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How much does your hobby cost?

MrFlyTrap2

OMG h8 pings
I've been curious about something...

Every time I fire a new section on my grow shelf, I think in the back of my head... How much is this costing me every month? Currently I'm running 16 40 watt Fluorescent bulbs for my plants. My electric rate is $0.0971 per kWh. My bulbs right now run for about 15 hours a day and there are 31 days in this month. Oh god how did I get stuck in a math problem?

1 40 watt bulb is .04 kWh, times 16 bulbs equals .64 kWh for my entire setup.
15 hours times 31 days equals a running time of 465 hours.
465 running hours times the .64 kWh is 297.6 kWh a month to run the entire setup.
297.6 kWh times the cost of $0.0971 equals $28.90 a month for my hobby.

I would love to expand my hobby out more, but the cost is always in the back of my head. Having 3 times the plants I do now with the current space management would run me about $100 a month in just lighting... Man I wish I had space for a greenhouse, or even to keep some of the plants outside without them getting damaged.

What about you guys? How much do you think your hobby costs per month to run? Does that become a limiting factor first, or does physical space stop you instead? Hehe or are you lucky to have the sky as the limit for both? 8)

Nate
 
well since i dont pay for the electricity i use...i spend about 3.50 a month for water :D
Alex
 
Using your math, a 250 watt MH running 16 hours a days 31 days a month costs $12.04 per month
 
uhh...i have a greenhouse,

but i would say all my plants cost me around $2000, my humidifier is ~ $20 monthly, and my shelfs were free...
 
when yah figure in heating, cooling and such with a greenhouse.....basement growing is damn cheap. i could buy a decent greenhouse for what ive spent on a couple rifles......affording to heat or cool said greenhouse in my schizophrenic weather? thats a whole nother level of spending :grin:
 
or you could keep it unheated and uncooled in Southern California! :D
 
It really depends upon what you want to cultivate. Most CP's do just fine, all year round, sitting at a window sill. And if one stays on top of the Trading Post, like for seeds for SASE, this hobby can be done quite inexpensively! I know... I did that for all of 2004 & 2005. Not bad for a shoestring budget!
 
I've spent more on shipping than on plants, lights and whatever.
 
I've spent so much on plants it's not funny...haha. Wow, what I could've used that for... jeeze. Now I feel bad :(.
 
  • #10
I figure most plants I've bought are bigger and nicer now than when I bought them. So theoretically, I could sell them all for a profit! Yeah, that's it, they're an investment!

Capslock
 
  • #11
Yeah, that's it, they're an investment!

of course! i knew this hobby had some sanity! :D
 
  • #13
oh...wait...

did i forget to put in before sanity?

oh well...:)
 
  • #14
Lets see..
I just dug up my old grow list from lasy year.
its essentially the same right now:

Sarracenia X moorei 'Leah Wilkerson' (1)
Sarracenia rubra ssp. alabamensis AL-02 (1)
Sarracenia X 'Judith Hindle' (7)
Sarracenia leucophylla (1)
Sarracenia leucophylla 'Tarnoc' (5)
Sarracenia leucophylla 'Red' (2)
Sarracenia leucophylla 'Titan' (2) (in mini bog)
Sarracenia X 'excellens' (2)
Sarracenia flava (1)
Sarracenia flava 'veinless' (1)
Sarracenia purpurea (1)
Sarracenia X wrigleyana 'Scarlet Belle' (1) (In mini bog)
Sarracenia X 'dixie lace'

Mixed sarracenia hybrids, unknown parentage (7)

Sarracenia seedlings, 2 years old, grown from ICPS seed packs - sprouted Spring 2004:
'Judith Hindle' X 'Ladies in Waiting' (11)
Sarracenia leucophylla (25)
Sarracenia flava, Walton Co. Florida (2)
Sarracenia purpurea ssp. purpurea (1)

Dionaea muscipula, mixed varieties, (50) (in mini bog)

Drosera capensis (15) in 3 pots
Drosera Binata (1)

Pinguicula agnata (1)

Nepenthes X chelsonii (3)


Thats about 140 plants..
during the last year, these 140 plants have cost me exactly... ZERO dollars! :)

sunlight = free
rainwater collected from the roof = free
winter dormancy in basement stairwell = free.

Last year I spent $5 on my collection..to build the rain collector.

of course, I have no idea how much I spent on the plants themselves! :)
probably a few hundred dollars over the years..
but overall, I consider it a very inexpensive hobby!


Scot
 
  • #15
sadly my collection is somewhat limited by space and circumstances, i therefore haven't spent much

as far as i can remember, i've bought a bag of grit (£1.50), a bag of sand (£1.00), plastic tubing (£2.34), a funnel (£0.45), a plastic jug (£0.99), a water sprayer (£2.97), a hygrometer (£3.49), two plastic tubs (£3.98), and a clear plastic bucket (now a terrarium) for £1.99.

my kit therefore comes to the grand total of £18.71. almost everything else has been reclaimed (for example the small cold frame i found in pieces near the bottom of the garden).

as for plants, i've spent £32.92 unless i've forgotten anything.

so i've spent just over £50, but it was well worth it.
 
  • #16
Well I was just checking my electric bill, and the itemization of the charges is ridiculous. Theres an Electricity Useage charge, and an Electricity Energy charge which is the cost for the power plant to produce the electricity. Then there are tiers for power consumption, and if you go over a baseline KwH, the rate goes up quickly. The Useage charge and the Energy charge should be combined to give a real amount that isn't confusing, but the Energy charge I guess can be deducted if you receive your electricity from a different company and use the utilities company to just distribute it. All in all I use ~550W, or 19.8 KwH a month and my bill can be ridiculous if we go over our "baseline allowance". I hate bills...
 
  • #17
Uhmmm

I actually made money on my plants, The Insurance company factored in my the orginal price, and how much they had grown.

= Free

Now I have window Sill plants. I'm about to ask my mom If I can move the plants into her Bathroom, its practically a sun Room and the plants would love it.

Until I get a light set up free right now.
 
  • #18
Well I was just checking my electric bill, and the itemization of the charges is ridiculous. Theres an Electricity Useage charge, and an Electricity Energy charge which is the cost for the power plant to produce the electricity. Then there are tiers for power consumption, and if you go over a baseline KwH, the rate goes up quickly. The Useage charge and the Energy charge should be combined to give a real amount that isn't confusing, but the Energy charge I guess can be deducted if you receive your electricity from a different company and use the utilities company to just distribute it. All in all I use ~550W, or 19.8 KwH a month and my bill can be ridiculous if we go over our "baseline allowance". I hate bills...


I'm not sure how your electric bills are by you but it almost sounds like you're on a commercial rate. Residential customers just get charged the production / consumption charges. The commercial rates here sounds similar to what you're describing. They bill us for a 'demand' on top of the consumption charge. Demand is basically the highest level of power you used in the month. So if you run a bar, have all the lights on, the music going, the AC going, and the refrigerator going, you'll get nailed by demand during that time. Some owners may unplug the refrigerator and set them extra high during the daytime when the other stuff isn't going. You might want to give them a call to find out if you're really on what you're suppose to be getting billed for. I think here they have 11 different rate plans for residents alone.
 
  • #19
I get billed I think $10 + usage. Last month, My bill was $39.something
 
  • #20
Well it's official. I suck at math. lol, I meant to say I use ~205 KwH a month. which roughly comes out to about 26$ a month, just based off of a bill that came for 64KwH (only covering 5 days from move-in). Either way, I should find out how the rate system works and see what kind of a response I get from SDG&E (San Diego Gas & Electric).
 
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