Growin' on a tight budget (and limited space) How do you do it?

IslandBuds;1639211 said:

I am a true believer in the saying "there's only 2 ways to do things... the right way and the wrong way" unfortunately, when it comes to growing pot, everything I have been led to believe tells me that growing can be very expensive to start off (nutes, lights, meters,etc... not too mention the enormous electric bill) and also the space involved.
I am fed up with buying my smokes at street prices so I thought that I would give "growing on a budget" a try...
Heres my story...
I picked a spot behind a door (door would act as the front-facing wall when opened, but have a sheet of heavy display board to put up as the wall when my door is shut) and covered the walls and backside of door with white light-reflective sheeting, as well as back of door.
The space I chose for my set-up is only 3ft. x 2 ft. because its the only space I have available to do this, and I chose to go with Autoflowering plants for the quick turnaround, not to mention theoverall cost savings involved.
I used P.V.C. for supporting my lights and small fan, chose to go with L.E.D. lighting for power saving as well as no heat signature whatsoever.
Heres my estimated cost involved...
1) 2 sided reflective sheeting @20ft.x10ft. (lots of extra footage for later) $25
2) Misc. P.V.C. pipe and misc. P.V.C. T's and elbow fittings $25
3) Rachet light hangers $15
4) Heat mat for seedlings $30
5) small fan $9
6) a bunch of plastic drip trays $10
7) Misc. pots (2 and 3 gl. for Autos) $25
8) PH meter $85
9) Botanicare CNS17 nutes and misc. supplements in quart size since I am only growing Autos and I use
very sparingly. $200
10) Roots Organic soil $25
11) PH up and down $20
12) Sunshine Systems 90 watt GrowUFO L.E.D. LIGHT $250
13) Sunshine Systems Glow-Panel45 28 watt L.E.D. light $150
14) Hydrogrow LED 180 watt *free* from a friend ( I switch between this and GrowUFO depending on number
of plants growing)
15) 2 cheap 28 watt LED panels (supplemental lighting. 1 veg and 1 flower) $75
16 3 misc. LED spotlights for supplemental lighting when needed $80
17) Misc. pieces of stiff posterboard *free* and good tape $5

Concidering that these L.E.D. lights will last me 10+ years... all I will have to purchase are my seeds, pots etc. and nutes as I need 'em.
With this set-up my electricity bill has only gone up on average $9 a month running at a 18/6 light schedule
Running this set-up, concidering that I am a first-time grower... I am pumping out some pretty-damn-good bud, and I know with trial and error... in time my harvests can only improve!!
Adding up my initial investment... I am at $1,029 and I will never have bulbs to replace (well...not for well over 10 years).
In the 4 months that I have been growing, I have harvested well over 12 oz. and @ $300 an oz. I was paying... I have more than tripled my initial investment in my grow area.
Not bad at all for my first crack at growing.
So... I am like a sponge when it comes to learning more on growing and how to make my grow give me "more-bang-for-my-buck".
Drop by and share your "more bang for your buck" growing set ups and methods...
... so even us "little-guys" can get more, for a whole lot less.

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