An important factor that leads many people to grow their own weed is saving money. After all, growing your own weed can be cheaper in the long run than buying it every time, particularly if you’re an avid user. However, there are plenty of costs that can take you by surprise when you first begin to grow cannabis seriously. Here are a few tips to help you save money when growing weed.
Make Compost
If you’re growing your plants in soil, then you can easily make your own fertilizer. Compost is nutrient-rich, easy to make, and costs nothing. You can make a good compost with nothing more than time and your table scraps. Anything biological can be added to your compost, you’ll just need to look into how to process it before added it in. Plant matter is good for the bulk of your compost, while eggshells add calcium and table scraps add other micronutrients.
You can buy barrels specifically for making compost. However, a 5-gallon bucket or a small chunk of land is all you need to get started. The important thing is to turn over your compost every few weeks to get more oxygen into the middle of the pile. This helps everything degrade into soil evenly, and mixes new material in with the old. You can plant new crops in the compost, or you can add compost on top of the soil of your current plants, for extra nutrients.
DIY Hydroponics Setup
If you want to try hydroponics, you’ve probably seen the pre-built kits that are on the market. However, if you’re trying to save money when growing weed, you can build your own. There are guides on sites like DIYNetwork.com that will help you make hydroponic systems out of things like old hoses, buckets, PVC pipe, and more.
These systems are a great first step for hydroponic growing. If it turns out you like the DIY setup, you can upgrade to a commercial set without worrying that you’re wasting your money. Homemade hydroponic systems are also incredibly customizable, so they can fit any size or shape of grow space you might be using.
Consider Cloning
One of the consistent expenses you’ll face when budgeting your cannabis grow is the cost of new plants.
You can clone healthy, successful female cannabis plants at home with nothing but a jar of water and some rooting hormone. To do this, take a cutting off of a strong and healthy plant, and place it in water with some rooting hormone. After a couple of weeks, you should see a solid root system developing. Once this happens, you can plant the clone and grow it just like any other cannabis plant.
This is great for growing strains that you really love. Once you have a strain you want to continue growing regularly, you can clone as many plants as you want from it, as long as you are careful with the cuttings.
Use Electricity Efficiently
The biggest cost that most cannabis growers face is electricity. By choosing grow lights that are energy-efficient, you can cut your energy bills in half, if not more. LED grow lights, for example, are much more efficient than other HID grow light options. These lights do take some upfront spending however, so this is an investment in long-term savings. If you’re planning on growing for a while, they’re absolutely worth the money – which explains why they’re so popular.
Growing cannabis at home is worth considering if you feel that you’re spending way too much money buying weed at your current rate. With some ingenuity, you can grow cannabis plants with nothing more than a DIY grow room setup and a slight bump to your electricity costs.