Creating a DIY shipping container farm is complex. It presents many challenges for aspiring hydroponic farmers due to the amount of technical knowledge required.
In this blog, we’ll discuss the downsides of creating a DIY shipping container farm by yourself. If you’re interested in shipping container farming, and want to weigh your next options, this is the blog for you.
What is a Shipping Container Farm?
A shipping container farm is a hydroponic system that’s housed inside an insulated shipping container. The container is equipped with LED grow lights, nutrient delivery systems and water circulation systems to ensure plants receive necessary nutrients.
Additionally, a shipping container farm often features vertical farming racks to maximize space efficiency, allowing for the cultivation of a variety of crops in a compact area. Container farms are a sustainable and efficient way to grow fresh produce year-round, with faster grow times and fewer water requirements than traditional agriculture.
Shipping containers are a great option for hydroponic farmers due to the abundance of containers available for purchase, their relative ease in modification compared with other options and their ability to be moved and stacked.
What Are the Downsides of a DIY Shipping Container Farm?
A DIY shipping container farm is not a small undertaking. It requires specific knowledge around shipping container modification, insulation, successful integration of monitoring electronic systems and more.
A DIY shipping container farm not only demands a specific skillset for steel modification, but also requires an understanding of how hydroponic systems work, from pH to temperature regulation.
Additionally, you’ll have to purchase the materials necessary to make a DIY shipping container farm. The costliest of these materials will be the shipping container itself and the high-powered grow lights. Most container farmers purchase high cube reefer shipping containers because they’re already insulated, but these are often the most expensive containers you can buy.
These materials account for about 80% of the complete part cost. You can buy your container from shipping container companies, but reefer (refrigerated) containers vary in quality and can be difficult to come by in some markets.
Setup Challenges
Constructing a hydroponic system inside a shipping container is a complex process. You’ll need to design, build and integrate the farm’s framework, plumbing and electrical components. Ensuring proper alignment and functionality requires technical expertise and is a time-consuming process.
Customization Effort
DIY projects often involve customization. While this allows flexibility, it also means you’ll need to adapt existing systems or create your own. Developing a hydroponic setup tailored to the container’s dimensions and your specific needs is a timely and costly undertaking.
What are the Advantages of Buying a Shipping Container Farm?
When you purchase a shipping container farm from Pure Greens, you’re working with a team of container modification professionals that have worked on countless other container farms.
Pure Greens has a 90,000 sq. ft. indoor fabrication facility, staffed with an experienced team that’s customized shipping containers for a variety of uses, including container farms.
When you want to start a container farming operation, it makes sense to work with a team that’s done it successfully. From obtaining reefer containers in bulk, to installing several-ton HVAC units onto the container’s body, there’s numerous things that our professional team can do more efficiently than the standard DIY container farm designer. Even experienced DIY growers will benefit from spending less time to get a setup operational, especially if they’re already burdened with the operations of existing farms.
When you work with professionals, you get the same ability to customize your system to meet your needs, without the headaches that can come from doing it yourself.
Here’s just a few more advantages of buying a custom shipping container farm:
Quicker Production, Meaning You Can Start Selling Sooner
Purchasing a shipping container farm with Pure Greens instead of doing it yourself significantly speeds up the production process. We have the expertise and experience to set up your hydroponic system quickly, while also ensuring that all components are installed correctly and work together as they should.
This means you’ll start growing crops sooner and begin selling your produce faster. The reduced setup time translates to quicker returns on your investment, allowing you to capitalize on market opportunities without the delays often associated with DIY projects.
Professional Insulation & Electrical Integration
One of the key advantages of working with Pure Greens is the quality of insulation and electrical integration. Proper insulation is crucial for maintaining a stable growing environment, which is essential for plant health and productivity. We use high-quality materials and techniques to ensure optimal thermal regulation, making your system less sensitive to outside climate conditions.
Additionally, professional electrical integration ensures that all systems, including lighting, climate control and nutrient delivery, are safely and efficiently connected. This reduces the risk of electrical issues and ensures that your farm operates smoothly and reliably.
A Network of Support
At Pure Greens, we don’t just manufacture container farms. We provide instructional support for hydroponic growers, providing you with what you need to get your feet off the ground when it comes to starting a hydroponic operation of your own.
With instruction about how to go about your first grow cycle from beginning to end, to detailed information about the nutrient requirements and growth cycle of hydroponic plants, we’ll provide you with helpful information that our growers have learned from years of hydroponic experience.
Summary
While custom container farms can be more expensive when compared to a DIY shipping container farm, Pure Greens ensures that your system is optimized with proper insulation, saving you time and effort. This allows you to focus on the development of your hydroponic farming business.
Interested in learning more about our production process, and how a Pure Greens container farm can help you start your own hydroponic produce business? Contact us today, and we can assist you in determining the type of hydroponic system that’s right for you.
