Small commercial growing startup

Hello,

I am currently working with my friends on growing facility for hemp. But the thing is we do not have such a big budget.

Fortunately, the laws are okay in our country, so we will only have to pay initial cost for lights, accessories and monthly for electricity and relatively small rent.

So, my friend is stating we cannot be profitable in the next 5 years. I doubt it, because I think you can start relatively small and work your way up when selling buds to regional dispensaries and merchants. I did the math many times and I see no real issue. The market is saturated, but not oversaturated and the products I often see are really bad. I know we can do better.

Is there any commercial grower who started with a few lights or is this really a pipe dream?
Thanks!

i think your fall down is going to be paying for testing, to meet the rigerous standards that i hope dispencaries have in place to know that they are selling top notch weed.
some of these tests have to be sent away for to test the quality of the weed, ie thc content, contamination from chemicalls used to prevent pest infestation, etc etc.
thats not to sayu it cant be done, but what scale grow are you thinking?

if i were doing it, i would concentrate on quality strains, keep them to a minimum and realy work on getting them at 100 % quality weed and specialise in top notch strains

My words! Thats what we want to do, because the market is saturated with shitty products.

I know about testing. It is like 100$ in our country, so it is totally manageable.

I am thinking two 600W LED, SOG with around 10 clones under 1 light. Two or three weeks veg and then flowering.
After selling, no money will be going to salary of workers (because its us) and instead will be used to buy another light(s) and to maintain costs for rent and electricity until next harvest.

it will be harsh for the first few harvests, I admit, but starts are not easy, are they?

sounds like you have a good plan, best of luck with it

Thank you very much!

2-3 kg and 1000$ for testing.i guess if you both work for free it pays

As I said, testing is around $100. We’re in EU, the labs are not so overwhelmed I think. And you need to know the whole industry is in its baby times here. The dispensaries only want thc/cbd content by accredited lab, the government doesnt care unless it is THC and you dont even need licence for hemp.
If I was in usa I wouldnt even think about starting with only two lights.

amneziaHaze said:

2-3 kg and 1000$ for testing.i guess if you both work for free it pays

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7 grams. $180 includes terpene profile. What are you talking about?

02aanaa said:

As I said, testing is around $100. We’re in EU, the labs are not so overwhelmed I think. And you need to know the whole industry is in its baby times here. The dispensaries only want thc/cbd content by accredited lab, the government doesnt care unless it is THC and you dont even need licence for hemp.
If I was in usa I wouldnt even think about starting with only two lights.

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So you're going to grow 100% CBD for dispensaries? I had no idea there was any market for that.

Just because you grow it, that doesn't mean anyone is going to want to buy it. Have you had any conversations with these dispensaries?

Sorry I am dumb. Not dispensaries, merchants and resellers with their own shop. I had a conversation with a few of them and they would happily buy around 200g.

This goes perfect with our small production capacity. At least from the start. But their margins for final customers are crazy (around 300% on 1g).

We then would like to switch to our own web shop and keep their margin in our pockets, but one thing at a time…

02aanaa said:

Sorry I am dumb. Not dispensaries, merchants and resellers with their own shop. I had a conversation with a few of them and they would happily buy around 200g.

This goes perfect with our small production capacity. At least from the start. But their margins for final customers are crazy (around 300% on 1g).

We then would like to switch to our own web shop and keep their margin in our pockets, but one thing at a time…

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Soo they would buy it for 3$ a gram?
I didnt know europe allowed online shops. Only netherland sells thc.macedonia and luxemburg legalised but its still not leaglised there is just a law not inmplemented... Germany needs medical licence with a special company. England sells cbd but its aupersaturated people sell grass for 1 euro most make oil and dont sell buds but for oil you need another licence and equipment... But as i said if you plan to do it as a hobby it can start off.but first coiple of years will be working for equipment and electricity

And you said you want to grow hemp.hrmp is legalised only with special seeds and most growers do outdoors in tonnes

Exactly! They were negotiating 2.5$/g, but with the electricity costs it is too low.

amneziaHaze said:

Soo they would buy it for 3$ a gram?
I didnt know europe allowed online shops. Only netherland sells thc.macedonia and luxemburg legalised but its still not leaglised there is just a law not inmplemented... Germany needs medical licence with a special company. England sells cbd but its aupersaturated people sell grass for 1 euro most make oil and dont sell buds but for oil you need another licence and equipment... But as i said if you plan to do it as a hobby it can start off.but first coiple of years will be working for equipment and electricity

And you said you want to grow hemp.hrmp is legalised only with special seeds and most growers do outdoors in tonnes

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yes, shops are allowed in my country, but you cannot encourage smoking of the buds. They are only “collectibles”. And you must be less than 1% of THC content.

i know, it would be harsh, but definitely fun I hope!

i want to start off with clones, because it cuts time by 1 month. And to sell clones you need a test from lab to prove you are selling hemp, so there is no risk we will buy THC plant. And as a bonus, we then can sell those clones aswell and I am not mentioning we will use our own clones so this is oncetime investment (fingers crossed).

I know, but outdoors is outdoors. You can sell it low and in tonnes because there is no added value I think. But I dont want to devalue outdoor hemp, it sure is hard work, but the plants dont get enough attention.

You are living in a fairy tale…

Bukvičák said:

You are living in a fairy tale…

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why so, please?

Yes but to plant hemp you have to use their seeds .there is 50 in a list to pick from. Even then its easy to stress it and go over 1% and they remove all plants not just tested ones

amneziaHaze said:

Yes but to plant hemp you have to use their seeds .there is 50 in a list to pick from. Even then its easy to stress it and go over 1% and they remove all plants not just tested ones

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from whom exactly do you mean?

This does not seem practical. I mean 2 lights is considered hobby growing. I have a friend who think a lot like you and never gets anything done.
He always has this elaborate plan to “ keep doubling, start small and keep reinvest”. The problem is time. I’d you can work at fast food and make more money then it’s better to just get a job. Hell still grow your two lights worth because that’s about 30-60 minutes a day of actual labor.

02aanaa said:

why so, please?

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I have not seen any coffeshop selling cbd yet. If so its just some low Q outdoor not CBD strain. People do not want it neither. If you are pacient and you use it as medicine and you have prescription than you can get 3g per day covered by insurance. Who wants to give money for that than? You and your friends wont get any profit out of growing and further selling 200g of hemp. And even if you will produce top Q buds you will struggle to sell it for better price than the shit you are talking about. And later there are bad boys comming to check your business. I think this idea is only asking for troubles, but if you think you can do it, you can try. Good luck!