Plant Care
- • Climate Control & VPD16
- • Disease & Pest Management14
- • Nutrient Solutions & EC34
- • Plant Health Monitoring7
Inputs
12 parameters · live recalculation on every change
M²
1m²
50m² default
1000m²
PLANTS/M²
1plants/m²
4plants/m² default
100plants/m²
G
50g
500g default
5000g
$/KG DRY
1$/kg dry
8$/kg dry default
100$/kg dry
DAYS
30days
90days default
365days
Pro Settings — Lab Controls
×
0.5×
1× default
2×
%
0%
10% default
50%
%
0%
5% default
30%
Advanced Settings — Deterministic Corrections
%
50%
75% default
90%
$/H
5$/h
20$/h default
100$/h
$/KWH
0.05$/kWh
0.15$/kWh default
1$/kWh
$/CYCLE
10$/cycle
200$/cycle default
5000$/cycle
Insight band · live
From revenue to net profit
The gross return, drained by the cost stack and the harvesting haircut — the running total lands on the net profit.
- Revenue $200 $200
- − Total cost $2,425 $-2,225
- − Haircut $376 $-2,601
- Net profit $-2,601 $-2,601
ROI: -107.3 %
Profit / m²: $-52.0 $/m²
Running total after each term — the final net matches the headline reading in the result card, kept in sync live.
Deterministic model
12 inputs · 10 outputs
Runs 100% in your browser
This is a deterministic model: the same inputs always produce the same outputs, calculated entirely in your browser with nothing sent to any server. It is a planning aid — not a quote, not a dosing instruction, and not a yield forecast. Treat every line as a working estimate and validate it against your own prices and measurements.
It models one system: The harvest and money blueprint for a hydroponic room. Enter the floor area, planting density, per-plant grams, sale price per dry kg and cycle length, and the engine projects the full economics: canopy yield at the archived area × density × yield-per-plant model, dry weight after the 75% moisture loss, revenue priced on the dry kg, a cost line of labor at ~1.5 h per m², energy at ~30 kWh per m² per cycle, nutrients and $10/m² overhead, then profit eroded by your risk and market volatility factors into ROI% and profit per m². It also reads harvest timing off the crop-steering factor (generative 1.2 lengthens the run, vegetative 0.8 shortens it) and returns the green—yellow—red ROI safety band.
What the Yield & Economics Calculator — Harvest, Dry Weight & ROI Blueprint returns
The engine computes 10 outputs from your 12 inputs. The headline number is Total Yield (kg), alongside Dry Yield, Revenue, Profit. Every output updates live as you change a parameter.
What it does not do
Outputs depend on the inputs and assumptions shown here. Confirm relevant measurements and local conditions before acting.
STEP 01
Enter the floor area, planting density and grams per plant — canopy yield (kg) = area × density × g/plant ÷ 1000.
STEP 02
Apply the dry-weight loss (75% default) to convert the wet harvest into the kg you can actually price and store.
STEP 03
Price the dried kilos at your sale price to get revenue for one full cycle.
STEP 04
Build the cost line: labor at 1.5 h/m², energy at 30 kWh/m² per cycle, nutrient budget, and $10/m² overhead.
STEP 05
Subtract the risk and market volatility haircuts, then read ROI% and profit per square meter against the 50%/20% bands.
STEP 06
Check harvest timing from the steering factor — generative 1.2 lengthens the run, vegetative 0.8 shortens it — and fact-check against your crop DLI band.
Y_{wet} = A \cdot \rho \cdot \frac{w_{g}}{1000} \cdot f_s, \qquad f_s:\ \text{generative } 1.2,\ \text{veg } 0.8
Canopy yield — area × density × grams per plant
Y_{dry} = Y_{wet} \cdot \left(1 - \frac{L}{100}\right), \qquad L = 75\%\ (50\text{--}90)
Dry weight — moisture loss
R = Y_{dry} \cdot p,\qquad p = \frac{\$}{\text{kg dry}}
Revenue — priced on the dried kg
C = 1.5 \cdot A \cdot c_L + 30 \cdot A \cdot c_E + N + 10 \cdot A
Cost line — labor + energy + nutrient + overhead
\Pi = R - C \cdot \left(1 + \frac{r}{100}\right) \cdot \left(1 + \frac{v}{100}\right)
Profit — risk & volatility haircut
ROI = \frac{\Pi}{C} \cdot 100
Return on investment
\Pi_{m^2} = \frac{\Pi}{A}
Profit per square meter
t = T \cdot \left(1 + (f_s - 1) \cdot 0.2\right), \qquad f_s = 1.2: \text{run} \times 1.04 \quad f_s = 0.8: \times 0.96
Harvest timing — steering term on the cycle
Yield rule: total yield = plants × grams ÷ 1000. A 50 m² room at 4 plants/m² and 500 g per plant lands 100 kg wet — 2 kg per square meter.
Dry conversion: fresh tissue is 70–90% water. The 75% default loss turns 100 kg wet into 25 kg dry before any money is counted.
Revenue is a dry-kg number: 25 kg at $8/kg is $200 — a cheap leafy price makes dry kg economics brutal fast.
Cost is the killer: 1.5 h/m² labor plus 30 kWh/m² energy plus nutrients plus $10/m² overhead means $2,425/cycle on the default 50 m² room.
ROI reads profit ÷ cycle cost: green above 50%, yellow 20–50%, red under 20% or negative — the archived cost-calculator used the same net/startup ratio.
Steering: generative uses larger drybacks (15–30%) and higher EC to push fruit and lengthen the run; vegetative keeps media wetter for leaf and shortens it.
- Yield: Canopy Yield (kg) = area × density × yield per plant ÷ 1000 — the archived yield-calculator model, with the 20-lettuce DWC reference and 1.5–2.5 g/W LED benchmarks, multiplied by the steering factor.
- Harvest timing: t = cycle × (1 + (steering − 1) × 0.2) — generative steering 1.2 extends the run, vegetative 0.8 shortens it; DLI targets lettuce 12–17, basil 15–20, tomato 22–30, cucumber 25–30 mol/m²/day (DLI = PPFD × h × 0.0036).
- Dry weight: fresh tissue is 70–90% water; the 75% default loss converts 100 kg wet to 25 kg dry before revenue is priced on the dry kilograms.
- ROI: profit = revenue − cost × (1 + risk/100) × (1 + volatility/100); ROI = profit ÷ cost × 100 — the same net/startup ratio the archived cost-calculator uses, with green band above 50%.
- Cost lines: labor ≈ 1.5 h/m² per cycle, energy ≈ 30 kWh/m² per cycle, nutrient per cycle, plus $10/m² overhead.
- Steering: generative steering uses larger drybacks (15–30%) and higher EC to push fruiting; vegetative keeps media wetter for leaf — the archived moisture-steering rule, folded into the yield and timing arms.
This model combines the earlier Yield-calculator, Harvest-timing, Dry-weight-converter, Roi-calculator, Crop-steering-calculator models.
Q1: How to calculate yield per square meter? ▾
Yield per square meter is canopy yield divided by area, where canopy yield (kg) = area × density × grams per plant ÷ 1000. A 50 m² room running 4 plants/m² at 500 g per plant produces 100 kg wet, which is exactly 2 kg/m². Watch the steering factor too — it multiplies the canopy before you divide by area, so a generative 1.2 read lifts per-m² output 20%.
Q2: What is harvest timing and how does DLI affect it? ▾
Harvest timing here is the cycle length stretched or compressed by the steering factor: t = cycle × (1 + (steering − 1) × 0.2). Generative steering (1.2) extends the run, vegetative (0.8) shortens it. Cross-check with your crop DLI band — DLI = PPFD × hours × 0.0036 — lettuce wants 12–17 mol/m²/day, basil 15–20, tomatoes 22–30, cucumbers 25–30. Missing the band stretches the same calendar day-for-day.
Q3: What is the difference between dry weight and wet weight? ▾
Wet weight is the fresh harvest straight from the canopy; dry weight is that same tissue after the moisture is driven off. Fresh hydroponic tissue is 70–90% water, so the converter’s 75% default loss turns 100 kg wet into ~25 kg dry. Revenue is priced on the dry kilograms because that is what stores, ships and concentrates value — a wet-looking canopy can hide a thin bank balance.
Q4: What is the ROI calculator for hydroponics? ▾
The ROI model is profit ÷ cycle cost × 100, where profit = revenue − cost × (1 + risk/100) × (1 + volatility/100). Cost includes labor at ~1.5 h/m², energy at ~30 kWh/m² per cycle, nutrients and $10/m² overhead. At the defaults a 50 m² room grosses $200 but carries $2,425 of cost — ROI reads deeply negative. Green band is above 50% ROI, yellow 20–50%, red below 20% or negative.
Q5: What is a crop steering calculator and how do generative vs vegetative work? ▾
A crop steering calculator maps the generative/vegetative dial onto yield and timing. This one multiplies wet yield by the steering factor and shifts harvest timing with t = cycle × (1 + (f_s − 1) × 0.2). Generative steering (1.2, larger drybacks 15–30%, higher EC) pushes fruit at +20% yield but ~4% longer; vegetative (0.8, wetter media) bulks leaf faster but produces less. Balanced sits at 1.0.
Q6: How much profit per square meter can a grow room make? ▾
Profit per square meter is net profit ÷ area for the cycle. The lever stack is brutal: revenue comes only from dried kg, while cost piles 1.5 h/m² of labor, 30 kWh/m² of energy, nutrients and $10/m² overhead. On the defaults a 50 m² room loses about $52/m². A profitable room needs $8+/kg dry at these densities, low labor, or a high-value crop — the risk and volatility haircuts compound the squeeze.