Cost of Consumables (Lighting, Nutrients, Growing Media, etc.)

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Cannabistudent

New Member
Hello all! I am a student conducting research on the cannabis industry. One question I am trying to answer is surrounding grower's costs. Could you help me by providing an estimate of the breakdown of your consumables cost? (% nutrients vs % growing media vs % other)

Thanks for any help you can provide!
 
C

Cannabistudent

New Member
Renfro said:
90% electricity, 10% everything else lol
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Haha yes I imagine electricity costs are extremely high! When you say everything else what exactly does that mean? What percentage would you say you spend on growing media (soil, rockwool etc)? Thanks so much for sharing your insights! :)
 
S

spek9

Well-Known Member
Cannabistudent said:
Hello all! I am a student conducting research on the cannabis industry. One question I am trying to answer is surrounding grower's costs. Could you help me by providing an estimate of the breakdown of your consumables cost? (% nutrients vs % growing media vs % other)
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Out of curiosity, what's the purpose of this study? It seems to be extremely lacking in detail to provide anything useful.
 
Gentlemencorpse

Gentlemencorpse

Well-Known Member
This is a tough question to answer. It's going to be different for every grower, and different even between grows sometimes.

Take the medium for instance. For hydro its water, so it's free, or close to it. For coco it's pretty cheap, especially when purchased in compressed bricks. Self made soil blend, slightly more costly but still a small percentage of the overall grow. Brand name or boutique super soil? Much bigger %.

But conversely, in hydro your electric consumption is often much higher, while in soil or coco your only paying for your lights. Also, hydro requires you to add nutrients constantly whereas a good super soil requires little or no supplemental nutrients. And then there's the vast cost differences between nutrient lines.

Personally, I couldn't even really answer your question with any kind of accuracy because I'm always trying new things. It changes almost constantly.

I do however know exactly what the most expensive items on the list are every time! Power consumption and my seed buying addiction. :bigjoint:
 
C

Cannabistudent

New Member
spek9 said:
Out of curiosity, what's the purpose of this study? It seems to be extremely lacking in detail to provide anything useful.
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@spek9 @Gentlemencorpse

Fair question! I am new to the forums so appreciate the feedback regarding the question.

Some additional information: I am a student at the University of Michigan and I'm conducting research on the hydroponics cannabis industry particularly related to rockwool/mineral wool but we are also trying to get a better idea of the growing media segment more broadly. One of our assignments is to try to conduct a market sizing of the cannabis growing media market so we are trying to get a better understanding of growers costs when it comes to consumables (lighting, growing media, nutrients, etc.).

I recognize costs will differ depending on grower size or type but what I'm really trying to get at is what percentage of growers costs go towards growing media (is it 5% or 20% etc.)?

Thanks for any help you can provide! Really appreciate it :)
 
Gentlemencorpse

Gentlemencorpse

Well-Known Member
Cannabistudent said:
@spek9 @Gentlemencorpse

Fair question! I am new to the forums so appreciate the feedback regarding the question.

Some additional information: I am a student at the University of Michigan and I'm conducting research on the hydroponics cannabis industry particularly related to rockwool/mineral wool but we are also trying to get a better idea of the growing media segment more broadly. One of our assignments is to try to conduct a market sizing of the cannabis growing media market so we are trying to get a better understanding of growers costs when it comes to consumables (lighting, growing media, nutrients, etc.).

I recognize costs will differ depending on grower size or type but what I'm really trying to get at is what percentage of growers costs go towards growing media (is it 5% or 20% etc.)?

Thanks for any help you can provide! Really appreciate it :)
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I get ya. Well I'm in soil these days with no real intention to go back to hydro. In hydro media was probably 1% of my grow cost or less. A handful of clay pebbles doesn't cost much and I didn't use plugs back then.

Now in soil it's probably up to 5% using store bought soil blends, but if my homemade blend works out the way I hope it will be back down under 3%. The seeds I'm dropping will be costing as much as the bucket of soil.
 
C

Cannabistudent

New Member
Gentlemencorpse said:
I get ya. Well I'm in soil these days with no real intention to go back to hydro. In hydro media was probably 1% of my grow cost or less. A handful of clay pebbles doesn't cost much and I didn't use plugs back then.

Now in soil it's probably up to 5% using store bought soil blends, but if my homemade blend works out the way I hope it will be back down under 3%. The seeds I'm dropping will be costing as much as the bucket of soil.
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Got it - thank you so much for explaining. This is super helpful!
 
Herb & Suds

Herb & Suds

Well-Known Member
Cannabistudent said:
@spek9 @Gentlemencorpse

Fair question! I am new to the forums so appreciate the feedback regarding the question.

Some additional information: I am a student at the University of Michigan and I'm conducting research on the hydroponics cannabis industry particularly related to rockwool/mineral wool but we are also trying to get a better idea of the growing media segment more broadly. One of our assignments is to try to conduct a market sizing of the cannabis growing media market so we are trying to get a better understanding of growers costs when it comes to consumables (lighting, growing media, nutrients, etc.).

I recognize costs will differ depending on grower size or type but what I'm really trying to get at is what percentage of growers costs go towards growing media (is it 5% or 20% etc.)?

Thanks for any help you can provide! Really appreciate it :)
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In Ann Arbor you have tons of quality growers , why the forum approach? It's not very scientific to me
 
H

Homegrownoob

Active Member
Honestly, depending on your light, which a lot have moved to LED I’d assume electricity cost have come down a lot. I will have spent at least 50% on nutes and supplies than electricity for one grow.
 
sarahJane211

sarahJane211

Well-Known Member
Cannabistudent said:
I recognize costs will differ depending on grower size or type but what I'm really trying to get at is what percentage of growers costs go towards growing media (is it 5% or 20% etc.)?
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6 x 4 gallon pots = 100 l of grow medium, 70 l coco + 30l perlite.
1x 5KG brick of coco (70l) costs = $5 (inc delivery)
40l perlite costs = $7 (inc delivery)
Total costs of grow medium = $11

Tent $100 (4x2), lights $320 (Hlg 240w x2), nutes $15 (3Kg), pots $20 (6x 4gal), drain trays $18 (x6), electricity $90 (3 months)
Cost of grow media around 2% of initial outlay.

As a percentage of ongoing costs ........ assuming a 3 month grow cycle (autos), and 6 plants.
grow medium $11, nutes $10, electricity $90
Cost of grow media around 10% of running costs.
 
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Herb & Suds

Herb & Suds

Well-Known Member
I grow for 68 cents a pound but my secrets cost $400,000 per semester
So basically I'm gonna ask the value of your U of M education to respond ?
Deal ? :weed:
 
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