Would anybody care to actually answer the orginal question? Its coming to the end of july and im trying to get a figure for next season. Ive never grown outdoors before but im going to be partnering with several experienced outdoor/indoor growers (im more of an investor/protege) ive figured out the county i want to grow (sonoma or yuba) where they have a no more than 99 plants per 20 acre law, they all have to be in the same designated area (meaning you cant throw 20 here 20 there) and im already wondering does this mean 99 per patient? Because if not i have a whole lot more figuring out to do, but anyways heres where im at. I figure
1) $180,000-$220,000 for the land
2) $75,000-$100,000 for a tractor
3) 99 400-gallon pots (im going with spring pots @ $80.89)= $8,008.11
4) Soil to fill the pots now this is where i get lost. Ive yet to actually contact a soil company to help me out with this but i figured id jump on a forum before i waste a salesmans time with questions.
So i figure,
99pots x 400gal = 39600 gallons.
39600 gallons = 5,293.75 cb. ft
On google i found 1.5 cb. Ft. Bags of fox farms ocean forest in a pallet of 62 for $989. That means id need at least 3529 bags of soil, or 57 pallets, which comes out to $56,373 on soil (which seems a little ridiculous to me)
5) I still need to figure out how much perlite or lime im going to need.
6) I figure you need at least 99,000 sq ft to work with, so that means creating a fence at least 6ft high and no higher than 8ft (county laws) that stretches around a 2 acre perimeter. After searching various forums i concluded this cost to be anywhere around $20,000-$25,000.
7) And if you're going to spend anywhere around $200,000 on a plot of land it better have a well on it, so watering should not be an issue for the first 10 years or so.
So right now im at $389,295. I figure if you round up to oh lets say $420,000 for anything i may have missed, and your plants produce at least a pound each, youll have your parcel and tractor paid off in at least 7-8 years. Which makes me wonder.... Is all this even worth it? Am i forgetting something crucial? Id like to know, as im serious about this. Any help or guidance would be great