Started my first grow using $13 Fox Farms (Red Bag) with some mixed sativa seeds I got free with the purchase of my Blue Mystic. Good results, but the sativa grew to high and was getting burned by the HPS. Started the 2nd grow with the Blue Mystic in some crappy $4 potting soil I had in the attic. Big mistake, all the seedlings grew a couple of inches and no more. After a couple of weeks, they yellowed and died. I spent a lot of time and $$$ building a grow closet, buying an HPS and expensive seeds only to screw myself by being cheap and lazy at a critical moment. Instead of enjoying some killer blue smoke I raised myself, I am barely getting stoned off some crappy weed I paid $40 for from my dip-shit brother-in-law. USING GOOD SOIL GIVES THE MOST BANG FOR YOUR BUCK!! Just started my third grow with some feminised Greenhouse A.M.S. seeds from Dr. Chronic. Using the $17 Fox Farms Ocean Forest this time. Great results!! The plants look like they are smiling at me. Don't be cheap!
That's an excellent point. But, it extends far beyond soil. Keep this lesson in mind for all of your growing equipment. By the best you can afford of everything from lights to soil. You will reap the rewards if you put the most into your setup.