I was hoping to get some input from you all in here about a business venture I am starting with someone. I am starting a clone selling business and am trying to lessen the amount of work I have to do. I usually make my own soil and it's a pain to start out. I'm going to be starting with around 50 mother plants of varying genetics. I want to keep it organic without making up all those no tills or super soils etc. Each mother will be in their own 7 gallon smart pot. I'll probably go with the organic promix to start. Do you think this is a good idea? Normally I just have gotten bales of peat in the past and amended them. Next I want to discuss nutrients. I know I never said I would buy bottled nutrients again, but shit, I want easy here. What would some suggestions be? I know I know, gross. But I want to be able to mix up 50 gallons at a time when I water and be done with it. General organics? Advanced nutrients iguana juice? Should I just give up on organic for this project? I'm calculating all costs right now before I head to the accountant this week. Thank you for any pointers and advice.
IMO the no till would be way less expensive and way easier to maintain, if your just growing mothers to take clones from, I would go with a large raised bed instead of 50, 7 gal pots, since your not gonna have to move them, the bigger body of soil the better your plants will grow.
I did think of beds at first, but I eventually want to be able to move them. I have this filthy rich aunt who is financing this entire thing, and eventually we want to move into a warehouse with hundreds of different strains available. Our mission is to eventually sell to the large 5000+ plant grows that will be popping up soon since legalization. We are going to need a ton more space eventually to take on clients like that. And will be rotating and moving different strains in and out depending on their popularity.
Also, isn't no till better suited for plants growing their entire life cycle through flower? I want to keep these in veg indefinitely and will need to keep them fertilized longer than what a no till could offer. Unless I just kept top dressing
Just want to throw this out there. Not sure how it works down there but up in Canada ALL the big growers do everything in house themselves. They do this to insure genetics/health of clones and seeds. Just my 2 cents
I think it might just depend. I was just talking to this doctor the other day who quit to start the same type of business, he swung by my friends farm to drop off some CBD clones. When he was leaving there he was dropping off 5500 clones to another farm. He just does it with a few of his buddies.
I'm just thinking out loud here...let's say it costs me $.50c over head per clone, and I provide 5000 to someone for $3. It would cost me $2500 to produce and I would sell it for 15000, that's 12,500 profit.
I would do 20 gal smart pots for the mothers, with a good living soil it will take care of them in veg, just top dress mulch, etc. like any no till grow.
How will you manage pests? If you are doing a commercial organic grow you will need to rely on regular application of nametodes and predatory insects.
Yeah that's another thing I need to fully work out. I have only grown outdoors for years where nature has it's own checks and balances. I get by with neem, spinodad, and green cure fine. But the last time I grew indoors years ago, I was not organic.
Personally I think growing with bottled nutrients (organic or otherwise) will always be more work in the grand sceme of things. I think you should really think this through. I'm just saying, you want to start a commercial business and rely on a method of growing you are not at all familiar with. I for one would be very nervous. You could also hire a consultant, probably will be well worth the investment.
50 mother plants seems like a huge project, how/where are you sourcing them? I would want to grow a clone from each mother and only use the ones that have good yield, disease resistance, and a superior high.R&D would be huge and ongoing, sounds like a lot of fun.
Given that I'm also from michigan I see a flaw in your business as it is only legal to gift marijuana at this point
50 cents overhead per clone doesn't seem even close to me. For 5,000 clones you would need 100 cloning tray/humidity domes at $10 a pop...there's $1,000 gone. Most of your customers will prefer them to be in rockwool or rapid rooters. This could be another $500-1000. Mother plants... just the containers could be another $100. How bout $1/gallon to fill them....another $350 gone. Getting awfully close to 50 cents per clone already. What about rent/mortgage on the facility? How about $75-100 a month to insure the building? Add at least $500 a month in electricity. What about the lights and HVAC equipment to keep Mom's and the lils? Thousands more. How bout that employee you hired? More money. Then there's the accountant for payroll and taxes. More money. What about state fees for being able to operate? Will you be required to track everything in METRC? All this will be on you to manage...say goodbye to any fun for the next couple years! We haven't even considered fuel expenses for transport. Did you land a big customer that wants you to take cuts from his farm? Whoops. Now you've infested your entire operation w/ broad mites. You may be able to sell them and tarnish your reputation or you'll have to kill everything and clean house. This could also tarnish your rep by causing delays in production for your customers. When I worked on the hill in Humboldt 5-6 years back clones were selling for $8-12 a pop. Up there some of the overhead is reduced simply because there is no law to deal with. The prices up there for clones is somewhat inflated because most of those guys like to spend winter in Mexico, Costa Rica, Thailand, etc. A profit can be made up there, but it comes w risk. Step on the wrong toes and your loved ones will never see you again. Short story long, I think you would be lucky if you could produce clones at $3 a pop. 50 cents a pop isn't even close to reality. Tell your Aunt to save her money. RD
i love it @ElRanchoDeluxe! the only two things i suggest adding to your list is; 7/24/365 there are no breaks, or few of them, when it comes to plant husbandry and, perhaps most importantly, there is very little gold in them thar "fields of green"!
Haha there's always a pessimist, I'm more of an optimist myself. I was not figuring in initial investment in that .50 cents a clone number. Hell I barely ran anything through my head. I was just thinking out loud. My aunt has been asking me to run something like this for 2 years now, and she's already said if it doesn't work out oh well. She's got deep pockets, like if we blew 50k and failed she would just say oh well and head back to Florida on her boat. I get where you're coming from though. I just got off the phone with her a short time ago and we are bringing in a marijuana business consultant that has done things in Colorado and California.
If 50cents a clone is the overhead then your time must not be worth much. Overhead includes your time working and tending the plants, clones and mothers both. Plus everything else, electricity, insurance, lawyers, cost of the building, licensing, nutrients, medium, containers, etc, etc. You wont even be making minimum wage all said and done at $3 a clone. I'm positive the overhead will be considerably more then $3 just to break even without paying yourself. You'll just be throwing the other person's money away, wealthy or not that's a great way to loose a backer and ruin your reputation for any ventures in the future. Would a business like this even be legal in Michigan? From what I understand I don't believe it is