And intimidating it is in fact my friend. Amazing setups even from 1st timers.
Worry not tho, you are not alone, i am a newb aswell, and to make things worst, on a limited budget. But i do feel home here, since i`m from neighbor country to SA.
I have been collecting some beans for 2 months, just some random beans from Swazi, from good and not so good i have come across. A good friend of mine from Cape who successfully grows his own organic suggested i sprouted all of them and experiment, and he sure gave me a great advice. i have several cups with different ratios of soil/coco/perlite/vermiculite, i have subjected them to all sorts of "tests", drought, overwatering, water ph`d high and low, test runoff water... lots of observing and "listening" at this stage. They are under 8x23w diy CFL. Even though i already have 400w balalst/bulb/aircooled reflector, i am still working on the grow area for the new setup.
This same friend suggested me GSR for quality seeds. and to tell you the truth they are the only option that makes sense for me now. I am planing a trip to SA to order them to a location there and cross the border back home by car. where i am from.. i could make the national news if busted importing through the mail.
Will be posting some pics soon, some of my test plants did very well after all the bs and are looking gorgeous, just hope there is at least 1 lady. its a never ending learning process and these will keep me busy while i plan to get the GSR beans and sort my Grow area.