Being from Florida, but also considering NC as the northernmost location, what is the likelyhood that large-scale outdoors growing (1000-10,000 sq ft) can be successful for tomatoes, basil, etc? I have seen a few outdoor farms online, but they all seem to be pick-yourself types.

I would imagine pests may become uncontrollabe outdoors, and I would hate to spray, especially for preventative reasons, though I am willing. I am not looking to go organic, but would this be the only economical method for me? What about only employing shade-cloth and other simple methods?

Is an outdoors large-scale farm just not economically feasible? I am posting because it seems almost too good to be true for a large-scale operation.

Any advice, recommendations, or links would really be appreciated.

Check out http://www.peteshydrohot.com/

Pete is from Florida. He grows soilless habanero and scotch bonnet peppers. I chatted with him a little bit while writing a review for his hot sauce (all very good) and he is a really friendly and cool guy. Maybe you could try shooting an email his way.

A lot of what you find online geared to indoor hydroponics at a "hobby" scale is probably written with a very specific crop in mind, which is why so much of it is geared towards indoor growing - they can't exactly plant it in the back yard.

But if it's a legal crop there isn't much reason not to take advantage of the sun's power if you can.

I grow indoors simply because I don't have a greenhouse and don't want my hydroponic equipment subject to the elements. That and I think it's fun to grow with lights.

So in short I don't think that hydroponics farms shy away from truly outdoor crops due to economic feasibility quite as much as it's just simpler and easier to control everything if you put a glass roof over it.

A lot of them actually use inflatable greenhouses too. A big plastic film building held up by a few fans to puff it up. When you think about how cheap it is to use those things, it's hard to imagine why you wouldn't.

I don't really consider greenhouses to be "indoor" growing since they're generally pretty open to the environment compared to most buildings. The exhaust fans and intake windows combined with the typical heat exhaust window up top let in a lot more pests than a hous.

Of course you do keep out the vast majority of them (particularly the four-legged ones) but I still consider it outdoors. If it doesn't have insulation and full-fledged climate control (HVAC) I don't consider it "indoors".

I did have a problem with sphinx moths laying eggs which turned into horned caterpillars, but BT put a stop to all that.

In the winter, I just heave a giant piece of plastic over the thing and anchor it against the wind and I'm back in business. I also grow summer stuff in summer and winter stuff in winter to take advantage of the heat and the cold.

In the winter, I use a fish-tank heater and heat my nutrient so the roots receive their drink at 84 degrees no matter what the air temp is. I do this with the tomatoes and cucumbers, but not with the lettuces.

As far as doing it "commercially", that depends on your market and what you grow. I can crank out thousands of lettuce plants a week in a greenhouse that is 12 x 8 x 8 tall by growing them in a special way and marketing them to a "niche" market. If you want to "see" what I'm talking about, visit my Web site at www.tengreenthumbs.com and look for yourself. By the way, the "mat" hydroponics is how I can crank out hundreds of plants in a 10 x 20 tray!