What's something profitable we can grow indoors besides dope (animal or vegetable)?

May 10, 2009 10:55 AM

What's something lucrative we can grow indoors in 4000 square feet of warehouse space besides pot?

We have a software company occupying a warehouse adjacent to an empty affordable 4000 square foot warehouse in northern Ohio. What are some creative, potentially lucrative crops we might grow/develop in an indoor space (besides pot)? I'm thinking of things like crickets, ladybugs, mushrooms (non-hallucinogenic), algae (?), compost tea, moss?

posted by pallen123 to work & money (27 comments total)

Tomatoes.
posted by dunkadunc at 11:08 AM on May 10

Synsepalum dulcificum - Miracle Fruit
posted by acro at 11:14 AM on May 10 [3 favorites has favorites]

Your problem with growing most plants indoors (assuming your 4000 sq. ft. isn't lit with bright natural light) is that you're unlikely to be competitive with someone growing something under glass or in a poly-tunnel. The main reason pot is grown indoors is that it's less likely to be noticed, and hence the huge expense tied up in lighting the premises becomes economically acceptable. Even if your warehouse has a lot of windows, you're not going to be getting enough light to get a decent yield of anything much.

Exotic mushrooms are the most obvious choice here I would think, provided you can work out the logistics of suppliers (of equipment, spores and growing media) and customers.
posted by le morte de bea arthur at 11:15 AM on May 10

Non-magic mushrooms. Morels ain't cheap.
posted by holgate at 11:29 AM on May 10

Dunkadunc and le morte beat me to it ("tomatoes", and "might be hard to compete with people who get the light for free"). Along those same flawed lines, though, how about flowers?

Seems to me that what you need to look for is something there's a local market for but which doesn't travel well (which is why tomatoes are a classic answer).
posted by hattifattener at 11:35 AM on May 10

Yes, Mushrooms are the way to go here. Shitake, chanterelles, you name it.

Growing mushrooms is not like growing tomatoes though. It's more like a science experiment. Think HEPA filters, sterilization, segmented growing spaces so that contamination won't spread and wipeout an entire harvest. It's really much more like a science experiment than putting seeds into a pile of dirt and watering them.

The good thing is that it's not climate dependent, so you can grow year round, and harvest pretty much consistently.
posted by Freen at 11:41 AM on May 10

Salad. If you grow intensively, the cost of lighting and hydroponics is offset by the savings in distibution (this warehouse presumably being fairly near population centres). But the capital investment is high.
posted by WPW at 11:41 AM on May 10

Morel Mushroom howto: Note the use of autoclave, humidity and C02 levels, etc. This is science. (However, it is fun science!)
posted by Freen at 11:43 AM on May 10

I seem to remember a snippet from QI that said Rhubarb is grown in the dark...not sure if it was all the time or not though, or how profitable it will be.
posted by gregjones at 12:22 PM on May 10

Rhubarb is forced in Spring in the dark, but is ooutside for the rest of the year to recover.
posted by Solomon at 12:35 PM on May 10

Microgreens? They don't photosnythsize, as I understand it.
posted by Leon at 12:57 PM on May 10

mushrooms, try oyster ones
posted by fifilaru at 1:09 PM on May 10

Before growing mushrooms I would investigate the potential for stink first. Perhaps different breeds stink less than buttons, or maybe on the scale you're proposing it would be minimal. This is only anecdotal, but I pass a mushroom farm on a regular basis and it the stench is horrible. Revolting. The kind of stench that feels like it is lining the back of your throat with slime.
posted by cCranium at 1:14 PM on May 10

Growing mushrooms at scale is not a reasonable recommendation for novices. Mushroom workers' lung is a real issue with oysters, for instance. Working out a sales channel, dealing with steaming chicken feces and straw (as with buttons), ... are all non-trivial.
posted by rr at 1:25 PM on May 10

Cilantro
posted by cda at 1:32 PM on May 10

Just so you know, the tastiest mycorrhizal fungi such as chanterelles and boletes are not going to grow indoors. They need trees!
posted by shinybeast at 1:45 PM on May 10

Growing Mushrooms on a large scale can be pretty lucrative once you are established, but the set up cost will be pretty high. the growing space needs to be pretty highly temperature and humidity controlled, and your growing medium needs to be pasteurized, requiring a steam room or big retort.

Also morels, chanterelles, and other wild mushrooms are expensive for a reason. There is i believe, one company in the U.S that is cultivating Morels commercially, and their method remains patented. And As far as i know no one has managed to cultivated chanterelles indoors.

That said, if you are willing to invest, there is money to be made, and it can be alot of fun.
I would recommend starting with oysters, they are fairly easy to grow, you can usually still get a good price, and they can be grown on straw rather then manure, leaving you with a much nicer smelling warehouse.

I would also recommend skiping the lab work yourself to start, and just buy your spawn from a spawn maker.

Right now I am in the process of building my own (very small scale) lab and grow space, so if you have any questions about specifics feel free to memail me.
posted by St. Sorryass at 2:01 PM on May 10

Rent out winter garden plots, for when the Ohio growing season is over? Or, I know it's not growing, but use the space for an indoors farmers' market? Rent stalls on a weekly/seasonal basis? Otherwise, wheatgrass?
posted by Tufa at 2:06 PM on May 10

If someone gave me 4000 square feet of warehouse space to play around with and was only told to "grow something," I'd go with an abalone farm, like this one. Or some other high-profit margin aquaculture -- koi, clams, oysters, mussels, crabs, etc.
posted by Cool Papa Bell at 2:09 PM on May 10 [1 favorite has favorites]

I'd get a bunch of dirt and...

... create a track for RC cars! Charge people by the hour for use, and provide bench space for their repairs/ tune ups. Work out a deal with local delivery places to deliver to your warehouse.

(It might be a bit loud, so I'd make sure to pay special attention to soundproofing any shared walls.)
posted by parilous at 2:28 PM on May 10

So I don't know if its entirely clear from the postings here, but mushroom farms smell awful. I used to drive through New Garden, PA to visit my grandparents, and there are at least a dozen or so mushroom farms there. We always had to roll the windows up and close the vents or just about die from the fumes.
posted by valkyryn at 3:13 PM on May 10

Shroomies. Whatever kind you're into.
posted by futureisunwritten at 4:49 PM on May 10

Worm farm
posted by maggieb at 5:30 PM on May 10

You could attempt to cultivate matsutake, but I don't think anyone's ever been successful in doing so artificially.
posted by armage at 6:57 PM on May 10

You could turn the place into a paintball warehouse, fun and decently easier than gardening I would think.
posted by BrnP84 at 7:57 PM on May 10

Skateboarders!
posted by dmt at 8:06 AM on May 11

Endive. Easy to grow, doesn't want light, sells for big bucks at the market.
posted by mudpuppie at 10:45 AM on May 11