spelltwister
Member
Hey all,
I'm generating a cost estimator for indoor growing. I'd like this to be a work in progress and I have my blog (see signature) which has all this information as well. I'll list all the items in the initial cost at some point, but for now keep that aside.
POWER AND WATER ESTIMATES
(5 * 12 = 60 plants).
Week 1 - 8 clones
Week 2 - 7 clones
Week 3 - 5 veggies
Week 4 - 4 veggies
Week 5 - 3 veggies
Week 6 thru 14 - 3 in flower
4 Mother plants 9*3 + 8+7+5+4+3+4 = 58 plants (incase want another week of flower w/e).
Equipment
1 - 430 Watt Son Agro (400 W ballast, with 430W bulb)
3 - 600 W Sylvania
Veg room has 430W lamp with 4 mothers all clones and veggies. Clones don't want as much light anyway, I may add a T5 for the clones. Don't consider this now.
31 plants under the 430 Watt, of the 31, only 15 will eventually make it to flower. Spread the cost of these 16 over the other 15. Consider the trip of one plant thru the whole cycle (cost analysis of a single plant power and water consumption).
Power analysis:
$0.12 / kWh is what I pay for power (national avg 10.2 when i last checked).
As a clone...
24 hours of light per day
14 days as a clone (in cloner)
430W bulb
15 plants are sharing the light (more are sharing, but only 15 will make it)
$0.12/kWh * 24h * 14days * 430W / 1000 / 15plants = $1.15584/plant
As a veggie...
Same as clone, but is a veg for 21 days
$0.12/kWh * 24h * 21days * 430W / 1000 / 15plants = $1.73376/plant
As a flowering plant...
12 hours of light per day
60 days as flowering plant
600W bulb
9 plants under the bulb
$0.12/kWh * 12h * 60days * 600W / 1000 / 9plants = $5.76/plant
This is about $8.65 per plant.
For water, you can get RO water from Meijers for $0.29 / gal. The plant uses 1/2 gal / week for 14 weeks = 7 gal * $0.29 = $2.03 per plant for a grand total of $10.68.
I spend about 1-2 hours a week watering just 12 plants, take it up to 5-10 hours for full garden. By watering, I mean probing the soil of the pot for moisture level, mixing ferts, pH testing and adjusting, watering and inspection for problems, etc. That's 15 mins a week per plant roughly; I definitely spend WAY more time than this, but this is a minimum. Do this for 14 weeks <4 hours per plant thru harvest. This isn't including when things go wrong or fixing problems. This is everything going smoothly. This obviously is leaving out a lot of stuff.
NUTES
I'm assuming 1/2 Gal of water per plant per week. Since we feed with every other watering, consider the following.
5 weeks as veg/clone. 8 weeks as flowering plant. This totals 13 weeks. 1/2 Gal for 13 weeks is 6.5 Gal per plant (this is an over estimate, but just follow along ;p). Half of this has nutes so 3.25 gal have nutes. Ok, for the nutes; here's what I use: Fox Farm Big Bloom and Grow Big, along with Botanicare CalMag+.
CalMag+ is with every watering (including the non-fert feedings). 5mL / gal * 6.5 gal / plant = 32.5mL / plant. The cost per Liter for this is $17.95. 32.5 mL = 0.0325 L. $17.95 * 0.0325 = $0.583 / plant for the CalMag+.
Next, Grow Big. This one is used for 38.5% of the feedings and requires an average of 12 mL / gal and costs $16.95. Ok, 3.25 gal / plant * 0.012 L / gal * 0.385 (percent of the feedings) * $16.95 / L = $0.25 / plant.
Big Bloom: $12.95 / L * 0.0185 L / gal * 3.25 gal / plant * 0.93 (93% of the feedings) = $0.73.
GRAND TOTAL for nutes: $0.583 + $0.25 + $0.73 = $1.563.
$10.68 + $1.563 = $12.243 so far for POWER, WATER, and NUTES.
BULBS
Assume that harvests are 13 weeks and that you use the bulbs for 2 harvests. 26 weeks for the bulb. 3 plants per week. 78 plants. My room has three 600W bulbs running and one 430W bulb. Each of the bulbs are about $60. 4 bulbs * $60 / bulb = $240. Spread this across 78 plants. $240 / 78 = $3.08 / plant. Also, the 600W bulbs are used for flowering so they are only on 1/2 as long as the 430 (could be used for 4 harvests instead, but for now, we'll guess high).
$12.243 + $3.08 = $15.323 for all that.
START UPS
I'm not going to list what the costs are here, but eventually I will either here or on my blog. Anyway, I've spent just about $1,500 to setup the room. Spread this across 3 years. 3 plants / week * 52 weeks / year * 3 years = 468 plants. $1,500 / 468 plants = $3.21 / plant.
$15.323+$3.21 = $18.533 / plant for the first 3 years.
The biggest killer seems to be soil believe it or not. It's about $6 per plant for soil.
FINAL COST: $24.533 / plant.
Please, I appreciate all feedback if I'm missing something.
I'm generating a cost estimator for indoor growing. I'd like this to be a work in progress and I have my blog (see signature) which has all this information as well. I'll list all the items in the initial cost at some point, but for now keep that aside.
POWER AND WATER ESTIMATES
(5 * 12 = 60 plants).
Week 1 - 8 clones
Week 2 - 7 clones
Week 3 - 5 veggies
Week 4 - 4 veggies
Week 5 - 3 veggies
Week 6 thru 14 - 3 in flower
4 Mother plants 9*3 + 8+7+5+4+3+4 = 58 plants (incase want another week of flower w/e).
Equipment
1 - 430 Watt Son Agro (400 W ballast, with 430W bulb)
3 - 600 W Sylvania
Veg room has 430W lamp with 4 mothers all clones and veggies. Clones don't want as much light anyway, I may add a T5 for the clones. Don't consider this now.
31 plants under the 430 Watt, of the 31, only 15 will eventually make it to flower. Spread the cost of these 16 over the other 15. Consider the trip of one plant thru the whole cycle (cost analysis of a single plant power and water consumption).
Power analysis:
$0.12 / kWh is what I pay for power (national avg 10.2 when i last checked).
As a clone...
24 hours of light per day
14 days as a clone (in cloner)
430W bulb
15 plants are sharing the light (more are sharing, but only 15 will make it)
$0.12/kWh * 24h * 14days * 430W / 1000 / 15plants = $1.15584/plant
As a veggie...
Same as clone, but is a veg for 21 days
$0.12/kWh * 24h * 21days * 430W / 1000 / 15plants = $1.73376/plant
As a flowering plant...
12 hours of light per day
60 days as flowering plant
600W bulb
9 plants under the bulb
$0.12/kWh * 12h * 60days * 600W / 1000 / 9plants = $5.76/plant
This is about $8.65 per plant.
For water, you can get RO water from Meijers for $0.29 / gal. The plant uses 1/2 gal / week for 14 weeks = 7 gal * $0.29 = $2.03 per plant for a grand total of $10.68.
I spend about 1-2 hours a week watering just 12 plants, take it up to 5-10 hours for full garden. By watering, I mean probing the soil of the pot for moisture level, mixing ferts, pH testing and adjusting, watering and inspection for problems, etc. That's 15 mins a week per plant roughly; I definitely spend WAY more time than this, but this is a minimum. Do this for 14 weeks <4 hours per plant thru harvest. This isn't including when things go wrong or fixing problems. This is everything going smoothly. This obviously is leaving out a lot of stuff.
NUTES
I'm assuming 1/2 Gal of water per plant per week. Since we feed with every other watering, consider the following.
5 weeks as veg/clone. 8 weeks as flowering plant. This totals 13 weeks. 1/2 Gal for 13 weeks is 6.5 Gal per plant (this is an over estimate, but just follow along ;p). Half of this has nutes so 3.25 gal have nutes. Ok, for the nutes; here's what I use: Fox Farm Big Bloom and Grow Big, along with Botanicare CalMag+.
CalMag+ is with every watering (including the non-fert feedings). 5mL / gal * 6.5 gal / plant = 32.5mL / plant. The cost per Liter for this is $17.95. 32.5 mL = 0.0325 L. $17.95 * 0.0325 = $0.583 / plant for the CalMag+.
Next, Grow Big. This one is used for 38.5% of the feedings and requires an average of 12 mL / gal and costs $16.95. Ok, 3.25 gal / plant * 0.012 L / gal * 0.385 (percent of the feedings) * $16.95 / L = $0.25 / plant.
Big Bloom: $12.95 / L * 0.0185 L / gal * 3.25 gal / plant * 0.93 (93% of the feedings) = $0.73.
GRAND TOTAL for nutes: $0.583 + $0.25 + $0.73 = $1.563.
$10.68 + $1.563 = $12.243 so far for POWER, WATER, and NUTES.
BULBS
Assume that harvests are 13 weeks and that you use the bulbs for 2 harvests. 26 weeks for the bulb. 3 plants per week. 78 plants. My room has three 600W bulbs running and one 430W bulb. Each of the bulbs are about $60. 4 bulbs * $60 / bulb = $240. Spread this across 78 plants. $240 / 78 = $3.08 / plant. Also, the 600W bulbs are used for flowering so they are only on 1/2 as long as the 430 (could be used for 4 harvests instead, but for now, we'll guess high).
$12.243 + $3.08 = $15.323 for all that.
START UPS
I'm not going to list what the costs are here, but eventually I will either here or on my blog. Anyway, I've spent just about $1,500 to setup the room. Spread this across 3 years. 3 plants / week * 52 weeks / year * 3 years = 468 plants. $1,500 / 468 plants = $3.21 / plant.
$15.323+$3.21 = $18.533 / plant for the first 3 years.
The biggest killer seems to be soil believe it or not. It's about $6 per plant for soil.
FINAL COST: $24.533 / plant.
Please, I appreciate all feedback if I'm missing something.