Money Matters

I'd like to give some advice to the young newbies regarding money and equipment. I say young because I assume that the people who can't afford to grow indoors properly are young. I don't say this to disparage the young growers in any way - hell, we've all had a time in our lives that we had to watch our pennies. Just this morning a guy asked for help because his 2 wk old plant looked like it was 3 days old, and a guy suggested a soil to use, and the op didn't have the money right now to buy the soil. I understand the desire to grow, I've been doing it for years and totally love it. But not being prepared or having enough money to buy good equipment is not productive and except for learning what not to do, it's usually a waste of time. Yes, you can grow a plant in your closet with a few cfl's, a seed, and dirt, but you probably won't yield enough to have enough smoke for the 3-4 months that it took to grow them.

My suggestion is to wait until you can do it right, or try an outside grow. Money matters.

MickFoster said:

I'd like to give some advice to the young newbies regarding money and equipment. I say young because I assume that the people who can't afford to grow indoors properly are young. I don't say this to disparage the young growers in any way - hell, we've all had a time in our lives that we had to watch our pennies. Just this morning a guy asked for help because his 2 wk old plant looked like it was 3 days old, and a guy suggested a soil to use, and the op didn't have the money right now to buy the soil. I understand the desire to grow, I've been doing it for years and totally love it. But not being prepared or having enough money to buy good equipment is not productive and except for learning what not to do, it's usually a waste of time. Yes, you can grow a plant in your closet with a few cfl's, a seed, and dirt, but you probably won't yield enough to have enough smoke for the 3-4 months that it took to grow them.

My suggestion is to wait until you can do it right, or try an outside grow. Money matters.

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You are exactly correct @MickFoster When I started growing there was not really any information available like it is today. I didn't have the proper equipment and my grows sucked. It was only the consulting with older guys who had been growing for years that made me realize where I was going wrong. Proper lighting, ventilation, medium, nutrients, even water quality all come into play and you have to be prepared financially to get everything right. And my advice to new growers is to plan properly, ask a lot of questions and get it done right the first time. Once you have a good setup and get it dialed in then you can work on becoming a great grower but if you don't have a proper setup then you will never be satisfied with your outcome. Things like dealing with heat or cold are huge concerns for growers but not something that a new grower usually considers. I see guys throwing 1000watt HPS in a 3x3 tent and they want to know why their leaves are burnt up. Maybe because its 100F in the tent. Or others who have a few CFL's and wonder why their buds wont bulk up. It's not rocket science but there is a learning curve for the noob. Study and be a student of growing. I have many years of growing under my belt and I still learn new things all the time. With time and a proper foundation you can become a great grower.

While I can agree with most of what you are saying, these boards are chalk full of people who will try to convince the most newbie of grower that they need to drop $250+ on lights. This just is false.

I'm on my 4th grow using CFL's. My first 3 I was able to get right at an ounce. I bought cheap organic soil from walmart, organic bloom nutes, fish fert for my N. After all was said and done I dropped ~$40. Just used a bag seed so I didn't need to worry about any extra cost in there for that. Since my initial start up cost the only additional money I've spent was on another bag of soil. So with 3 grows I've had, we'll call it exactly 3oz, where I'm at that's a street cost of $600. I have been smoking my own crop for 4 out of the last 6 months with another harvest just weeks away. Which it looks like it's going to be my biggest harvest yet. The strain is Sour OG, or at least that's what I was told it was. As far as comparing my crop to the herb I purchased, mine tasted better with a better longer lasting high.

There are ways it can be done on the cheap. YES IT WON'T BE THE MOST AMAZING YIELDING PLANT EVER, but it works. The problem is that a lot of the advice given to the new members here is that if you aren't willing to spend hundreds of dollars you're wasting your time. It's a fine line between advice and telling them to buzz off. I personally think that if someone is going to take the time to try to help a newbie out that they should at least listen to the concerns or restraints that the newbie may have. On these boards you can see posts using all sorts of lighting, mediums, nutes... there is no 1 way to grow to a successful harvest. What I consider successful probably isn't the same as someone who's been doing this for 10+ years, or someone who is doing it to make money off of it. Respect the newbie enough to be able to offer valid input on what they have or can purchase. No need to discourage someone from trying out with what they have. It is a learning curve and the mistakes made will lead them in the right direction.

Last year I spent a total of 60 bucks on my grow. Most of that cost was the price of the plastic pots I used. This year I have invested nearly 4 thousands bucks on a new setup. Tent, lights, fans, filters, genetics, nutes etc. I really think that people should grow as many plants they can however they can. I could have taken that cash and bought a years supply of meds but I really want to be eventually self sufficient and learn how to be a better grower. One thing I will say on the matter is that growing is an addictive hobby! It doesn't have to be expensive but once you start buying nice kit its very hard to stop "acquiring" shiny new gadgets. I love looking at my setup and thinking to myself " I built this". I am proud of what I have made and hopefully over time I get the most out of the money I have spent. It's a labour of love though most of all.