August 13, 2020
The legal medicinal plants market is booming. There’s legitimate money to be made in medicinal plants, without having to sell it on the black market to reap the benefits. The cost associated with growing medicinal plants can be a bit scary if you don’t know your stuff, but your new hobby really doesn’t have to break the bank. Even indoor growing can be quite affordable when well planned. The actual cost of growing medicinal plants actually depends on multiple factors.
Seed
Seeds will not be a big cost in total compared to everything else, but feminized seeds of high quality will still cost you $5-15, depending on strain and vendor.
Grow Lights
If you’re growing indoors, you’ll need lights to do it. The cost you spend on lighting is dependent on how many plants you’re planning on growing. There are literally hundreds of options for indoor grow lights, ranging from budget-friendly to uber expensive. Keep in mind that each light has a maximum amount of space it can cover, so if you’re growing on a commercial scale plan to spend more.
Full spectrum LED grow lights can average from a 2400W that covers 6×6.5ft for $250-$350 to a 400W that covers 2x2ft for around $200. Rather than crowd a bunch of plants under one light, you’ll want to keep it to a minimum for maximum production. Some growers will do one plant for every 250W. If you’re growing indoors, plan on spending several thousand dollars to get the lights you need.
Grow medium/grow style
Depending on if you choose to grow indoors or outdoors, in soil, coco, or in hydro, different costs come with each style. There are pros and cons to each style and medium, but growing indoors in soil is the most popular way to do it. You can buy expensive and branded soil or buy cheap soil and add a couple of beneficial elements to it yourself. You can also grow in cheap soil and hope for the best, but it will affect your results.
Grow space
Again, assuming you don't grow outdoors, you'll need a space for your plant(s). You can either dedicate a room to grow your plant(s) in, or you can grow inside a indoor grow tent. Grow tents have highly reflective walls that will reflect light back that would otherwise be lost in other directions. This results in "free" and increased light intensity. A grow tent will also make it easier to mount fans, hang your lamp, raise or lower humidity and temperature, and controll the smell with a carbon filter.
Temperature Control and Ventilation
Grow lights get hot and growing indoors requires the temperature to be regulated. Fans are a huge component of an indoor grow and can cost up to $100 or more per fan. The larger your grow operation, the more fans you will need. For a large-scale grow operation, you could be looking at startup costs for fans at $1,000 or more.
There is also the cost for humidifiers and ventilation systems. In order to keep plants healthy and happy, you’ll need all the equipment that makes up an ideal environment. On average, the cost of fans and other equipment you’ll need can run $1,000-$3,000.
Nutrients
Feeding your plants the nutrients they need is vital for maximizing your harvest. Different nutrients are needed throughout the lifecycle of the plant. While cost will all come down to how much medicinal plants you’re cultivating, you can plan on spending up to $1,000 or more on nutrients each harvest.
There are various cost-cutting measures you can undertake to lower the cost of growing medicinal plants. For instance, you can purchase a grow tent kit to cut on the cost of acquiring soil, pots, watering can etc. Also, you can use LED lights instead of Compact Fluorescent Lights (CFL) which are energy intensive. LED can save you money used to pay hefty electricity bills.
It will depend on how large operation you are interested in running and if growing indoors or outdoors. Growing one or ten plants will not vary as much in costs outdoors as it will indoors. The size of your plants will also depend on your grow style and this will also affect the size of your tent and lighting.