Black Friday Sale, November 10–30: 25% off select KiS Organics products plus three Black Friday bundles. No code needed. Shop the sale.
Key Takeaways from Episode 173
- If you're on a tight budget, buy a quality sensor before you buy a controller. Cheap sensors all read differently, and bad data leads to bad decisions.
- The sensor on the wall or on your AC unit doesn't tell you what the plants are feeling. Put sensors in the canopy, and add a second one to any room or zone bigger than about 30 by 30 feet.
- A full Trolmaster setup runs around $1,000 to $2,500. The next tier of larger systems starts around $4,000 to $6,000 and comes with training and support.
- Switching controller brands as you grow usually isn't hard, because most systems trigger equipment off the same 24-volt signals.
Episode Overview
My guest this week is Kelley Nicholson with Autogrow. I first met Kelley at our Cannabis Cultivation and Science Conference in Bozeman this year, and she came highly recommended by my good friend Dr. Nadia Sabeh, Dr. Greenhouse. Kelley has been working with indoor and greenhouse growers for over 26 years, and about 12 years ago she stepped away from growing system design and equipment sales to focus on environmental, irrigation and nutrient controls.
Controllers aren't something I know a lot about, so I learned a lot in this one. We start with a small tent or home grow and work our way up to greenhouses and multi-zone commercial facilities, talking about what to monitor at each stage, how accurate your sensors really are, and what to look for when comparing control systems. Kelley also covers the most common mistakes she sees, buying equipment you can reuse as you scale, and what it takes to switch from one controller brand to another.
Her biggest piece of advice is to make a list of what you need and what you want before you start shopping. As she puts it, a lot of growers come in wanting a Porsche and settle on a Camry, and that's totally fine. There's a solution out there for every size of grow.
Episode Topics
- Starting small: What to monitor in a tent or small room, including temperature, humidity and VPD, and why sensor quality matters so much.
- Scaling to greenhouses: How many sensors you need, why greenhouse length matters more than width, and how zones are set up.
- Controller tiers and costs: From Trolmaster-style systems for small grows up to larger systems like Autogrow, Wadsworth and others, plus what 0–10 volt control does for lighting and fans.
- Equipment and HVAC: How controllers work with dehumidifiers, smart equipment and HVAC systems, and why canopy sensors beat the thermostat on the wall, especially in tiered grows.
- Common mistakes: Outgrowing an inexpensive controller, buying equipment that won't restart on its own after a power cycle, and planning for labor as you scale.
- Switching brands, support and subscriptions: What changes when you move to a bigger system, and why training and technical support matter, especially through your first year of seasonal swings in a greenhouse.
- Remote access and data: What mobile apps can and can't do, using historical data to spot problems like nighttime humidity buildup, and how remote logins are kept secure.
- Irrigation and moisture probes: Automated fertigation and dosing, and whether you need a moisture probe for each cultivar. Kelley shares an example from a Humboldt facility running four cultivars as four irrigation zones.
Related Products
A few things we carry for monitoring your own grow:
- Grow Sensor PRO Canopy Environmental Monitor – Monitors temperature and humidity right at the canopy.
- Blumat Digital Soil Moisture Meter – An accurate way to check soil moisture by hand.
- Grow Light Meter Diffuser and Cosine Corrector – Turns your phone into a light meter for checking PPFD at the canopy.