How to control the costs of indoor cannabis cultivation?

Lamps are of course essential to your culture. Light and heat have a direct impact on the size and quality of your production. There are three different lamps used by growers: fluorescent, high intensity discharge (HID) and electroluminescent or LED. To minimize your electricity costs and get a better yield, don’t hesitate to use LEDs, which last longer and consume less energy than others. A 1,000 watt LED grow lamp, with its accessories, is worth about €110.

Air circulation is the second important factor in marijuana grow operations. For viable production, the air must be changed regularly so that the temperature and humidity do not vary too much. Climate management is crucial for your crops.
Count 100 euros in a basic ventilation system. For more durable elements with more power, you will have to spend 140 euros.

For experienced growers, the budget should include ducts (25 euros), a weather station, a charcoal filter (between 40 and 80 euros) and a humidifier (40 euros).

The culture boxes make it possible to create a microclimate in a small space, without having to configure an entire room. Different sizes of grow tents are available depending on the number of plants you wish to grow. You will find boxes of 90 cm by 90 cm for 80 euros, which allows you to install the equipment for 400 watts. A tent of 120 cm by 120 cm for a 600 watt installation costs about 150 euros.

In addition to these three big expenses, there are also small items such as pots, potting soil, nutrients, fertilizers and of course cannabis seeds. Curved shears and pruning shears are also handy tools, as are the sprayer and pipette.

Adding all these items together, it takes about 450 euros to start growing cannabis indoors. This indicative price fluctuates according to the size and quality of your installation.

In addition to the equipment costs, it is necessary to add the energy costs essential to the culture of cannabis. For a calculation as close as possible to reality, you need to know the number of watts used, the number of hours of operation of your equipment and the electricity rates in your country.
The basic formula is the operating time of a device x (watts/1000) x price per kilowatt-hour in your region, to be adjusted according to each one.

There are several actions that can minimize costs, here are some of them:

• build your own box ;
• take into account the power of your LED lamps;
• add electronic ballasts in your circuit ;
• install solar panels;
• use natural light;
• recycle your earth;
• use natural additions to the earth, such as coconut substrate;
• recover water from rain or from your installation;
•  improve insulation.

Don’t be too greedy and adapt the size of your crop to your grass consumption. The best advice would be to start quietly, monitor the amount of energy used, analyze it and optimize your installation.