Minimum growing cost

I'm completely new to this, and was wondering what the minimum growing costs would be. Also the initial start up cost would be good to know?

I would like to grow a few plants at home, but don't want to spend 300 a month on electricity....
Any thoughts?

Thanks
EKspain.

I live in a cold area,generally getting as low as 0 or -4 degrees c.
So planting outside, is not possible. I have a gallery which is indoors, but has a lot of light exposure, but it can reach cold temps there as well....
At the moment I've got 4 autoflowering seeds that I'm getting started....

ekspain said:

I'm completely new to this, and was wondering what the minimum growing costs would be. Also the initial start up cost would be good to know?

I would like to grow a few plants at home, but don't want to spend 300 a month on electricity....
Any thoughts?

Thanks
EKspain.

Click to expand...

your electrical costs will be determined by your local utility and the number of watts of power you use in your grow and i guarantee whatever that cost is it will be MUCH less than it would cost you to keep buying weed.

...i personally run a single 600HPS for flowering and probably another 600watts for my vegging lights and all my fans, plus, i live in New England which has HIGH utility costs and my bill runs about $150.00 per month.

...i run a perpetual harvest with one 4 x 4 space for flowering and another for vegging so when i harvest a crop i flip the next set of plants on the same day, ...i'm still dialing my setup in as i've only been in this apartment for 8 months so i've only had 3 crops but each is bigger than the last and the last was just last week and it yielded just under 10 ounces, ...my goal is 8 plants yielding 2 - 3 zips per plant.

peace, bozo

btw, 1200 watts is about the same as a decent electric space heater would draw, hell, even a decent blowdryer will use 1200 watts.

If you grow with CFL's it wont cost you much, but keep in mind you need

As far as the electric bill, You won't see a huge difference unless you're running 1000 watters and all kinds of stuff

I'm running 600W in the flowering room with probably 400w worth of fans and other things
around 400W in my veg room
and 200W in my seedling/clone room

my light bill went up about $16

craigslist.... my 1000w lamp and t5 plus dehumidfier fans etc... 30 bucks extra a month in power....

if its only for personal use and you just want to grow a few plants to provide that, I would say a minimum of 300$ to start out with in gear Etc. lights and ventilation/filter fans pots aso

sumthing like this:



IMO a perfect starter kit, 400W MH/HPS with a ventilation and filter and a cool tube, a solid set that wont let you down, can cover a 3x3 feet grow

after that you of course have to buy new stuff, bulbs, nutrients, filters soil/coco now and then

and electricity of course deepens on how much you pay per watt/hr, Im in Denmark Scandinavia and we do pay for our power, big time, and my 600W set up still cost me less then a weeks smoke to run for a month (80$)

if you have the money to invest (+2K $) and don't like to use and pay for a big power use, you should look in to LED, just make sure you go for quality fixtures


here is a link to a nice easy to use "guide" that can answer many basic questions, also them you did`t know you had:

http://www.420magazine.com/forums/frequently-asked-questions/83112-how-grow-cannabis-everything-you-need-know.html

HID light - $200 USD
fan/carbon filter combo - $140
various - $100

It depends on what wattage, soil or hydro, nutes...
Do you have a closet or need a tent...

I would like to have $600 to start.

I've got less than $120 into 305w of CFL's, and doing a closet grow.
My electric has gone up almost as much as leaving 2 TV's on 24/7.
I had leftover vinegar, unsulphured molasses, soil and nutes, from last outdoor grow, but spent a few bucks on perlite, so I figure between the 2 grows, I'm in under 200.

I use a 400watter for my grow and my bill went up like 10$

I would never flower with anything besides HID lights or the sun.

If your worried about electric for stealth reasons I would buy a 4 ft 6 bulb fluorescent fixture. ( or whatever you can fit in your desired space). Then get roughly 6 cfl bulbs and fixtures for supplemental lighting. These will be easier to move and adjust around your plants for optimum growth. You'll need two sets of bulbs for all these fixtures mentioned. One set for veg (6500-7500k) and one set for flower (3000-4000k). This lighting might cost you around $100-$150.

If money isn't really a concern I would just go with a 400w hps or even 250. Just depends on how big you wat your plants. But either way your electric wont to up astronomically

My bill droped... I just put clfs around my house and unpluged my personal heater and ended upsaving 10$... This is with 6 cfls in my small veg for babys n clones and my bigger ones under hps 430 exuast n all... Become efficient in you home and go from there... Also u can use 18/6 to save some to.. N go cfls for cheapest way I would say. Def for start up cost atleast...

So from what I gather, start up costs are around 300 to 500 Euros, dollars...whatever..
and electricity could run up too at least 100 or 150, but in some cases, significantly less...

I'm wondering about the LED lights, they seem more cost effective, but more expensive initially.
I'll probably need to get a tent, right??? I don't think I can achieve total darkness in my grow room...

Thanks for your answers!

it really all comes down to how much you want to grow, and how much you are willing to put into it. having jsut bought all the gear for my setup heres a break down of my expenses for 4 plants.
Good quality tent 3x2x5 tent 130$, 4" fan and carbon filter 180$, seeds 50$, soil nutrients and pots about 50$, 16 26w (actual wattage) cfl bulbs 120$, powercords ducting and other misc expensise, 100$
so its cost me around 600$ to get setup with what i hope will make some pretty plants. im sure it could be done cheaper then this depending on your situation. i bought these things a few at a time to spread my expenses out.
sure it seems like a lot of money but when i look at how much i spend on smoking this will really save me tons of money in the long run.
before you start i suggest you heavily research everything you need because all the little things u need, or need to know really add up, i probably researched for about 2 months before buying anything, there is sooo much to learn and so much information to read through that takign the extra time to make sure u have everythign u need and you know what to do will pay off