On Aug 18, 6:35 am, songbird wrote:
Gunner wrote:

...

any other ???s....ask I will get back to ya with a real answer.

yes, how much do those tomatoes cost per pound.

songbird

I don’t know… how many fingers am I holding up, Bird? Still trying to
make a billy salad with all those apples and oranges you guys have
left over.

I wouldn’t know how much it will cost him to grow his tomatoes, now
would I? I am not the clairvoyant Shamanista. Now we both know this
is the same propaganda trick billy uses all the time. it’s almost
like your birds of a feather . Now I don’t think you’re really
wanting an answer but let’s run with this for a bit and see where it
goes.

If you are looking for the cost of electricity for a 400w light, my
monthly cost for a 400w @ 14 hrs a day is ~ $18 a month. If you want
to cost lighting for a specific project and you know what your
paying :try http://www.sunlightsupply.com/t-faq.aspx or www.sunlightsupply..com
.... quest. 8.

BTW don’t know of many folks using lights in the summer , but for the
other 9 1/2 months of my growing season, it’s a small cost of having
a 12 month season or even for a season stretcher of 2-3 months and its
priceless. I use an 85 w. 6500k CFL or a pair of 10$ shop lights w/
some cool whites depending on the crop for starters, stagger them out
so there is a small cost there to stagger. Pumps are low energy, now
I do use a few air pumps @ 3-10 w ea. , a 100w aquarium heater for
one of the systems (much easier than heating the house) and 2 x 20”
box fans. Say 25-30$US a month in energy. but my energy cost is very
reasonable. Now my labor is less in my CEA than in dirt gardening.
so tit for tat. Your mileage however, may vary. If they are piping
in sunlight along with your electricity, your cost per unit could be
expensive and this would not be for you, especially for those unable
to get outside the billy et al mind set of one size fits all. Oh yea
my water costs are very low also, yet I don’t need but perhaps a 10th
of what you will waste. And it very good water, almost a neutral pH.
Real easy on a hydro system. But we are on the subject of lighting and
not hydro. Yet if you want to ask a specific question on hydroponics,
I will answer those ???s also

Don’t know what your supply costs are nor your labor, water, tools,
fertilizers, etc. Probably should include the gardens as a portion
of the mortgage? what do you figure is your cost per unit is, bird?
Throw out your figures and I will compare apples to apples w/ ya. As
a side interest how fast can you produce a crop? a quick little hydro
propaganda:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QhvnJpJu18c