[GpsFrontier]

I have not much experience growing any of the crops but my brother in law has grown a variety of the common Asian vegetables in a hydro setup before. However it did not have any protection of the elements and/or bugs.

OK, this is a big issue, I wouldn't recommend growing any crop that you are not familiar with on a large scale. I can find good information on just about any crop, but nothing can substitute for first hand experience. I would suggest here to build a few small scale systems 2-3-4-5- plants each, If things go well expand, if not, find out why first. All designs are scalable, so that wouldn't be any problem, provided you can find usable materials.

The protected area has to be built but will be kept simple in the testing environment.

For a testing area this might do, depending on what you have in mind for environmental controls (heat and cooling). Where I live I can build a greenhouse out of PVC tubing and tarps. That will work for the winter unless it gets too windy, but stragity needs to change for the summer here. But I'm not sure if the $5000 ($2500-$3000) budget is expandable if things work out. The system I have designed for my backyard is about 30 by 30 feet Including the greenhouse, for 650-700 strawberry plants, plus about 40-50 pepper plants (outside the greenhouse). This will run me about $3000, it includes screening for the greenhouse, but not heating and cooling.

I have made a list of the materials that I need to do the job, gotten prices for these materials. And added them up to get my figures. But my figures wont be the same as yours. As suggested before I would simply suggest building smaller systems and becoming familiar with the crops before going bigger.

When I grow for commercial use I plan to do round year production of the same crop. I have to research the market to see if it is profitable though but it takes time to gather this data.

I know how to do this in my country, but nowhere else. So I cant help you with the projected profitability of crops in your area. And yes for me it was very time consuming, but well worth the effort.

I will check what both cost in dry form. Both can be imported from Thailand. However at a later stage it is more cost effective to make my own nutrient mix I think. Since there is no supplier here yet it also could give the opportunity to sell it. It has a steep learing curve though I have seen a member on this board who is doing it in Thailand.

Sure it would be more cost effective to make your own nutrients (not sure about pH adjusters). Yes there is a member that claims to have the knowledge to make your own nutrients. I wont give any names, but I personally would second guess this info. It may be correct, but I need to consider the source. I have found nutrient recipes from creditable sources, as well as manufactures of the raw materials. I will be testing these in the future, but as I suggested for you on a small scale, then see how things go before feeding it to the entire system.

Temp/Humidity

Sorry the website did not come up for me. But I can tell you evaporative coolers (or swamp coolers) add humidity to there environment. So if it's already humid, you will just be adding more humidity. They are popular in our town, but we are a very dry climate most of the year. Even so, in an enclosed area they just make it too humid.