The Bag Seed Experiment

Hey guys I'm a new member here just signed up today. I am currently growing three plants which are my first grows ever. I am going to keep up on these plants to see how the plants will do under strict budget. I have a drip system setup to three reservoir pots filled with perlite and the top layer is vermaculite. They are under two 4 foot 40watt flourescents and are set for 20 hours of light per day. The growth has been very fast seeing as I started these plants on July 3rd. I am very happy with them so far but am open to any suggestions or advice!! I did alot of research and reading to set this up so I didn't start my first time with a thumb in my ass. I chose to grow hydroponically for my first time so I could just dive right in and reap the benefits with the budget i'm working with!

Here's the most current pictures that I will keep up to date.

This is the setup i'm working with.


The first plant - day 4


The second plant - day 4


The third plant - day 3


The last plant seems to be growing much slower then the first two and seems to be forming three leaves at one time? Very odd but its looking healthy nonetheless!

Opinions and advice encouraged! Don't be harsh...thanks

They look nice, though I can tell you that you'll need to invest in some better lighting shortly. Two flouro bulbs aren't going to produce enough light to take them through flowering. They could veg on that, but you'd get really slow growth. Try getting some CFLs, they're not very expensive (relatively). Just be sure theyre the right spectrum ("Daylight" for veg and "Warm White" for flower).

can you give some more info and pictures of your set up

I'm using a cellphone camera that sucks so It would be easier if I explain the setup rather then trying to get good angle shots of everything.

Basically I have a 5 gallon plastic bin filled with water and 1/4 strength nutrient solution and it has a water pump in it which pumps water to the three drippers that are setup on each plant. The drippers come on twice a day for about 5 minutes which seems to keep the plants nicely moist at all times.

The lighting are cool white bulbs and are 2 inches above the plant and is suspended from a bar that spans across the width of the closet. I might purchase more lighting but i'm not sure what to do with cfls? I've seen them but some say you can screw them into a normal socket and some say you need a certain setup for them (the bigger ones), but even the ones that work with a regular socket how do I setup multiple ones? I'm gonna have to setup multiple lamps or do they make a setup that holds multiple bulbs? I didn't look into that too much. Could I just get another tube flourescent? They also sell flourescent tubes that say for "plant and aquatic life" or something like that, are those any good? It seems like they have less light output but claim to have the best color spectrum? I dunno I need the best suggestion on what lights to add to what I currently have.

The pots are filled with a perlite/vermaculite mix and each pot has a reservoir on the bottom of it. They are those bottom feeding pots that have a little opening near the bottom to fill water but I use it to keep the roots in the water and the excess flows out which eliminates having to drill holes in the pot an inch from the bottom to get the same effect. They were only $1 each.

As an update, today the second set of leaves is forming on the first two plants and the third plant is actually growing all 4 leaves at once.

Heres another shot of the setup..kinda

I got three 23 watt CFLs to add to the setup. They give out 6500K and 1600 lumens each. I'm hoping for a good growth increase.

Heres a pic of how its setup

Easiest way to set up CFLs (at least, this is what i did):

Goto a hardware store and buy one of those vanity light fixtures (you know, its the lights above the mirror in your bathroom) There's a cheap one I got with three sockets, its only $10

Get 3 socket splitters and 6 CFLs

Get a cheap extension cord

Cut the end of the extension cord off and strip the wires, attaching them to the wires on the vanity light (cover this with electrical tape to prevent fire/shock)

Find some thick string or something similar and attach it to the vanity light (I got "yo-yo"s (reflector hangers) and tied these through the holes in the back of the fixture)

Tie up the fixture, plug in the socket splitters and the bulbs and plug the other end of the extension cord (which now powers your lights) into a wall socket.

You now have a simple yet very effective 6-light fixture for your plants that plugs right into an ordinary outlet. Total cost (not including the bulbs) is probably around $15

Yea I was trying to find a fixture like that in Lowes but i think the cheapest was $30 or something. Either way do you think you would need that many cfls if I already have 3 and 2 four foot tubes just for vegging 3 plants? I dunno. I think I already saw a great amount of growth just overnight with these new cfls if comparing them to day 4 above. Im sure it could be better though.

These are from today:

First plant - day 5 its hard to see from this angle but the 5th and 6th leaves are starting to form in the center.



second plant - day 5 also forming third set of leaves



third plant - day 5 the weirdest of all seems to be forming as three initial leaves and then a medium set of two and a two more leaves growing in the center of that. it seems the new lighting made it try and catchup with the two older plants all at once.




I'm happy with the growth so far but am definately open to adding more lighting in the future. It all depends on if I feel the growth has slowed.

These are shots still from day 5 which are 12 hours older then the previous pictures. Just noting the growth within 12 hours after adding the CFLs to the setup. Lots of new leaves have formed into 3 leaf clusters.

First Plant - Day 5 part 2


Second Plant - Day 5 part 2


Third Plant - Day 5 part 2

Lots of new leaves formed on day 6 overnight. It's looking really good and growth has picked up alot. I added a small pc fan for some cooling and changed the water in the reservoir to keep it fresh. The first two plants you can currently see 12 leaves in total and the third plant is still growing a bit weird but is forming its 9th and 10th leaves.

Plant one - Day 6.



Second Plant - Day 6



Third Plant - Day 6


Does anyone know why the third plant has that etching into the ends of the two bigger leaves? (it looks like horns engraved into them expecially in person its bulged out)
Is this just a weird transformation or is there an actual deficiancy in the plant? It was grown the same as the other two except it was planted a day later. Can something be done to those leaves to fix it or is everything fine.

Lots of new growth. The first two plants have two bottom leaves, then 4 sets of 3-leaf clusters, as well as two new clusters forming in the center. The third plant is about one set behind but overall good progress.

First plant - day 10


Second plant - day 10


Third plant - day 10

I have a question if anyone can answer...

What is the purpose of the first two pod shaped buds or leaves that appear on the plant before any of the main leaves grow? Can they be removed? I'm just curious of their actual purpose for the plant.

Thanks in advance.

by the way the 3rd plant is a Polyploidy wich means it has a genetic mutation witch causes it to have 3 branches where there would normaly be 2

looking nice and lush. good job keep the current regimen going

durbanpoison91 said:

by the way the 3rd plant is a Polyploidy wich means it has a genetic mutation witch causes it to have 3 branches where there would normaly be 2

Click to expand...

Is this a bad thing?


Quick update, I transplanted the first two plants but not the third yet. I also planted two haze-crossbreed seeds that sprouted a few days ago. Ill update on them later when they are more developed.

All three plants leaves seem to have a slight droop to them. I'm not sure what has caused this but it could be from it outgrowing the pots? If the first two get better then i'll know thats what it is, but what are the most common causes of droopy leaves? I plan on transplanting the third one tomarrow, i was suprised how developed the root systems were. !00s of thick roots had covered every inch of the medium and worked their way down into the reservoir.

I can't wait to start flowering these plants!!


Plant one - day 14


Plant two - day 14


Plant three - day 14



Ahhh...my favorite kind of leaf

I purchased a 4-socket light fixture from Lowes which I found by luck. It was a display item that was on clearance on one of push carts with stuff on it and it was only $2. I got more splitters so now I have eight 23watt 6500K CFLs all on one power cord. I am trying to figure out a way to impliment the two 4 foot cool white tubes also seeing as the cfl setup replaced the 4 foots. I'm guessing hang them vertically or something to create light on the sides of the plants or something.

Update on the plants is that transplanting them definately made a big difference. the leaves are starting to rise again although there is some yellowing of the bottom leaves now but that is supposedly normal from what I've been reading. All three plants are transplanted and doing well. I added an air pump to the reservoir just to get some more oxygen to the roots and keep the water from stagnating. As well as an actual canister of PH Minus instead of using lemon juice which turned the water all nasty and made it smell bad. Plus ph minus actually holds a constant pH for a significant amount of time which is good, and I got a canister for $4 and it was made for pools. A teaspoon of the stuff put my pH down to where it should be so this stuff should last forever i definately recommend it.

I also have three haze cross breed plants growing. they are in the beginning stages of leaves basically.

here's a pic of the cfl setup now:

Update - July 23. All plants have developed tremendously expecially after the addition of the multiple CFL setup. Just compare the pictures in the previous post which is only 5 days ago. In five days the plants have grow multiple sets of leaves as well as leaves developing where the roots meet the main stem. The stems have all grown very strong and thick. I took a top and side shot of each plant as well as a overall shot of all of them. Regardless of the fact that these are all bag seeds, I feel like all three plants look like they are different strains. Does anyone have any opinions on this?

first plant - day 19



second plant - day 19



third plant - day 19

update - july 27: it seems like the 2nd and 3rd plants have outgrown the 1st plant which is odd considering the 3rd plant was planted a day later then the other two. The plants are sitting at about 5" tall and 8" wide. they are all looking very healthy. entire branches and leaf clusters have formed where the stems meet the main stem inside those little elbows except for the first plant which seems to have less width and growth and also it is way behind on the inner leaves. Plants all look healthy and green no more yellowing or any problems so im very happy


first plant - day 22


second plant - day 22


third plant - day 22

your babys look great..keep doing what your doing..good luck and peace

yea man GJ on ur first grow juss dont let em get to tall if u have a space limit+rep

ideit said:

Easiest way to set up CFLs (at least, this is what i did):

Goto a hardware store and buy one of those vanity light fixtures (you know, its the lights above the mirror in your bathroom) There's a cheap one I got with three sockets, its only $10

Get 3 socket splitters and 6 CFLs

Get a cheap extension cord

Cut the end of the extension cord off and strip the wires, attaching them to the wires on the vanity light (cover this with electrical tape to prevent fire/shock)

Find some thick string or something similar and attach it to the vanity light (I got "yo-yo"s (reflector hangers) and tied these through the holes in the back of the fixture)

Tie up the fixture, plug in the socket splitters and the bulbs and plug the other end of the extension cord (which now powers your lights) into a wall socket.

You now have a simple yet very effective 6-light fixture for your plants that plugs right into an ordinary outlet. Total cost (not including the bulbs) is probably around $15

Click to expand...

wow nice thinkin man i was thinkin the same shit juss i was gunna extend the power and neutral lines from the original light socket but wat ur saying cuz a extension cord in half is pretty fukkin msart i might juss do that instead +rep