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This is a for small hipster raised bed farming in back yard. Maybe it doesn't have to scale to a size of a commercial farm
by bobiny 5y ago
This is a for small hipster raised bed farming in back yard. Maybe it doesn't have to scale to a size of a commercial farm
- mikepurvis 5y agoAs a fellow backyard raised bed hipster, part of the point for me is going out and tending it. I struggle to see the value in this unless it’s about scaling.
- lifty 5y agoYou will tend the robot instead.
- schmorptron 5y agoAh, the Minecraft Modpack methodology.
- kortex 5y agoWhen you start off playing Stardew Valley but end up playing Factorio/Satisfactory.
- MayeulC 5y agoOne personal (and open source) favourite of mine is Mindustry. I also heard of shapez.io.
- bobiny 5y agoI get automatic watering, especially in arid climates, but planting and weed plucking is excessive imo.
- ProZsolt 5y agoBut automatic watering is a solved problem. You can set up an automatic drip irrigation system very cheaply.
- mikepurvis 5y agoFor a small bed like the one in the demonstration, surely that's more simply managed with a drip hose and maybe a timer? Drip hoses are also better from a water consumption point of view since it goes straight to the soil— you don't lose any to runoff or evaporation.
- bluGill 5y agoLarge farms put the hoses in the ground - the water never touches the air (well I assume some will seep to the surface, but not much), instead it is applied only close to the roots. You need to be very careful to apply your seeds just above the hose, but this is a solved problem: modern farming can place each seed to within 2cm of where intended over large fields even when the tractor is planting 50 rows at a time at 20km/h.
- blacktriangle 5y agoFor me, playing with tech is part of the reason I have a backyard farm. So far I've just played with very basic things like sunken hose irrigation with timers hooked up to a rain gauge so it only waters when there's no rain, but I'd love to have the time to look more into the robotics side of things. For those of us who sling CRUD sites all day long, the opportunity to dig into more machine/computer interaction is just fun.
- mikepurvis 5y agoFair enough! I work at a robotics company, and I already feel guilt for not putting more effort into my existing homeassistant and networking setup. But if you were wanting to scratch an itch, I could definitely picture this being rewarding.
- jvanderbot 5y agoAs a tech-crazed wanna-be hipster gardener, the value is pretending to do it "better" than the backyard raised bed hipsters. Observe: "Using the manual controls, you can move FarmBot and operate its tools and peripherals in real-time. Scare birds away while at work, take photos of your veggies, turn the lights on for a night time harvest, or simply impress your friends and neighbors with a quick demo."
- bobiny 5y agoMaybe you wouldn't get a garden otherwise if you've got no skill, no experience living on a farm. This way you get to have a garden without know how to do it and without a choir part like watering regularly. Now you can water whenever you feel like it.
- spelunker 5y agoSame - I enjoy working in my garden because it's a break from my office tech job! Robot aside, the UI to plan your planting is pretty great though.
- TaylorAlexander 5y agoI’m working on a different farming robot. Since my office is at the farm and half of my work is doing something outside with the machine, it’s a pretty idyllic setting for a job!
- clifdweller 5y agoI thought the same thing. I could care less about the robot but a good garden planning app would be nice and let you track when you water, plant, harvest/ yield of crop from year to year
- daddylongstroke 5y agoAn app can't tell you that. You need to get out and observe every day. That's the fun of growing plants and raising animals.
- mkr-hn 5y agoSome day I hope everyone has a backyard farm to supply at least some of their food. Some of those people will need assistance to do it.
- bobiny 5y agoCommunity gardens.
- TaylorAlexander 5y agoThis! I started bookmarking community gardens in Oakland. There’s quite a few and I hope more space can be allocated for them in the future!
- bobiny 5y agoMy dream is to make gardens under geodesic domes. In UK there is Eden project with 2 domes: one has mediterranean climate and another tropical. Imagine being able to grow mangoes and pineapples almost anywhere (it maybe too expensive in some climates, but maybe just growing strawberries there would be nice). https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MWr67v620kY https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MWr67v620kY
- mikepurvis 5y agoI'd love to figure out how to do this in such a way that some or all of the warmth for them could come from waste-heat sources. Seems like such a waste to build a dome for growing local food and then have to heat it through the night with conventional fuels.
- ratsforhorses 5y agoOn a side note, check out forest gardening, namely "Plants for a future" is an excellent reference/book pfaf.orgyou, the author whom I had the luck to meet had a "huge" garden nearby in Cornwall
- daddylongstroke 5y ago
- kortex 5y agoThat's exactly what I have and I'm telling you, it's still impractical. One, my greenhouse is a 24x13' footprint (which is pretty much the minimum useable with for a walk-in), with 3 bed rows 16' long, 2 or 4' wide. So I'd need 3 robot setups. Beds are long and skinny to facilitate human ergonomics. The shown examples are way too wide for raised beds, unless they are the walk-on type. So I'd still benefit from a robot which could straddle the bed and be easy to move from one bed to another.
- bobiny 5y agoMaybe you need 1 robot with wide legs?
- maxioatic 5y agoIt's open source and designed to be modular/expandable. What's stopping you from building one to fit your needs? Here's some pictures[0] of people building larger scale ones: - 10x20' inside a greenhouse - 1.5x18m outdoor [0] - https://forum.farmbot.org/t/photo-contest-post-your-best-farmbot-photo-from-2020/7059/4 https://forum.farmbot.org/t/photo-contest-post-your-best-far...
- commandlinefan 5y ago> small hipster raised bed farming in back yard As a small hipster raised bed farmer (or rather, gardener), I actually looked into this at one point - the $1500 price tag put me off of it really quick. There's no way that kind of investment makes sense unless you're planning to sell the vegetables to recoup your investment - and it's doubtful that the machine will realistically last more than five years or so, so you'll have to replace it at some point in the fairly near future.
- bobiny 5y agoI think you pay to get hands off garden.
- commandlinefan 5y agoIn that case, you're better off just buying your produce at the grocery store.
- bobiny 5y agoBut you can watch it grow.
- toofy 5y agoi mean, how many hobbies can you say that about? most of them i imagine. hobbies are about tinkering and learning. we usually put far more in financially then we get returned financially. hobbies are expensive.
- bobiny 5y agoLike home made beer. Unless stuff at the store is really bad and/or super expensive. But in terms of gardening I'd bet on hydroponics.
- toofy 5y agoi don’t think this is an investment kind of project. it’s a hobby, more for people who enjoy the tinkering as much as some people enjoy playing in their own gardens which often costs far more than they’re getting in return via food. simply an early open source iteration with hopes for community improvements as more people with varying needs begin to contribute. this seems like its definitely not a project yet for people who don’t enjoy that as a hobby.
- qq4 5y agoSlightly off topic, but what is it about raised beds? Why not till and fertilize the soil you already have?
- lwb 5y agoTexas checking in -- the dirt in my backyard is full of clay and totally unsuitable for growing anything other than grass and weeds. Many places are like this.
- qq4 5y agoThat makes sense, and maybe I'm sweeping aside many places similar without thinking about them. In the Midwest I've always had good luck in the ground.
- f-securus 5y agoThe back loves raised beds compared to the alternative.
- afrodc_ 5y agoFinally got a home and am finding the same thing here in central Texas. At least with the crap soil the builders use to form the land around the foundation. My plan is to attempt to grow more deep rooted plants so their roots can break up the soil and die off when I trim them. Then aeration and topsoil composting. Still a work in progress so I have no idea if it'll work.
- elmolino89 5y agoThe clay soil usually has a low organic matter content. So bringing mulch, grass clippings etc. does improve several key factors for the plants to thrive. The problem with putting a layer of rotting grass/weeds on the top is that at least in some locations it will make a perfect slug/snail farm. So I prefer to burry it in shallow pits/trenches. Also probably any preferably dense plant cover protects the top layer from being backed by the sun and becoming brick-like.