I'm new here, and new to indoor growing. Being new, I'd like to keep cost to a minimum if possible. I plan on growing three plants in five gallon pails, in a closet. I have reflective Mylar and fan set up. Just need a few suggestions. Preferably supplies/lights I could gather up from Home Depot. Any and all suggestions are much appreciated.
In terms of lighting, your best bet is going to be as many of the highest wattage (actual wattage, not equivalent) compact fluorescent - or CFL - bulbs as possible in both the cool and warm spectrums. Alternatively if you're wanting to keep it out of the realm of HID lighting like High Pressure Sodium or Metal Hallide I would suggest hitting up Amazon for some of the CFL grow lights available there specifically for this purpose. They're larger than the standard CFL bulb and come with fixtures. I personally just went with a 150 watt HPS for my grow because...well..to hell with hanging and rigging a bunch of CFL bulbs and running a ton of wires. I just went with what was right for my budget, level of laziness, etc. I also use Espoma Organic Potting Soil and that's about it. Nature has handled everything else so far. I get my seeds from The Single Seed Centre (worldwide-marijuana-seeds.com) but others also successfully order from Herbie's Pick-N-Mix Seeds or the Attitude Seedbank. Not sure if you needed seed bank suggestions but those are the most popular and reputable amongst us here. Others will be able to help you in the CFL department far better than I, but there are plenty of resources here on the forums to get you started. Good luck!
Going too cheap will not being it your plants. I suggest a t5 fluorescent light. The more builds the better. You can use for both veg and flower with the change of hrs of light and spectrum of lighting. Purchase both 2700k and 6500k bulbs. I personally like attitude seed bank but have heard good things about Single Seed Center.
what is your grow area? your lighting will depend entirely on how much area you are trying to fill. Ideally, 60-100 watts per sqft.
If you like making shit, gathering some wide thin sheets of metal, I like aluminum which polishes nice and is light weight. Then mount your sockets through or horizontal by which means fits best. I like PVC piping to make horizontal and angles sockets. Then wire them in up together into a single heavy duty cord, saves wiring hassle and makes mounting easy. Its safe to use a run of wire from each socket to another, so you dont have a set of wires from each socket into one plug. Socket to Socket to Socket, ect and one run at the plug end. Easy to raise up and down plus reflects your light down and evenly onto your canopy top. Have fun