ANSWERS — WHAT IT COSTS
Does light-dep actually pay for itself?
Light-dep is the biggest revenue lever a cannabis greenhouse can add — more harvests a year, on your schedule — but only if you budget the dehumidification it forces. Here is the honest ROI math, and the cost most vendors leave out.
AMERICAN ROOTS — ANSWERED BY THE PEOPLE WHO BUILD IT · UPDATED JULY 2026
01 — THE LEVER: HARVESTS, NOT ACRES
Pull a light-tight curtain and you flower on your calendar, not the season's.
Cannabis is photoperiod-sensitive. Pulling a light-tight curtain to a 12-hours-light, 12-hours-dark cycle forces flower on demand, so a house can run multiple cycles a year instead of one outdoor season (Advancing Alternatives, Cannabis Tech). More turns of the same square footage is where the return lives — the extra harvests, not extra land.
12 HOURS DARK
FORCES FLOWER ON YOUR CALENDAR — MULTIPLE CYCLES A YEAR FROM THE SAME FOOTPRINT
02 — SIZING BY CANOPY
The right system depends on how much canopy you are covering.
Below about 10,000 square feet of canopy, standalone exterior light-dep is usually the most efficient choice; standalone interior systems typically span 3,000 to 6,000 square feet; above about 25,000 square feet, a gutter-connected building with interior light-dep maximizes canopy on a smaller footprint (Fullbloom). Getting the type right is the difference between a system that pays and one that fights your layout.
03 — WHAT OURS COSTS
The curtain and drive are a book line. The safety is a system.
Our interior light-dep package is $14,999 in the book — you will see the exact line in the build tool. That number is the curtain and drive. The dehumidification and airflow that make it safe are climate scope, priced in your quote, and buying the curtain without them is how growers lose the harvest the curtain was supposed to add.
04 — THE COST VENDORS LEAVE OUT
The moment you pull the curtain, you trap heat and moisture.
Canopy heat can be gone within 30 minutes of the curtain closing, and a damp lights-out is a botrytis incubator (Taylor & Francis). A bare curtain without matched dehumidification and airflow adds crop loss, not harvests. This is the cost every brochure forgets — and the reason we sell light-dep as a package, not a curtain.
| SIDE | WHAT GOES IN IT |
|---|---|
| RETURN | Extra cycles per year × yield per cycle × your market price |
| COST | The curtain and drive + matched dehumidification + added energy |
| THE TRAP | Buying the curtain alone — a damp blackout costs a harvest |
WE WILL NOT INVENT YOUR YIELD, PRICE, OR CYCLE COUNT — THOSE ARE YOUR GENETICS AND YOUR MARKET
PLAINLY
Buy the curtain and the dehumidification together, or do not buy the curtain. The cost of illustration is a season stuck at one cycle when the building could have run several.
How many extra harvests does light-dep add?
It lets you flower on demand instead of once a season, so a house can run multiple cycles a year — the exact count depends on your genetics, turn time, and how you stagger rooms. We will not fabricate a number for your operation.
Do I need dehumidification with light-dep?
Yes, and it is the cost most vendors hide. Blackout traps heat and moisture, and a damp lights-out invites bud rot. Budget light-dep as a system — curtain plus matched dehumidification and airflow.
How much is the light-dep package?
The curtain and drive are $14,999 in our book — you will see the exact line in the build tool. The dehumidification and controls that make it safe are scoped and priced in your quote.
Price the curtain. Then scope the system that protects it.
Add interior light-dep in the build tool; a Greenhouse Expert sizes the dehumidification that keeps a blackout from becoming a bud-rot event.
WIDTH — 30 FT MODULES
OR TALK TO A GREENHOUSE EXPERT — (772) 321-6305