How much does it cost to maintain a hydroponic grow?

So maybe you’ve already plunked down the money for a hydroponics kit or grow room apparatus, and you just want to know how much it's going to cost you to maintain one of these systems over time. Or you’re drawing up a plan and trying to anticipate what you'll need over the life of the entire grow cycle.

The exact cost of a hydroponics project varies depending on many factors, but here are some of the biggest elements of cost that you can pencil in when you're building your own hydroponics plan.

Energy Costs

How much your garden is going to cost you depends on your energy storage -- whether you take your energy directly from the grid, or use generators or other sources. You can cut your energy bill down some by using natural light for hydroponics, if this is feasible in your design. Otherwise, specialized hydroponic grow lights won't need to take up too much of your overall budget. Plan for the energy consumption required by your grow lighting, water and air pumps, and anything else that runs on electricity.

Materials

You'll need specialized nutrients for your crop cycle, and you have to factor this into your cost model. You may also need other chemical tools like pH Up and pH Down to adjust pH value.

Labor

If you're doing all of the work yourself, you don't really have to factor in labor costs, except for the cost of your time. If your grow room is large enough to require staff, labor is going to be one of your biggest costs.

Rent

For lots of hydroponics growing projects, growers are using their own spaces. They're either setting up a hydroponics garden in their home or a building that they own, or putting these kinds of strategies into place at work. But if you have rented or bought a particular space for hydroponics, again, that's going to be a major cost factor.

Growing with small, compact grow boxes?

The bottom line is that for a smaller hydroponics project, your costs are really going to be negligible. You're not likely to need labor or pay rent on one of these smaller projects, and many of these boxes have been built to be energy efficient. Some of them also come with the nutrients and other materials you need, bringing your overall costs for maintenance close to zero.

Think about getting involved in an emerging industry that is feeding so many people in today's world, and allowing more self sustainable gardening practices in a way that's going to alleviate some of the effects on our environment and also lead to better health.