The Cost of Growing

[mystic_roots]

How are members finding their electricity bill prices growing in this current climate?

 

I’m itching to grow again this year as I could really do with the practise and I’m tempted to grow some autos again but probably have the LED’s on a 18/6 schedule instead of 24/7. 
Rather than squeezing 2 in the tent I am considering just doing 1 and training it a lot more than usual to get a fat canopy as it’s somewhat awkward when 1 plant finishes and the other still has weeks to go because harvesting and drying becomes a challenge. 
 

 

Edited May 19, 2023 by mystic_roots

[Slippy One]

It's shitty. I used to run a small bonsai cabinet that used to cost under £1/day. A few upgrades on lighting and heating for it to be perfect (21/25 degrees, 18/6 lighting) and a price hiked it up to £6/day. Fuck that. I'd say a decent setup in a 2x2m tent with would be around £10-15/day. It's a bad day when home grown costs nearly the same to grow as commercial prices..  

Edited May 19, 2023 by Slippy One

[mystic_roots]

Just now, Slippy One said:

It's shitty. I used to run a small bonsai cabinet that used to cost under £1/day. A few upgrades on lighting and heating for it to be perfect (21/25 degrees, 8/6 lighting) and a price hiked it up to £6/day. Fuck that. I'd say a decent setup in a 2x2m tent with would be around £10-15/day. It's a bad day when home grown costs nearly the same to grow as commercial prices..  

 

Ouch, I suppose the only silver lining is growing in summer I shouldn’t need to have too much additional heating but £10-£15 a day, don’t even bare thinking about. Might have stuck a pin in it before it begins! 
 

We’re getting a smart meter soon so I can plug in the lights and fan to see what it draws per day and try to make a rough calculation. 

[5Lip]

I spend a lot of time on my narrowboat and therefore the only draw on power at home is my grow, which is a “room in a shed” just big enough for 2 plants which average about £6 per day since I’ve had my eye on consumption (so the past 12 months) I run 2x600w leds / an oversized extraction fan / InkBird set to 25 degrees 24 hrs per day and a couple of 6” fans.

 

If we give my autos 10 weeks that’s £420 electricity cost and I average about 3oz per plant which if I bought from my friend at £180/oz would cost me £1080 so I still think there’s some value in the home grown as well as the obvious benefits that don’t need mentioning.

[Hashslag]

My little stealth cab with led lighting isn't really costing much at all from what I can tell - obviously hard to pinpoint as the smart meter just tells you the overall cost of leccy in general, but I reckon it's not costing more then a quid or two a day, probably.

[Lazy L]

I'm running a 600w hps, 250w hps, 2x6" extracton fans and 2x200w heating mats with inkbirds for about £8 a day

 

I can see the days I'm not there on my smart meter 

[Stonedjones]

As they say a watt is a watt whichever light you choose. I grow all year round with led but I’ve had to upgrade my fan to an ac and keep it low and to do this I’ve had to lower my footprint so I can get away with using a 240w led in a 1200x600 wardrobe but I still pull around 10-12 oz which is good enough for me and it cost me very little even in the winter with a 80w heater tube

[BilgePump]

I'm running a 1.2m and two 60cm spaces and it's costing me about 7 quid a day , all in.

 

[Military Grade]

My grow used to be less than £1 a day, I'd say its about £2 or just under without doing the maths based off total home usage.

I'm gonna be setting up my new little tent soon so that might make it around the £3+ mark.

[MySoulIsMine]

I pay about 170 a month for the lights to stay on. I go through about 2 oz a month so works out a lot cheaper than buying it still and the quality is a million times better than what Is available to me