Dutch Passion Auto Ultimate in the; post...

[MedGrower]

@dafthandler DP's AutoUltimate is one of my favourites to grow from DP's selection. She performs so good with shocking speed and vigour. Couple things about the strain that I found was that yeah, she generally is more in the side of heavy feeding but I haven't had to raise the level of nutrients much, if any, compared to other strains. She sucks up your solution though so as she gets big be prepared to always have a bucketfull of ready solution to be added since this beast can really surprise you with that endless need of drinking the solution.

Good luck and have fun. AutoUltimate is always a lot of fun! It is a very strong and resilient strain.

 

[RickX]

Hi there! Good luck with this impressive strain!
I made it only once, now beggining the second time, you can see it in this subforum, and i would say... she likes to drink a lot, they're easy to grow they have so much energy, just keep them happy and they'll do the rest. I never did NFT, i work in coco so i can't tell you about how much to feed them, but as reference, i would say they like higher EC than most of the autos i had, like +0,2 at all stages

 

[dafthandler]

Cheers guys! I appreciate the advice. As of this morning I have 4 babers, and the little rockwool starters have been transplanted into the big blocks. I'm not sure if I've done this too soon or if it matters, I've transplanted now so I don't cause any root damage when squishing them in further down the line. I've given them a bit of rhizo to start 'em off, get 'em going, fire the little beauties up! Their 4 (week or so) course dinner will begin in a couple of days, quarter strength (if that), as I have noticed on acquaintances previous coco grows that seeds started in inert materials with a little juice quickly caught those on just water that were planted earlier.

So I guess this is Day 1. 0 fuck ups so far!

 

[dafthandler]

Time for a quick update. it is two weeks today since the little tykes broke ground. I put them into the NFT system on the Friday just gone. They probably should of gone in sooner as there were several roots poking out the bottom of the rockwool cubes. I have 2 per 40ltr nft system. Each res has 30 liters in. Their first nute mix contained 20 ml rhizo, 20 ml shogun a & 20ml b, set to 5.7/5.8 pH. The ec came out at 138 (x10) which I am assuming means 1.38? I'm in a hard water area and the base ec is 840 (.84?). The pH and ec has remained the same since friday, I've been checking twice a day, though will check less frequently now. I still need to get my head around the ec. I have read if the ec drops, add more nutes, if the ec rises add more water, and then slowly increase the ec as the plant demand increases. Just need to put everything into practice without any deaths.

The plants have been growing twice (maybe even thrice) as quick since going into the NFT. Thinking about it, they have probably doubled in size since friday. I am very impressed. No pictures until I can find a camera that is not attached to a phone I'm afraid! But, they have beautiful full green leaves and fat (for their age) stems.

I don't plan on completely changing the res every week as its a bit of a ball ache logistically. I will probably take out 10 liters and then top up 10 plus losses already mixed and pH'd. I have got some silicone that I will start adding over the next few weeks as well.

Going to have a read on LST with NFT see what can be done next. Really enjoying this grow so far!

Day 14. 0 fuck ups so far!

 

[KonopCh]

I'm in!
Looking for buy new system, maybe NTF... so can't wait for your pictures.

 

[dafthandler]

So, the pH has started to fluctuate downwards. I let it drift down to 5.6 yesterday. I put a bit of pH up in to boost it slightly, and then later in the evening i mixed 2 liters of nutrients without lowering the pH. I then poured this mix into the res, it helped boost the overall pH short term, but it is back down to 5.6 again at the moment. Thinking about it, 2 liters at 6.7 diluted into 30 liters at 5.6 isn't going to change things very much!

I'm going to put a liter or two of water with some silicone mixed in in in a minute to lift the pH again (a lot of ins there, but I think the sentence works ). One thing I did notice is a small deposit of salt in the bottom of the res where I poured in the mix last night. I think the contrasting temperatures of the res (24c) and the mix (probably around 15c) as it was poured in caused the salts to form and fall out. Has anyone else had this happen? Or am I finding answers to issues that aren't there?!

I think there is going to be a bit of a learning curve with this system! I need a camera! And my bed, noisy pups last night!

 

[dafthandler]

First fuck up! I realized yesterday that i had my LED light on bloom rather than grow. Switched it over. Also realized that the rockwool cubes were sucking up far too much liquid. I have poked a load of tile spacers in the bottoms to lift them up a little. Today things are starting to look a bit worse for wear. 3 of the 4 plants have gone a little droopy since this morning. One of the three also has brown spots on the lower leaves. I've swapped 10 liters out for fresh nutes, and have added some rhizotonic to try and sooth them a little.

Getting a little worried!!

 

[dafthandler]

After reading and wondering, I thought it might be a lack of o2 to the roots that are causing the droop. I put an air stone in the res serving 2 droopy plants, and 12 hours later, the droop was gone! Both res now have an air stone bubbling away. I have also slowed the pumps right down to a trickle. It's quite tricky finding the sweet spot for the ladies at the moment. Any advice?

 

[dafthandler]

IMG_0005

• dafthandler
• Dec 19, 2016

So finally a picture! Lots to tell! The droop came back the following day after my previous post, but only to the underside, the top leaves were still ok. I increased the flow of water, back to what it was originally and it helped, I also finally got round to setting up an extractor fan and circulation fan, which has also helped a lot!! I think the girls have been suffering from a bit of nitrogen toxicity as they have been a very dark green, and growth has been somewhat slow. I have not added nutrients for a while now so that they can lighten up a little, the ec is almost the same as plain water now, so a few more days and I will add some more nutrients. pH has been kept between 5.6 - 6.2. The system tends to drift down, I have been topping up with silicone and water to raise the pH back up, and not increase the ec.

What I have learnt so far:

• Nutrients - less is more. I over fertilized them and have lost a few days growth because of it. I will start a lot lower in future and increase when the plants tell me too.
• Only adjust one thing at a time while trying to dial everything in at the beginning, change too much at once and you will end up chasing your tail!
• Air flow. Keep them breathing, keep the air moving. I thought I would have a few weeks where they wouldn't need an extractor running, or a fan on them. They look so much happier since I set the fans up.
  
• Air stones help. I wasn't going to bother with air stones, but again, the plants look a lot happier with then running. I have them sat near the pump so the water sucked up has a higher DO. The pump is outside the tent so also helps keep res temps a bit lower.

The plant in the bottom left and the plant in the top right are the bigger of the four. They are 4 weeks from sprouting in this picture. Are they looking a bit small for their age in NFT?

 

[RickX]

• Nutrients - less is more. I over fertilized them and have lost a few days growth because of it. I will start a lot lower in future and increase when the plants tell me too.
• Only adjust one thing at a time while trying to dial everything in at the beginning, change too much at once and you will end up chasing your tail!

AAAmen indeed!! And yes, finally the first photo!! Good to see them finally, and loved to read such a reflection based on observation = wisdom & true learning for sure.
Congratz!