Growing vs Dispensary

Don’t know if this is the proper place for this thread. I’m on my third grow. My first two grows got me about 10 to 12 grams per plant. I know not much but with lots of help from the members here this grow should be much better. In looking back at how much $ I have spent to set up my grow I’m wondering if it’s worth it. I’m not complaining because I enjoy doing it. There are not many things I enjoy in life but growing is one of them. The amount of cash I’ve spent on growing could have kept me in bud from my local dispensary for a year. I am a medical user. My point is is there a break even point. It’s not just the cash you put into it it’s the time as well. Which is ok with me because I enjoy it. It’s become a hobby. My discussion question is: what is more economical ; Growing or Purchasing.

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I easily can pay $6-700 (and was until I started growing) a month on weed. Growing is my only option.

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I invested about $1200 to get going. So far I have grown 17 oz this year. As I use to spend anywhere from $200-$300 an oz from dispensaries or the street, I am already on the positive side with a lot of saving this year. Next year will be even better, as I already own the equipment…

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Along the same comments as @Ron330 stated. BUT, it’s legal here, there are dispensary’s in the state, but NOT in my town. (I live in a remote area and I can’t drive there) I don’t have an option. Mystery weed on the street, at about $350-450 an oz is not something to laugh at. The way I see it, I can grow what I want, with better quality, for a small investment. Who knows, if the cards lay out right, I might even try for a commercial grow one day when I have no other job, and why not? Just consider home growing practice! Even if I don’t, I’ll be good at it just the same, and I’ll feel good sharing the wealth! @HJL

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I’m in it for 1200/1300 and i had 2 grows which yielded me around 9oz… that was 2 plants first grow and 3 plants on second grow… not great but like you said, I own the equipment and my next grow will cost less to hopefully yield more @Ron330

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My investment was around 200$ (light + some stuff) and I was be able to get (if I was selling it but not :stuck_out_tongue_winking_eye:) around 160g of weed(in my country it illegal so the value of that is around 3200$). Now I don’t need to tell you what is better (growing or buying) :joy:

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I recommend you to start a new lot of seeds and start a grow journal as well and this way we can help you to get more from your plants :wink::+1:

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Grow outdoors. One outdoor plant costs next to nothing and can easily yield more than you’ll use all year.

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The Northern Lights plant I grew under 400 watt HPS gave me 7 oz of absolutely top shelf buds dry in the jars. As good as the best dispensary weed. If you are getting so little, you don’t have enough light.

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The more you grow the better youll get and you will fine tune equipment and grow space
Imo it better to grow your own especially if your a medical user since you control every aspect of the grow and youll inow exactly what your getting and using
Just my humble opinion @HJL
:v:CB

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Hands down grow!!!
My first space was a shed $200
Tent 80
3 marshydro 300 $210
Carbon filter /fan 100+ ??
Anyway from one plant I was able to move to a strange town with no connection, and have meds for 4 month.
About 4oz harvest.
That’s $1200 on the street.
Had to move without shed some had to rebuild space, but now have a veg and flower space :sunglasses:
I’m buying right now but I’m praying to God that after this girl in flower gets done I won’t EVER , ever,ever buy meds again.
Keep your head up brother , you’ll get better at it . And with the only expenses being soil and nutes you’ll see the payoff in no time

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My cost was right at $1200, and in just a couple of grows I’ve saved that much by what I grew. The more experience you get growing, the better the yields get and the more money saved. Plus, the quality of the buds can be as good or better than what’s in the dispensary.

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Well said @Loneviking
I will say this once your more experienced in most case your product will be better than what available commercially since we dont rush our product to market for a profit :+1:

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There’s no doubt about that. Last month I was visiting my daughter up in Washington. A lot of the product up there is pretty mediocre, the buds just aren’t sparkling like my home grow.

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I know growing is more economical in the long run. Right now with my learning curve I find that I am still go to the dispensary while I wait for my grow to be ready. Plus right now it seems that I always need to purchase something else to better my grow. So it just seems that I’m constantly spending.

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I haven’t added everything up since the end of my first grow. My first grow I figured I dropped around $1200 total (not counting electricity, which I have figured out at around $80/mo). From my harvest, I still have about 2oz of bud left and one pound of cannabutter. I also have two bottles of tincture (probably around 3oz each) still left. I harvested at the beginning of October.

Before growing I consumed around 1/8th a week. I like the “good stuff” so I was paying $100 for a 1/4oz every two to three weeks. I figured I’d go with $300/mo as a good round number. So, with 4.76oz of bud harvested, I think I pretty much broke even on my first grow without including all the edibles I made from the trim and larf. I think I’ll harvest around the middle of February, so I might just make it through the cure with what I have on hand.

I have spent another $400 or so this grow.

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Growing weed isn’t difficult, doing it well can be. I guarantee you nobody is maximizing their equipment or space on their first couple of grows. So don’t sweat it! You said yourself that this one is going to be better right?

Regardless of what happened in the past, you’re learning and getting better. And outside of stuff like nutes and growing media, your equipment should last multiple grows. We all make the mistake of buying something that we think will work well, and end up having three times as much invested getting it right. It’s part of the learning curve as well. The biggest part should be that you enjoy doing it. Because then the money is spent on personal pleasure as much as not having to buy weed.

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Grow grow grow! My wife and I burn $600 a month on 2oz of herb. I’ve spent about 500 on materials, and my ballast and lamp cost me 300 20 years ago. I have 10 oz curing from my first grow and I am going to crush that figure on grow 2. It’s going to result in some monthly savings plus we enjoy the hobby of it. Hang in there @HJL

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I think most growers started off the same way high expectations of huge yields replacing ever buying another bag and many forget exactly how costly it can be just getting started. Another huge factor is in the past people grew in larger space multi lights and plants with a goal of growing once or twice a year. The class of growing us hobby growers get into is more micro growing less space less power less plants than wonder where’s the weight? Small spaces are more work between environment control keeping plants healthy and small enough for space.
I have grown both large and small scale and they both are same work load I prefer small scale for legal reasons but miss harvesting lb’s that running the big 1000w HID’s get. The biggest thing is we are hobby growing by definition finding cheapest easiest ways to get to a harvest which we try to improve every time our quality standards can be higher than the bag we buy at the bar or dispensary. We also have to remind ourselves that it’s a learning process and we no longer need to let others have any clue we smoke risk buying moldy crap or stick our heads out.
Many start growing thinking that the yields seeds advertise are what they will get :wink: wrong these are averages from professional growers who grow as a job not a hobby spend hours reading up on every new tip and product on market. I know if I wanted to up my yield I would also have to up my initial expenses bigger AC more fans bigger scrubbers etc… But I am happy to grow enough to meet my needs sometimes it is about changing the system one grows in growing a few weeks longer catching issues faster.
There is no way I could buy 1/4lb a month for less than I grow it for oils shatter same thing even running my 3 lights costs me less than a single 1000w to run I think I spend around $100 a month if that including contingency funds to grow after start up and excluding toys Extractors and upgrades :wink:

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My 7 ounces of NL buds cost me about $10 for the potting soil and $30 for the clone. I already had the ballast sitting around for years that a ballast company shipped me an extra and did not want it back. I paid $23 for the 400 watt HPS bulb at Home Depot and got some cheap bloom fertilizer for about $5. So my total cost was about $68.

The plants I grew outside cost me even less because of natural light. Mason jars cost about $8 for 12, but they don’t ever wear out.

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