[GpsFrontier]

I don't understand your point.

YOU DON'T HAVE THE PRACTICAL EXPERIENCE ABOUT THE BASICS YET. YOU NEED AT LEAST A YEARS HANDS ON EXPERIENCE TO LEARN THE BASICS. Any attempt to build a system and automate it the way you think it will work will be a waste of time and money for many reasons. Those things you will only learn through HANDS ON EXPERIENCE, not from a book.

The plants will have a better chance of survival if I can monitor the system 24/7.

You don't know anything about what, how and why the plants needs are yet (I know you think you do, but you clearly don't). How can you expect to build a working car if you only read about cars from a book, no mater how great you think the book was. You don't want to take the time to learn, you don't want to pay for consulting. I hope you have plenty of money to burn, and time to waste learning things the hard way when you could have learned them the easy way withough't going into debt before learning your going to have to rethink everything.

I cannot live at the farm because it is not zoned for residential. That means I have to leave the farm to go back to my house to sleep etc. Automation is essential, I cannot run it without it, it is as simple as that.

I can't help that, and I didn't get you into this situation. But it doesn't change anything.

What you are implying is that I should try without it but if so I certainly risk the health of the plants the first night I am home sleeping

Why? You cant do anything withough't a computer sticking out of it? I sleep too you know, I sleep every night. I don't have a computer and sensors sticking out of everything and my plants grow nicely anyway. No computer or automation (regardless of how great you think it will be) will replace the need for the basic knowledge you don't have. If you can't keep a few plants alive, do you think a computer automation system you build will be able to do what you cant? Does it have some type of artificial intelligence that's smarter than you? If it does perhaps you can consult with it to help you design and build your hydroponic systems based on the needs of the plants (part of the basics you don't know).

I see you have your heart set on proceeding with your plans regardless of how flawed they are. Your skipping over problems like you don't think they will ever exist. And those are the basics you need to learn first. You'll learn one way or another, I just wanted to shorten up your learning curve, and save you time and money. A year or two later you will wish you'd fallowed my advice. But I wish you the best of luck.