I’ve been a fan, and a discord mod, for the Evergreen Miner (EVG) project for a while now. With the product shipping in increasing quantity, a lot of common questions are getting repeated, so I figured I’d write an UNOFFICIAL frequently asked questions list to gather some of the common answers.

This document is not commissioned or approved or endorsed by Evergreen Miner or its staff (although I have asked them to review it, and will correct anything that I’ve gotten wrong). It is also not static – if anything clearly changes (like compressed plots or getting rich quick), I will update this post. 

As an aside, I wrote a post about Evergreen Miner in late 2021, including tips for building your own similar system if you prefer to do that. Obviously if you do this, you don’t get the Evergreen app or plotting services, and EVG will not support you (since building your own has nothing to do with EVG). But for some people, this may be of interest.

If you find this helpful, feel free to show your support by buying Evergreen Miner gear through my affiliate link, send me a coffee through Ko-Fi, or see the “support rsts11” link above.

Now on with the questions and answers:

Q: How does Evergreen Miner work?

A: You buy a node (“hub”) or kit that contains a Raspberry Pi-based farming node and some external storage. The hub runs Linux with software to work with the EVG app on your mobile device (Android or iOS).

You will create your wallet on the app and use the app to configure the device. After that, the EVG hub will run on its own whether you have the app running or not. The “expansion packs” (external USB drives) will come pre-plotted for you, so you don’t have to set up a server or plotting system. When the kit arrives, just follow the instructions to set up the device.

Q: Can I solo farm with Evergreen? Can I farm to X pool?

A: No, and probably no. Evergreen Miner uses FlexFarmer, a thin farming client from Flexpool.io, to operate efficiently on a very low power computer without having to have SSD, NVMe, or a full node synced. FlexFarmer only works with Flexpool. Flexpool is a well-established pool that charges a 0.7% pool fee (one of the lowest in the industry). 

Q: Will I get rich in the next year with an Evergreen Miner?

A: No. Chia is not a get rich quick scheme, and you should plan for 3 years to break even. This is not financial advice, or a guarantee, but a good baseline expectation. See below.

Q: How much will I make with an X TB Evergreen Miner kit?

A: This will vary, but you can get an estimate by using the Flexpool farming calculator at https://www.flexpool.io/?news=xch … note that network conditions and pool luck and XCH price will vary all the time, so even if 16TB today would earn 0.15 XCH per month, it could easily be more or less tomorrow, or the next day.

Q: Does Evergreen Miner pay me for my farming? Is Evergreen Miner a pool?

A: No. Evergreen Miner sells the prebuilt farming computer and pre-plotted drives, and provides the software used to manage your wallet and the Evergreen Miner device(s). Your farming is through Flexpool.io, and all of your farming is directed to Flexpool. Your payouts based on the work contributed will be paid out from Flexpool.

Q: How do I tell how much I’ve made?

A: You go to flexpool.io and put your payout or receive address into the search bar. Your unpaid balance will appear at the top of the screen. If you have received payouts, those amounts are subtracted from unpaid balance (since they have been paid), and will appear in the Payments tab below. 

Q: When will my farming show up on the Flexpool dashboard? Why am I often offline with 6TB of plots?

Activity will appear on the dashboard within 20-30 minutes of your first partial being submitted to the pool. If you have 8TB or more, you should get a partial at least every two minutes, and appear on the dashboard quickly and consistently. If you have 6TB, or have bad luck with 8-12TB, you may have to wait an hour or two to show up. If you do not submit a partial for 10 minutes (which can happen even with 20-30TB), you will appear offline. You still get credit for the actual work you submit, whether it has been in the last 10 minutes or not. 

Q: Can Flexpool.io help me with my Evergreen Miner and the app?

No. Flexpool can provide support for farming to the pool, but Evergreen Miner supports their hardware, application, and wallets. 

Q: Do I have to buy Evergreen Miner to farm Chia? 

A: No. Evergreen Miner is a project to make a simple, turnkey, easy to use Chia farming environment. If you’re comfortable setting up your own systems, storage, wallet, and Chia node, you can do that on your own. 

Q: Can I farm compressed plots with Evergreen Miner? 

A: Not yet (as of February 9, 2023). Once FlexFarmer supports compressed plots, EVG will evaluate the options for farming compressed plots with the Evergreen Miner. There is no time frame for either of these things. 

Q: Do I have to buy drives from EVG? 

A: No, but if you don’t, you’ll have to set up and configure a computer to make plots, and integrate those drives with your EVG hub on your own. EVG does not support other drives or plots. If you’re inclined to do this, you should probably just build your own farmer and plotter. 

Q: When will my order arrive?

A: The standard time frame is 4-6 weeks from order, although this may vary depending on supplies and shipping service delays. If you have ordered more than 4-6 weeks ago, join the EVG discord linked from their website and ask on #order-status with your order number. 

Q: What are the advantages of Evergreen Miner over using my desktop or laptop or building my own Chia farm? 

A: EVG provides a ready-to-run hardware and software solution to farm Chia, along with a service to provide pre-made plots on external hard drives that stack with optimized power supplies. It uses less power, takes up less space, and is probably quieter than your desktop or laptop. 

Q: How much power does the Evergreen Miner use?

A: Grant from the EVG team has said the 160TB PRO kit draws 85W sustained, with the Hub taking 5W and each drive taking 8W. It may be lower, and on startup it may be higher. 

Q: Do I need a UPS?

A: Maybe. I’d recommend at least a good surge protector, but if you have concerns about your power quality or stability, you can protect your investment with a small affordable UPS. Note that unless your Internet connection (DSL modem, cable modem, etc, plus router if you use one) is on a UPS, EVG will not be able to farm if you lose power. 

Q: I read somewhere that K32 plots will die tomorrow. 

A: You shouldn’t trust everything you read on the Internet. Chia Network has committed to providing at least one year notice before K32 is not plottable, and they have many other options to extend the life of the K32 plot to get closer to their original 5-10 year projected lifespan. When that is on the horizon, there will probably be options for farmers to replot their own drives, and EVG will probably have started shipping K33 or larger plots. But for at least the next year, and probably much longer, you don’t have to worry about K32 plots. 

Q: I heard that these are used hard drives and only have a 90 day warranty. 

A: This is actually true. EVG uses certified refurbished hard drives to support the green ideals of Chia and keep costs down while still running a business. Most drive failures are likely to be in the first 90 days, and EVG will handle those issues as they happen (they have not happened that I’ve heard of, for the life of the project). 

Q: What if I want to farm a thousand drives with EVG?

A: There are plans and designs for “enterprise” configurations. Contact the team through the website for more information. However, if you’re going to manage 100+ drives, you may want to just build your own environment with SAS enclosures and breakouts as needed. 

Q: How many drives can I farm with EVG?

A: With the hardware shipping now, you should expect to be able to run 30 expansion packs/drives. You will need the PSUs and splitters (included in multipacks, available on Amazon otherwise), and USB hubs (not included) to expand beyond four drives. 

UNOFFICIALLY you can use a 12v PSU with enough amps/watts for the drives you need to connect. So at 8W per drive, a 12V 8A PSU you could have up to 12 drives, although splitters might not be so great even if you can find a 12-way splitter. 

This 12V 5A power supply ($18) with this 6-way splitter (2 for $6) would be a good fit  for up to 6 drives with enough headroom for initial drive spin-up. 

Q. What if I want to plot my own drives to use with Evergreen Miner? 

A. This is possible but EVG provides no support for it. Per Grant on Discord, 

Q: Why do they call it evergreen MINER when it’s a farmer?

A: Sigh. I don’t know. Don’t ask me. Ask Dylan.

Q: My question isn’t answered here. How do I get it answered?

A: You can ask the team on Discord or through their website. You can ask in the comments below and I’ll try to find an answer.

And again:

This document is not commissioned or approved or endorsed by Evergreen Miner or its staff. It is also not permanently static – if anything clearly changes (like compressed plots or getting rich quick), I will update this post. 

If you find this helpful, feel free to show your support by buying Evergreen Miner gear through my affiliate link, send me a coffee through Ko-Fi, or see the “support rsts11” link above.

Last updated: 2023-02-19