Honestly, all the pot-growing websites have the best info for beginners to indoor gardening. They have a million reviews for lights, soils, fertilizer & recommendations for everything

Reeljake is right lots of info on those sites. This is a great site too fast responses from knowledge people.

1st question is what is your budget ? And what are you wanting to grow. This will determine if you go with a diy system or are like me and say for a few extra bucks get a kit. I have 2 3.5gal Dwc buckets that let me grow 4 plants in one bucket. It was the bucket, lid, 4 net pots , air pump hose and air stone for around 34 bucks. Again knowing a budget will determine type of lighting t5, led, or cfl then you need nutrients and a ph tester and buffers. Once your set up its all experimenting as far as what you can grow I've done herbs , peppers, yucca plant and now butterfly bushes. And before you know it you've got more lights , cloning systems, and are growing everything from herbs to citrenella and fruits.

Pic of a 1/4 of what my setup is turning into

http://forums.gardenweb.com/discussions/3387609/indoor-small-scale-hydroponics?n=3

My budget for the indoor set up is $50 or less, just something to play with over the winter. No more than about 2' x 2' in size to fit on my shelf. For spring, I'm willing to spend a bit more and was looking at this kit: DIY Vertical Hydroponic 4 Tower Kit https://www.amazon.com/dp/B00SQCIMKO/ref=cm_sw_r_awd_.y-swbWVE322T

However, Before I shell out $300 bucks I want to make sure I know what I'm doing.

I also forgot to mention that I do already have t5 lights on a timer -- 4 ft x 4bulb. Having mixed results with growing in potting soil indoors.

You got the lights so that's good , hopefully someone will chime in here to get you around that 50 dollar mark . I spend 36 dollars on nutrients(general hydroponics flora series 3 part) and 17 on my pH up and down ( this is a once a year cost as the quart size will last me that long or longer). I did drop 100 bucks on my pH meter but you can get them way cheaper. 70 bucks on t5 lighting, 35 on the dwc system so im vested around $300.

I have the same question. My budget is about $300-500. I want to grow lots of veggies. Where do I start?

You might want to go to Photobucket/ChristianWarlock to see how you can get nearly all the things you need from recycling. If your mobile even better. That's material from four years ago. If you look under The Dark Garden you'll find plenty of "Discussion" on the subject

Take a look at my hydro start 2015 thread here. I get the 5 gal buckets free from a deli, solo cups are cheap and a dollar store soldering iron turns them into net cups easy. Drywall sponges cut up are cheaper for me than rockwool, only thing i had to spend $ on was hydroton, water, and hydro nutes. I guess lighys as well but a south facing window could do a good job to start. Super easy start for $50 max

Hello, Jillian and everyone. I'm new here. I've spent the past few days researching hydroponics for beginners. My eyes literally ache. There's lots of information on the theory but specific diy info was harder to find.

What I finally settled on is DWC setup. It seemed to me to be the easiest. I purchased the reservoir at Lowe's and ordered everything else from Amazon and eBay. I spent about $120, but that includes nutrients, a hole saw, and all other materials to get started. Oh, and includes a 225 LED grow light.

My quest now is to find out what plants DWC is and is not suited for. And finally once I learn that, which seed varieties are best for indoor hydroponics.

I've grown herbs in two Aerogardens in my kitchen for years, and a few years ago had a huge outdoor garden.

Looking forward to growing all kinds of good food in my basement.

Pretty much any veggie is suitable in dwc....there are a few that dont like "wet feet" like strawberrys and basil but you can modify your dwc setup to accomidate them being a little dryer than what your typical dwc conditions are.

Choice on seeds would more so how much room you have that determine what you will be able to grow. Also if you are using only one reservoir you will want plants that like the same ph and strength of nutrients at the same time.

I watched a lot of youtub videos on dwc. As far as plants go herbs go nuts especially basil veggies rock. Ive done butterfly bushes, yucca , citronellal