basic indoor setup

i'm a new grower (newbie central) and i was wondering what the best small scale set up is. i want to start growing just a few plants (~5) indoors with minimal cost (<$200). i would like to know the best lights, chemicals, mediums, etc. to use for this.

the best lights u can use are hps and mh. for under 200 tho...i dunno if that can cut it for 5 plants. you could use cfl's for veg and get yourself a 175w hps for flower. id only grow 3 plants with those lights tho.

thanks. any other advice?

are you doin soil or hydro?

either, i haven't started yet and i'm looking for the best/cheapest way

jibber3 said:

either, i haven't started yet and i'm looking for the best/cheapest way

Click to expand...

da cheapest would be soil but you can do hydro for damn cheap.
dwc buckets is the cheapest way i know.

check out some hydro sites and get the feel for prices and post back what u leanin to.

lights a 400w will run u bout 117 without shippin.
A 400w could do 4-6 nice sized plants.

but u gon need more then 200 to do hydro soil might run a lil over 200 too along wit nutes timer etc.

i'm thinking of soil because i'm working on carpet. where is the best place to buy lights?

either ur local grow shop or htgsupply.com <-- i get all my equip here, great prices.. i would actually check out their ebay store because they have even cheaper specials on their ebay store. you can pick up 400w grow light kit w/ hps and mh bulbs for like $150

how many flourescent watts do i need for 2-3 plants in the beginning?

here's what i did man, and i just got started, i went on the internet and found a guy who was selling a 250w metal halide for 80 bucks, i went over picked up the light, we started talking about growing pot and the guy gives me some hawaiian purp seeds, right now i have 6 seeds germinating in the soil, i did the math at my local home depot/lowes and realized i would pay $20 per 42 watts of cfl lighting, the metal halide was a good deal and great for starting my seedlings out, they dont run hot at all granted you have a fan running on them, check craigslist see if you cant find any cheap grow lights