For a bit more than 100 the best you can do is a single auto under a mars hydro 1000 ( its how im teaching my mom how to grow) if you actually think your going to get serious spring for a hlg 260 xl kit that can grow about 3 at a time . And i top all my autos now but i grew some sativas that naturally grew like a chandalier before i used to top so its up to you either way learn how to use dli and you’ll do fine
Thanks for the tag @Storm , hi @Jeff420chef welcome to the neighborhood 
Gaia Green is very similar to what I use (Earth Dust) and it’s good stuff. I have topped every auto I’ve grown and only two didn’t like it and stayed small. I’ve only grown like 30 or so, so I’m not the most experienced with them but I have found a way of training them that really works for me. If you want to check it out my thread is my featured topic if you click on my avatar (Homer) then again on my featured topic you’ll be magically teleported over 
as for lighting there’s a lot of low price options out there I recommend staying with the bigger companies if for nothing else the warranty. Id check out viparspectra, spider farmer, Mars, sono farmer, hlg they all have a decent 100-$150 entry level light that will grow some good weed. Here’s a plant growing under a sf1000 by Nebulahaze she’s doing a tutorial right now here’s a screenshot with the name of it. I was looking for the one she was growing under a 65w hlg but I couldn’t find it, I know it is there I’m just not smart enough to find it. You don’t need a monster light to grow good autos… Whichever way you go good luck 
This is her last entry picture and the name of her tutorial
@MeEasy I love GWE. They do great stuff. Very knowledgeable, yet easy to understand.
Here it is:
When should I start lst? I’m on day 15 now
As I’m reading I think I’ll stick to lst for now, and as I progress we can top a few. I just popped another bean so that might be the one.
I wish I would have read this earlier 
ended up buying a 600w from Grocruiser off of Amazon. After reading it’s specs, coupled with what I already have lighting wise I should be off to the races
Any suggestions on when to topdress? I’m using all Gaia green slow release and I amended my soil a few weeks prior to germination. It’s day 15 and she’s looking super green and healthy, nice right even spacing between the nodes. Should I wait til preflower or go ahead and dress it in a few days?
Excellent pic! That helps a lot! Any reason for removing the bottom two? Just for lp?
I don’t have likes 
Don’t have any
The bottom 2 will never amount to any decent buds so @beardless as well as myself remove those so she’ll put that energy on bud sites that will get plenty of light 
Removing the first one is automatic for me. The second one was removed to make room for the branches above it. Like @OGIncognito said, the first two are usually weak growers and can easily be replaced.
I bent the branches back toward the soft tie.
I wanted to spread them out and give each growth tip as much room as possible.
All of our successes AND failures lol
This is the way I did my last grow. Worried about tent height and not knowing the strains (Cream +Cheese 1:1 CBD and Black Sugar), I topped, bent them over and trained the lower growth stems back toward the base. It takes some time but the plants grow out and fill in the open areas, resulting in a lower flat canopy. Those lower single nodes won’t do anything but suck energy. The plant usually ends up dirguarding them so do it for them and let em move on.
How did that do? I want to try it myself.
Re.topping autos. I’m gro wing 2 autos N.Lights and Seedsman lemon. I topped them both and they blew up in bud sites. The N. Lights started flowering 3 weeks and 1 day from sprout. The Lemon started flowering 3weeks and 3 days from sprout. I also have a Harlequin Kimbo Kush that seems to do everything late so I didn’t top that one, just going to lay it grow and it is nicely.
C+C was the most vigorous plant last grow! Under a 100w LED it gave me 4+ oz. and I made some dumb mistakes. It’s great pain relief and I’ve got 2 more growing now and they are doing great. Tomorrow will be week 4 and I’ll share a pic on my grow journal.
WOW, that’s a beauty!