Howdy Michiganders,
been lurking and learning for quite awhile now since became legal patient. Please forgive me all you teachers and english majors as you will find my typing and incomplete sentences will drive you wild...This topic has been of great interest in my mind for sometime now. I have been trying to figure out how someone with average skills can survive and yet suppliment their own costs of a good grow set up investment and good genetics. As we all know getting reasonable verifiable "good" genetics is huge part of a successful grow. Having the pure plant numbers it requires to gleen out a "great mother" from seed is also a consideration against expenses and the ability to help supply other patients requirements. The game here in Michigan has changed so much since the medical legal grows began. Prices skyrocketed in general unless you are closely connected to a good grow show. I have wondered how caregivers are able to balance the obvious increase in competition and being good caregivers.
It is difficult actually in the sense that its not the money machine as advertised, it is more of a hobbyist venture as I tried to illustrate in this thread especially if you are staying legal and running it as a legitimate business. There has not been a big of a surge of new growers that are
successful at doing this job as some anticipated and many patients continue not to grow their own marijuana, because of the high demand for both black market and legal medical marijuana there is still little competition in the medical marijuana market and also on the black market as there is not enough
quality growers to provide everyone. It is easy to grow good product after little experience and education but it takes a great deal of commitment and passion to grow quality product.
There is a large surge of new growers but they do not have the commitment or passion about this to provide on a regular basis quality product. I think its easy to become discouraged or give up in the first year when you are really beginning to grasp the important lessons that only experience can teach you. Due to this surge of new growers it makes some people much more selective in the product - if your medicine is not cured well, harvested at the wrong time, or bad genetics then nobody wants it as many consumers are now educated on the product.
If you want to grow your own stash you can do it pretty cheaply in a simple closet with a small light you could provide for yourself and friends easily, If you want to grow for a wide array of people it can easily become difficult to meet the demand and with legal indoor growing the more patients you grow for I have found the more money you lose oddly enough (%) - Ill say it again - Hobbyist venture. Outdoors and illegal growing thats where the money is at in growing if its money your after.