How to Save Money on Cultivation Labor without Compromising Quality

Did you know that the inputs you use, particularly your growing media, can have a measurable impact on your cultivation facility’s labor costs? At every stage of the grow cycle, there are opportunities to reduce labor costs without compromising quality simply by making changes to your substrate.

Following are some do’s and don’ts to save money on cultivation labor without compromising quality that every grower should know:

Don’t Unnecessarily Transplant

When you use the right soil, you won’t have to transplant as often, which will save you a considerable amount of time and money. For example, a multistate operator reduced labor savings by 70% after switching from Rockwool to bio365’s BIOCOCO.

As a result, you can either hire fewer people or reallocate each employee’s time to other activities. Either way, you’ll save money on cultivation labor, which you can invest into more profit-generating activities to grow your business.

Do Monitor Your Plants Needs

It’s essential that growers use the right tools to monitor plant needs. With the right tools, cultivators often discover their plants need less nutrition than they think.

Imagine how much you’d save in time and labor costs if you discovered that your plants need fewer inputs than you thought. And that leads us to the next tip… avoid using unnecessary inputs.

Don’t Use Unnecessary Inputs

Many growers use unnecessary inputs that require additional labor costs. However, if you use the right soil – a clean, high quality, nutrient-dense media – you can reduce those unnecessary inputs and your costs (including labor costs) significantly.

As a result, you’ll see faster vegetation times, you’ll have to feed plants less often, and you’ll spend less time watering.

Don’t Buy Bulk Soil

Most people think that buying anything in bulk will reduce overall costs, but that’s not always the case, particularly when buying in bulk increases your labor costs.

Rather than purchasing soil in bulk, it may make more sense to buy prefilled grow bags, which can reduce the amount of time your employees have to spend transplanting, filling pots, sterilizing pots, and so on.

As an example, consider a multistate operator that realized purchasing two-gallon grow bags of bio365 soil rather than buying in bulk would save hundreds of hours of labor for multiple employees and would effectively eliminate transplant shock because the plants would only have to be up-potted once! After the change, labor costs dropped significantly!

Do Use More Forgiving Soil

When you use a more forgiving soil, you’ll save time and money because you’ll grow healthier plants without sacrificing quality or consistency.

One of the largest multistate operators in the United States changed to bio365’s more forgiving soil to consistently produce cleaner crops while using fewer resources to keep the crops clean.

Don’t Overhire or Waste Time Hiring

For cannabis cultivators, wasted labor costs typically come from two primary areas: hiring too many workers and hiring highly skilled workers. You can cut those labor costs when you use inputs, particularly your substrate, that boost efficiency without sacrificing quality.

When you have to transplant less often, water less often, feed less often, worry less about pests and pathogens, and so on, you can hire fewer employees, and you can hire fewer highly skilled employees.

For example, a large facility could reduce the number of integrated pest management (IPM) employees from four to three. In a smaller facility with just one IPM employee, that person’s time could be diverted to other activities to benefit the business.

Do Cut out Steps

Review your entire cultivation process from beginning to end and look for steps that you can cut out if you use a more forgiving soil, monitor your plants’ needs, and avoid unnecessary transplanting.

Each step in your process adds time and labor costs, so your goal should be to create standard operating procedures that streamline every process without compromising quality. Even small changes can have significant effects on your labor costs.

Key Takeaways to Save Money on Cultivation Labor without Compromising Quality

Soil doesn’t just affect your plants. It also affects your labor costs, your brand reputation, and everything in between. There are measurable benefits to using the best, consistent inputs that impact your yields and bottom-line.

To reduce your labor costs without compromising quality, choose bio365 growing media. Contact us and talk to our soil experts to learn what the right media can do for your crops, your brand, and your labor costs.