First Grower, in need of assistance

Okay, so i've been thinking about growing for montsh and months and months, but now, its finally time to do it however, i haven't neccessarily picked the best time, im under budget like many of the people who start growing, i dont currently have a job right now so im keeping myself busy with a hobby... lol

Okay, so basically i have a rubbermaid 18 gallon tote, i was going to do nutrient solutions in hydroponics, however after reading so many articles, im just plain confused, im looking for the cheapest set-up and best way to grow a giant yield. i mean, honestly the easiest method to do, including getting a grow light/ballast/reflector, if there is a more effective way than using HPS during flowering and MH During vegetative let me know, but from the painstaking hours of research mind you not experience, i have found that HPS is best for flowering and growing plants tall, while MH is best to keep plants short but keep buds potent, anyhow, please let me know step by step what i will need to do to get the system you suggest...

I have a very limited budget, lets say make it as cheap as you possibly can
$100 dollars is friggin amazing
$150 dollars is good
$200 dollars is a bit to much


HOWEVER i do tend to get around $100 a month as a payment from a friend
so if you have a set up that i could get part by part for throughout the grow period, that may exceed my set up rammifications let me know

I have one banana OG clone currently, its not a great strain, but im working on keeping it alive until i can get the set-up, set up for lack of better words.



---> currently what i have seen is maybe get the lighting, and get roots organic soil, and just do no nutrients in the soil (let it grow in soil under light)


~im legal btw~ calikush~!

AREA SPECIFICATIONS
Closet is 4 foot long 2 feet deep 7 feet tall, so i can accomodate a pretty tall grow.

1st of all its gunna take a lil bit of cash no matter what, if your lookin for a good yield...if you only can afford one light, go HPS, it wil give you shorter internodal length than a MH..

if you want to save money AND space, go to walmart and get another of those totes...take one, flip it on top of the other, and drill holes in the edges of both and stick some kind of pin thru them so the top wont fall off...cut a hole in the side and stick a piece of pvc pipe (or watever you can find) and make sure it has an elbow..this will prevent light from comin in/escapin, and will provide air intake...cut another hole on the top tote and stick a computer case fan in there (this can be rigged to a wall socket by gettin a 9-12v phone charger, also from walmart, strip the ends off of this and the fan and hook the wires together)....go to lowes, find a 3-light fixture (like you would put over a bathroom vanity), screw it to the top tote, rig it to a wall socket similarly with a thick-gauge extension cord (though this NOR the pc case fan need to be hooked up to timers, if they need to be shut off for any periods do it manually) and stick some CFL's in there...line the insides of both the top and bottom tote with duct tape (the refective kind, not that dull gray shit) and boom, there you go....a home made growbox for under 100 bucks! and not only that, but its a box that wont make your power bill shoot thru the roof, and can be disguised fairly easily

i went hydro my first time, and even though the start up cost is more, so is the results! i used a flood and drain my first go round, im switchin to DWC next time. with soil, your gunna keep spendin money not only on more dirt, but nutes as well! plus all the mess and hassle of haulin all that dirt around...why do that? if you want to save yourself a lil bit more money, instead of usin dirt, just use straight perlite in your buckets...its cheap, found at walmart for a few bucks a bag, and is also re-usable! just drill you a 2/3" hole 2 inches ABOVE the bottom of the bucket, this way when you water your plants theyll have a small pool to feed out of for a couple days (cuz perlite doesnt really soak up the water like dirt, but it provides excellent aeration to the roots...hope this helps!

heyy, thanks for the reply more replies are greatly appreciate

lighting, im new to this place and dont really know how it works but i wanted to pm you about how you made your hydro kit or how you will do your DWC kit and maybe we can start a grow together or something....

Theres a lot of ways to grow some really cheap and some expensive.

Hydro is a good start, I don't think you get much more yield compared to soil if the conditions are optimal in soil but hydro reduces the veg time a bit. Most people advise not to go hydro 1st try but as LightningMcGreen says at the end, go for a hempy bucket setup, they're helluva easy to setup and require no maintenance or anything you just water/feed when they're dry or your plants want water and your sorted, you can't even overwater in a single watering!

check out this thread:
The Hempy Collective

lots of information to everything really

as for lights budget, I'd start with CFL's or fluoro's and then save up for a MH or HPS (the flowering one, I dont remember what does what) you got a lot of space so as long as you can vent it properly it'll be really easy to pump some high power lights in there once you've saved.

potting soil. My plants with only 7 to 8 hrs of direct northern sunlight went from seedling to 5 ft tall in 45 days. Potting soil.