. The next logical step is an indoors hydro setup. Expensive? Yes, but a guaranteed crop sure goes a long way toward protecting our investment. It’s true that we have much to learn about grow lights, ventilation, heat dispersion, and so on.
Thankfully, we have a local expert (Joe at Coast Hydroponics) who’s been answering our questions and making recommendations for several years now. The cost of electricity is the main concern of most. Foreseeing this eventuality, we installed an oversized solar PV system in 2015. An indoor grow system will help us to leverage that investment too. It seems that the key to semi-self sufficiency is vertical integration—controlling everything from the soil to the sun.