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best way to fund pepper hobby/obsession

Just looking for ideas, not $$

I am looking forward to next season and am wondering what the best way to use the peppers that I grow to fund my growing each season.

Is it just selling SFRB's of various pods? Powders? Just hoping to not use my "real" money if possible, I assume someone here knows what I am talking about.



Thanks in advance

Vince
 
what ThP says, thats why i never have sold anything other than here and there. earning momney can take the fun out of a hobby. just set aside a small amount of each check that goes toward the hobby funds, that way when it comes time to buy something there is money. my motorcycle hobby costa FORTuNe i spend about 1-4 hundred/ weekend of riding depending on if i need tires.

i set aside 20/wk for my peppers, and now i have plenty of money when i need to buy ferts or anyhting as there were months where i did not buy anthing.
 
I agree with THP...I occasionally sell a few powders to keep momma off my back about it, but I send more stuff out for free. I suppose FRB's are another way to do similar, the problem with pods is almost everyone has them at the same time. In Wisconsin, unless you have a huge grow like Spicy Chicken, you won't be able to compete with the southern growers that have more pods and sooner. So I would just have fun and keep your grow to number of plants you can afford.

A better research effort for you would be how to keep grow costs down. Building your own soil, searching craigslist or your local nurseries for cheap or free containers and learning how to make/use your own ferts are all great ways to keep the cost down.

Good luck!
Shane

what ThP says, thats why i never have sold anything other than here and there. earning momney can take the fun out of a hobby. just set aside a small amount of each check that goes toward the hobby funds, that way when it comes time to buy something there is money. my motorcycle hobby costa FORTuNe i spend about 1-4 hundred/ weekend of riding depending on if i need tires.

i set aside 20/wk for my peppers, and now i have plenty of money when i need to buy ferts or anyhting as there were months where i did not buy anthing.

I thought you were busy getting married today spongey!!! Congrats!
 
I'm wondering this myself. I have tried selling my hobby sauce to friends. (IRL friends not THP friends). But not many people seem as interested in sauce as I am. I guess I am just going to do some SFRB's and such to help cover some of the expence.
 
I agree that a hobby is not a money making venture. However, the original question is more about covering some of the costs associated with growing peppers. When I do each year is plant more seeds than I need. This makes sense in a lot of ways, because not all germinate or stay alive. When it is time to start hardening off I sell of some of the extra seedlings while keeping some "just in case" peppers that are above and beyond what I need. This is usually enough to cover the cost of all of my seeds for the year, but not all of the other expenses.
 
there is difference between "making" money and just wanting to a few bucks back invested to help lighten the expense, me personally could not make back what i have invested if i sold every pepper that came off my plants, even at the average rate of 25 dollars a pound on the SFRB's i see for sale here


i like the SFRB's of fresh pods myself
 
I'd agree with the others --- figure if you just skip a trip to the coffee shop once or twice a week - or eat some Ramen noodles for Lunch one or two days a week and put the $ aside that you would have spent otherwise and you can easily cover the expense of a several plants a year. Or just put the spare change that accumulates in your pocket every day into a jar each night and save it for expenses (you'll never notice it missing and it adds up quickly). I'd much rather cut back somewhere else if needed to be able to afford to grow a few plants than start trying to make $ off of them and ruin the enjoyment of growing them ( Once you are relying on a specific result or start thinking about how much $ a mistake during the season costs you the enjoyment of growing quickly fades !!)
 
Hobbies cost money. If you are making money from the hobby is it not a hobby anymore.

Eh.. I try to make money off of all of my hobbies. They aren't my main source of income so they aren't my profession, and I do them for fun as hobbies, but I liek to offset the costs as much as possible, and if possible profit from them. Why not? It's not work if it's fun right?!

I'd agree with the others --- figure if you just skip a trip to the coffee shop once or twice a week - or eat some Ramen noodles for Lunch one or two days a week and put the $ aside that you would have spent otherwise and you can easily cover the expense of a several plants a year. Or just put the spare change that accumulates in your pocket every day into a jar each night and save it for expenses (you'll never notice it missing and it adds up quickly). I'd much rather cut back somewhere else if needed to be able to afford to grow a few plants than start trying to make $ off of them and ruin the enjoyment of growing them ( Once you are relying on a specific result or start thinking about how much $ a mistake during the season costs you the enjoyment of growing quickly fades !!)

That is a relatively easy way to offset the costs of your hobbies, but I know since I like to grow plants indoors year round, and im gonna grow peppers indoors under lights in the cold months, the lights cost a ton.. So it's not really practical not to sell at all


Also, if you want to make money off of peppers themselves, your best bet in terms of profit would be in order:

Sauce (you only need a portion of a super to make an extremely hot sauce.
Plants*
Seeds
Whole Pods Fresh
Whole Pods Dried
Flakes
Powders

*It depends on how much room you have to grow out the plant's because you can turn each seed you harvest into a plant which is worth $5-$20 bucks depending on the size and where you sell it, and the variety. However this takes a lot of space.

Sauce for the reason mentioned is the best for profit.

Whole pods frsh are good because they can sell for a dollar a pod if they are supers.

Drying pods cuts their weight ALOT so you get very litle weight per pod. So unless you sell by the pod instead of by weight, you are losing out a lot here.

Flaking takes the drying size to a whole other level by making them have little air and therefore, you can fit a ton of pods into a small ziplock sandwitch bag. I could fit 50+ flaked bhuts in one bag as opposed to 7-10 fresh ones. Peopel arent going to pay 35-50 bucks for a bag of flakes.

POWDER is horible for money. do you know how many pods you can fit into a tiny container of powder? One ounce is a ton of powder.. For reference, I got 12 decent sized bhuts off my plant into about a tabelspoon of powder.. Ya its potent as hellfire, but nobody is gonna give me more than the $10 i couldve gotten for the pods if they were fresh.


Seeds, if you can isolate them (use pantyhose or mosquito netting if you are growing outdoors), can get you liek a quarter a pop which is a nice profit. BUT you have to isolate them or their value drops significantly.
 
Also, I think it's AlabamaJack that recycles his soil. It's in the beginning of one of his glogs. I
think last years..
 
+1 for the spare change idea-

You'll never miss it, and it does add up. My hubby's done that for years and he usually ends up with more than enough to buy a new pair of Red Wing work boots every year.

And check out the "ghetto grow gear" thread for ideas. Lots of ways to get stuff for free, re-purpose things, use an old waterbed heater pad instead of buying a seedling mat....tons of ideas.

The main thing is to Have Fun!!!
 
ok, I already work about 80 hours a week so don't insult me by insinuating that I don't work.
There is a big difference between making money and covering some costs. I am doing this as a hobby, not a money making venture, and if I don't get any money back from it I will be fine.
I appreciate the money management suggestions, but this is not one of those issues. I like to keep my money separate, such as "fun money" and "bill money". I have a certain amount of money that I chose to invest in my peppers.
Many people have been extremely helpful to me and sent me seeds and such and to those people I am forever grateful.
Thank you to those that understood my question and for your ideas.
 
Lets see, my hobbies over the last score of years or so include:

Electric guitars- Yep expensive
Remote control airplanes- Yep, more expensive
Remote control Helicopters- Really expensive
Shooting guns- Really expensive
RVing with the family and a new truck to pull the new camper- Damn expensive
Growing hot peppers- not so expensive......

Hobbies cost money, and if I ever found a way for my hobby to pay for itself, it would be a job not a hobby.
 
i fund raise for my hobby to make my hobby even larger lol. i sell seeds on etsy. it pays for peppers, plants and hot sauce bottles. from there i just cover costs so i never go negative lol. takes a while to fund raise enough, but then again... it takes a while to grow plants. so screw it. i got the patience and drive

-jake
 
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