Auto-Grow is a philosophy and a system. The goal is to decentralize agriculture, using hydroponics as a low-input, self-sustaining model for food, medicine, and air purification.
We believe in teaching people how to grow healthy plants with:
- Minimal synthetic nutrients
- Recycled and repurposed materials
- Open-source automation (pH, TDS, temp, and water control)
- Scientific literacy and self-sufficiency
The Requirements of the DecentralizedAg proposition
-Love and Understanding.
1- Black plastic, 6mm, 6' by 100'. $36.97- For the light proofing of reservoirs. For the improvisation and creation of reservoirs with incompatible materials.
2- A random plastic container to start growing. I have a lot to spare for the first 10 customers or so, but after that one will have to purchase them or source them. $0-$170 (200 gallon IBC totes is the max im setting here)
3-Lights- All white LED bar lights from 22W to 44W can easily grow 10 heads of lettuce. Its all about angle of incidence, AKA can you position all the lights exactly where you want them. If growing flowering crops, a more intense or variable(spectrum+timing) light source will be needed. Vegetative crops are all very easy and low maintenance. (Vegetative=leaves, flowering= fruits/veggies/root crops). The cost here is roughly $1/ watt of light. However this price is decreasing fast, and then increasing fast again because of political reasons. I purchased a 70W LED light for 45 dollars 2 weeks ago. Indicating a drop to 0.64 cents/ watt of light. Its quite variant, and even a lot of free LEDS can be had from local failed grow attempts.
4- Air- You must either have air conditioning here in florida, or some means of venting. If you arent going to condition your air, you have to accept the local flora as being your range of potential crops. Point being- you must do something to to air, whether its building a greenhouse with fans and openable flaps, or putting up shade screen so your tomatos dont get roasted in the day and crack at night. The movement of air around crops is essential and often not enough in outdoor natural environments. I use carbon filters to adsorb water and pollutants out of the air. I use inline fans to move air out the top. I use dehumidifiers to remove water from over-populated areas. The air is easily overlooked, and easily the 2nd most important thing. I think of it like this, a plant cant drink, if the air is 100% RH. Plants dont drink the same way you and I do, they are much more privy to the environment and they use things like diffusion and gradients in order to do work.
5-Water- Finding a solid water source is also challenging. Local water companies may sell filtered water by the gallon for 5 gallon jugs, 3 gallon jugs, or 1 gallon jugs for 25cents a gallon. But this is becoming less feasible and I presume I will see an increase in this cost as the cost of everything will artificially increase soon. Not to fret though, there are many ways to filter water yourself. From trees and grapevine Xylems to carbon-sand biofilters, to just making a whole damn still. Its very doable. But, its always easier to outsource ones weaknesses. 25c a gallon is my cost. You dont want to use water that has a large amount of calcium of chloramines in it because it will negatively affect ion absorption and overall leaf turgor. Calcium is super important in the plant so for there to be an excessive amount can be a problem, especially considering that too much of any one thing- will cause imbalances in another.
6-Salts- I called them nutrients above but in reality they are just ionic salts. In the same way that NaCl is a salt, so is Mg2SO4*7H2O. Ive done a lot of experimenting with salt ratios, raw amounts, differing concentrations, rotating applications, time of application, etc. I have even RAG trained an open source LLM on hydroponic textbooks and some handwritten guidelines for my microbe assisted, low-ppm, swing approach. It is the smallest part of importance in terms of caring for the plant, often times in nature the plant can make the element it needs in the soil available through excretion of root enzymes/acids or by forming symbiotic relationships with microbes. I make use of both of these things in a hdyroponic reservoir. I let it swing its pH and read what it wants (reference mulder's chart for a rough idea of pH: element availability). Its absolutely crucial to use good salts of known quality. Centrifuge/distill/titrate them out yourself(not that hard just time consuming and capital consuming), or buy solid dry mixes that you can test yourself. For 5 lbs of N-P-K and micro mix, 5 lbs of Mg2SO4, 5 lbs of calcium nitrate, and some potassium silicate- youre looking at 5 lbs of masterblend- $20, 5lbs of calcium nitrate- $15, 5lbs of Mg2SO4 $15 online, but cheaper in the store, Potassium Silicate- A dry Lb costs about 20-30 bucks, whereas the liquid stuff in a smaller overall amount costs 21 dollars a bottle, liquid is easier to use, powder is more labor but better solubility usually. So 70-80 bucks total. At the rate I have been using my fertilizer (less than a Lb per year to grow upwards of 20 plants a year), it costs me roughly $16 dollars a year for my fertilizer costs. Its such a non factor in cost Ive begun researching how to produce some of the salts locally out of my own compost. Another essay.
7-Environmental- This means adding air pumps and stones for the reservoirs, theyre cheap and easily maintained. 1W per gallon is a good ratio. Could also apply to sealing and insulation for protection from elements/pests. Also quite cheap and mostly a labor expense. Air pumps are usually 10-25 dollars, and the stones are 2-3 dollars a piece, maybe more depending on size.
In conclusion- renting a place and mass producing one crop would be folly. It is that practice that has made the US agriculture as weak as it is today. I wish to integrate plants back into peoples everyday lives. They can pay me to take care of it, interact with an AI with tooling to measure and adjust for them, or do it themselves and Ill teach them. I dont care about how people do it, I just care that they do it and stop accepting mediocrity in our agriculture. I will not make generalized and inaccurate claims of what I can produce for you. Each situation is different, and each one has to be approached with different priorities. Its why growing coffee is cheaper in certain regions- they have to input less to make it grow. We are already air conditioning, and heating cast spaces. Why not use that energy to produce something instead of creating more consumer spaces?
1. Transpiration
Plants breathe. They do this through a process called transpiration.
Water is pulled from the roots, up through the xylem and phloem, and exits the plant through stomata—tiny pores on leaves, flowers, and stems. But it’s not just water they move. This flow carries nearly all of their nutritional input. Most growers don’t fully grasp this: nutrient absorption is driven by water movement. Transpiration is how plants eat, breathe, and live.
People use a metric called VPD (Vapor Pressure Deficit) to try to understand this relationship. But VPD is flawed. It ignores salinity, ion content, magnetic influences, and—most importantly—plant genetics. It’s a half-measure for something deeply dynamic.
If you want to truly grow well, learn to observe:
- Vigor (growth rate)
- Turgor (pressure and posture)
- Vitality (overall health and responsiveness)
Watch your plants. Smell them. Touch them. Don’t rely on sensors alone. This is where the art meets the science.
Temperature matters. Your reservoir water should stay within ±5°F of ambient air. Why?
- Cooler water slows transpiration, reducing infections and microbial overgrowth.
- Warmer water increases nutrient flow, but also raises the risk of disease.
I use a swing approach—lowering temps to clear pathogens, raising them to boost growth. It’s not about stability. It’s about control. Dynamic control.
Transpiration is the most important variable I track. I measure:
- How much water moves
- Its pH
- Its ppm
- The amount of H2O2 added
- And the plant’s exact reaction
That’s how you grow like a pro. That’s how you understand biology. Not in theory, but in practice. In touch.
