Costs of Growing Bud Compared To Buying Commercial Prices

Interested to hear what you guys have to say about this topic. I began growing bud about 2.5 months ago, and I am now a half of a week from finish. I started in the first place to make my habit cheaper, and I am curious to hear what you guys think is put into growing (in way of nutrients. electricity, etc) compared to the commercial value of cannabis? I realize this is a relative question because prices differ in different regions...but let's assume I can get ounces of good herb for $220 dollars? I figure I put about 30% of that into growing an ounce of high quality cannabis myself. Do you guys find this number to be true?

-I figure I use about $250-300 worth of electricity every month from the grow room.
-I put in about $150-$200 dollars worth of nutes every cycle. So after 10.5 weeks, that comes out to ~ 680 put towards electricity every cycle and $200 worth of nutes. Curious to hear if you guys have ever thought about it in this way, and what your numbers told you

Ha, forgot to mention I also pay $600 dollars a month of rent for my grow room. Wishful thinking I guess?! By these calculations, I am saving less than 50% of what I am putting into the room. I think I need to add another light to make this more worth-while. I am running 2000 watts right now, thinking about buying a third 1000 watt lamp

I think alot of the savings will depend on your yield....be interesting to see what that will be. Renting a room alone sounds like a fairly big investment---not to mention 2kw lights. My last grow cost about $500-$600 total and I ended up with with 7.5 oz....at commercial prices that's quite a savings but I sure don't have your outlay.

sounds like you have alot of overhead but a 2000 watt grow should yield alot if its your first grow it might be lower but once you get things dialed in there is no reason you shouldnt be able to consistently yield 2.5 to 3.5 lbs per harvest or even more with co2.
think you spend alot more than most growers as you have rent, that is a big expense. also think you could easily reduce your electricity and nute cost if you wanted to wich would help some but the rent is the main expense and dont think any commercial grower would consider it worth the risk to spend that much just to grow, although you are doing it atleast partly for your personal use sounds like you may be spending more to grow than what you may have spent to support your habbit to begin with.

Bro off of 2000 HPS, you shouyld be getting LBS. That should make up for your costs.

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Originally Posted by razzapiggy

-I figure I use about $250-300 worth of electricity every month from the grow room.

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Wow that seems high. My 2500w grow didn't use nearly that... the total bill for my whole BUILDING (2 apts plus my op) was never more than $150

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Originally Posted by razzapiggy

-I put in about $150-$200 dollars worth of nutes every cycle.

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Originally Posted by razzapiggy

good nutes are worth their weight in gold
So after 10.5 weeks,

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Tough to judge that way... are you on a 2 room or 1 room system? The rule of thumb is half a gram per watt per month in the FLOWER room only. Any time in veg YOU are paying for, lol!

I figure you have your initial investment... your first 4 months of electricity... your equipment... your first 4 months of nutes.
Let's call that $2500.

With your system, 2000w of HPS, your first harvest should be almost a couple pounds- at least over 1 pound! And if we are talking quality dankity-dank-fire-ass-Shrek, you just got a DEAL.

After that first break-even harvest, everything else is just butta, baby! :D

I'm finally over our Hump, so i'te gonna be nice over here. I Think Razza is in Cali as well, where the electricity is expensive ...hella., My 1K HPS cost 90 per month to run. Ima invest in digi ballast once they have been out for a minute. That doesn't include any fans/veg materials. My elec bill went from 135 to 325

I agree with you Stinky....in my first two grows I easily covered the cost of my equipment which was an original outlay of about two thousand plus cost of electric etc for two grows which probably came to about $3000 total.....ended up with about 1lb between the two grows which at $200 an ounce....$3200 if it was sold that way. Add to that the tons of "cookie makins'" and the time saved running around buying it, security issues etc and right there I'm ahead of the game. And like you said....the rest is the cream waiting to be skimmed! :D

i think it also kind of depends on how much weed you smoke. its kind of relative to how much money you spent on weed before you started growing becuase the rent was there before you started. if u dont smoke a lot then your harvest will last longer and you wont spend as much

I cry when I think about how much I've spent in the past on weed.

Fuck that now.

Crispi has about 2500.00 including walls , paint , mudd - everything . 2000w on a 6ft. lightrail , odor control , 3 -6in. hurricanes , dehumidifier , -n- fans . Costs about 180.00 extra a mo. to run on average . Prob. be hard pressed to use 100.00 wortha nutes per grow .
48 oz. in 4 mos. x 350.00 an oz. for killer = $16800.00 in meds. saved per year . Minus the start up cost / and cost of first grow of $3320.00 , I'm still $13480.00 ahead in only 4 mos. time . And i can't buy anything as pretty on the street .
Peace Crispi:jointsmile:

Intresting.....

Well then theres me, 250 for rent a month, spend 4$ on soil, 3$ on perlite 3$ on nutes, maybe 6$ on lights.... 1.50$ on an emergency blanket

Granted this is a CFL grow so I won't get a huge yeild... but even if i get half O, even 3 grams... I've already technically saved myself money and had something to keep me busy in my other wise. Best part is I"m hoping to maybe be done curing my harvest by 4-20... money saved already! We hiked up to the bluffs in my city and took bong hits last year...

Even if it is cheaper to buy weed I just don't like the idea of it. I do buy because right now that's my only option but you're going to have to pay for your electricity anyways. Bills are one thing, but spending that same amount on an ounce of some high grade weed is another. That house should last you for as long as you can maintain it but that bud you paid for will be gone eventually. It's as simple as that. Everyone that enjoys weed like me should be growing it IMO.

I spend about $40/month for my 300W of CFL & ventilation. My hardware is mostly slalvage, bulbs were donated by a stoner buddy at Home Depot, and I've spent mebbe $$75 on soil, mylar, and worms. I get about 1.5 - 2 oz/plant. One or 2 plants per run. So for me, it defo pays for itself.

And I know I"m going to have to start changing out some of the older bulbs in the next grow or 2. (A CFL is good for about 5 grows)

Only costs about $20-$30 a month for 2 400w bulbs plus all the flouros and fans. Nutes about $50 with enough for my next cycle(only 7 plants). Cubes, pH testers, thermometers, fans, I would say I've spent about $500 total. Plus an ounce and a half per month is $250.
I can sell $200 an ounce, at least and ounce per plant gives me $1400 minus 2 ounces personalis $1000, plus the $500 I would have paid for weed before, which covers my setup expenses and leaves $1000 profit. More if my plants produce more. I wish I knew how much to expect.

Electricity is expensive as hell here in the south bay (california) I went over some math with my room mate last night, and I was just amazed and how little I am actually saving right now.

I do realize this is only my first run through, and things should get better every single time, but it looks like I should probably get 1.5 pounds for this time (though I've had friends who have been doing this alot longer that two is def. possible, I am going to short change myself a bit and say 1.5) That's about 5000-5300 worth of herb if I was buying that at commercial prices.


Now, we figured out that I put in about 2400-2500 per cycle with my investment which is a ton! It's about 46%. Some would say, "Well, then wow, you are saving 54% of your money every single time you harvest!" Well, I didn't mention the $3000 I dumped on equip before anything got started up, *or* the three months I didn't grow in there to make sure my new land lord was mellow and would never come to the house. If you factor that stuff in, I won't even be getting my initial investment back until my third run!! Yikes!

I do realize that I will be getting better and better at this, and hell, I am going to be smoking some very high quality dank for the next few months. Not to mention the absolute pride and beauty I feel when I walk into my grow room, only to see all my ladies doing just fine... looking happy and healthy. That of course is something you can't put a number on.

As I've already stated I am a medical patient, and am licensed by the state of California to grow cannabis, I am also allowed to *legally* sell some to some other medical patients if I need to do so to cover bills. I suppose I will do a bit of this, but I won't be asking for near to market value as I will be selling it to my best of friends if anyone.

For these reasons, I am considering throwing in another 1000 watt lamp. It won't increase my rent at all obviously, electricity should go up about a hundred, nutes probably not even $50. Money wise, it's a great investment and I think it's something I need to do. Unfortunately I don't have room for it in there without pushing my plants against a wall. :(

I really enjoy being able to walk around the perimeter of my garden, so I can carefully inspect all the plants for bugs, mold, etc. It also makes watering easier but I will use a drip system next time. What are the drawbacks to having your plants against a wall? I would assume increased chances of mold. Probably a good thing about having them against a wall is you get reflection from your mylar. Anyhow, let's keep this conversation going, it's an interesting topic.

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Originally Posted by razzapiggy

Interested to hear what you guys have to say about this topic. I began growing bud about 2.5 months ago, and I am now a half of a week from finish. I started in the first place to make my habit cheaper, and I am curious to hear what you guys think is put into growing (in way of nutrients. electricity, etc) compared to the commercial value of cannabis? I realize this is a relative question because prices differ in different regions...but let's assume I can get ounces of good herb for $220 dollars? I figure I put about 30% of that into growing an ounce of high quality cannabis myself. Do you guys find this number to be true?

-I figure I use about $250-300 worth of electricity every month from the grow room.
-I put in about $150-$200 dollars worth of nutes every cycle. So after 10.5 weeks, that comes out to ~ 680 put towards electricity every cycle and $200 worth of nutes. Curious to hear if you guys have ever thought about it in this way, and what your numbers told you

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I think your cost estimates might be off as I know of no one who spends even $100 on ferts and nutes a year, let alone on one grow. And I use the more expensive stuff (FoxFarm and American Hydro products) and spent 50 bucks on 3 bottles that will last for many grows, indoor and out for the next couple of years, at least! Your elec bill sounds a bit high too. I run a total of 3040W of grow lights (2 1kw's, 2 400's and a bank of flouro's totalling 240W) and combined with the house use the bill is still under 200/mo. Of course I cut way back on the "nonessential" electrical uses like keeping the rest of the house warm and puters off when not in use and the like or else it could be a lot worse. I also can't see all of this getting done in only 10.5 weeks as some strains take that long just in flower and the average length of time in flower is 8 weeks...leaving only 2 and a half weeks for vegging. I veg until sexually matured or until females show which takes 6-8 weeks. This allows for only the minimum potential of yield which can be as low as only 7-10 grams/plant on average. So I usually take them an extra month indoors for a total of 5 months from seed to harvest. Cloning makes this a whole different story and greatly increases yield while maintaining the costs.

But it's definitely not a cheap hobby. I don't keep close track of weight after the harvests as I don't sell but for a grow of about a dozen female plants grown from seed over 5 months to harvest, I figure roughly:

$100-150...seeds
50...soil
50...ferts/nutes
500 total at 100/mo...elec
100...misc supplies
or maybe figure $1000 total just to round things off.

I'll harvest appx 1oz/plant or 12 oz's total from the 12 f's and going by the street rates around here (Phoenix area) those oz's of strains such as White Russian, AK47, Blueberry, you know...only the top grade stuff would cost around 350-400. Bringing the gross to around $4,000+ for a net profit, based on expenses alone of $3000++. I would not use so much electricity for 12 plants so that could be cut by half. But this does not allow for space and most of all, the time involved...not to mention wear and tear on the nerves.

you really need a space for vegging clones that is efficient in electricity so you only have to run the 1000 watters on 12/12, might consider flouros or a small mh it would help alot if your not running a 1000 for 18 hours a day and you will also be ready with new clones to throw into flowering after you have harvested.
you can have great results and not spend alot on nutes there is alot of brands some expensive, some not, would probably be trying some different nutes as 150-200 seems kinda high to just get 29 plants through harvest.

Madeline ~ Yeah, I use clones so I will be vegging for like two weeks max once put into the big room.

Bejay ~ very good point. I need to set up a vegging room, and use CFL's only in there, this way I will save some cash on electricity. This would bring down my bill quite a bit I think. How big of an area do you need for a vegging chamber if you are growing 50 plants per cycle? I was thinking of converting a dresser (not inside grow room) into a veg room, and just throw some CFL's up in there, and bam! Should do the trick.

With reguards to nutes, yeah you are probably right. My blooming nute is only 99 dollars for a huge thing, and then I use Hygrozime (33 a bottle, probably will use two on each cycle) and then also a high Phos product which can be expensive or super cheap. MOAB is ten bucks a bottle and can get you through an entire cycle. However, I recently bought this stuff called "Shooting Powder" which comes with five sacks filled with powder. Shit runs $65 bones! One sac is used per 20 gallons of water, and it's used for the last three weeks of flower. So throw in another $30 for the Shooting Powder. That brings the nutes total to $60 for Hygrozime/Shooting Powder, and then who knows for my regular bloom/veg nutes (probably nto much more than 30 bones though) $90 total on nutes... you were right.

you really dont need alot of space depend how long you veg for though but have even seen shelves used if space is an issue and you only veg for a few weeks with 4 ft flouros over them it takes up very little space, using small pots you can fit alot of plants in not a whole lot of space would estimate about 4 plants per sq ft if your only veg for a 3-4 weeks in a pot just large enough to carry them through the veg cycle.

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Originally Posted by bejay

you really dont need alot of space depend how long you veg for though but have even seen shelves used if space is an issue and you only veg for a few weeks with 4 ft flouros over them it takes up very little space, using small pots you can fit alot of plants in not a whole lot of space would estimate about 4 plants per sq ft if your only veg for a 3-4 weeks in a pot just large enough to carry them through the veg cycle.

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Interesting, a small little dresser would work just fine then. You got me thinking here!

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Originally Posted by madeline

I think your cost estimates might be off as I know of no one who spends even $100 on ferts and nutes a year, let alone on one grow. And I use the more expensive stuff (FoxFarm and American Hydro products) and spent 50 bucks on 3 bottles that will last for many grows, indoor and out for the next couple of years, at least! Your elec bill sounds a bit high too. I run a total of 3040W of grow lights (2 1kw's, 2 400's and a bank of flouro's totalling 240W) and combined with the house use the bill is still under 200/mo. Of course I cut way back on the "nonessential" electrical uses like keeping the rest of the house warm and puters off when not in use and the like or else it could be a lot worse. I also can't see all of this getting done in only 10.5 weeks as some strains take that long just in flower and the average length of time in flower is 8 weeks...leaving only 2 and a half weeks for vegging. I veg until sexually matured or until females show which takes 6-8 weeks. This allows for only the minimum potential of yield which can be as low as only 7-10 grams/plant on average. So I usually take them an extra month indoors for a total of 5 months from seed to harvest. Cloning makes this a whole different story and greatly increases yield while maintaining the costs.

But it's definitely not a cheap hobby. I don't keep close track of weight after the harvests as I don't sell but for a grow of about a dozen female plants grown from seed over 5 months to harvest, I figure roughly:

$100-150...seeds
50...soil
50...ferts/nutes
500 total at 100/mo...elec
100...misc supplies
or maybe figure $1000 total just to round things off.

I'll harvest appx 1oz/plant or 12 oz's total from the 12 f's and going by the street rates around here (Phoenix area) those oz's of strains such as White Russian, AK47, Blueberry, you know...only the top grade stuff would cost around 350-400. Bringing the gross to around $4,000+ for a net profit, based on expenses alone of $3000++. I would not use so much electricity for 12 plants so that could be cut by half. But this does not allow for space and most of all, the time involved...not to mention wear and tear on the nerves.

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lol, you DEFINITELY do not live in california.

Seriously bud-luv, I almost shat myself and cried, "oh boy did I over do it!" before I realized his prices were just extremely unrealistic for this area...LOL

I live in CA too and he's right about the prices. However I can definitely say I use $100 worth of nutes and suppliments PER GROW and I will definitely keep doing them the same way. I change my nutes often and really like the effect it has on the growing so while some may feel I am wasting nutes I don't feel that way at all. My grows...up until the present one... have been about 12 week periods so yes, it adds up. And worth every penny to me.. :)

And I completely agree with the rest of you who say you can't buy stuff anywhere near as nice as you can grow. As long as I can grow my own I'll never buy stuff off the street again. (of course....never say never....) :D

[QUOTE=And I completely agree with the rest of you who say you can't buy stuff anywhere near as nice as you can grow. As long as I can grow my own I'll never buy stuff off the street again. (of course....never say never....) :D[/QUOTE]


Of course, and this is part of the equation that can't be put into play because we are mostly having a conversation about money here, and how much we save by growing our own dank bud. :thumbsup:

Three days until harvest... whoooooooo hooooooooooooo. Such a good feeling

im sure you will come out ok your yield may be a little low on your first grow but even if you sell the excess at less than market value it should cover all of your cost of growing and eventually within a year probably the cost of equipment also.
the average person that is just growing what they need maybe slightly more and that does not need to rent a spot to grow can usually save alot over buying, but when you spend 7200 a year in rent alone plus add in your additional cost you will need to sell quite abit to cover the cost.

Well, I just bought a qp of swag for $400 for a friend. For the same money I could have grow some bagseed with organic fertilizer then sold that same qp for $1000. But what do I know?

Loco

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Originally Posted by bejay

im sure you will come out ok your yield may be a little low on your first grow but even if you sell the excess at less than market value it should cover all of your cost of growing and eventually within a year probably the cost of equipment also.
the average person that is just growing what they need maybe slightly more and that does not need to rent a spot to grow can usually save alot over buying, but when you spend 7200 a year in rent alone plus add in your additional cost you will need to sell quite abit to cover the cost.

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True dat, I can sell it to the local cannabis clubs in my area legally so that shouldn't be a problem. Rent is so high around here, blows that it has to be a serious factor when trying to grow herb to save money..but that's life! :rasta:

Razza, i too would be able to sell to clubs there in OC and LA, what are the going rates they pay for oz's and qp's? you have any insight on that

They really want to be able to take a full pound it seems like. Obviously the price you can get varies on the quality but I have heard of friends getting 3400-3600 a pound for real good herb. The club still makes a boat load at those prices. Seems most of the club are on consignment at this point (they pay you as they sell it) and a buddy of mine even got some sent back after a few weeks because they were not getting rid of it quick enough (saturated market because of outdoor and other factors) Imagine getting a full pound back already weighed into 1/4 lol!

damn. hmmm. I dont know if thats a real option for me at those numbers. The AK i make is def. top $$. Is that something you would do?

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Originally Posted by dusto2k3

damn. hmmm. I dont know if thats a real option for me at those numbers. The AK i make is def. top $$. Is that something you would do?

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Bring it to the clubs? I mean that depends on your local laws. Where I live I can legally sell the herb to other medical patients, so that makes me able to avoid the club if I want, while still remaining inside the law. Also one thing you may want to consider is that the clubs in norther cali are significantly more saturated than the clubs down south (So I have been told by several sources who have been doing this for years) So check out the club and see what they offer. That also will help you assess how much your bud is worth on the market outside of the club. Cheers.

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Originally Posted by razzapiggy

Also one thing you may want to consider is that the clubs in norther cali are significantly more saturated than the clubs down south (So I have been told by several sources who have been doing this for years) So check out the club and see what they offer. That also will help you assess how much your bud is worth on the market outside of the club. Cheers.

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Yeah, actually in San Diego, they shut 'em all down. I'm headed up there soon to renew my recommendation. Up there you can get a two year one. Here, it was only 1 year.

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Originally Posted by razzapiggy

That also will help you assess how much your bud is worth on the market outside of the club. Cheers.

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I'm fully aware of the value of my herb. cough cough, i know someone ;) thats get rid if the same AK for 1200 qp.

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Originally Posted by razzapiggy

Where I live I can legally sell the herb to other medical patients, so that makes me able to avoid the club if I want,

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is this local law, or part of 215. If 215 me too. Caregiver?

This is a local law though I do believe 215 partially covers you on this one as well. The county I live in has pretty liberal herb laws which is nice.

depending on your situation it can be close to nothing to grow, i mean 200 bucks in lighting and supplies for a grow, and u get like a lb for your hard work. lolz but i mean right now i just do 1 plant so if i get introuble its only one to worry about for my use. Others do alot more so it depends, i really do it becuase i love it, its mine, and it levels out my stress....when things are working good.

So is it worth it, yeah i think so, even on one plant it is when your looking at 300+ for a ounce of good herb.

what are you conditions for growing one plant each cycle? you yield a pound off that one plant you mean?