There is currently not a lot of information on large grows in the USA, due to illegalization and regulation where it is legal.

Therefore this post is based on estimation using corn plants per acre and the current price of corn per bushel in May, 2010 and the assumed price of 1,000 dollars per pound of marijuana.

To start off we will assume a low estimate on corn: 20,000 plants per acre @  36 in. (3ft) spacing per row

so for marijuana we will half that number to 10,000 plants per acre @ 72 in. (6 ft) spacing per row

how many bushels per acre of marijuana?

32 lbs per bushel.

16 oz. per pound

no of oz per plant = 1

no. of oz per acre = 8,500

no. of lbs. per acre = 625 lbs.

bushels per acre = 19.53

Just one acre of weed can produce 3.25 million dollars at $375 per oz with 10,000 plants

Even if you reduce the number to 5,000 plants per acre your total would be 1.625 million dollars per acre. So you get the idea that we are dealing with the most profitable cash crop ever.

The going rate per bushel of corn is:

369.75 cents per bushel or 3.70$

Daily change of 6.75 ( 1.86% )

Corn Quote Updated May-12-10 1:38 AM

The going rate per bushel of medical marijuana is:

32 lbs @ 1000 dollars per pound = 32,000 dollars.

fun Facts about corn:

• An average acre of corn yields 100 bushels.
• Starch, sweetner, fuel (ethanol), feed, and corn oil can be extracted from a bushel of corn.
• A bushel of corn will sweeten more than 400 cans of soda or produce 1.5 pounds of corn oil!
• A bushel of corn fed to livestock produces 6 pounds of beef, 13 pounds of pork, 20 pounds of chicken, or 28 pounds of catfish.

The daily show gives an unfair and funny look to some real issues in the growing weed business.  Dispensaries compete for patients. The more safe, friendly and serviced based you can be, the more patients you will attract.

How much money can I make? With 3 flowering plants, 3 vegetative plants , and 12 immature plants–common amounts for medical marijuana laws.

I hear many people complaining that even though growing medical marijuana is legal, they can ONLY grow 6 plants by law, 3 plants growing and 3 plants flowering. Well we are here to break down the myths that you “can’t make any money doing that small of an operation” and “6 plants doesn’t sound like a commercial operation to me” and”there is too much regulation.” Now I am not talking about make thousands and thousands of dollars, just a little extra pocket change, and enough to reduce your pot budget if you smoke all the time. You can make about 5,000 dollar per year.

Regulation:

There is a lot of regulation–a disadvantage because it limits potential profits, but it’s new and it’s the most profitable cash crop–so it’s probably needed. Most states put a measure in the Medical Marijuana law that you have to grow it in a secure area, a lockable area…this is so kids don’t get into it (like a gun safe). The outcomes are unknown and it’s valuable. What does this mean for The WEED Business? It means it’s a good thing because it mandates that all legal suppliers are small-scale growers.

As the green movement progresses, the regulations will likely be eased, and seeing acres of high grade medical marijuana and hemp could be commonplace. Unless and until it’s legalized in every state, large-scale outdoor growing is problematic. There would be poachers, fences, armed guards in the fields. People wouldn’t act like it’s a corn field, they would act like it’s the only corn in a famine, because that is what the government has created….so the number of plants you can legally grow is limited for now. The more the economic benefits become apparent to the politicians, the more plants people will be allowed to grow.

Growing Indoors

If you are growing indoors, we will assume that you are harvesting 4 times a year, 3 months each harvest. We will also assume that you have invested in a automatically watered hydroponic system with quality 1000 watt lights or 240 watt LED lights for flowering, And some 4-foot fluorescent lights for your start plants or your clones.

1. Growing, 2 months (eight weeks) should get 1 ounce per plant. 3 ounces per 2 months. (keep clones growing) every 2 months start a new cycle from matured clones. 6 intervals of 3 ounces = 18 ounces of pot a year. ……that’s only 1 pound and 2 ounces a year. So to sell a pound would be 5,000, but more likely you will sell grams to your friends or to yourself, as to offset the costs of electricity, your time, and those “hidden” expenses. If you sell that amount in ounces, it breaks down to: $375 per ounce times 18 equals $6,750– not too bad. 28 grams in an ounce times $20 = $560 times 18 ounces = $10,080 (the highest profit margin possible, and no smoking any for yourself)
2. So yeah it does get restrictive,,,,,BUT you can grow for other patients! and expand your limit…so I guess that’s the only way to do it right.
3. Therefore If you wanted to make a go at making some real pocket change, such as–making $30,000 a year would mean growing 20 plants every 2 months, and cranking out 20 ounces (1.25 lbs), selling it for $5,000 (which is high) 6 times a year.

Other Resources

1. http://www.marijuanabusinessnews.com this site has an estimator, with drop down excel/table menus. it estimates 4.4 pounds in 2 months with 1 light (1,000 Watts). that seems OFF. really off but I like the idea, and this might help with the business plans and help you estimate your output.
2. the “I grow Chronic DVD” features is 4 plants flowering, 2 month cycles, 6 x 4 ounces equals…24 ounces, 1 pound

The growing GREEN RUSH of medical marijuana is slowly becoming “mainstream,” –a real live tangible thing!  It is the most profitable cash crop, and they don’t even grow it by the acre.

The 21st century has brought many opportunities.  Many of them are “invisible” like the internet via information products,  services  rather than manufacturing products–this is the new century.   It exists but it hard to see from just one computer terminal, it takes some fore sight to see how these things really work.  And like many things not so obvious, many people don’t notice them.  Medical Marijuana is like that, it has its own culture, its somewhat underground, its controversial, its almost private.

The growing GREEN RUSH of medical marijuana is the same way, its hard to understand if you are not directly around it, or in a state where it is legal.  But growing and selling weed, is slowing becoming “visible,” a real live tangible thing!  It is the most profitable cash crop, and they don’t even grow it by the acre.

Every state that passes legislation, opens up a new market.  Currently illegalization is keeping it invisible–just out of reach of most people, unless they want to break the law.  So this new green rush of the marijuana business, especially medical marijuana (an estimated 30 Billion dollar business) is on the way, making people millionaires by growing and selling marijuana.

The way things are going, cultivating and supplying legal marijuana has got to be a growth industry in more ways than one; in fact, it has been labeled the green rush. a 30 billion dollar green rush.   If you’re wondering how to get in on this burgeoning “health care” sector you are not alone.  Whether you are a cancer survivor, or just can’t sleep you know the benefits of marijuana.  You have business opportunities galore.  You can cook with it, make edible products, you can smoke it, sell it by the gram, sell it by the pound, own a cafe and sell it in the back, own a dispensary and service 60-80 people per day, grow it and save money for yourself; the possibilities are endless.

Everyone talks about one big future industry will be healthcare, this is because in 2016 approximately 2,282,887 people will be turning seventy years of age in America, the next year 700,000 more annually and the baby boomers who are retiring will increase still.  Baby boomers will be looking for alternative and natural medicine, especially if they have had cancer or are medicating with powerful anti-cancer drugs.  So the potential for the Medical Marijuana to grow in future years is a real reality.

You can cash in on the green rush, Whether they own a business that produces cash, or you just grow for yourself. Either way you are producing something that will increase your quality of life, provide medicine to you and others, or add a little extra income.

Don’t be fooled into thinking this is easy money, though.  Opening a medical cannabis dispensary is by no means straight-forward; neither is running one because, as far as federal law is concerned, marijuana – medical or not – is illegal, period.

As each state legalizes Medical marijuana, this opens up million dollar markets.  A slow green tide rushing in across the states, and the opportunity exists to cash in on it, help people, grow locally, become more earth friendly, and get Green! It is an estimated 30 Billion dollar market–so what are you waiting for?

Need to know if you are underpaid for an ounce or overpaying in your area????

The question does come up, …Aaaand with so many variables of price: decriminalization, geography, demand, policing, crops, culture, quality, etc…there are so many prices out there for pot, the good stuff, schwag, mids.

Hightimes.com gives their monthly analysis of the weed prices per ounce gathered from thmq@hightimes.com
Get prices here : http://hightimes.com/tags/thmq

CURRENT OZ. PRICES:

CURRENT US PRICE INDEX: $342 (last month: $367, Year-to-Date: $355)
CURRENT KIND INDEX ($350+ PER OZ): $440 ($441, $441)
CURRENT MIDS INDEX ($150-$349 PER OZ): $253 ($301, $277)

CURRENT SCHWAG INDEX ($1-$149 PER OZ): $78 ($101, $90)

check out the new video of Rolling Stone’s executive editor’s interview about the new RS Article called MarijuanAmerica:

Visit msnbc.com for breaking news, world news, and news about the economy

“I ask kids all the time, and they’ll tell you it is easier to get marijuana than a six-pack of beer because that is controlled by the government,” he said, noting that drug dealers don’t ask for IDs or honor minimum age requirements.

So Gray — who spent two decades as a superior court judge in Orange County, Calif., and once ran for Congress as a Republican— switched sides in the war on drugs, becoming an advocate for legalizing marijuana.

“Let’s face reality,” he says. “Taxing and regulating marijuana will make it less available to children than it is today.”

Gray is part of a growing national movement to rethink pot laws. From California, where lawmakers may outright legalize marijuana, to New Jersey, which implemented a medical use law Jan. 19, states are taking unprecedented steps to loosen marijuana restrictions. Advocates of legalizing marijuana say generational, political and cultural shifts have taken the USA to a unique moment in its history of drug prohibition that could topple 40 years of tough restrictions on both medicinal and recreational marijuana use.

A Gallup Poll last October found 44% favor making marijuana legal, an eight-point jump since the question was asked in 2005. An ABC News-Washington Post poll in January found 81% favor making marijuana legal for medical use.

Attorney General Eric Holder last fall announced that raiding medical marijuana facilities would be the lowest priority for U.S. law enforcement agents — a major shift that is spurring many states to re-examine their policies. The American Medical Association recommended in November that Congress reclassify marijuana as a drug with possible medicinal benefit.

Read the rest of this entry »

If you are in one of the lucky states to have passed legislation on medical marijuana, here is what you should do.

1. Go see a doctor, get a patient card…This will protect you legally.
2. This status of patient will allow you to legally grow weed.  You can get to know other patients, and act as their caregiver to up the quantity of plants you are allowed to grow.
3. Develop a relationship with a dispensary, hang out there, buy a gram.  Bring a sample of your own stuff, and see if you can sell to a dispensary.
4. Then you are legally making cold hard cash from the WEED business!

How to make a Living Growing Medical Marijuana

This article is to show how it is possible to grow medical marijuana, with relatively few plants in a small grow room, and make enough money to supplement your income or live frugally. The bigger your operation the higher the profits. If you grow indoors, then you can harvest more; growing outdoors has less harvest cycles per year. The costs of electricity, growing equipment, and your time tending plants all adds up; but it can be a profitable venture.

things you’ll need

* time and care for plants

* seeds or female clones

* time to let plants grow
* a small room or basement
* grow equipment (lights and containers)

* secure location

Step 1

If you are growing indoors you have more opportunity to harvest and can trigger a flowering cycle

every 2 months (eight weeks) and you should get 1 ounce per plant. It takes 16 ounces to grow a pound. But lets give ourselves a buffer of 20 plants or a pound and a quarter. So lets say you have five varieties of bud, that’s four plants of each kind. You would need about 5 lights (4 plants under a light), high powered lights: 400W High Pressure Sodium or 200W LED light for flowering running 12 hours per day. For the Vegetative state of raising plants to flower you can use 4′ fluorescent lights on 18-24 hours per day.

Step 2

So making 30,000 a year would mean growing 16 plants every 2 months, and cranking out 20 ounces 1.25 lbs sell it for 5,000 (which is high)  for 5,000 6 times a year. These prices depend on your geography, more saturated markets in California have lower prices of $2,500. But that is $15,000 from 96 plants a year. Not bad for a little farming hobby.

Step 3

Keep it going, the longer you grow—the better you will get at it! You can increase your net profit by using energy efficient lighting and the most common mistakes are over watering and not letting your plants mature.