Dutch Passion Billy Wu - Think Big w/DWC, CO2, HPS & LED

[BillyWu]

Hello folks, it's me (yet again)!

After packing away growing for over a year, things have settled down. For those of you who don't know me, I was once featured on the Dutch Passion blog for the first ever plant I grew (which was a Think Different in soil, 156g yield), and I've also been featured on both the DP photo contest and the AFN photo contest.

I had to pack away growing for a while for personal reasons, but now that things are all cool and quiet, I've been persuaded by the release of Dutch Passion's Think Big strain to grow again. I just simply couldn't resist it, I've always had immense success with DP strains and Think Different is undoubtedly my favourite, and then the masters over at DP brought out an even better one! Here are the details of my grow, grow space and environment:

Strain: Think Big by Dutch Passion (seeds provided graciously by my favourite gent at Dutch Passion, Tony)
Pot: DWC bubbler bucket, 20 liters
Air pump & air stone: Hi-Blow 40 air pump, 200mm disk air stone
Environment: Secret Jardin Dark Room pro DR60 II, 24x24x64"
Lighting setup: 250W HPS, dual spectrum bulb with cool tube reflector & 50W of LED from 1x 50W LED UFO
Carbon filter: Rhino pro carbon filter
Extraction fan: 100mm RVK fan
Intake: Passive
Nutrients: Advanced Nutrients full line up (Sensi grow + Bloom A&B, Hammerhead, Voodoo juice, Big Bud, Sensizym, Carboload), liquid silicone, Formulex, CalMag supplement
Water: Soft, dechlorinated tap water
Temperature: Aiming to keep a consistent 75F - 85F during lights on, 70F lights off
Extras: CO2 enrichment for flowering

So, this time I'll be doing DWC again. Here are some things you may be interested to know about this grow, and why it may be different to other ones.

1. I have a CO2 tank with an automated electric release valve and integrated timer. For anyone who isn't familiar with the usage of CO2 and it's effects on growing, I'll summarize it in a few words: 250 - 300ppm of CO2 in a grow environment = normal levels. 1200 - 1500ppm of CO2 in a grow environment = plants favourite CO2 concentration range. Basically, CO2 at the right levels will 'triple yields' (according to the Cannabis Grow Bible by Greg Green). Triple yields may be a bit of an exaggeration, but the correct amount of CO2 has been proven by various research and published articles to grow bigger plants & flowers.
2. I have both HPS and LED lights. Sadly, my grow space is very small. I use a 250W HPS light with a dual spectrum bulb and a 50W LED UFO type light, for extra supplemental light in different wavelengths. Basically, HPS lights put out a lot of yellow, orange and red light. This is great for flowering, which is why so many folks like HPS for big yields, but it's lacking in the blue light spectrum range. Blue light is primarily used during the vegetative stage to trigger various responses in plant growth. My LED light has a lot of blue and red LED's, with a few orange and white ones in there. Basically, having a diverse spectra of different wavelengths helps me grow some monster plants.
3. I'm doing it in DWC. This is indeed a popular choice for a lot of hydroponics growers and I've had remarkable success with it compared to soil, but have you seen many grows with both CO2 and DWC? If not, this one ought to interest you.

Now that all the science stuff is out of the way, it'll soon be time to begin! My seeds should arrive in only a couple of days, but for those who are particularly interested in this grow, now's the time to subscribe to it if you want to I'll be doing a full, detailed journal this time as some of my older grow journals were a bit sparse on details and updates.

Tony from Dutch Passion suggested I leave it to grow for 13-14 weeks, which is what I shall do!

 

[G.Leave]

Hey billy...I do recall reading your blog over on the DP site....good luck on your grow man!! I decided to try out the new DP think different photo version, Think Fast this year.

 

[KonopCh]

Do you have LED and HPS on in veg. mode? Or you veg. under LED only?

 

[BillyWu]

Alrighty, so it'll soon be day 0 (the day propagation begins). My seeds have arrived (again, massive thank you to Tony from Dutch Passion for providing me with them) and I've dropped one into a glass of water, as per usual. Today marks the beginning of the germination stage.

I've added 1mL of Advanced Nutrients Voodoo Juice to the water, just for a little bit of extra 'oomph'. Whether or not it has a big difference during the germinating and propagating stages, I don't know, but I like to do it anyway

 

[BillyWu]

912Greenskell - Thanks buddy! Hope you'll be around to check it out and see how I get on Think Fast was another appealing strain I was interested in trying, but I've never had much luck with photoperiod strains. They always grow too big before they start flowering, even if I start flowering early. Think I'd have to grow a few more different strains and maybe alter my grow setup a bit to have better success with photos.

KonopCh - I use both LED and HPS throughout the entire grow. If I had better LED lights then I'd likely use only LED's during the vegetative stage, but I've always had excellent success with just the HPS before I even got my LED's, so I'm using both

 

[TaNg]

Welcome back Billy it's good to see you.

 

[woody]

Glad your back in the saddle mate- subbed for this one

 

[BillyWu]

Day 0 - Start of the grow

Alrighty, so my seed has successfully germinated and is now starting to propagate :smoking:Quite quickly too. I usually use the 'paper towel trick' to induce germination in my seeds, then put them into my rockwool afterwards. It was only about 3 days ago that I put the seed into the water out the pack, and it's already reaching up through the top of the rockwool. Pretty quick

Got a res made up with 25mL of Sensi Grow A+B and 30mL of Advanced Nutrients Voodoo Juice, EC is about 0.65 - 0.75 and the pH will be kept at 5.5 until I get a couple of leaves. Then it goes up to 5.6, then finally to 5.8 towards the flowering stages.
Not a lot to show you folks on the pictures, but here are some from today (with the lights off). I'm unfortunately running a little low on clay pebbles, but I've got enough to suffice for a day or two before I top up.

 

[BillyWu]

TaNg - Good to see you too buddy! Nice to see a familiar face here, I looked to see if any of the old guys like Hazy were still around but I'm not sure if they are. How've things been going?

Sanguine - Another name I remember, good to see you're still around too

 

[BillyWu]

Day 5 update

Things are looking fine Still waiting for my pebbles to arrive though, so my mesh pot is a bit shallow at the minute. Been checking pH regularly to try and keep it at 5.5 for a bit, before going up to 5.6 after a couple more leaves