cost of your pepper grow

S

Swartmamba

I know i spent allot of money setting up my garden ect, and it all seems to be a expensive hobbie.
 
First season was near $5000, for lights, nutes, pots, soil, amendments ect.
 
From then on roughly $1000 per season.
 
What do you guys spend on a average season?
 
 
 
I spent a total of 45 dollars? Maybe more but 45 on the main stuff of course there's always 10 dollars here or there but relatively cheap
 
All are estimates..
 
75 on soil
25-30 on pots
10 on potassium salts of fatty acids to see if its worth buying concentrate online
4 bucks on landscaping fabric
3 bucks on styrofoam cups
3 bucks on spray bottles (1 each at dollar tree!)
 
already had everything else, including seeds from last year + some I was lucky enough to be gifted.
 
Next year my grow should be super cheap since i have more than half of my pots leftover
 
-edit- forgot i got a roll of landscaping fabric for 4 dollars on sale at kmart. I also still need the insecticide concentrate, and i want to get a large mortar and pestle. I wanted to buy a dehydrator but I came up with an idea for a super cheap solar oven..
 
lol i had this conversation with my dad the other week about what a cheap, harmless hobby pepper growing is..and how its so cheap compared to my other hobbies.
Seems the spend can vary ALOT!!
 
I have spent about $30 on seeds..I have some tomato food that I bought for my tomatoes a season or so back which was $10 or something..
I bought some epsom salt at the supermarket the other month, that was about $3 for 10 years worth. I also bought two spray bottles, one for spraying plain water, the other for epsom salt spray..$3 each.
 
I bought a bunch of jiffy starter pellets, about $10 i think? A few bags of potting mix here and there, again about $10 each..
 
A few other expenses like pots,  and i probably still come in at well under $100.
 
Maybe somewhere around $ 70,- for everything in total, including some buckets that kicked themselves while I tried to convert them into plant pots.
Potting mix is el cheapo here and the tomato feeding mix wasn't that expensive either.
Pots are reasonably expensive here.
 
wow thats a lot, wish i had money to spend on my plants but i am poor!! my dad and i (95% me) are growing 24 pepper plants, the soil mix and pots and some of the plants and seeds, id say close to $80 spread out over a few months
 
$80 or so.... recycled soil from last year, bought some MG tomato food/fertilizer, a grow light for the seedlings, seeds.
 
Not much, considering I only have to buy pots once and I already have enough. Same with bamboo sticks.
I still have seeds, more than I need, but will buy again for sure, that I already know.
We make our own compost here, so that covers the potting soil and the nutes too. It works really well.
I don't use lights before moving them outside but I don't feel the need to. I'll still have waaay more pods than I need, even after giving away most of it.
 
I spent a decent amount the first year buying seeds and what not, but 90% of my pots I got from a nursery that was going outta business, I make my own compost, my grow light setup was 18 and 4 for the work light and flurotubes, I make my own wood chips, I got a ton of 20litre buckets from my local brewery, and seeds I've saved from every type I've bought in the store had my travel agent girlfriend bring me back peppers or seeds from every country she visits, and traded prodigiously here, so now I mostly only have to pay for nutes perlite and lavarocks, and every now and again If there is a seed at pepperlover or semillias that I just have to have ;) I think many of the newbies get a little crazy with the super expensive grow lights and hi dollar nutes etc, there are many reasonably priced light and nutrient options, don't need to mortage the house to pay for this hobby!
 
I'd really like to see numbers of plants for the spend, too. Someone growing 10 plants should be spending a lot less than someone growing 50, and of course, that should be significantly less than someone growing 200. I grow about 50 plants and chose not to invest in lights. I found the first year that the plants quickly outgrew the space I have indoors for them when I kept them warm - we have a very short growing season here, so they're in the house longer than if I lived somewhere warmer outside. I also grow in pots, so the first year had pots to purchase, but have reused them each year since, only adding one or two more. I also reuse the Solo cups that I cut drain holes in, etc. So what I spend on a yearly basis depends on the amount of potting soil I decide to purchase and nutes. Also whether I purchase plants or start my own from seeds harvested from the prior years' grows, or some combination thereof. I guarantee my spend is way less than sicman spends!
 
geeme said:
I'd really like to see numbers of plants for the spend, too. Someone growing 10 plants should be spending a lot less than someone growing 50, and of course, that should be significantly less than someone growing 200. I grow about 50 plants and chose not to invest in lights. I found the first year that the plants quickly outgrew the space I have indoors for them when I kept them warm - we have a very short growing season here, so they're in the house longer than if I lived somewhere warmer outside. I also grow in pots, so the first year had pots to purchase, but have reused them each year since, only adding one or two more. I also reuse the Solo cups that I cut drain holes in, etc. So what I spend on a yearly basis depends on the amount of potting soil I decide to purchase and nutes. Also whether I purchase plants or start my own from seeds harvested from the prior years' grows, or some combination thereof. I guarantee my spend is way less than sicman spends!
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 technically i spent $3.33 per plant, total of 24 plants for a cost of roughly $80 thats the price of the seeds, seedlings, soil mix and a few pots
 
I guess I should point out that my costs this year were basically all start-up costs for the hobby since I didn't really have anything.

30+ smart pots (5, 7, 15, & 20 gallon)
30+ cubic feet of soil or stuff to do own soil mix
Watering wand
Garden gloves
Seeds and live plants
Fertilizers
Organic pesticides
Stakes and cages
THP Extreme membership because I like to be EXTREME
And a few other miscellaneous items
 
geeme said:
I'd really like to see numbers of plants for the spend, too. Someone growing 10 plants should be spending a lot less than someone growing 50, and of course, that should be significantly less than someone growing 200. I grow about 50 plants and chose not to invest in lights. I found the first year that the plants quickly outgrew the space I have indoors for them when I kept them warm - we have a very short growing season here, so they're in the house longer than if I lived somewhere warmer outside. I also grow in pots, so the first year had pots to purchase, but have reused them each year since, only adding one or two more. I also reuse the Solo cups that I cut drain holes in, etc. So what I spend on a yearly basis depends on the amount of potting soil I decide to purchase and nutes. Also whether I purchase plants or start my own from seeds harvested from the prior years' grows, or some combination thereof. I guarantee my spend is way less than sicman spends!
Click to expand...
My numbers change every year, 2011=157 2012=303
2013=12 2014 about 90 counting the latest seedlings. I start under lights cuz I can't plant out til the middle of April and I like to get as many peppers as possible off my plants before frost comes in mid November
 
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