What are the overhead expenses and monthly expenses in indoor grows?

ANC said:

If you have access to lots of water you can do an intake through ducting filled with moist loose straw.
You will need to rig some drip mcgatfer to make sure they don't go dry.

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That's a great idea!
Great take on the outback AC (hose on shade cloth)

Absolutely, if you can put some shade cloth over an opening and just spray it with those small mist irrigation drippers.....

Or put a tray below and just pump it up in a loop.

I wa able to get up and going eith a full set up for leas than a grand....nanolux 315w cmh with bulb $300. nutes. $50 4x4 tent. $100. inline fans and ducting $150. pots and soil $50. That's only a total of $650. which leaves $350 for whatever extra accessories you find your gonna need. if you keep it simple and in soil you can get away spending less than a grand untill you get a grasp on growing . the 315w cmh will be perfect for a beginner . easy to grow with. great quality smoke . great uv out put. . as well admit keeps your plants healthier through flower than any other light I've used. probably because of the uv output . I can veg an entire 4x4 with only 315w. which would also help with electricity . paying 14c per kwh where I live . my monthly electricity only costs 30 bucks if I'm just running my 315w cmh and fans

3k. about 200 per run after that. look up jack's hydoponics. jacks 321 saves me like 400 dollars every time I go to the grow shop.

My set ups very adhoc.
I use a wall cupboard for propagation and a small tent for veg'ing and a 4 x 4 for flowering. All crammed together in a disused shed bathroom.
Pics are a little old and the ducting, wiring etc is cleaner now. Silenced fan hangs from the rafters above the 4 x 4.


Built a scrog net for the space, 14inches high and 3 x 4 in size. Didn't use it as well as I should of

Some signs of heat stress in the scrog but it saw some pretty warm temps

kdt15 said:

Overhead i figure is just room set up and installation of the fixtures, which is not cheap.

Interested in what monthly or per-harvest expenses there are. Here's what I gathered:

Plants
Pots
Soil
Nutrients
Water
Electricity
Bulb replacements
Carbon Filter replacement
Misc items (hardware, trellises, etc)

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You never stated how big of a space you are trying to fill which is the biggest factor in how much its all going to cost.

^ Exactly. For example, compare some of the above with this:

My startup costs were about $450 (CAD).

My ongoing costs are:

$13/month for electricity (this is for veg - it is cheaper during flower)
~ $20 per crop for nutes
~$10 per crop for soil/medium

The nutes and soil are high estimates.

cogitech said:

^ Exactly. For example, compare some of the above with this:

My startup costs were about $450 (CAD).

My ongoing costs are:

$13/month for electricity (this is for veg - it is cheaper during flower)
~ $20 per crop for nutes
~$10 per crop for soil/medium

The nutes and soil are high estimates.

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Hey that sounds pretty good.

How much meds do you get per, and how often do you harvest?

dstroy said:

Hey that sounds pretty good.

How much meds do you get per, and how often do you harvest?

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I should have mentioned I am on my first grow. Right now it is looking like I am going to get about 3 ounces, but I have room for more plants in my tent. The plan is to run 4 crops per year, but I am a light user so 3 would probably be plenty. We'll see.

It's really dependent on how much you want to invest I would say. I spent around 2k for my setup, which could have easily been way less of I just went with minimal stuff. But I kind of went all out and on a spending spree. I would say the startup cost is the most expensive and everything else after that is just maintenance. Electricity, nutrients, soil. Which wont run you very much depending on what you're using.

Well, this is not indoors but.... inside of a unheated shed.
7'x16' enclosed trailer new $6500ish at the time of conversion worth around $3000 so we will go with that..
4'' of high density foam with a total r value of 26 all sides , top, bottom.
Interior lined with 3/4" plywood.
Intake and exhaust 6" in veg. 8" in bloom
68 4' Bridgelux LED's
6 Meanwell drivers
4-20' 1" x 1" aluminum box tubing
20-12' 1/2" x 1" aluminum channel
2 DIY carbon filters, we have close to 50 lbs in activated carbon pellets to fill these two filters with carbon pre filter wraps
4 Circulation fans
2 Dehumidifiers
2 electric heaters
3 Thermostats
3 Timers
4 Duct mufflers intake and exhaust
4 Power open, power closed intake and exhaust vents as it gets wee bit chilly sometimes
Incredible amount of incidentals... wiring, screws, connectors, paint, caulk, electrical boxes, breakers, blades, drill bits, hardware, eye bolts, plugs, chain etc... etc... etc...
$937.00 for a aluminum spool gun welder as they wanted $1500 to weld up my light frames... NOT!
Humidistats, thermometers, Lux meter, Par meter, Jewelers eye piece thingy
Dirt, buckets, screen, fertilizer
Have you priced a DB meter that can read under 30db?? yeah I didn't buy one either!
$10,000.00+ and yet to harvest a BUD!
But I did sleep at a Holiday Inn Express last night!
Everything was built with one thing in mind ULTRA stealth as things on the island not so friendly yet. Room had to be self sufficient for up to a week at a time with no intervention.
My exhaust fans are $350.00+ each but run under 20 db wide open (which never happens) and can pull through any carbon filter you throw at it.
Used all schedule 40 PVC for ducting, just one 8" and 6" end cap was $95.00. I won't mention how much a 8" 90 degree elbow is.
Still looking for a quieter dehumidifiers as mine are at 41 db and that is too loud for me. Any idea's?
Just received a WooZoo oscillating circulation fan will be nice to see if it is a silent as everyone says, if so I will replace the ones I have from Honeywell which are quite on low... sorta.
My temps are kept at 80, my humidity I try to keep around 60% in veg. Nothing in Bloom yet but only a couple weeks away.
So what does it cost... depends on what you are setting up.
This is not my first rodeo.
This is however my last and wanted everything to be not an issue!
And a perfect environment regardless of outside conditions is not cheap!