I've been wanting to start my own grow ever since I started smoking weed. I've never been able to until I graduated and had time to myself. I'm looking to invest around 10,000$ in growing medical marijuana larger scale (100 plants?) I happen to have just visited a grow in CA (scheduled appointment) and it really inspired me to perhaps start one of my own. In my state (WA) you may have 15 plants per patient. If I stack cards I believe I could be a caregiver for roughly 6 individuals. I would like to use t5 setups and 1000w HPS vented lights over organic soil medium. What is the smartest way to do this with electrical costs in mind? I fear a 1000$ month bill How many 1000w HPS per plant? (I'm guessing 4 plants per light)? Whats the most profitable way to arrange my setup? Should I consider a 4 month lease, or month to month? I also am assuming I will be getting roughly 3 ounces per plant... How realistic is this assumption? Would it be smarter to have a business partner and near double our plant #s? Should I buy feminized/autoflowering seeds? Would buying 2 teen clones for 50$ be a good idea over seeds? I'm doing my first grow just for experience. However I must break even if I'll be doing a second grow. I have a family member electrician to help me wire ballasts and whatever wiring would be necessary. I appreciate every amount of information you can share with me. I've read several "grow bibles" and have done plenty of random searches to help myself learn how to turn clones into buds. Is it even possible to make this happen with only 10,000$? Rent and electrical would take nearly half of it... I'm nervous about this large financial decision for I am only 18 years old and starting my first grow.
Rent and electrical will take all of it eventually if that's all you plan on spending. Plants don't grow in a month or even 3. 10gs is a lot for an 18 year old to blindly drop on something you don't know about except for a few internet searches. But its not a lot when you consider you want to do a commercial grow with only 2 clones and only $5000 for equipment after the 5gs for rent and utilities. Hell I know guys who have that much in there home grows. And 2 clones would be a slow start, I start with more then that in my 2'x4' tent. It wouldn't be smarter to get a business partner, sound like you need an advisor who knows his shit more mor
I know probably more than I made my post appear. I will be taking the two teen clones and cutting them to make my own clones.( I assume a couple veg plants have enough stems for a large grow) I have put around 3 weeks of near constant research into the field. I have a few very resourceful people who grow commercially but I refuse to bother them with questions before I even start. They are all family of family members so I'm not close w them for casual chats about grows. What would you guys do? I'm confident to just jump in and do it however I just feel theres so much risk doing it without having every single aspect down beforehand. BTW Rent is only going to cost me 1000$/month for a 4 bedroom house here. Also I think electricity is roughly 10cents a kw/hr
I would lend you some experience from Colorado that will most likely be similar to what caregivers in Washington will tell you.....both states have thousands of extremely qualified and experienced growers that grow exceptional meds for their patients....and there are too many as it is. Colorado has over 4000 caregivers with a total of 125,000 patients most of which buy from medical dispensaries...not caregivers. They do so because they have a bigger selection than from caregivers. Caregivers must tailor their grows to the needs of their patients so many caregivers that I know of, myself included, have to grow strains that fit the medical needs of the patient. Most grow using LEDs to keep costs and heat down and to provide meds at a reasonable price that someone with such disabilities can afford. You will not get rich, you will most likely not get more than 100 an ounce... the purpose of a caregiver does not lend itself to becoming wealthy. The prices you see in Washington will also be much lower in a year as it is in Colorado as the competition becomes more and more cut throat. Margins will shrink and only the top growers will survive using the best genetics, breeding techniques, and experience. These are the guys and gals that are yielding 3 and 4 times the weight that a new grower can just due to their expertise. I don't want to discourage you however one must understand that this is big league with big players and big money.
I will expect my patients to be donating around 125 per O and they will each be using a few ounces each a week. Each patient I plan on growing for will be a close friend of mine. Thats a ton of patients in colorado . How discreet do I need to be on this forum? Must I speak in "Swim" speak? I live a few miles from portland Oregon, which will soon have demands matching ours north. Also I have a family member offering to hook me up with half off equipment from used grows. He knows dozens of growers on the west coast and has plenty of help if needed.
I wish you the best of luck Bro....all I am saying is that Colorado and Washington are not places to learn as you go. Knowing your patients is the best advantage though. Don't forget to post pictures!
Thanks for the luck man... I'll probably need a little of it. Sorta ironic how its one of the easiest places to grow, yet hardest to profit off. I'll for sure have a blog up as soon as I start building my rooms!
That's a lot of money to chuck in to a venture that you have never even tried yet . Are you able to grow at home? If so I would recommend you start out with $1000. you can easily buy enough equipment to start up a 4x4' grow so you can learn how to grow. You will be surprised how much you will have learned in that first run. Also, you probably won't get a huge yield, but any failures won't result in thousands of dollars of loss. It takes about 3-4 months from seed to harvest. After the first run you can decide wether or not to jump in the deep end. Having a fuck ton of plants under several 1000s watts is a big job for a seasoned grower. A beginner is going to struggle. Once you do get things going you want to work out your limitations. This will be your grow area or wattage, and build the rest around it Having "100" medium size plants in soil is going to be a crazy amount of work. You need to water when the plant demands it and each plant won't dry up its soil at the same time so every day you're going to have to check every pot. Total nightmare. Hydro is the only logical way on grows of that size unless growing outdoors obviously. Honestly though growing marijuana is not easy when starting out. There is so much to learn. Starting off a small grow to give yourself a chance to learn how to do it is the only sensible way. I have been doing it for 20 years and I'm still learning myself
My parents support the idea but don't want it in their house...I do not see a problem with daily checkups on my plants lol... It's not like I'll be busy with guests over at the grow op
Yeah, it's not just about the check ups though, it's also about what happens when you check and find a problem. If 2 plants have problems, it won't take too long to work out what they are, what's causing them, and how to fix them. If you have 20 plants with problems you will be pulling your hair out trying to sort them all. If the whole operation went perfectly smooth and you didn't have any problems then yeah growing 100 plants will be a piece of piss and just a numbers game, but that's not going to happen. You have never grown before, you are going to have plenty of problems from just a few plants. I understand your parents won't have it in their house. Maybe your only option is to go big to cover the rent. Do you have a job? Could you cover the rent if you ballsed up the grow? I have seen so many people on here grow a few plants for a couple of months before giving up and starting new seeds because the plants were on the brink of death the whole time. Prepare for the worst and you won't go far wrong
That's some pretty honest advice right there man. I couldn't imagine if half my plants got sick with all different symptoms. I do not work, actually I'll be selling my sport car to afford all of this. 10gs from that will go into growing cannabis haha... What if I did a SOG in 4 different rooms (4 different strains) all at the same time with carbon filters and all, would I have the chance yielding anywhere near 20 lbs off like 8 ballasts?
With experience you can get 2 pounds per 1000w light. But with no experience it's a lottery. A 1000w lamp will cover a 4'x4' area quite nicely but at a stretch it can cover 5'x5'
Do one 600w grow and you are almost guaranteed to make your money back on the first run. However, times that by 10 and you multiply your chances of problems by 10. Learning how to grow with 1 light before starting up your grow empire is the best way forward. But if that's not an option, it's not an option. If you rent a house you would need to grow enough to cover the rent on top of the start up costs so a multi light grow may be the only choice
oh sorry 3 weeks of near constant research. Hell you don't need any advice you got this no problem jump on in
yes its very common and that's just a few plants not 100. Talk about a nightmare. Even if it did manage your way through somehow, your not going to turn a profit in just a couple months. Veg,flower,dry,cure, how long do you think that 10gs is going to last , let's see a grand a month for rent, minimum say 7-8 months on the light side. Oh shit ya you spent 5gs on equipment, you had to stop paying rent a few months ago and haven't eaten in weeks. Your talking patients so they're going to want some high grade shit, which takes high grade knowledge and experience. You're not going to get buy growing some bs. If it was that easy don't you think we would all be doing it. Not trying to burst your bubble bro, just some reality
Just think of the costs... 20 hortilux blue bulbs = 2000 20 ballasts = 4000 20 flower bulbs = 2000. Re wiring house to run that many lights without tripping circiuts = ? 100 pots = 1000 CO2 = 500 Soil = 1000. Cloning supplies = 1000 20 cheap hoods = 2000. Supplemental UVB lighting = 1000 10 duct fans = 2000 Drying racks and curing jars = 500 100 seeds or clones = 1000. Environmental controls = 200 Nutrients for 100 plants = 1500. Cost per month per lamp = 50 or 1000 monthly not including fans and AC. Ducting supplies = 500. Phresh carbon filters = 2000 You are up to 22K for your first month without selling an ounce provided nothing breaks down. 70 day veg, 70 day flower, 90 day cure means with first months expenses, electric and rent, you are into it for 41K before selling anything. This also doesn't include the T5HO units and room to create a perpetual grow cycle for cloning. First grow provided you have no hermie issues, dead plants, bug infestations, nutrient issues would yield 250 ounces in a SOG. Your patient count of 6 would be able to consume 250 ounces at a rate of 24 ounces a month for an additional 10 months so now you are into it at 20 months and still no net gain after rent and electric. After 20 months, you still come up about 20K short of your goal.
The set up would depend on the house you rented but if you had 8x 1000w light covering a 5'x5' patch each. So 200 square feet spread out throughout the house. You should get 8 pounds from this per harvest as long as you don't have any major cock ups, and once you get your clones going you could veg and flower in 3 months. So after the first harvest you could have about 3 pounds per month available How much does electricity cost in your area? How much would you get for 3 pounds? Edit.. At $0.10 per kWh, The lights alone would cost around $400 per month to run. Add fans and pumps and you will probably be about $450 per month. costs of consumables would probably bring that figure up to about $500 per month. I couldn't guess at the initial cost of the equipment as I'm from the UK and our prices are different. You definitely want to go hydro though, it's way easier, less to go wrong and generally less physical work day to day