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Is small scale home indoor growing more money-efficient than legal recreational?

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Bluelighter
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Nov 7, 2010
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Simple question I guess. For someone who knows how to save money on a setup and doesn't have to invest a ton initially, can growing say 1-3 plants indoors be cheaper per gram of yield than going to a dispensary? Just wondering for potential future reference. I understand growing weed is not like growing a tomato plant or something, hence why I'm asking.
 
Dispensary prices are pretty high IMO. Homegrown seems the way to go for me, especially when many places allow a certain number of plants legally and split them into mature and seedlings. Colorado for example (not sure about now) 3 years back the law stated that you can grow 6 plants, 3 mature and 3 under 8 inches (as far as i remember). This makes for a great cycle and at 30-60 USD for 3.5 grams at the shops, makes being a pothead much more economical. In my state they legalized medical use but refuse to give out prescriptions or allow homegrowing and i dont even think we have any active dispenseries. If your going for long term plans (multiple harvests) LED lights might be worth the investment, as they use little power and as far as i remember produce little heat (safer too?). SOG is obviously not an option but, with three mature plants sourced from clones one could fill a chicken net canopy rather quick. Check seed sites for yeild per sq ft/lighting and just figure the time it would take/how much bud you smoke regularly for a price comparison. Also never overlook fact that all your scrap can be made into edibles/oil.
 
Yeah I was thinking you'd have to either buy in massive bulk or spend a TON on equipment to make it not worth it, even for the first grow including all equipment. The dispensary I use has their very cheapest at $170 an ounce. I imagine you can get 10x that amount out of a grow for maybe 2-3x the initial investment if you do well, although more likely getting 8x the amount for only 6x the price or something like that. Of course you're paying a lot for people who know what they're doing. There's no mold or pests or any crap in their buds. Hard to guarantee that as an inexperienced grower I imagine.

I already have a 40 watt LED grow light for my food plants that I grow in the winter, I know that's not enough for a few plants, maybe enough for a medium low yield on a single plant. But they're way cheaper than they used to be.
 
keep in mind that you only need to buy the setup once, especially with LED's as they burn out one fraction at a time instead of a whole HPS flairing out randomly. I cant say from personal experience as i have not grown in a LONG time but, in the long term it seems your better off home growing (seems like the equip will pay for itself in time and then your just paying electrical and fert costs and you can always use an organic hydro system incorperating a fish tank to fert your plants ;) )

I didnt realize you could buy bud wholesale in legal states, always thought there was a limit to how much you can cop in one store. 170 an oz of high grade sounds good to me, if thats the case, might not be worth it. Math time folks :) I cant grow legally so yall on your own!
 
I didn't mean wholesale as in like a pound or whatever amount dispensaries get, but in Oregon we can carry up to an ounce in public so I believe that's the most they'll sell you at once. Of course you can come back later for more. $170 for an ounce was only for their cheapest bud which also goes for $8 a gram, their more expensive ounces go for $270. Most are 220, 240, or 270, only a few are as cheap as 170. No real rhyme or reason as far as the quality of the cannabis goes it seems, I got some 14% CBD stuff for $8 a gram. So you might get some boring low potency crap for $270 an ounce or some quality stuff for $220.
 
I've done both and can make home growing stretch my money further however it comes with the cost of a significant time commitment. Growing is fun and can be rewarding but also very time consuming.

With that said, I don't need to spend more than a few minutes shopping for a quality deal to find exactly what I want at incredibly competitive prices.
 
It can be cost effective, but there is a lot that can potentially go wrong. Initially you may have a lot of money invested and tied up for little to no results but once you get past the learning curve it will probably save you a lot of money. I would suggest thinking in terms of grams per watt rather than number of plants. Look into different style of lights such as LED or HID, heating and cooling, growing medium, nutrients, and consider growing space. it would also be wise to invest in some good cannabis growing manuals. A lot can go wrong that would result in little or no yield or a product that is unusable. I would suggest learning the basics before you invest. It's not hard to grow mids but takes a lot of work and skill to produce top grade.
 
Mafioso said:
It can be cost effective, but there is a lot that can potentially go wrong. Initially you may have a lot of money invested and tied up for little to no results but once you get past the learning curve it will probably save you a lot of money. I would suggest thinking in terms of grams per watt rather than number of plants. Look into different style of lights such as LED or HID, heating and cooling, growing medium, nutrients, and consider growing space. it would also be wise to invest in some good cannabis growing manuals. A lot can go wrong that would result in little or no yield or a product that is unusable. I would suggest learning the basics before you invest. It's not hard to grow mids but takes a lot of work and skill to produce top grade.
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Add insects to the number of things to go wrong. I battled spider mites, thripes and gnats. I didn't want to use insecticides so sometimes I had to buy other predictor insects and bacterium to combat them and save my harvest more than once. I did have way more herb than even I could smoke out of a 3x3x6 ft tent, though. Source quality genetics that match your particular requirements, too. After all the time effort and electricity you want to make sure it's worth the effort.
 
Actually if you want to kill mites a good option would be something like SB Plant Invigorator or ivermectin in a product like a pidgeon insecticide such as Harker's Harkamectin.

If you're worried about the cost don't buy LED set ups as the decent ones that can compete with HIDs can be very expensive and they produce a fair amount of heat when the wattage is high.

I would buy an all inclusive kit with almost everything you need i.e. HPS, reflector, hydro setup etc. Sometimes you can get a discount this way so it's worth looking around.
 
RedXIII said:
ive also read spraying some soap water (bar soap, not dish detergent) is a good way to rid your plants of mites.
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They have edible (not necessarily smokeable/vapeable though lol) insecticidal soaps at garden stores. I'm not sure if it's any safer than a few drops of dish soap though.
 
I solved my insect problem years ago by simply avoiding summer grows. It is important, however, to include this as a "problem to be solved" for the less experienced.
 
Artificial Emotion said:
Actually if you want to kill mites a good option would be something like SB Plant Invigorator or ivermectin in a product like a pidgeon insecticide such as Harker's Harkamectin.

If you're worried about the cost don't buy LED set ups as the decent ones that can compete with HIDs can be very expensive and they produce a fair amount of heat when the wattage is high.

I would buy an all inclusive kit with almost everything you need i.e. HPS, reflector, hydro setup etc. Sometimes you can get a discount this way so it's worth looking around.
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IME they are around 2-3 times the initial cost but generally run at a much lower wattage than most HIDs as well as much cooler so the running cost are substantially lower than the traditional 1Kw MH or 1Kw HPS.

However, some set ups like a decent 315w CMH light would have about the same initial cost and running cost as a decent LED. Lots of people are making the switch to 315s
 
I don't want to get into the whole LED vs HID debate but LEDs give off plenty of heat when the wattage is high - certainly much more than many would have you believe. All you have to do is put your hand in front of the light and see.

And IME it takes a long ass time for the cost savings to offset the expensive price these LED lights cost. So long that it's debateable about whether they're even worth buying in the first place.
 
Artificial Emotion said:
I don't want to get into the whole LED vs HID debate but LEDs give off plenty of heat when the wattage is high - certainly much more than many would have you believe. All you have to do is put your hand in front of the light and see.

And IME it takes a long ass time for the cost savings to offset the expensive price these LED lights cost. So long that it's debateable about whether they're even worth buying in the first place.
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Light is still energy, even if it was 100% efficient it would feel hot if you put your hand in front of a high intensity LED.
 
I've grown outdoor and indoor a few times over the last 15 or so years, indoor I used HPS and a basic flood and drain system. It was pretty easy once it was all set up, and any info needed is easy to get online.

If I lived in a place that had legal rec weed and you were allowed to grow a certain number of plants I would do both if my circumstances allowed it (ie who I lived with and if it was possible in the house or garden or whatever).

I find growing plants of any type fun and rewarding though.

So if I could buy weed legally I would of course but I would space it out at times because of my own homegrown.
 
Artificial Emotion said:
I don't want to get into the whole LED vs HID debate but LEDs give off plenty of heat when the wattage is high - certainly much more than many would have you believe. All you have to do is put your hand in front of the light and see.

And IME it takes a long ass time for the cost savings to offset the expensive price these LED lights cost. So long that it's debateable about whether they're even worth buying in the first place.
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Compared to 1kws they are much more efficient and put off way less heat. A few cycles and they could potentially pay for themselves in the savings depending on your set up. There are a ton of variables, but looking solely at heat vs light output, LEDs can be competitive with a traditional 1kw HID set up. I'm not an advocate of LEDs myself but know people who have had quite a bit of success with them so I can't say that they are worthless, but the industry seems to currently be leaning heavily towards 315 CMHs.

Apart from just heat and energy consumption, PAR output is another thing to consider. A lot of sources claim that many LEDs will have a much higher PAR rating than an HID of the same wattage.

Like you said, it's debatable and unless you could provide factual evidence that would substantiate a claim that they are worthless, there are a lot of arguments to be made for them and a lot of applications they may be useful for as well, particularly a small grow where heating and cooling is difficult and a small canopy is going to be grown.
 
Mafioso said:
Compared to 1kws they are much more efficient and put off way less heat. A few cycles and they could potentially pay for themselves in the savings depending on your set up. There are a ton of variables, but looking solely at heat vs light output, LEDs can be competitive with a traditional 1kw HID set up. I'm not an advocate of LEDs myself but know people who have had quite a bit of success with them so I can't say that they are worthless, but the industry seems to currently be leaning heavily towards 315 CMHs.

Apart from just heat and energy consumption, PAR output is another thing to consider. A lot of sources claim that many LEDs will have a much higher PAR rating than an HID of the same wattage.

Like you said, it's debatable and unless you could provide factual evidence that would substantiate a claim that they are worthless, there are a lot of arguments to be made for them and a lot of applications they may be useful for as well, particularly a small grow where heating and cooling is difficult and a small canopy is going to be grown.
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Compared to a 600W HPS they are not more efficient.

I never said they're worthless - but they don't just don't outperform a gold standard of a 600W HPS.

LEDs, watt for watt, produce just as much heat but since their wattage is often low, the amount of heat is correspondingly less. Put your hand under a 600W LED and compare it to a 600W HPS and you'll see the LEDs produce plenty of heat.

I'm looking for a study that demonstrates all of this but I'm having trouble finding it. Here's one ref to an article:

"Existing LEDs are no more efficient at converting electricity to light than the latest sodium lights" Le Page, M. 2015. Sun-free farming: Indoor crop

I do agree that 315W CMH setups are promising and seem to have the edge over 600W HPS lights.
 
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