Intro: So for the past four years I have pretty much dedicated my entire free time into not only learning how to grow, but searching every dark depth of the internet for the best deals and cheapest ways. I have noticed this to be quite the talent when it comes to my friends and I have gotten really good at building on a budget and I have a lot of fun doing it. It's almost like a personal challenge. My Story: I doubt anyone still active is aware of me but when I first started growing I was supposed to get my taxes and the IRS kept postponing it and shrinking my return amount so I was forced to spend more time researching and learning while still being able to hit fairly decent yields for fairly low prices. I then noticed I got really good at this and began to help my friends setup cheap starter grows. Purpose of thread: You are more than welcome to come here with tips and advice for other beginners or sweet deals you found online. The reason why I am here is because I am pretty bored on the internet and want to help fellow people start up. I am willing to take on one project a day. Odds are I will pick it up before work, then let my brain start plucking away the details until I find a mix for everything. What I need from you is pretty straight forward if you want my help. Money you are comfortable spend. Max money you can spend. What size of the garden. How much stealth. Number of plants. Yield. As many details as you can come up with and specific things will help more. If you want me to help you find soil I will need to know what city you live in just because it's ALWAYS cheaper to go local. Just be warned that this is A LOT of DIY. No man ever got a cheap garden without putting in work.
ok well i thought id posts since my grow is in fact on a small budget. im using CFL lighting some of which i got from my electric comp in the mail for free, the rest i purchased at wallys world or home despot. I rigged up a chandelier out of some leftover PVC pipe and some rubber shop fixtures, and an old power cord. This all cost around 30$ or less for around 20k lumens worth of CFL @2700k. I also have 2 t-8 growlights from walmart i got years ago 900 lumens each, i use these along with a 2-4 1500 lumen 6500k cfl's for vegging. Next i needed a blooming tent. I didnt want to spend hundreds of dollars on something i could construct myself so i took a little trip down the google highway and found a wonderful company called formufit. Formufit specializes in furniture grade PVC fittings, i went ahead and ordered 8 3 direction 1" diameter furniture fittings, price was around 35$ with shipping. Next i made up the dimensions of my tent so i knew the approximate square footage, and went searching for a reflective material to use for the walls of the tent. I came across white black panda poly 6mm on ebay and purchased 100s/ft for 20$ free shipping. Last couple of things i needed for the tent i purchased at home depot, 8$ for a tent zipper, 10$ for extra strength 3m duck tape, 3 10' lengths of 1" diameter PVC 10$. Ventilation of the tent was easy since im not using HID lighting high temps were never an issue, so all i really needed was a circulating fan and an active exhaust with passive intake. Computer case fans and a laptop power supply was the answer and since i had these items laying around the house it was free. Now that i had my tent and lighting down i needed a couple hygrometers which i got off ebay for 5$ a piece free shipping, and a timer which i got at chicago freight for 5$ same model(digital one) can be found on ebay for the same price. For grow medium i kept it simple, not necessarily the cheapest. I went with FFoF since it takes the guess work out of fertilizing during veg 42 liter bag for 16$ at adams fairacre farms, grabbed some simple soil amenities dolomite lime 5$ and 18 liters of perlite 12$. Grabbed the only nute i would need General hydroponics florabloom 15$ for a pint. Also i got some unsulphered molasses for 2$ from walmart grandmas brand. If you add it all up it cost me around 160$ total for my entire setup and so far this is what ive managed to grow from bagseed.