Yield Estimator

Crop + method + DLI + plant count → realistic yield range. Use for planning, contracts, and reality-checking expectations.

Estimate yield

Crop Cannabis (dried flower) Tomato (indeterminate) Tomato (determinate) Pepper (bell) Cucumber (greenhouse) Lettuce (head) Basil Strawberry Microgreens Mushroom (oyster)

Method / setup Indoor commercial (DLI 35-50) Indoor hobby (DLI 25-40) Greenhouse (DLI 20-40) Outdoor (DLI 25-50 seasonal)

Grower experience Beginner (first 2-3 cycles) Intermediate (proven cycles) Advanced (well-tuned, IPM clean) Expert / commercial best-in-class

Plant count (or trays)

Canopy area (ft²)

Per-plant yield range — low – median – high

Per square foot — low – median – high

Total cycle yield — across all plants

Per gram per kWh (estimate) — Industry efficiency metric

Estimates synthesized from peer-reviewed agronomy data and grower community reports. Real-world yields vary ±30% even within a single facility cycle-to-cycle.

Reference yield ranges

Crop	Per plant (typical)	Per ft²	Notes
Cannabis flower (indoor)	50–250 g dried	1.0–2.0 g/W	Wide range; plant size, training, and light dominate
Cannabis flower (outdoor)	100–1500+ g dried	—	Full-season outdoor; major variance by climate, cultivar, plant size
Tomato (indoor commercial)	10–25 lb / vine	0.5–1.5 lb/ft²/wk	Per-week harvest in continuous greenhouse
Tomato (outdoor field)	5–15 lb / plant	—	Season-total
Pepper (bell)	3–8 lb / plant	—	Season-total
Cucumber (greenhouse)	50–150 fruits / plant	2–4 lb/ft²/cycle	Continuous setting
Lettuce (head)	0.4–0.8 lb / head	0.5–1.5 head/ft²	Per cycle; faster cycles in indoor
Basil	0.5–1 lb / plant	—	First cut; multiple harvests possible
Strawberry (indoor / greenhouse)	1–3 lb / plant / season	0.5–1 lb/ft²	Day-neutral varieties
Microgreens	—	0.5–1 lb / 10×20 tray	7-21 day cycles
Mushroom (oyster)	30-50% biological efficiency	—	BE = harvest weight / dry substrate weight × 100

Why so much variance

The same cultivar in the same room with the same recipe can yield 30% more or less than a previous cycle for many reasons:

• Genetics — phenotype variation; even identical-clone groups have variance
• Environmental stability — sustained on-target VPD/temp/CO₂ vs erratic conditions
• Light delivery — actual canopy DLI vs. nominal; uniformity across canopy
• Nutrition timing — feeds at right ppm, runoff EC managed, deficiency caught early
• Pest / disease pressure — even minor mite or PM hits cost yield
• Training — topping, defoliation, and canopy management
• Stress events — equipment failures, power blips, schedule errors
• Substrate health — fresh vs aged; biological community present in living soil
• Grower attention — daily observation catches problems that monthly observation misses

The "range" you see in this estimator captures most of this variance. Top quartile vs bottom quartile in a real facility is often 2× difference for the same nominal setup.

g-per-watt benchmarks (cannabis)

The cannabis industry traditionally tracks yield per watt of lighting:

g/W	Tier	Notes
< 0.7	Beginner / inefficient	First cycles, uncalibrated equipment, weak genetics
0.7–1.0	Functional hobby	Most home grows; reasonable result
1.0–1.5	Solid commercial	Tuned room, decent genetics, IPM diligent
1.5–2.0	Top-tier commercial	Best-in-class facilities; tuned every variable
2.0–2.5	Exceptional	Modern high-PPE LEDs, CO₂-enriched, expert genetics
> 2.5	Marketing claims	Sometimes seen on websites; rarely third-party verified

g/W is increasingly being replaced by g/mol (yield per mole of light delivered) because LED efficiency improvements make watts a moving target. 1 g/W on a PPE 2.5 fixture ≠ 1 g/W on a PPE 1.7 HPS fixture — different photon delivery per watt.

Free under CC BY 4.0. Cite as "OAT Yield Estimator (openagriculturetechnology.com)". Synthesized from agronomy literature and grower community reports.