The Economy of Growing Cannabis

 Indoor homegrown can be very cheap or not so cheap, but still likely to be less expensive than that bought at the local Cannabis shop. As an example my local pot shop sells an oz. of flower for $240 to $280 USD. A bare bones grow: no tent, a cheap LED light panel (< $100 USD from Amazon), a bag of potting soil, pot and Autoflower seeds from a good seed bank (cost $5 to $10 USD/seed) plus the electricity to run a 1000w LED panel for 18 hrs a day for ~six months. If you have a window that gets good sunlight and you want to go really cheap the LED light can be eliminated. 

With good genetics you can likely get an oz or more of flower from a single plant. Grow several with that setup and the cost/oz really goes down. In round numbers your grow from a single plant is likely to pay for the cost of the grow.

A no tent setup for two or more plants with cheap LED lights:

 With autoflower plants you can get at least two grows a year with that set up and likely enough flower to keep you and most of your friends supplied.

The biggest problem with growing Cannabis is it can become a passion, I've said many times growing weed is more or at least as much fun as smoking it. While Cannabis may be "just a weed" there is so much to learn if you want to spend the time. If not, put a seed or three in a pot, water for close to six months, harvest and eat or smoke. It is all good.

Following posts will explore the costs of more complex setups. 

Start of Week Four

 The side of tent plants at the start of week four; Photo plants in Veg:

My main Photo tent is  a 4'X4' AC Infinity tent, a nice mid-range grow tent. On the right side, hanging from the ceiling are two cheap LED panels. I use this area for Photo plants that do not fit in the main tent and/or for Auto plants that do not fit in the Auto tent. These two plants are overflow from the main Photo tent. When it is time to go to Flower they will be moved to the greenhouse and replaced with a couple of Autoflower plants.   

BTW, the two photos posted were uncorrected direct from the iPhone. What I find interesting is while neither has been corrected for color balance the second photo was taken under the California LightWorks "white light" setting. The first is the color spectrum of the grow light.

Durban Poison at the start of week four with five other Photo plants:

 My best guess at this time is I will start transition to Flower at the start of week eight plus or minus a maybe a week.

See you on down the road,

ken

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Sharpening Iron

 Sharpening tools has two broad groups, folks where the sharpening process is the end point and those where sharpening is just a means of getting to a tool to make dull. I hate to admit being more in the first group than the second. In general the first group will have more stones and gadgets while someone in the second group may have nothing but a single stone and a leather strop. Both can do good work.

Stone storage, second shelf up are the JNATs, bottom self water stones and others:

 When I die please do not let MsBubba sell my JNAT stones for what she thinks I paid for them :-). I love the feel of steel on a JNAT and the edge that can be achieved but using them is a little fussy. Not hard to do but you have to learn the stone to use it well.  Man made "water stones" bring some of JNATs advantages to the table with a much lower learning curve but with a lot more muss and fuss. 

While I have way too many JNATs and several full sets on "water stones", for day to day sharpening of high carbon steel nothing works easier, faster, or better than a good Arkansas oil stone. If used correctly it will almost never need flatting, use a little oil, pressure on the cutter like you mean it and work the corners followed by a few strokes on a strop and you have a very good, long lasting edge to work with. Really little muss and monkey motion unlike using water stones which cut a little faster but damn the muss and fuss when using them. 

Anyway back to the first statement, sharpening iron is my "happy spot", when I'm at a loss of what to do I will pick up a chisel or plane cutter, dig out some stones, and spend time at the sharpening bench. I've done some serious wear on my beater chisels over the years thru that process. 

Sharpening station set up for using Arkansas Oil Stones:

  As always, click 'em to big 'em,

ken

Next Year's Grow

 This year's crop isn't out of the Veg stage and I'm planning the next crop. It's a sickness I tell you, a sickness. Have I mentioned the "grow" is almost as enjoyable as the "smoke"?

Past grows have been a hodgepodge of genetics and Auto/Photo plants. Pretty much all over the map, as is the case of this crop. My excuse/reason is I wanted to try different plants to figure out which ones I liked. Bottom line I like them all but the genetic mix between Sativa and Indica does make a difference in use. Next year I'm going to grow a Landrace Sative (Durban Poison) and a Landrace Indica ( Afghan Feminized). I have the Durban Poison in hand I just need to order the Afghan Feminized.

The Photo plants are in their third week of Veg, my best guess is a couple or three, maybe four weeks more Veg, then a week of Veg to Flower transition. Each genetics has its own Flower time which is one of the reasons to limit different genetics so the light requirements for finishing are easier to meet. 

BTW, I finally found a soil pH meter that works:

   It's a big sucker. On Amazon <$60 USD. Only problem is it can not be used to test liquids you'll need a different meter to test the pH of your water. It is also a moisture meter that reads moisture at root level. It's pretty handy. 

Smooth Planes

 Sometimes you just have to make a shaving:

My two favorite smooth planes are a double iron Steve Voight and a single iron Philly Plane. The Voight plane is on the wood and the Philly plane is sitting on the bench. 

I don't know if you can see how the Voight plane shoots the shaving straight out. With most planes it is hard to get everything adjusted so it does that, with a Voight plane it happens with little effort.

The Philly plane is wonderful, small, light weight and is just an extension of your arm and hand. Both the Voight and Philly planes are a joy to use.

In a couple of weeks or so I may have the shop in useable shape, that's my plan, I hope I can stick to it. There are a couple of small projects I want to do before we head to Oregon the end of May.

BTW, a early #3 Stanley is almost as nice to use and costs a hell of a lot less and for most day to day work just as good. 

Greenhouse

 I'm starting to load the greenhouse. First plants are Basil, Jalapeno Pepper, Cherry Tomato and Big Red Tomato. There are 10 more seedlings of other Peppers, Beefsteak Tomatoes and Roma tomatoes waiting to be potted. 

Two Photo Cannabis plants will be transferred to the greenhouse once it is time for their transition from Veg to Flower. When all the plants are in it should be a full house.

The Greenhouse with plants:

From inside:

Should have a good crop with no birds, squirrels and Pack Rats eating them before I can. It will be a long wait for the first BLT. Last year's total BLT count was one before the birds and critters won. My guess one of the more expensive BLT's but as Guy Clark said: "Only two things money can't buy, true love and homegrown tomatoes".

ken

 

AutoTent

 The plant I tried to kill is on the left. It has started to flower and will need a close eye in case it goes herme. The real shame is it was the bigger and stronger of the two. BTW, as always you can click it to big it:

The middle plant is a couple weeks behind the other two.

There is a chance this next season will be our last to "camp host". The amount of work getting ready to go, both in the house and the RV, and when we make it back home is too much. We have been back a little over a month and we are still dealing with recovery. 

Topped Photo Plants

 I "topped" the Photo plants yesterday, you can just make out the two new main branches. As always click it to big it:

The Photo tent crop week two:

By AZ law I'm allowed 12 growing plants. Currently there are the 6 Photos in the main tent, 2 Photos outside the tent that will be transferred to the greenhouse (the first photo is one of the plants that will finish in the greenhouse) for the flower cycle and 3 Auto plants in the small Auto tent. I may add a Auto plant to the 2 Photo plants using the lights outside the main tent that would take me to the 12 plant limit.

Grow area outside the main tent:

All the plants look healthy, with maybe the exception of the Auto I tried to kill. It is now basically a topped Auto plant and growing "wide" instead of tall. I still do not believe it survived. Damn hardy weeds they are. 

See you on down the road,

ken

T-Check

 I like eatables, I like smoke as well. Most of my weed is homegrown so I have no reference to THC content other than trial and error. With smoke it is not a big deal, you take a hit wait a minute or two and if it is good, it's good. Eatables are a problem, it takes 30 minutes or more to know if it was enough or even too much if you haven't a clue to the THC level. I can't tell you how many batches of gummies I've thrown out because they didn't work or haven't thrown out because they kick your ass so hard. It would be nice to know going in, don't make 'em if the THC isn't there or cut the amount if it is too strong.

The answer is to know the THC content of your flower or infusion/tincture. Easy answer but one that can be difficult and/or expensive to find out.

It is still early but I may have found a way. T-Check makes a tester that is a treat to use and is reasonable.

Next to the tCheck (lower left) is a ½ cup of MCT oil infused with 10g of flower. It tested to 8.9mg/ml of THC using the tCheck. I'll make a pan of Brownies this afternoon. If my math is good the Brownies should contain slightly over 700mg of THC. The Brownie box calls for 16 servings, again IMMIC that comes to ~44mg THC per Brownie. A bite or two should work.

I'll let you know in a later post.

Looks Like We May Have Dodged a Bullet

Or at least received just a flesh wound and not in the Black Knight sense. The next two years could be ugly but death is less likely.

I'm proud of the younger voters, women both white and black, and a few old hippies like myself. We almost and may yet once all the votes are counted did it man.

We ran the racist out and had them hiding under rocks for 60 something years until TFG invited them to the party in 2016. We can do it again.

We won the battle of the Civil War and lost the peace. Now is the time to win the war.

November 8th was a start.

ken      

P.S. I sometimes wish I believed in a god so Nixon and his Southern Strategy would rot in Hell for all eternity. 

Oops!

 While moving one of the Auto plants from its grow tent to the greenhouse to make room for a couple of Photo plants to get thru the Veg stage.  I turned it over. If I didn't kill it, it sure as hell is shocked. All the soil is back in the bag and the plant is staked to hold it upright. Time will tell how bad the damage is. 

Photo Tent Controller

 I have two "grow" tents, a Vivosun 2'X4' and a Infinity 4'X4'. The small tent is used for Auto plants, the big one for Photo plants. With tents you kinda get what you pay for. The Vivosun tent is ~$105 USD on Amazon, the same size Infinity tent on Amazon is ~$140 USD. The 24"X48" Gorilla tent is ~$287 USD. When you go to 4'X4' tents the Gorilla tent is ~$390 USD v. ~$180USD for the AC Infinity.

The Vivosun tent is fine for Auto plants because light control is not too important. With Auto plants all the tent needs to do is use your light source efficiently. Photo tents need to use light efficiently but also keep light out during the flower stage. My Infinity 4'X4' does a pretty good job of controlling unwanted light. I expect the Gorilla 4'X4' would do a slightly better job but the real reason to go with a Gorilla tent is it comes with an extra 1' extension so the tent has an 8' height v. 7' with the Infinity 4'X4' tent. With Photo plants that extra foot is useful.

One of the 'nice to have" features of Infinity tents is the outside "controller" mount.

 As always: Click it to big it.

The top controller controls the exhaust fan and gives information on humidity and temperature.  The bottom one controls the California Lightworks Solar System 1100 LED grow light. It is an amazing system giving almost complete control of your lights. IIRC it can have 20 pre-set programs controlling three light channels (Red, White, Blue) from zero to 100%. It can mimic Sunrise and Sunset, you can control the time it takes to go from off to full on and of course it controls the time of light and darkness. About the only thing you need to do with the lights is change the program when it is time to go from seedling to Veg to Flower to finish.

Setting up to grow is not cheap if you go full on, nor is the cost of the grow but if done correctly you should get 10 to 15 oz of useable flower per plant. At ~$300USD per oz at the local "Pot Shop" it doesn't take long or many plants to recoup the initial investment. 

If you just want to grow a couple of plants and are not trying to get max production it can be a cheap hobby. Auto seeds or clone to start, a pot big enough to hold a 3 ft tall plant and a window with sunlight most of the day and maybe a cheap "grow light" to supplement the light. Cannabis makes a kind of pretty house plant but some genetics can have a strong smell during the flower stage. Depending on where you live it can be really cheap, seeds in the ground in the Spring, harvest in the Fall. 

Good seeds run ~$10USD a seed, I don't use clones but my neighbor does and he spends about $25USD a clone. BTW, I have a near 100% seed to seedling ratio. My two main sources are ILGM and Seedman. Seedman is a little cheaper than ILGM but is also slower to deliver. Both work and their seeds have a near 100% "pop" ratio.

ken

Photo Tent is Loaded

 The Photo Tent has its full load of plants for this crop. There are two Nova OGs in 15gal grow bags, one Amnesia Fast and one Peyote Gorilla in 15gal bags, one Banana Kush and one Durban Poison in 10gal bags. My plan is to keep 'em on a Veg light schedule until they are about 24 to 30 inches tall but no later than the first of the year and then go to a flower light schedule. that should put the harvest no later that the first of April, giving time to prep, dry, and cure before heading to Oregon for the Summer. 

I will add a 10gal bag with an AK-47 seedling to the Auto Tent for a total of three plants that leaves two Photo plants for the greenhouse.

If my math skills are still functioning that takes us to eleven Cannabis plants total, one under the AZ state legal limit.

Most of the Tomato, Basil, and Jalapeno seeds have sprouted and will be transferred into small seedling pots for a week or two before transplanting into grow bags and moving 'em to the greenhouse.

We are off to a good start, I hope it holds,

ken    

New Greenhouse

 The Greenhouse is almost finished. It still needs the auto-vent and shelf installed, some small plastic trim added and a entry step.

 As always, click it to big it.

It appears to be a well made and designed kit with good instructions but with the number of parts it was kinda a pain in the ass to put together. Lots of looking for the "right" part number, matching it once found with the drawing in the instruction booklet and some "how in the fuck does this go together" time wasters. In the end there was close to 6 hours to build and level the base then close to 20 hours scratching my ass looking for parts and putting the whole thing together.

There are Tomatoes (Cherry and Beefsteak), Jalapeno peppers, and Basil waiting for the greenhouse to be finished. In a couple of weeks there will be one Auto and four Photo Cannabis plants ready and looking for a home. I expect the Auto plant will do OK in the greenhouse. The Photo plants are an experiment, I've not a clue if there will be enough light for the Veg stage and then dark enough at night for them to flower. 

One more photo of the Greenhouse because I can:

See you on down the road,

ken