Help getting startup costs down please.

Hello, Newbie here.

Going to try and tackle my first small grow in the next few months but so far I have my cost at almost $400 not including nutrients and soil. I'm hoping someone will be able to look at my shopping list and tell me I can downgrade something or that I have items I might not need. I plan on growing 2 plants in a 2'x2'x4' tent. Also am I missing anything? The most obvious thing to me is the light but from everything I've been reading the 600w LED is the way to go.

2x2x4 Tent - $50
Mars Hydro 600w LED light - Used $150
Vivosun 200 CFM 4" inline fan - $36
iPower GLFILT4M Carbon filter - $37
8' noninsulated ducting - $8
Carbon Pad - $10
Rope Light Hnagers $10
Humidity and temp Monitor - $9
5x 2 gallon soft smart pots - $14
5x Black Indica seeds - $60 (I picked this strain based on the CBD and THC levels, my goal is back pain relief from 2 torn discs and some nasty arthritis in my hands)

Trainwreck730 said:

Hello, Newbie here.

Going to try and tackle my first small grow in the next few months but so far I have my cost at almost $400 not including nutrients and soil. I'm hoping someone will be able to look at my shopping list and tell me I can downgrade something or that I have items I might not need. I plan on growing 2 plants in a 2'x2'x4' tent. Also am I missing anything? The most obvious thing to me is the light but from everything I've been reading the 600w LED is the way to go.

2x2x4 Tent - $50
Mars Hydro 600w LED light - Used $150
Vivosun 200 CFM 4" inline fan - $36
iPower GLFILT4M Carbon filter - $37
8' noninsulated ducting - $8
Carbon Pad - $10
Rope Light Hnagers $10
Humidity and temp Monitor - $9
5x 2 gallon soft smart pots - $14
5x Black Indica seeds - $60 (I picked this strain based on the CBD and THC levels, my goal is back pain relief from 2 torn discs and some nasty arthritis in my hands)

Click to expand...

Greetings, some of your prices are high.

Hangers are 5.99 ama

Fabric pots are 9.00 for 5-5gallon ama

Tent 3x3x5.5 is 69.00 ama

25' of 4" ducting is 15 ama

Hygrometer is about right. Ama

Light not good...

Can fans on Craigslist are 20-40 for 6"-8" or home dipsheet has vent boosters for 26-28.

Carbon filter on CL 20-40 depending on haggle skills. I got 8"x36" can filter, 24 sq 3 gallon pots and a small boy water filter for 40.

Nutes maxibloom is 11 a bag good for start to finish.

6cuft of advanced mix 4 is 38 a bale or home dipsheet has black magic for 14 a 1.5 ft

Sorry not near a PC to link to my ama list.

Trainwreck730 said:

Hello, Newbie here.

Going to try and tackle my first small grow in the next few months but so far I have my cost at almost $400 not including nutrients and soil. I'm hoping someone will be able to look at my shopping list and tell me I can downgrade something or that I have items I might not need. I plan on growing 2 plants in a 2'x2'x4' tent. Also am I missing anything? The most obvious thing to me is the light but from everything I've been reading the 600w LED is the way to go.

2x2x4 Tent - $50
Mars Hydro 600w LED light - Used $150
Vivosun 200 CFM 4" inline fan - $36
iPower GLFILT4M Carbon filter - $37
8' noninsulated ducting - $8
Carbon Pad - $10
Rope Light Hnagers $10
Humidity and temp Monitor - $9
5x 2 gallon soft smart pots - $14
5x Black Indica seeds - $60 (I picked this strain based on the CBD and THC levels, my goal is back pain relief from 2 torn discs and some nasty arthritis in my hands)

Click to expand...

If you want to go that route for LEDs then same price gets visparspectra. A little bit more coin get you into timber CoB's.

i always like the phrase, of "keep it simple", especially in your first run, then expand from there. On that notes, you could go to your local homedepot/lowes and pickup cfls and splitters

I second the KISS rule. I recently watched an easy grow setup. If I remember right it was kinda like this:
70-tent
100-light (CL)
15-buckets
7-ph test drops
20-nutes
5-perlite
10-coco
7-ph up/down
25-beans
15-booster fan and tubing (CL)
25-components for DIY carbon scrubber

Right around bones, but the guy got lucky with his genetics and he's rockin 4 nice girls in hempy buckets under a 600w hps like a champ.

you know you can drop that price even further down, instead of bucket, find a cheap trash can , cut it in half, make holes for drainage, secondly you can skip coco, perlite.......pick up just standard organic soil, good bag of organic soil 7 bucks, between the two you have saved money. Also ph test drops, naw, just make sure tap water sits for 24hr to air rate, testers eh, nother money saver most new people won't know how to read them just yet. 20 for nutes, take that 20, pick blood meal, and bonemeal, mix it in the new soil you've made, then plant........everyone is different though

Yo dude, I don't know all your American brands so can't comment on value for money too well, though for my 2 cents I'd say your quoted $400 start up budget is good, average amount and although there is loads more cost at beginning, you don't need to repeat alot of the initial costs on future grows. So if you can buy quality initially and DIY well, future costs can then become minimal.

My budget slashing ideas would be:
Tent - Unless it's a quality item genuine sale bargain, then $50 for a tent imo is probably gonna be some cheap shit you'll get pissed off with and end up trashing away in 3 months anyway. So I'd strongly recommend spending $50 on building your own cabinet or converting a free wardrobe/large unit. Can get free wood/materials/wardrobes/storage units from friends, free ads sites/Craigslist, etc and can easily fit it to your available dimensions, make it reflective and insulated, etc and there's loads build guides on here & online for inspiration. That would certainly suffice for 1st grow at the very least, and give you time to save up the $200+ that a proper quality tent should be costing if you do desire one.

LEDs - again unless it's a total genuine bargain off some true guy, then imo that seems way too cheap for good LEDs and I never trust 2nd hand electronics full stop anyway tbh. If it was dirt cheap then fair play but $150 is alot to risk, plus LEDs are notoriously variable in quality between brands, so unless you've done homework and they're top dollar worth it, then I'd be wary tbh, tho as I freely admit i know fcuk all about LED brands!
The option I would offer is go either 400W or 600W HPS as for similar money you can buy a quality digital ballast and lamp (and maybe even get reflector bundled in if in shop, etc!). HPS is alot more consistent, guaranteed and manageable, plus will be easier to start growing with as any plant problems under LEDs will always have you thinking is it the LEDs, where HPS is a solid, worry-free light provider (apart from the heat!). Plus if you do decide to upgrade in future, digital ballasts can be sold 2nd hand for decent money, whereas I'd doubt the $150 LEDs will get much back if you ever sold those on again.

If you did go HPS then admittedly your 4" fan choice would need to be stepped up to 5" or 6", although it may not be bad idea for your tent size anyway. Again, a good fan should last for years. And don't buy special hangers; just use chain or thick cord/rope and adjust it yourself every day! Otherwise, ultra cheap option is CFLs, which would $40 tops probably if all domestic ones or approx. $100 if 2 x 250W grow CFLs & reflector - they're solid, worry free lights too (with no heat issues!) though just don't grow as much bud as HPS - CFLs are perfect beginner choice too though I'd say.

Seeds - I fully agree with spending money on quality genetics as is best long term investment, and only way of negating that is if you got space is to keep one vegging sprouter as a mother plant and clone off her for future grows. Else blag clones off any other good local growers you know lol! Otherwise, I find seedbank/website prices don't tend too vary too much though the freebies they offer do, so if do have to keep buying seeds, find one which gives you more freebies/deals/discount codes to decrease the cost of your seed per dollar.

Best of luck anyway dude and apologies for the ramble!

An empty 5 gallon bucket is free almost year round if you look hard enough.
For my first run I did CFL on an 8 light panel that i built from a used bathroom vanity that was hanging out in a dumpster. Bulbs were a buck each from the dollar store.
CFL array: 8 dollars

Dont forget. Ph pen. Fan for blowing on plants. Power strip. Extension cords. I also agree dont waste your money on a cheap light. Go timber !

I have a mars 600 for veg or male flowering. I think it was $140 new. You should be able to find a used one or 2x300 for $50-60

Not going to be able to set up a tent with quality equipment for under $600-700. A decent, modern(led or digital), light will be $200-300, you can get mag ballast hid for less, tents going to be about $150 if you want I won't even try to resell the crap I originally bought, mainly because it's crap and I'll get penny's on the dollar for it.

Do it right, do it once.

-2x2x4 is like a cloning size tent. You're not gonna have enough height.
-Get a better light - cobs or something.

CraigsList can be a bargain bonanza for quality used gear. What you'll see most are the things that don't wear out, like reflectors.