This post is a bit of an aside to the recent updates theme but I thought would be appreciated.
For me growing chillis and other things is a hobby that I am passionate about but with a young family also one that has to be done on a budget.
I have found that with a bit of shopping around you can find some real bargains to keep your wallet, plants (and partner lol) happy. I though I would share a few below:
Doff liquid fertiliser range (£1 a bottle from poundland)
They do a 1:1:1 @ 3.5% percent that is great at half strength for seedlings and full strength for young plants.
Also a tomato feed that is great for when you plants start to flower and fruit. There are other pellet options too for amending soil all of which are far cheaper than anything I have seen in a brand name garden centres or DIY shops.
Wilson & Gregory compressed coir
Again just £1 from poundland although not all of them carry it.
Makes 10 litres and it good for starting seeds in and mixing with compost to add lightness, also better for the environment too than peat moss.
Also I love that it is compressed and so takes no space to store.
Poundland is also you friend for cheap plastic pots, spray bottles, twine, plant labels, wire etc and if you want to do hydro they have glass jars with thin metal lids that can be easily cut to fit a net cup and line from an air pump if doing DWC. If like me you like building weird and wonderful self watering pots then IKEA does a great range of containers in all sorts of shape and size that are cheap as chips.
Budget LED grow lights
Over the years I have tried a lot of budget LED lights and have probably spent the equivalent of a better quality brand name one.
In my experience it is best to avoid the bulb style ones and strips and to go for a panel array style. Anything with a fan nowadays is a pretty dated design and passively cooled is the way forward. There are a few options out there though that both work and are cheap:
For something small and suitable for a handful seedlings and young plants this works and I have it in my little lightbox:
https://www.amazon.co.uk/BOSYTRO®-Spectrum-Hydroponic-Greenhouse-Equivalent/dp/B08CTG8SMX/ref=sr_1_114?dchild=1&keywords=led+grow+light&qid=1618393448&sr=8-114
For something more industrial there are budget led quantum boards on Aliexpress, these are not the same quality as the offerings from spiderfarmer and marshydro but at the much lower price point I can accept the reduction in quality:
https://www.aliexpress.com/item/100...earchweb0_0,searchweb201602_,searchweb201603_
I do advocate supporting independent gardening shops so when I have some cash to splash I will often spend my money there on longer term things like tools.
I think that is just about my whole setup and where I source things from and if in doubt there is always amazon & ebay both of which are huge marketplace that mean competitive prices especially if you can get free shipping which keep costs down further.
As ever it a about a balance between price, quality and convenience but I hope the above can help those starting out, on a budget or are a bargain hunter at heart