First time growing indoors...

Hey All!
To introduce myself, I'm Rick from South Africa. Been doing my thing outdoors in abundant sunshine for close on a decade, but winters get a bit sad and lonely without some gals around so I'm about to do my first ever indoor grow
Planning on taking it easy at first, I do have a fair amount of gear at my disposal though hehehehe. I definitely want to get an S.O.G of some fine Kush going, so I'm planning on hunting a nice Tahoe OG pheno first, love me some Lemon Pledge yum yum yum....

So the gear I've got to play with right now:
2 600w HPS ballasts, 1 400w HPS ballast
1 400w Metal Halide ballast
2 'gullwing' type hoods
1 shitty hood looks like it belongs over a pool-table
inline fan and carbon filter
one light-mover and rails
4 'bubble buckets' each with own bubbler and water pump
shitloads of guttering in case NFT tickles my fancy
1 by 1.5m flood and drain table
assortment Hydroton clay pellets
full range General Hydroponics nutrient system
truncheon
30-odd metres 'cicalation' (silver reflective shit)
coupla big bricks of rockwool
Clonex gel
Pyrethrum-based insecticide and Neem Oil (works a charm outside)

Aaaaaand I think that about does it. Now obviously I am missing out on some power need me a proper board, will go dig around on the forums for some advice...

Anybody got any thoughts they want to throw at me at this point, I'd much appreciate it. Anything man, the first mistake you made, most common oversights blah blah blah.

I am in the very, very, very fortunate position of being able to stink it up with no fear So I'm going DANK. As in 'something must have died a pleasant death in that bag' kinda dank HAHAHAHAHAHA.

Will try attach some pics of the last crop, this one was Soma's NYC Diesel, shy on yields but in every other regard, damn near perfect...

Keep Tokin!

welcome to riu, indoor eh? if i lived where you did i wouldnt ever go indoors ahahha!!! well good luck!

What is your grow room space like? Do you have to worry about any heat issues?

KushKrew said:

.....snip....

2 'gullwing' type hoods
truncheon
Pyrethrum-based insecticide and Neem Oil (works a charm outside)

Click to expand...

The gullwing hoods could be an issue depending on temps in your area. I would get glass enclosed hoods and pull the light's heat out of the room.

Truncheon, is that for pH or PPM or best of all both? But you'll need both pH and PPM. I'd also suggest some insecticidal soap. But looks like you are starting off well equipped. Welcome to RIU and best of luck on your indoor grow.

sunni said:

welcome to riu, indoor eh? if i lived where you did i wouldnt ever go indoors ahahha!!! well good luck!

Click to expand...

Hehehehe well winters get pretty wet, and I'm becoming pretty absorbed in my favourite hobby so time to get this going all-year-round!! What can I say, I'm in love.

As far as space goes, I have a fair section of an attic available and I can tailor it as I go along until it is perfect. I'm in a rural area so constant DIY noise and so on is absolutely no concern. This is another reason I am going for an indoor grow, I live in conditions others would give a spleen for so not using it is an absolute sin towards every toker out there. Counting my blessings

Heat is not much of a problem as far as I can see, I have already taken the precaution of painting the entire roof flat white (yeah, I COMMIT) so normal daytime temps are around 22 to 24 degrees celcius, nights get a bit cold but I am hoping that by flowering at night I can get it pretty balanced out. I have some heating mats and an airconditioning unit for juuust in case too.

And the truncheon is a PPM and PH metre in one, was pretty hard to find down here so it's actually one of my little prizes hehehe.

I've seen the glass-enclosed hoods, you mean the kind with vents you can duct and then blow the air straight out? They sure look NICE, I like the idea of a pretty small room so I can seriously pack all the light in there, like a photon-prizon, but I think I will have to attempt building them myself. With the amount of sunlight out here we can find good ballasts pretty easily but not nice hoods, those are always a custom job.

I will take extra care about the heat off the lamps and pay special attention to venting it out fast, thanks for keeping it a priority in my head

Really want this one to go well, already dreaming about it. Being prepared is the ticket...

And thanks for the warm welcome too