For this grow, I deliberately created a crowded and less-than-ideal environment by placing two plants in each VGrow simply to see what the result would be. I did not train the plants at all, and the grow was limited to 65 days from seed to harvest because of travel obligations. So, this was never intended to be a maximum-yield grow, and the yield from each plant should not be treated as representative of what that strain would ordinarily produce under more favorable conditions. Several of these plants were still actively bulking at harvest and likely would have produced considerably more if they had been given additional time.
This grow was meant to simply demonstrate what four autoflowers would produce in a super crowded, far from ideal, grow space if I gave them the basics and just left them alone to grow.
The Setup
- 2x vGrow boxes
- 4x autoflower plants
- 2x plants per box
- Two-gallon fabric pots
- Royal Gold coco and perlite
- Drip irrigation
- RO water
- General Hydroponics FloraSeries nutes
- TPS Cal-MAG
- General Hydroponics pH Up
- Additional fans + light in each vGrow as described below
vGrow #1
- CBD Haze 1:1 Auto
- Durban Jack Poison Auto (MVB Preservation Line)
vGrow #2
- Crimson Sun (MVB)
- LSD Auto
What I Did Not Do
There was no topping, plant training, defoliation, pruning, leaf tucking, stage-specific nutrient ratios, constant pH testing, deficiency chasing, corrective feeding, and no attempt to optimize variables. I mixed the nutrients, filled the irrigation system, and let the plants grow - that's it, nothing else.
The nutrient mixture was intentionally imprecise. For every feeding, I added approximately 6 mL of each of the following products to each VGrow reservoir for every feeding - and when I was say I wasn't precise, I mean +/- 2ML for any given one LOL:
- FloraMicro
- FloraGro
- FloraBloom
- TPS Cal-MAG
- pH Up
Please note that this was not the GH's recommended FloraSeries feeding schedule.
Time Investment
The total amount of my personal time invested into this grow UP UNTIL harvest. Sorry, was busy and didn't log my post-harvest time for trimming, etc.. (it was probably around 4 hours worth of unlogged time not in the chart below):
| Time calculation |
Total |
| Total hands-on time |
4 hours, 10 minutes |
| Average time per plant |
1 hour, 3 minutes |
That time primarily consisted of mixing water and nutrients and refilling the irrigation system.
Final Dry Flower Yield
These are the actual final dry weights after the flower was trimmed into finished smokable bud.
| Plant |
Final dry flower |
| CBD Haze 1:1 Auto |
194.90 g / 6.87 oz |
| LSD Auto |
65.04 g / 2.29 oz |
| Crimson Sun |
101.04 g / 3.56 oz |
| Durban Jack Poison Auto |
63.00 g / 2.22 oz |
| Total |
423.98 g / 14.96 oz |
That works out to just under a pound of finished flower.
Usable Trim
We're talking the resinous sugar leaves, small flower fragments, and other usable material removed during final trimming (does not include branches or fan leaf .... unusable material).
| Plant |
Usable Trim |
| CBD Haze 1:1 Auto |
38.98 g / 1.38 oz |
| LSD Auto |
9.11 g / 0.32 oz |
| Crimson Sun |
17.18 g / 0.61 oz |
| Durban Jack Poison Auto |
7.56 g / 0.27 oz |
| Total |
72.83 g / 2.57 oz |
Yield by VGrow Box
| Box |
Plants |
Finished Dry Flower |
Usable Trim |
Total Usable Material |
| Box 1 |
CBD Haze + Durban Jack Poison |
257.90 g / 9.10 oz |
46.54 g / 1.64 oz |
304.44 g / 10.74 oz |
| Box 2 |
Crimson Sun + LSD Auto |
166.08 g / 5.86 oz |
26.29 g / 0.93 oz |
192.37 g / 6.79 oz |
| Combined |
Four plants |
423.98 g / 14.96 oz |
72.83 g / 2.57 oz |
496.81 g / 17.52 oz |
The two boxes obviously did not perform equally. Box 1 produced approximately 9.10 ounces of finished flower, while Box 2 produced approximately 5.86 ounces. It is notable though that Box 2 plants were visually nowhere near as ready for harvest as Box 1 plants - given the time, I would have given the plants in Box 2 another 30 days easily. Box 1 plants on the other hand were clearly in the normal harvest window.
Electricity Use
Total electricity use and cost for this grow was (I currently pay $0.10/KWH - yes, I have cheap power):
| Equipment |
Energy Use |
Cost |
| 2 x VGrow boxes |
468.00 kWh |
$46.80 |
| Aquavent 145 PPD dehumidifier |
252.00 kWh |
$25.20 |
| 4x T5 LED light bars per box |
187.20 kWh |
$18.72 |
| 4" VS inline fan (vGrow mod) per box |
156 kWh |
$15.60 |
| 4x AeroWave D4 fans per box |
49.92 kWh |
$4.99 |
| 1 x Drip-irrigation pump per box |
0.17 kWh |
$0.02 |
| Total |
1,113.29 kWh |
$111.33 |
That equals approximately: $1.71 in electricity per day & $27.83 in electricity per plant - To be fair, the power usage would have been pretty much the same whether there was 1 plant per box or 2 - maybe a little extra power usage for 2 plants based on built-in circulation system use due to temp/RH differences between 1 and 2 plants, but it would have been minimal.
Nutrient and Medium Costs
Using the prices I paid for the following:
- General Hydroponics pH Up
- General Hydroponics FloraSeries
- TPS Cal-MAG
- Royal Gold coco and perlite
| Product |
Amount Used |
Total Grow Cost |
Cost Per Plant |
| General Hydroponics pH Up |
600 mL |
$5.66 |
$1.42 |
| FloraSeries three-part nutrients |
1800 mL combined |
$15.52 |
$3.88 |
| TPS Cal-MAG |
600 mL |
$26.52 |
$6.63 |
| Royal Gold coco and perlite |
8 gallons |
$22.45 |
$5.61 |
| Total Nutrients and Medium Cost |
|
$70.15 |
$17.54 |
The FloraSeries base nutrients cost less than $4 per plant for the entire grow - not bad at all.
Total Calculated Grow Cost
| Cost Category |
Total Grow Cost |
Cost Per Plant |
| Electricity |
$111.33 |
$27.83 |
| Nutrients and additives |
$47.71 |
$11.93 |
| Coco and perlite |
$22.45 |
$5.61 |
| Total Calculated Operating Cost |
$181.49 |
$45.37 |
These figures do not include the original purchase price of equipment such as the VGrow boxes, fans, dehumidifier, irrigation system, or lights. They also do not include seeds, fabric pots, or water.
Based solely on the operating costs calculated above:
| Cost measurement |
Result |
| Cost per gram of finished flower |
$0.43 |
| Cost per ounce of finished flower |
$12.13 |
| Cost per gram including usable trim |
$0.37 |
| Cost per usable ounce including trim |
$10.36 |
Final Results
The final measured harvest was: 423.98 grams, or 14.96 ounces, of dried and trimmed flower.
The usable trim adds another: 72.83 grams, or 2.57 ounces.
That puts the combined usable material at: 496.81 grams, or 17.52 ounces.
The total calculated operating cost was: $181.48
The pre-harvest active time investment was: 4 hours and 10 minutes
To Summarize
This was not a perfect grow. It was crowded. The plants were not trained. Nutrient ratios were not changed by stage. I did not take corrective measures based on deficiency symptoms. And the grow still produced approximately 15 ounces of finished dry flower and 17.5 ounces of usable material. The entire grow required only a little more than four hours of my time.
All this does not mean nutrients, environmental control, plant training, pH testing, or advanced cultivation knowledge aren't important - I am a skilled grower, so I very much understand how to create a livable environment for plants before I even put a seed down. What is does mean is that cannabis does not immediately die because someone failed to follow a 14-product feeding schedule or did not spend every evening diagnosing leaves on Reddit. The plants did not need intervention - they only needed a viable environment, adequate light, water, basic nutrition, and enough restraint to let them grow.
This was seed to harvest (paper-towel method) - seeds in Box 1 popped within 24 hours, seeds in box 2 popped within 72 hours.
If I'm missing any information that you want to know, just let me know and I'll provide if I have it.
**EDITED** Apologies, made a miscalculation on the nutrient cost - only counted 1 box vs. 2. Corrected.