Getting antsy. Hoping for a low budget basement grow

[capone304]

Home Depot grow lights do work, you can manually adjust spectrum, just not intensity. Sheetrock painted bright white will be juss fine.

Mylar emergency blankets do great $4

 

[capone304]

I built this 20inch by 58 inch veg chamber for my perpetual grow with shit I had around the house u don't need a tent man look how fuck happy these plants are

 

[HowardC]

Like I said. Our local power company has been screwing ppl hard on bills and have not changed their lifestyles at all. So im trying like hell to not give them any excuses to screw me. We've been fairly lucky so far but my neighbors have not

Move TF out of that state. I did 40 years ago and it was the best thing I ever did.
Look on marketplace for equipment. That's where 80% of my equipment came from and I'm only on grow 2. My first was in the attic during NC winter and keeping it warm was a challenge. You have a better location for sure.

 

[ChairmanFester]

Move TF out of that state. I did 40 years ago and it was the best thing I ever did.
Look on marketplace for equipment. That's where 80% of my equipment came from and I'm only on grow 2. My first was in the attic during NC winter and keeping it warm was a challenge. You have a better location for sure.

Regulation and energy cost in NY:
So first, your bill is actually two bills smushed together. One line says “supply” (the actual electrons — market prices, gas and generator drama), and the other line says “delivery” (the pipes, poles, pensions, legal fees). Regulators pick the delivery price; the market mostly sets supply. In other words: regulators set the rules of the game, the market runs laps, and you pay for both.
Now geography. New York is a patchwork. NYISO slices the state into zones: NYC and Long Island (hello, Zone J/K) get slammed by congestion and capacity needs so their wholesale and delivery costs are higher; upstate gets hydro and cheaper supply (most days).
Then add the utility type menu: investor-owned utilities (ConEd, National Grid) run regulated delivery rate cases before the PSC and ask for returns on capital; municipal utilities and co-ops sometimes get sweet, ancient NYPA hydropower allocations that make their supply cheaper — until Albany decides to tinker with NYPA pricing and panic ensues. So sometimes your “cheaper town” is just a legacy deal away from being not-cheap. Welcome to administrative roulette.
Next, politics-as-policy: the state wants clean energy, resilience, storage, and to electrify everything yesterday. Great ideas — which mean more grid upgrades, interconnection costs, and program spending that creep into delivery charges or get socialized via statewide surcharges. The Public Service Commission and NYSERDA approve programs that utilities then fund through rate structures that are—surprise—different for each company and region. Translation: customized charity
Now for the safety net / chaos-control: HEAP actually exists and helps millions — but it’s a federal/state program administered locally, so timing, outreach, and how quickly funds run out vary by county. When federal money shudders or runs dry, Albany sometimes tosses in emergency funds. On top of HEAP are state/utility low-income discounts (the Energy Affordability Program, pilot Energy Affordability Guarantee, utility EAP credits) that differ by company and who signed what with the PSC. So whether you qualify and how much you get depends on what program, which utility, which county, and which funding drawer someone decided to open this year.
Last delightful twist: Long Island. Isolated grid, peaker plants, and expensive capacity mean PSEG/LIPA customers see some of the highest numbers in the state. Which then spawns region-specific programs, rate plans, and long legal fights — plus “solar communities” or feed-in tariffs that sound neat until you read the fine print and remember the island’s congestion charge.
So what you end up with is this:
A supply market run by NYISO that changes by the hour and zone.
A delivery regime set via PSC rate cases that varies by utility and reflects their pet projects.
Legacy hydropower and municipal carve-outs that create winners and losers by zip code.
Clean-energy mandates and electrification costs that get threaded into bills differently depending on who you pay.
A patchwork of assistance programs (HEAP, EAP, pilot guarantees) that are lifesaving but administratively uneven and politically fragile.

In plain English: the system was clearly designed by a committee that wanted to reward innovation, administrative complexity, and plausible deniability — and then politely pass the bill to you.

 

[ChairmanFester]

@Mikedin I think you know the area better, but isn't Buffalo itself it's own electrical kingdom?

 

[Mikedin]

@Mikedin I think you know the area better, but isn't Buffalo itself it's own electrical kingdom?

Well more so Niagara Falls with the power authority, lots of stuff was done rhere by Tesla, there used to be a Tesla tower there back in his time, he helped with the whole design, funny part is the region gets nearly zero power from it, it’s all sent downstate to NYC and east coast

Fucker knew his shit lol

 

[Mikedin]

Yeah yeah “low budget basement grow” that’s what I told my wife too

She fuckin trumped me though, we have 5 cats and 3 dogs, but 6 tents she said the small ones a freebie but if I add a tent she adds a cat

 

[amneziaHaze]

I dont know why is this even a subject we are talking aboit 130watts dont shower one day or skip cooking dinner and you have enough for a week of powering the growbox.let your hair dry in fresh air inszead of a hairdryer you got 2 days of growbox time....

 

[amneziaHaze]

Mylar emergency blankets do great $4

You got a free one in every first aid car kit

 

[cpurola]

I dont know why is this even a subject we are talking aboit 130watts dont shower one day or skip cooking dinner and you have enough for a week of powering the growbox.let your hair dry in fresh air inszead of a hairdryer you got 2 days of growbox time....

And don't forget toasters. Hubby installed a solar 'farm' (5 solar arrays with batteries) and whenever the toaster is on it sucks the power right down.

 

[tradeshowjoe]

Build some wooden or model cars this winter,sell them at the local Christmas Craft Fair......use the money to buy some seeds then sprout some in March indoors,keep em from cold and grow 3 plants outdoor next Spring and you'll have more than enough for you and all your friends come next Christmas. Cost...$70 for seeds, couple bags of good soil-$25 and some fertilizer-$20. Sun is free, making a compost pile is free and your watering,tying up stalks and feeding and harvesting/curing labor is all the cost,other than cost of storage jars and Boveda pouches to keep all year. No more than $150.

 

[ChairmanFester]

Another nice thing about indoor is they are right next to you, so you have a friend.

 

[Mikedin]

I dont know why is this even a subject we are talking aboit 130watts dont shower one day or skip cooking dinner and you have enough for a week of powering the growbox.let your hair dry in fresh air inszead of a hairdryer you got 2 days of growbox time....

Agreed, all those lights I have running all those fan, 5 exhausts along with everything else and my power bill is $250 (just paid it yesterday) currently there all low power at full draw I’ll probably be looking g at a $300-$325 bill but one I never turn the lights to 100%, 80% at best (bigger lights, wider footprint, same power) and i rotate the tents so only 2 lights are on at a time at high power


Not to mention I’m running 2 deep freezers, a full size fridge. 3 gaming PC’s and furnace all to come out at that cost for electric.

Like others have said as well make sure you turn off lights when you leave the room,

 

[Mikedin]

So im kinda antsy to start my growing journey but living in clinton county ny as I write this the snow is flying so growing outdoors isn't an option.

What im hoping for is a budget grow that I can do...if possible at all. Everywhere I turn when people talk indoor grows it talks about tent set-ups that cost a fortune to buy...not including the increased power cost(of which our local power company is raping folks when it comes yo their bills....some are being charged almost 1k for a month when they've changed zero percent of their lifestyle and were charged like 150 in a month previously). Is it possible to grow a plant in a basement with a basic 2 foot grow light in a 5g bucket in my basement that maintains anywhere from 50-65 degrees?

What about ventilation?

Newbie here and still learning how to work this platform so forgive me if this has been talked about.

Grab a 300-400w light, bar style, if you have a dark room in the e basement etc that’s perfect if not you’ll have to find a way to make an area light proof during dark period, under that light I’d run 4x 5 gallon buckets most 4x4 style lights eill flower a 4x4 area but most will do 5x5 just lower output at the edges but will still grow more smokeable bud just won’t be as large or as dense as the center colas, if in an open space just use a oscillating fan on low or medium a few feet away from the plant, exhaust is only inside a tent or a sealed room but you’re gunna smell em for sure if you’re like me and done care that’s cool, I don’t care but I run exhausts and filters so the house dosent stink for the kids and wife lol

Mylar on the walls eill make a difference (yes emergency blankets will work as well)

 

[amneziaHaze]

My pc sucks 1000w dont turn it on for an hour....