How much have you spent on your grow equipment?

[PsyCLown]

So I was doing some rough maths regarding how much I have spent on my grow equipment. Just equipment, not the actual running costs like electricity, nutes, coco and also not including seeds).

 

This got me thinking, how much does your grow equipment cost?

 

The names will not be publicly displayed, so you can vote with confidence as I understand this could be a touchy subject if everyone could see the names of the voters.

[420SA]

Touchy subject if there are partners/wives in the picture 

[PsyCLown]

Just now, 420SA said:

Touchy subject if there are partners/wives in the picture 

Yes, very true... This is probably one of those instances where if something happens to you, you hope your wife / partner does not sell everything for what you told her you paid for it. haha

[greenkush]

8 minutes ago, 420SA said:

Touchy subject if there are partners/wives in the picture 

That's why you keep cooked books and real ones.

[Naughty.Psychonaut]

Well, this sure makes me feel a bit better about the amount I'm at. 

I guess it also depends on your yields and such, efficiency of the grow. 

I have a friend that spent probably half of what I have and pulls harvests double the size of mine. He got lots of second hand items and his setup is bare and simple, only the essentials. He knows what he's doing and is just all around more knowledgable on these things and I also strongly believe the GrowGods bless him favourably. So much so that it kinda pisses me off at times! This guy can pull fucking top notch buds from a "swazi" bag seed grown in river sand middle of the winter (quite drastic exaggeration for dramaric effect) while I'm paying through the nose to get the right soil, right pots, right everything and then still face the everyday problems such as ph stress and deficiencies of all kinds.

Anyway, nice to see I am not spending "too much" 

[PsyCLown]

43 minutes ago, Naughty.Psychonaut said:

Well, this sure makes me feel a bit better about the amount I'm at. 

I guess it also depends on your yields and such, efficiency of the grow. 

I have a friend that spent probably half of what I have and pulls harvests double the size of mine. He got lots of second hand items and his setup is bare and simple, only the essentials. He knows what he's doing and is just all around more knowledgable on these things and I also strongly believe the GrowGods bless him favourably. So much so that it kinda pisses me off at times! This guy can pull fucking top notch buds from a "swazi" bag seed grown in river sand middle of the winter (quite drastic exaggeration for dramaric effect) while I'm paying through the nose to get the right soil, right pots, right everything and then still face the everyday problems such as ph stress and deficiencies of all kinds.

Anyway, nice to see I am not spending "too much" 

Yikes man, you doing organic soil type of grows?

 

I recall your grams per watt being quite low as well.

[Naughty.Psychonaut]

@PsyCLown

Well, my grams per watt is 0.8 and this is under a cheap blurple. Not too far from 1g, which would make me happy, but just seeing people achieve bigger yields and investing much less is what gets to me. 

You can call it organic, yes. I could defs do better with my AACT brews next run and will also have a bar LED with samsung diodes. My previous grow was organic with the adding of a synthetic nute here and there.

Edited August 14, 2020 by Naughty.Psychonaut

[SkunkPharm]

I stopped counting long ago.

[The_StonedTrooper]

All I want to know is who that 1 guy is that spent that much, you own my dream good sir 

One day, when I'm big

[CreX]

1 hour ago, 420SA said:

Touchy subject if there are partners/wives in the picture 

Ha! The only ladies I have in my life stay in the room until I need them

[The_StonedTrooper]

5 minutes ago, CreX said:

Ha! The only ladies I have in my life stay in the room until I need them

Just feed them, every now and then

[Naughty.Psychonaut]

@PsyCLown

Is 0.8gpw too low?

Does organic grow style generally yield less than salt based? 

Or what's your hypothesis?

[PsyCLown]

7 minutes ago, Naughty.Psychonaut said:

@PsyCLown

Is 0.8gpw too low?

Does organic grow style generally yield less than salt based? 

Or what's your hypothesis?

Comparing my organic grow vs my now "synthetic" grows, I feel the organic was slower and costlier and the difference with taste was not there unlike what people said.

 

I am of the opinion that organic is more of a marketing thing, the companies make more money off of it. You can still pull great yields from it though.

Chances are your light is letting you down a bit and then possibly environment and/or training. Training makes a big difference and effectively using the space as best as possible. It is easier to achieve 100g from 2 plants than it is from a single plant. It is also quicker to grow 2 smaller plants than a single BIG plant.

There are pros and cons, you gotta find what suits you and works best for you.

Scrog is cool, but once again takes more time. More time = more electricity, more nutes and end of the day how much better is your final yield?

This is if we start talking efficiencies, which some people do not care about - some just want to do it the way they want to do it and nothing wrong with that.

 

Organic, to me, only makes sense if you're at the point where you are not feeding any nutes, just giving water and perhaps a few amendments here and there and that is what you want to do and how you want to grow. Sort of like most outdoor grows I guess, just indoors.

Organic where you are feeding nutes, for what? For why?

 

Although we're going off topic now, if you wanna discuss it further start a thread and tag me  

[ORGANinc.]

Wasted a lot of money first. Someone sold me dreams. I was stupid enough to listen. But glad I did because I ended up finding my passion... haaaaa gayyy!

[ORGANinc.]

1 hour ago, StickyD420 said:

Just feed them, every now and then

No man! I’m grinning here and thinking how I’d get fucked up if she knew what I was laughing at... DEAD...

[Naughty.Psychonaut]

46 minutes ago, PsyCLown said:

Comparing my organic grow vs my now "synthetic" grows, I feel the organic was slower and costlier and the difference with taste was not there unlike what people said.

I agree, don't think taste is gona be a difference. 

I am aware that organic slows things down a bit, but shouldn't be the reason why my gpw is so low.

Just as a side note, I am only doing my second grow at the moment. Still getting to know the ropes. What we are discussing is all based on my very first grow. 

I think "going organic" should be much more of a thing in the farming industry. I am on a big farm, we're trying to move away from synthetic nutes, cause pumping them into the earth at the rate we do completely changes the chemical composition of the soil and over time you destroy the environment for the plants. For a plant in a pot you only gona grow for 4 months it really isn't doing anything other giving the plant exactly what it needs. 

I am missing something here though. How does ammending the soil before planting differ from ammending while growing? And how does organic make the split between the two? 

Even mixing earthworm castings in your "medium" before planting means you've ammended the "medium". Organic dry ammendments are added to the "medium" before planting and then you just give water whole grow through. Would you say this is organic? Because, it is. It doesn't really matter what you call it and you've already ammended the "medium", which according to you makes it not organic.? I am lost. 

1 hour ago, PsyCLown said:

Chances are your light is letting you down

Yes, it is. It's the Apollo 8 from futurama. I have the light raised 40cm above the canopy and the plants are not reaching the sides of the tent. Can't raise it more (for better spread) cause then I'd be losing the last bit of intensity. Hence the new light coming together as we speak. 

With both my first and second grow I've had 4 plants in a 1mx1m space. Tried to max the potential. 

I mentioned that I could do better with the tea brewing, I had troubles sourcing potassium rich ingredients for my AACT in time, so I think I ended the grow a bit too early actually. Think that had a big impact on the end total.  Aswell as the light. 

Will update my statistics once I have them.

[PsyCLown]

20 minutes ago, Naughty.Psychonaut said:

I agree, don't think taste is gona be a difference. 

I am aware that organic slows things down a bit, but shouldn't be the reason why my gpw is so low.

Just as a side note, I am only doing my second grow at the moment. Still getting to know the ropes. What we are discussing is all based on my very first grow. 

I think "going organic" should be much more of a thing in the farming industry. I am on a big farm, we're trying to move away from synthetic nutes, cause pumping them into the earth at the rate we do completely changes the chemical composition of the soil and over time you destroy the environment for the plants. For a plant in a pot you only gona grow for 4 months it really isn't doing anything other giving the plant exactly what it needs. 

I am missing something here though. How does ammending the soil before planting differ from ammending while growing? And how does organic make the split between the two? 

Even mixing earthworm castings in your "medium" before planting means you've ammended the "medium". Organic dry ammendments are added to the "medium" before planting and then you just give water whole grow through. Would you say this is organic? Because, it is. It doesn't really matter what you call it and you've already ammended the "medium", which according to you makes it not organic.? I am lost. 

Yes, it is. It's the Apollo 8 from futurama. I have the light raised 40cm above the canopy and the plants are not reaching the sides of the tent. Can't raise it more (for better spread) cause then I'd be losing the last bit of intensity. Hence the new light coming together as we speak. 

With both my first and second grow I've had 4 plants in a 1mx1m space. Tried to max the potential. 

I mentioned that I could do better with the tea brewing, I had troubles sourcing potassium rich ingredients for my AACT in time, so I think I ended the grow a bit too early actually. Think that had a big impact on the end total.  Aswell as the light. 

Will update my statistics once I have them.

 

I agree with you that the farming / agriculture industry should look towards more organic ways of doing things - long run it will possibly work out cheaper too as a happy soil eco-system can lead to a big reduction of nutes and likely be better for the environment / earth etc.

 

Errm, I don't think I said adding amendments makes it not organic. I also asked the question, at what point is a grow no longer considered organic?

Making use of synthetic nutes, it seems majority consider the grow no longer organic. Perhaps adding anything which might harm the microbes and mess with the eco-system would then lead to a grow not being organic? Not sure.

 

Are you feeding nutes or not? I am sure with a better light your stats will improve a bit too.  

[Naughty.Psychonaut]

18 minutes ago, PsyCLown said:

 

I agree with you that the farming / agriculture industry should look towards more organic ways of doing things - long run it will possibly work out cheaper too as a happy soil eco-system can lead to a big reduction of nutes and likely be better for the environment / earth etc.

 

Errm, I don't think I said adding amendments makes it not organic. I also asked the question, at what point is a grow no longer considered organic?

Making use of synthetic nutes, it seems majority consider the grow no longer organic. Perhaps adding anything which might harm the microbes and mess with the eco-system would then lead to a grow not being organic? Not sure.

 

Are you feeding nutes or not? I am sure with a better light your stats will improve a bit too.  

Aha, I see, I have misread that part about the amendments!  Apologies, Sir! 

I do not use nutes. I grow in ff premium mix, to keep the soil alive I add mycorrhizae and a bit of trichoderma to the soil. I add a bit of dolomite lime to add cal and just help a bit with keeping the ph stable. Then to keep the microbes thriving and the medium fertile I brew teas, mostly with ff prem mix and a bit of soil from the mountains and I add liquid vermipure and molasses. Should start adding more stuff soon, waiting on a order to arrive. I also spray weekly or every second week during veg with bioneem, bioampilo and phyta.

All organic shib, I do not use a bottled nute with a schedule and all. If that's what you're asking. 

I test ph every here and there, mostly for interest sake. Had a ph scare, almost lost a plant. In the end didn't know what was wrong, had to dump the soil, cleaned the roots and made a full recovery! I need a soil ph probe, but for now I test run off from time to time. 

Here's where it might not be so organic, when I pour clean water from the tap and put my ph probe in sometimes it shoots up to 9. So I feel a little shit giving that to the ladies and end up bringing it down to 7.3 with a chemical ph down.

Should probably start a seperate thread on this haha

[GGG]

Lekker topic!!
According to other growers I spend to much, but according to me I'm not
I read up ALOT before I started buying and I have build up experience through the years with various different project that Eazi or cheap ends up being more expensive.
Soo I saved and saved till I could afford QB's, then I made a small loan to get a proper growing inviorment going and all the hyped up synthetic bottled nutes to grow in coco/perlite and I'm not dishing it. I set the bar low and got the results I wanted. Did a few of those grows and got fed up with the the time spending mixing nutes properly, mixing then ph then wait the adjusting and then so on.
Hooked up with a a member here for exchanging clones and he was growing in Living soil ( I thought everything was alive anyway) so I read and read and did research and ended up buying proper soil ( cost R-20-40 more than FF Classic) and did a few full grows with only water and Fire Juice, by this time I raised the bar a little and I got desired results.

I am in the prosess of making my own compost for end of year or next year and then I can start mixing and see how that goes.

Lights are paid of and still in good condition and I have dailed my grows in to achieve minimum of 1,1g/w and 450g/sq/m. Its not high but I'm happy for now. Soooo spending R300-350 per 25L pot per 90-110g plant is not alot for me, spending way less time watering also.

Yeah so a proper start up can cost alot but worth it after some time. Read read read and ask questions, even dum questions

Sent from my F5321 using Tapatalk

[1000Hills Nursery]

Money well spent... even the school fees we've all had to pay.

 

[Ill_Evan]

If I knew when I first bought what I know now I probably could have saved quite a bit, but then I wouldn't have gotten to use a few different things here and there 

 

 

[PsyCLown]

Results are fairly consistent up until the R50 - R80k mark.

 

Thereafter you most likely find the growers with bigger setups and/or people who have been growing indoors for longer and who have invested in some quality kit.

[Batista]

On 8/14/2020 at 4:50 PM, Naughty.Psychonaut said:

@PsyCLown

Is 0.8gpw too low?

Does organic grow style generally yield less than salt based? 

Or what's your hypothesis?

Growing organically adds another layer to growing and if you are not skilled you can run into more problems with organics than synthetics.I pretty much ignore seedlings until they show stress in week 2/3 .They show a variety of deficiencies, but just one application of cheap A+B sorts them out, takes the guess work out and you can concentrate on other factors such as light,air flow, humidity because all of those play a factor in a plants growth.

I suggest you do a chemical run with a 1 plant DWC system and see how it blows an organic soil run away hands down.There isnt guess work involved with chemicals, just stick to the chart - you dont really need a tds meter,but it is a nice investment to have especially when you want to go over the recommending feeding levels for greedy plants lol.

[Bakstein420]

50 minutes ago, Batista said:

I suggest you do a chemical run with a 1 plant DWC system and see how it blows an organic soil run away hands down.There isnt guess work involved with chemicals, just stick to the chart - you dont really need a tds meter,but it is a nice investment to have especially when you want to go over the recommending feeding levels for greedy plants lol.

This is on my bucket list, once I finish all my biobizz nutes. My mind is blown every time someone lifts the lid for a pic of the roots. Crazy growth 

[Naughty.Psychonaut]

1 hour ago, Batista said:

Growing organically adds another layer to growing and if you are not skilled you can run into more problems with organics than synthetics.I pretty much ignore seedlings until they show stress in week 2/3 .They show a variety of deficiencies, but just one application of cheap A+B sorts them out, takes the guess work out and you can concentrate on other factors such as light,air flow, humidity because all of those play a factor in a plants growth.

I suggest you do a chemical run with a 1 plant DWC system and see how it blows an organic soil run away hands down.There isnt guess work involved with chemicals, just stick to the chart - you dont really need a tds meter,but it is a nice investment to have especially when you want to go over the recommending feeding levels for greedy plants lol.

I see what you mean here and I've seen guys growing DWC and really doing some amazing stuff, no doubt about that.

The reason why I wana grow organic is because it will stand the test of time. It is the knowledge that comes with it that I desire. I want to know about microbes, bacteria and nematodes and all the other living things. I believe, even though being not so skilled, I'll get there faster if I take the right steps.

I've got some background with synthetic nutes, not only with cannabis.

I feel at the end of the day the best for me is going to be to plant straight into the earth and growing organic will add to the knowledge one needs when cooking up some nice living soils. Creating your own mediums and amendments is what it's all about, for me.