Another energy hike within the UK. Do you think hobby growing is sustainable?

[seymore_budz]

Wasup GR420,

So.... we've been fucked again here in the UK. I've just had an estimated DD of £800pcm for my energy usage come October. On top of that, there's rumors of rolling blackouts at peak times during winter. Considering all this on top of the average price of an oz of bud dropping, I struggle to see a future for hobby growers within the UK.

Even with minimal usage, its going to cost a fortune to run a small tent with the most energy efficient equipment money can buy. Sad times to come I think.

I know there was a thread recently about this but I'm interested to hear your thoughts after the latest news. Are you going to continue to grow?

[sir-scrogalot]

It costs me £100 a week smoking street weed or £30 a week to grow my own, it'll be a while before i stop growing

[Watfordbob437]

Am probably in the Same position as vador at the moment but it is definitely a worry but with labour calling for a price freeze the next pm will definitely give more help as They know they will be buried come the next general election as we will probably still be in the same situation come 2024

[Wrh]

I've just started another indoor grow early because of the rises in October but I am definitely cutting back only one tent now and no cuts or fun stuff which I've always done before and in the future I'm going to try and grow most of mine outside had a few autos in the garden this summer and I've been pretty impressed I will plan better next year and hopefully get more grown under the sun

[Watfordbob437]

That’s a good idea as long as we have another decent summer

[Vador]

Tell you what though using traditional hid lighting would be killing me right now. Two x bars and two vbars im running right now with my total wattage dialled down to about 400w.
the dehumidifier is killing me at the moment, in the last weeks of flower so need it running but its the single most expensive appliance to run now. If only there was an easier way to keep rh down

[Wrh]

I'm putting the cat amongst the pigeons here and I'm going to apologise to all you young growers but if you go back to the supposedly expensive hid lighting your rh will drop so no need of a dehumidifier also your chances of rot are also lower as the bulbs seem to dry any moisture much quicker also there's no need for heating in the winter I have been using led for about 2 years so I have been giving it a try and I will continue to use led for veg as the power saving can not be argued with but there is definitely still a place for hid lighting by the way I am south east uk if you live in California please disregard my last comments lol

[Vador]

Get what your saying @Wrh, i agree totally and can see my rh is higher with the light on now, getting about 55% now as apposed to 30-40%
Its when the lights are off i run the dehumidifier though, even with hps i was running it while lights are off every day late flower.
Im finding the conditions in the groom have never been better since going led, still early days for me though as only had a couple of grows with them but so far so good, getting the same yield and same end product (maybe even slightly better due to less stress) as hid but using a lot less electric getting there.
The room I’m using only has a single plug socket as well so being able to reduce power consumption is also a weight off my mind knowing I’m not overloading the socket, 13a is a lot of power and i was never drawing anywhere near that but i worry about things like damaged cables building up resistance and bad connections heating up that sort of thing, keeping the wattage down helps me sleep better at night.

Changing the subject a little a few days back we had a power cut which lasted 10 hours, got 96% rh in the groom, i had to keep wafting the door with the tent open to get air in the room, stunk the whole house out.

[Wrh]

I've always had the same problems with humidity as you in fact with led I found I needed much more ventilation with lights off than lights on with 400 watt hps I can run a 4 inch rvk with a 6 inch filter on max all the time no problems with humidity again off topic a bit but some one on here said to ditch tents completely because the mylar raises the humidity anyway in the end every groom is different and leds are great I just can't get anywhere near 28 degrees with them without having horrendous rh great talking to you vador

[Watfordbob437]

I've always had the same problems with humidity as you in fact with led I found I needed much more ventilation with lights off than lights on with 400 watt hps I can run a 4 inch rvk with a 6 inch filter on max all the time no problems with humidity again off topic a bit but some one on here said to ditch tents completely because the mylar raises the humidity anyway in the end every groom is different and leds are great I just can't get anywhere near 28 degrees with them without having horrendous rh great talking to you vador

That’s interesting, im finding with lights off the higher i run my fans the higher the rh goes as well, ive got a 10” can fan set to the first speed on the fan, that extract’s from my 1.2x1.2 and the veg tent, lights out and its set at 40% minimum speed on the fan controller and that seems to work pretty well, if i turn the fan speed up i can literally watch the rh rise on the controller.
Another thing thats caught me out a few times is the air vent on the side of the tent, its like a fine mesh that clogs up with dust and hairs and throws off everything, i make it a habit to hoover the vents every week now while im cleaning, that definitely helps keep it in check.

As you say ditching the tent would be the best idea, tempted to do just that but would need a lot of work to get it lightproof properly for me, for one i cut the bottom 10mm of the room door off to let air into the room, would be like a lighthouse without the tent lol