WEBVTT 1 00:00:00.080 --> 00:00:11.280 In 2021, there were six states that legalized recreational use of marijuana. 2 00:00:11.280 --> 00:00:17.560 Undoubtedly, 2022 will be another landmark year and I think it's safe to say that we're 3 00:00:17.560 --> 00:00:20.560 really close to federal legalization. 4 00:00:20.560 --> 00:00:25.780 Every time a state is legalized, it sparks a huge surge in new growers who are interested 5 00:00:25.780 --> 00:00:27.760 in home cultivation. 6 00:00:27.760 --> 00:00:29.760 But is it worth it? 7 00:00:29.760 --> 00:00:34.800 In this video, we're going to break down all the costs associated with indoor growing 8 00:00:34.800 --> 00:00:40.760 and figure out if it makes financial sense if this was a business venture. 9 00:00:40.760 --> 00:00:48.820 With any business, there are startup fees, ongoing expenses, labor costs, and market conditions. 10 00:00:48.820 --> 00:00:54.120 By analyzing each one of these factors, we could make a well-rounded decision on whether 11 00:00:54.120 --> 00:00:56.560 or not it's worth it to grow for you. 12 00:00:56.560 --> 00:01:01.840 We'll be assuming that you live in a legal state with a three plant limit and that each 13 00:01:01.840 --> 00:01:04.160 plant will yield 80 grams. 14 00:01:04.160 --> 00:01:09.360 You'll most likely yield more, but I lowered it to compensate for beginner error. 15 00:01:09.360 --> 00:01:14.320 We're also assuming the growth cycle will take four months with eight weeks in the 16 00:01:14.320 --> 00:01:19.480 vegetative phase and eight weeks in the flowering or bloom phase. 17 00:01:19.480 --> 00:01:22.920 So with no further introduction, let's get to it. 18 00:01:22.920 --> 00:01:28.000 So if you watch my video on how to grow weed, you'll notice there's a bare minimum closet 19 00:01:28.000 --> 00:01:33.460 set up and there's a complete set up which has a grow tent and ventilation kit. 20 00:01:33.460 --> 00:01:38.080 These are all the required materials that you need just to get started. 21 00:01:38.080 --> 00:01:47.400 So grow light, get an LM301B full spectrum or LM301H diode light, time surge, soil, 22 00:01:47.400 --> 00:01:48.800 get it on eBay. 23 00:01:48.800 --> 00:01:53.960 You need about two cubic feet, which is enough for three fabric pots. 24 00:01:53.960 --> 00:01:56.320 Fabric pots are around $2. 25 00:01:56.320 --> 00:02:01.360 All these nutrients, very important because this soil barely has any nutrients. 26 00:02:01.360 --> 00:02:07.440 A light meter app, just so you can modify how high your light is or how intense. 27 00:02:07.440 --> 00:02:12.640 Oscillating fan or airflow inside your closet or inside your tent. 28 00:02:12.640 --> 00:02:14.300 High quality seeds. 29 00:02:14.300 --> 00:02:18.260 This is the second most important thing aside from your grow light. 30 00:02:18.260 --> 00:02:24.980 And you're going to spend about $15 a seed, three seeds, $45 shipping, $5. 31 00:02:24.980 --> 00:02:31.240 Other seed plugs, dome, thermometer, hydrogen peroxide, which you probably have. 32 00:02:31.240 --> 00:02:35.820 And this is basically all the same except these two things on the bottom, which is 33 00:02:35.820 --> 00:02:40.100 a grow tent, which helps reflect light back onto the plants. 34 00:02:40.100 --> 00:02:42.380 So it is a little bit more efficient. 35 00:02:42.380 --> 00:02:46.620 And then the ventilation kit to get air to and from your grow tent. 36 00:02:46.620 --> 00:02:53.340 So you'll see it's $421 for the bare minimum closet and the complete setup is $621. 37 00:02:53.340 --> 00:02:55.460 So a $200 difference. 38 00:02:55.460 --> 00:02:58.180 All right, moving on. 39 00:02:58.180 --> 00:03:02.060 Utility costs consist of energy and water. 40 00:03:02.060 --> 00:03:03.060 Water is pretty cheap. 41 00:03:03.060 --> 00:03:09.920 In New York, it only costs $3.90 for 748 gallons. 42 00:03:09.920 --> 00:03:12.800 Of course, I'm not going to feed the plants that much. 43 00:03:12.800 --> 00:03:16.700 But if you factor in washing, you'll get there really quick. 44 00:03:16.700 --> 00:03:19.180 So let's play it safe. 45 00:03:19.180 --> 00:03:21.640 Double this, round it to $10. 46 00:03:21.640 --> 00:03:26.880 Say that I'm going to use about 1700 gallons, which definitely is a lot less. 47 00:03:26.880 --> 00:03:29.240 But let's just make it simple. 48 00:03:29.240 --> 00:03:31.020 Next is energy. 49 00:03:31.020 --> 00:03:34.700 And I'm going to go to this website, hydrobuilder.com. 50 00:03:34.700 --> 00:03:37.760 And there's a calculator for energy over here. 51 00:03:37.760 --> 00:03:40.720 You could find your electric rates by state. 52 00:03:40.720 --> 00:03:44.080 New York is $0.20 per kilowatt hour. 53 00:03:44.080 --> 00:03:45.540 And that's this first column. 54 00:03:45.540 --> 00:03:46.540 This was last year. 55 00:03:46.540 --> 00:03:47.540 So we're up. 56 00:03:47.540 --> 00:03:48.600 New York's pretty expensive. 57 00:03:48.600 --> 00:03:51.720 So it'll probably be less for you too. 58 00:03:51.720 --> 00:03:54.520 So the $0.20 we're going to plug in here. 59 00:03:54.520 --> 00:03:56.960 And this is a fixed variable. 60 00:03:56.960 --> 00:04:02.000 So how many watts per hour is based on what's consuming the energy. 61 00:04:02.000 --> 00:04:03.720 And there's three things. 62 00:04:03.720 --> 00:04:10.200 There's going to be your oscillating fan, your ventilation system, and your light. 63 00:04:10.200 --> 00:04:15.880 So first, we're going to calculate the ventilation system and fan, because those are on for 24 64 00:04:15.880 --> 00:04:17.240 hours a day. 65 00:04:17.240 --> 00:04:22.120 And the oscillating fan consumes 6 watts per hour. 66 00:04:22.120 --> 00:04:25.680 And the ventilation system consumes 59. 67 00:04:25.680 --> 00:04:28.440 So 65 is total. 68 00:04:28.440 --> 00:04:32.600 And we're going to put that in right here. 69 00:04:32.600 --> 00:04:36.200 The number of hours per day is 24. 70 00:04:36.200 --> 00:04:40.780 So that's going to put me at $9.36 per month. 71 00:04:40.780 --> 00:04:43.260 Let's round that off to 10. 72 00:04:43.260 --> 00:04:47.760 And then next, we're going to calculate our electricity from the light. 73 00:04:47.760 --> 00:04:53.480 So the light is a little tricky, because we have roughly 8 weeks in veg at 18 hours 74 00:04:53.480 --> 00:04:56.640 and 8 weeks in flour at 12. 75 00:04:56.640 --> 00:05:02.580 So the average would be 15, which is 18 plus 12 divided by 2. 76 00:05:02.580 --> 00:05:05.460 So bring that down to 15. 77 00:05:05.460 --> 00:05:12.890 And the wattage for the light is going to be 150 watts. 78 00:05:12.890 --> 00:05:18.710 So you're looking at about $14 per month on the light. 79 00:05:18.710 --> 00:05:24.470 So 14 plus the 10 for the vent, that's 24. 80 00:05:24.470 --> 00:05:27.210 And it's going to be a four-month cycle. 81 00:05:27.210 --> 00:05:35.370 So 24 times 4 is $96 just on the electricity, plus the $10 for the water. 82 00:05:35.370 --> 00:05:43.970 So that's $106 for all the utility costs for a full cycle on these plants, all right? 83 00:05:43.970 --> 00:05:48.210 The biggest thing that people fail to factor in is time. 84 00:05:48.210 --> 00:05:53.090 Time is money, and you need to place a value on what you think your time is worth. 85 00:05:53.090 --> 00:05:58.050 For me, I would say this is $15 an hour, but everyone is different. 86 00:05:58.050 --> 00:06:03.530 And this is based on assuming you could easily find a job that has the available hours at 87 00:06:03.530 --> 00:06:04.610 this rate. 88 00:06:04.610 --> 00:06:10.450 I would say I spend an average of 5 hours a week for 16 weeks taking care of my plants, 89 00:06:10.450 --> 00:06:12.930 which totals 80 hours. 90 00:06:12.930 --> 00:06:19.570 Also, I would say I easily spent over 100 hours educating myself, but if you watch 91 00:06:19.570 --> 00:06:23.290 my video, it's only 15 minutes. 92 00:06:23.290 --> 00:06:29.450 Nah, but seriously, if you want to follow my chart, you will have a successful grow. 93 00:06:29.450 --> 00:06:33.250 So let's just say you spend 5 hours on learning. 94 00:06:33.250 --> 00:06:39.710 After harvest, I would say you'll spend at least 15 hours on trimming, so fair warning. 95 00:06:39.710 --> 00:06:44.030 The phrase trim jail was not created for no reason. 96 00:06:44.030 --> 00:06:51.630 This is a total of 100 hours that I will multiply with my hourly wage of $15 an hour, so my labor 97 00:06:51.630 --> 00:06:52.630 is $1,500. 98 00:06:52.630 --> 00:07:00.950 If you look at the top left, add your labor to the startup fees and utility costs, and 99 00:07:00.950 --> 00:07:03.790 that is the true cost of growing. 100 00:07:03.790 --> 00:07:08.190 Now on the flip side, we're going to calculate the value of the bud we grew. 101 00:07:08.190 --> 00:07:13.150 I'm low balling these estimates since you're a beginner, saying that your plants will yield 102 00:07:13.150 --> 00:07:15.910 you 80 grams each. 103 00:07:15.910 --> 00:07:20.190 That's 240 grams, or 8 ounces in total. 104 00:07:20.190 --> 00:07:26.110 Now considering you bought high quality seeds, you'll probably get high quality buds, but 105 00:07:26.110 --> 00:07:31.990 again, let's bring that down to compensate for beginner error and say they're medium quality 106 00:07:31.990 --> 00:07:33.790 prices. 107 00:07:33.790 --> 00:07:41.070 The average price for medium quality weed in the US is $250 per ounce. 108 00:07:41.070 --> 00:07:47.710 Multiply that by 8, and that's $2,000 of bud on your very first grow. 109 00:07:47.710 --> 00:07:54.190 Now this $2,000 still doesn't cover my $2,227 for a complete setup, so let's say I'm down 110 00:07:54.190 --> 00:07:55.190 $227. 111 00:07:55.190 --> 00:08:02.030 Where this gets really interesting is on the following grow when you realize the majority 112 00:08:02.030 --> 00:08:05.670 of the startup fees are gone for your next cycle. 113 00:08:05.670 --> 00:08:13.110 So conservatively, I would say the total of your next run on fees is $108, plus the utility 114 00:08:13.110 --> 00:08:21.350 cost which is $106, plus $1,500 for labor, leaving you at $1,714 in expenses. 115 00:08:21.350 --> 00:08:27.310 So you'll be making $286 per grow starting with your second grow, which means you'll 116 00:08:27.310 --> 00:08:34.870 break even at the end of your second grow, and every grow after will generate this amount. 117 00:08:34.870 --> 00:08:40.550 But the beauty of the whole entire thing is, on top of making about $300 a harvest, 118 00:08:40.550 --> 00:08:47.990 you're getting paid $15 an hour for 100 hours for something I can't imagine you won't enjoy. 119 00:08:47.990 --> 00:08:53.930 On top of that, it gets much easier as time goes by, so the time you put in will likely 120 00:08:53.930 --> 00:08:57.270 go down and your yields will go up. 121 00:08:57.270 --> 00:09:02.630 Now all of the calculations are based on my location and hourly wage, so you need to 122 00:09:02.630 --> 00:09:04.710 calculate yours. 123 00:09:04.710 --> 00:09:10.270 Just understand that I approached all these figures with the worst case scenario bias, 124 00:09:10.270 --> 00:09:15.950 so it's more than likely that your expenses will be less and your returns are higher. 125 00:09:15.950 --> 00:09:21.350 For me, it's a no brainer, and I feel bad for anybody who doesn't live in a legal 126 00:09:21.350 --> 00:09:22.350 to grow state. 127 00:09:22.350 --> 00:09:27.350 You know exactly what's going into your body, and there's no surprises. 128 00:09:27.350 --> 00:09:32.550 As a hobby, I made a bunch of growmies, so it's not all business when it comes to 129 00:09:32.550 --> 00:09:33.550 growing. 130 00:09:33.550 --> 00:09:37.950 But if you haven't started yet, check out my tutorial on the easiest way to grow weed 131 00:09:37.950 --> 00:09:54.670 at home, and check out my site for all things grow related.