Cost of Setting Up a Grow Room

[Eddie45]

If I wanted to set up a Grow Room for 6 plants and wanted decent equipment. What's would be the set up cost?

[Bangel72]

As word of caution. I went cheap on the lights 1k and ended up with skinny tall mf that I don't expect to survive or yield anything. Also should have found blue light for seeding stage to make them a bit stronger.

 

Then I learned about something called lumins and my 1k light is has about 7k lumins up fairly close, likely too low for veg state.

 

I've enjoyed the learning process but I also could have done with and could still do with someone recommending an entry level set up that will yield decent flower. On lazada every product has stuck a sticker on themselves and started selling as cannabis product and they are not suitable at all.

 

Mine will likely move to balcony as soon I think they strong enough, local seeds so okay for this experiment and learning phase.

 

 

[stoner]

good spyder led - 20k baht

 

everything else you can cheap out on

 

if growing indoor you will need to have ac running 24 7 and add co2

 

 

 

[Eddie45]

I didn't realize you had to have the AC running 24x7. What temperature do you need to set the AC at. The electricity usage for AC and running the lights must mount up over a 4 month period.

[bamnutsak]

Are you growing autos or photos, photos take longer than 16 weeks.

 

Will you use a tent?

 

Day 1 start-up costs for a 4x4, maybe a 480 LED, plus all the bits/bobs, 20,000 - 30,000. It adds up, tent, lights, fans, timers, inline fan/filter, seeds, soil/supersoil, fertilizer, water/treatment, meters.

 

This assumes you have a room equipped with an AC unit already. If not, add that to the bill.

 

You could make your own equipment list, share it here, we'll price it for you.

 

Day 1 start-up obviously excludes running costs over the grow period.

[Bangel72]

Could also do with an explanation on the aircon comments above?

 

Is that just in the grow tent the airflow and filter?

 

Or are we talking about general room aircon aswell, the latter would be a blocker due to cost?

 

 

[Eddie45]

Thanks for the info on start up costs. The room has got AC already. I will share my equipment list. What temperature does the AC need to be set at and have got any idea how much it costs for the electricity over the grow period for the lights and AC. 

[bamnutsak]

10 minutes ago, Bangel72 said:

Or are we talking about general room aircon aswell, the latter would be a blocker due to cost?

IMO you need a dedicated room, with aircon and ideally, even fresh outside air supply and exhaust.

 

You can calculate the kilowatt hours easily, but need to know what's being grown. For photos, 18/6 for veg, 12/12 for flower. For autos many run 20/4 for the entire run.

 

People underestimate the cost, time, challenges and dedication required to grow quality cannabis.

 

I like sausage. You don't see me raising pigs in my living room, nor do I have an abatoir in my loo, or a smoker in my kitchen. I buy sausages at the market.

 

 

 

 

Edited September 8, 2022 by bamnutsak

[stoner]

26 minutes ago, bamnutsak said:

IMO you need a dedicated room, with aircon and ideally, even fresh outside air supply and exhaust.

 

You can calculate the kilowatt hours easily, but need to know what's being grown. For photos, 18/6 for veg, 12/12 for flower. For autos many run 20/4 for the entire run.

 

People underestimate the cost, time, challenges and dedication required to grow quality cannabis.

 

I like sausage. You don't see me raising pigs in my living room, nor do I have an abatoir in my loo, or a smoker in my kitchen. I buy sausages at the market.

 

 

 

 

this ^^^^^^^^^^^^

 

the ac here in thailand is one of the most important factors for growing. i would set it around 24 or 25 c. dont bother trying to just cool a tent you will waste time and money. cool the whole room like bamnatusak says. 

 

you will also need a good dehumidifier. 

 

 

[CraigInBangkok]

50 minutes ago, Bangel72 said:

Could also do with an explanation on the aircon comments above?

 

Is that just in the grow tent the airflow and filter?

 

Or are we talking about general room aircon aswell, the latter would be a blocker due to cost?

 

 

you dont want your temperatures too high. not good especially when flowering. I keep my room at 24c with ac (plus I use a dehumidfier)  and then use an extract fan to pull it through my tent (have small fans in tent for airflow)  and that keeps my tent at around 26c

Edited September 8, 2022 by CraigInBangkok

[Trippy]

3 hours ago, Eddie45 said:

Thanks for the info on start up costs. The room has got AC already. I will share my equipment list. What temperature does the AC need to be set at and have got any idea how much it costs for the electricity over the grow period for the lights and AC. 

I keep my room at 27c, 800 watt light and 2 dehumidifiers, costs around 6000 a month in electricity. But my aircon is old, a newer one might be more efficient.  

[tomster]

13 hours ago, stoner said:

if growing indoor you will need to have ac running 24 7 and add co2

You def need aircon but def do not need need Co2, the vast majority of grows are done without it.

 

You do however need a good extractor fan (and carbon filter), you can pretty much leave this running 24/7 and let the aircon control the temperature.

 

You will need a dehumidifier from week 3 of flowering onwards otherwise you will probably get bud rot. However, it's good to use them all the way through as the humidity is currently around 70-80% and cannabis prefers it in the 40-60% range.

 

If you want to grow with a decent LED light, 120cm x 120cm tent, and all the gubbings be prepared to spend about 40-50k depending on how posh you go with the accessories.

Edited September 8, 2022 by tomster

[stoner]

7 minutes ago, tomster said:

the vast majority of grows are done without it.

you're talking about the ocean of mids out there. ???? back home in canada co2 is very common among the bigger grows and small home grows. 

[tomster]

14 minutes ago, stoner said:

ocean of mids

Not sure what this means, sorry?

[stoner]

25 minutes ago, tomster said:

Not sure what this means, sorry?

mids = average bud that most growers grow (if they are even succcessful) 

 

and a whole ocean of them out there. 

[tomster]

Just now, stoner said:

mids = average bud that most growers grow (if they are even succcessful) 

 

and a whole ocean of them out there. 

Ah right, gotchya.

 

But still, you absolutely do not need CO2 to grow top shelf weed, the vast majority of top shelf is grown without it.

 

It's excellent if you can use it but this thread is for a grower just starting out, recommending CO2 could possibly put him off needlessly. 

 

@stoner by the way I watched this video yesterday, loads of stuff there about Co2 (and the move to carbon based nutrients) I didn't know, well worth a watch:

 

 

[stoner]

37 minutes ago, tomster said:

the vast majority of top shelf is grown without it.

i have to disagree here. are you talking about england or canada and usa ? 

 

back home most top shelf is grown with co2 im afraid to tell you. just from my own personal experience in the market.

 

a close friend is a master grower from california and fully educated with multiple degrees in related fields. ill trust his opinion.  

Edited September 8, 2022 by stoner

[tomster]

On 9/7/2022 at 7:00 PM, Bangel72 said:

Then I learned about something called lumins

You are absolutely on the right path but you should be thinking in micromoles rather than lumens.

 

A great explanation of the terms here:

 

 

This guy really breaks it down well and introduces the concepts of PPFD and how it can be used to calculate DLI, the really important number.

 

When you get PPFD you can understand the product descriptions for grow lights much better, from there you can choose grow lights that have the power to drive the plants to a decent yield.

 

A lot of LED lights don't have enough blue spectrum for veg phase, but it's easy to add. As a rough guide Mars Hydro lights tend to be spectrally correct, you can't go too far wrong with that brand.

[tomster]

35 minutes ago, stoner said:

i have to disagree here. are you talking about england or canada and usa ? 

A plant obviously has no knowledge of where it is.

 

"Top Shelf" is a term applied to well grown weed that has a good terpene profile, excellent trichomes and a desirable effect when consumed.

 

Co2 (and other forms of carbon supplementation) help drive plants but to suggest that top shelf weed cannot be grown with C02 supplementation is simply untrue, I am happy to argue with you on this because I know from vast experience that most top shelf is not grown with CO2. Some is, but that is not what makes it top shelf.

 

I owned a grow shop for 14 years and helped hundreds of people grow top shelf weed, less than 1% used CO2. Some of it was truly insanely good cannabis that dwarfs anything being grown here yet and these growers almost never used CO2 supplementation.

 

Happy to debate it further but let's take it to private messages, if so. ????

 

Cheers.

Edited September 8, 2022 by tomster
spelling

[stoner]

2 minutes ago, tomster said:

I owned a grow shop for 14 years and helped hundreds of people grow top shelf weed,

we have a very different view of what top shelf is. hundreds of people dont grow top shelf....they grow mids. 

[stoner]

21 minutes ago, tomster said:

A lot of LED lights don't have enough blue spectrum for veg phase, but it's easy to add. As a rough guide Mars Hydro lights tend to be spectrally correct, you can't go too far wrong with that brand.

fluence LED. amazing lights check them out if you never heard. 

[bamnutsak]

20 hours ago, Eddie45 said:

What temperature does the AC need to be set at and have got any idea how much it costs for the electricity over the grow period for the lights and AC. 

I'd say 23.

 

With quite a few assumptions, as you've provided very little detail, and using the new MEA direct-owner rates (you'll pay nearly double if you're renting), my SWAG is 25,000 for a typical photo grow.

 

Equipment ~ 30,000 to get going.

 

Figure 0.5 grams per watt (first grow) with 480 watt LED, six plants = 240 grams. If you nail it. ~ 22 weeks, plus another 5 ~ 6 for drying and curing.

 

 

Edited September 9, 2022 by bamnutsak

[tomster]

4 minutes ago, bamnutsak said:

I'd say 23.

 

With quite a few assumptions, as you've provided very little detail, and using the new MEA direct-owner rates (you'll pay nearly double if your renting), my SWAG is 25,000 for a typical photo grow.

 

Equipment ~ 30,000 to get going.

 

Figure 0.5 grams per watt (first grow) with 480 watt LED, six plants = 240 grams. If you nail it. ~ 22 weeks, plus another 5 ~ 6 for drying and curing.

Your grows are 22 weeks?

 

Did you mean 12 weeks?

 

Drying around 5 days plus 2-4 weeks cure is pretty standard but obviously depends on your technique and desperation to smoke the final product...????

[starky]

On 9/8/2022 at 3:05 PM, bamnutsak said:

IMO you need a dedicated room, with aircon and ideally, even fresh outside air supply and exhaust.

 

You can calculate the kilowatt hours easily, but need to know what's being grown. For photos, 18/6 for veg, 12/12 for flower. For autos many run 20/4 for the entire run.

 

People underestimate the cost, time, challenges and dedication required to grow quality cannabis.

 

I like sausage. You don't see me raising pigs in my living room, nor do I have an abatoir in my loo, or a smoker in my kitchen. I buy sausages at the market.

 

 

 

 

Very very well said.

[mixed]

I bought a Mars 300w with a good rep for 10k, a grow tent was B3,200, fans B400 ea. Then there's things like electrical leads, soil/grow media, pots etc. It's working fine so far, but there's no air con and temps are about 3 degrees hotter in the tent than outside.

 

Once upon a time the best cannabis was suited to hot climates, now it's cooler climates but there are strains available that can cope with the heat and the tent will be cooler that outside under the sun. Whether these strains are as strong as other varieties I don't know, but life's a compromise.

 

With more countries legalizing cannabis, I think there will be a move away from lights, mainly due to cost. One thing about the sun is nobody's paying for it, so nobody's paying for ads, articles and blog posts telling you how good it is.

[tomster]

30 minutes ago, mixed said:

I bought a Mars 300w with a good rep for 10k,

Good lights.

 

30 minutes ago, mixed said:

With more countries legalizing cannabis, I think there will be a move away from lights,

Not anytime soon in Thailand. ????

[mixed]

3 hours ago, tomster said:

Good lights.

 

Not anytime soon in Thailand. ????

Yes, happy with the light.

 

It's great the emphasis here is on growing, in rural areas they are selling seedlings at the corner stall. With a 15 plant rule and plenty of farmers who can't afford indoor, it may be sooner than later.

 

Back on topic, I think the OP should go with the most basic system, provided it can be improved later. It's worth remembering most add ons will mean more electricity; more plugs and leaders, so more danger.

[marcusb]

...

Edited September 10, 2022 by marcusb

[BritManToo]

Disagree with almost everything posted.

No need for air-con, it's been the coldest year I've ever known in Thailand.

But Thai strains or western strains? There's a big difference.

 

Started lots off Thai seeds this year, none of them liked being inside, all looked a bit yellow.

Put them outside once they were big enough to survive the slugs and snails, and they're all going gangbusters and greened up. Just started flowering (one deader out of 15).

 

Back to OP,

Got three western photo fem strains going in my tent (Tropical Punch, Bubblegummer, Cheeselicious) growing well and totally green but still in the cloning stage (same growing conditions as the Thai strains but much greener). No air-con, tent open HLG240 light plus Quantum boards (about 10Kbht for Mars Hydro 2x4 tent, and HLG240 light).

 

The most important part of your indoor grow is the light.

[tomster]

4 hours ago, BritManToo said:

Back to OP,

Got three western photo fem strains going in my tent (Tropical Punch, Bubblegummer, Cheeselicious) growing well and totally green but still in the cloning stage (same growing conditions as the Thai strains but much greener). No air-con, tent open HLG240 light plus Quantum boards (about 10Kbht for Mars Hydro 2x4 tent, and HLG240 light).

With respect BritManToo - an open tent is just Mylar and somewhere to hang your light.

 

Correctly set up grow tents are controlled environments, very different animals... ????

 

Happy grows!