Bagseed First Grow

You might be wise to scrap it and start over, but it would be sooooo cool to see them recover and you be showing off beautiful plants in a couple months time. lol but yea at this point germinating new seeds and starting fresh is probably a good call

Go ahead and try and nurse your plants back to health. You will learn a wealth of info if you do. It will also teach you how to start reading your plants so you can start giving them what they ask for when they ask for it. No point in starting new seeds until you get a ph/ppm meters and decent understanding of the nutes. Enjoy this grow and try and learn all you can from it. + rep for trying!!

To me it looks a bit like over fert (looks like some burning tips on pic 3 in the background), over water (downward curled leaves), and maybe lights too close (the yellowing on top). How much and which Jack's are you using per gallon? How much light? I only use 100w flouro in my clone cab and I keep them at least a few inches away. I don't do hydro so I'm not sure what to recommend about your watering schedule, but the droop looks like when I over water in soil. I never use H202 so I don't know how that might be affecting anything. I'd forget the Superthrive except maybe after a transplant, you definitely don't need it constantly.

I've backed myself pretty deep into a corner with this one, but like Old said, I've got plenty of chances to learn. I have collected bag seeds for months just for this scenario. I have plenty of chances to fine tune my operation before I turn it up a notch and really start cranking out massive product.


So far I've learned eyeballing PH isn't the hot set-up. It's an exact science, and should be handled as such. I've given up on my nutes choice, although I've settled in at 500 ppm and plan on working from there wherever this grow takes me.


As you mentioned Scratch, my watering schedule is attracting all of my current attention. I want to get it dialed in ASAP. I agree, that as of now I'm overwatering. I think I just fell into that newb mindset. If some is good, more has to be better. I just saw the spouts of green early on, and got excited thinking about passing my medicine around the table.


If growing indoors were easy, the Plant Problems category wouldn't have so many threads, but I'm always up for a good challnge, and am excited about what the future holds. TheDillest said earlier that it would be cool to come back and show off my amazing plants later, and that is exactly what I intend to do with the continued help of the synergy provided at RIU. I'm not sure any of the plants in my current crop will be involved in those pics, but I do know that those sacrificed in my first run will be just as instrumental to my overall success as any other for years to come.


Again fellas, I would like to thank you for your continued input. Your willingness to share knowledge is very much appreciated.

It's been a minute, but I wanted to give those that offered advice an update. I got a PH pen, nutes intended for hydro, and did loads of research. Most of that research was done here at RIU, but I combined it with some advice given to me at my local hydro store.

I have dialed in my PH to 5.9, blended the nutes to 1/4 strength, added an air stone intended for DWC directly below my pump and have let the pump run constantly for the last 24 hours, to create a sort of modified rDWC. So far the few survivors left in my flood table seem to be on the mend. The neon yellow has not disappeared completely, but it is dissipating in favor for a healthier and more appealing green.

Ive kept a close eye on the PH, and although it tends to creep up there have been no gigantic swings. I am also keeping an eye on signs they have been over watered, but with the high O2 levels provided by the bubble stones, I dont think that will be a problem.

Again, I appreciate the help given so far, and any future input.

You have pixs? +rep for hanging in there.

Both of the plants pictured before perished, so a picture wouldn't really give much comparrison. The ones that hung on aren't picture worthy yet, but I will be sure to post some as soon as they are. Thanks for sticking around.

JohnElway said:

Both of the plants pictured before perished, so a picture wouldn't really give much comparrison. The ones that hung on aren't picture worthy yet, but I will be sure to post some as soon as they are. Thanks for sticking around.

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Good to see the work in progress.

I know your running this as a trial and error sort of thing but I would recommend you bump up your light levels if possible, you said your using only 50watts flourescent? I would stick at least 4 more 23 watt CFL's in there especially as your plants get older. That will triple your current lighting, and not be too expensive, You can always use the CFL's around the home after you upgrade from them. use one lamp with a 100watt rating, you can screw in a double socket Y shaped thing that allows you to screw in 2 bulbs, You can screw two more of the Y's into that double socket and have 4 sockets, Your bulbs might cost something like 30$ and the Y's are like 3 or 4 $'s.

did you narrow down the cause of the drooping?

I hope you get it all sorted soon enough, and the funds allow you to do so, My funds are pretty backed up right now... I know I'm gunna need a carbon filter eventually but I just cant afford it! lol ahh well I got some incense I can burn

Your PH is way to high for a HYRDO SETUP. your running a SOIL ph level... which is between 6.3 and 6.8.

hyrdo and other soilless mediums use PH'd water which is between 5.6 and 6.0 (best range) and aim for 5.8 ph.

Ph problem means that all your nutrients get locked out if its not within these ranges.

and your PPM LEVEL wtf... 1000ppm? for such small plants.. you might aswell pour acid on them if you want to kill them.

Thedillestpickle said:

Good to see the work in progress.

I know your running this as a trial and error sort of thing but I would recommend you bump up your light levels if possible, you said your using only 50watts flourescent? I would stick at least 4 more 23 watt CFL's in there especially as your plants get older. That will triple your current lighting, and not be too expensive, You can always use the CFL's around the home after you upgrade from them. use one lamp with a 100watt rating, you can screw in a double socket Y shaped thing that allows you to screw in 2 bulbs, You can screw two more of the Y's into that double socket and have 4 sockets, Your bulbs might cost something like 30$ and the Y's are like 3 or 4 $'s.

did you narrow down the cause of the drooping?

I hope you get it all sorted soon enough, and the funds allow you to do so, My funds are pretty backed up right now... I know I'm gunna need a carbon filter eventually but I just cant afford it! lol ahh well I got some incense I can burn

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Im running 240 total watts of light right now, 6X40 of 48" T8's. I think the dropping was just shock from all the new stuff I threw in there. They recovered within a days time and have been standing upright since. I quit with the super thrive, the more I looked at the bottle the more gimmicky it looked. No clear directions, just wording on every square inch proclaiming it's greatness. The guy at the shop informed me that I would see "explosive growth" with it, but I think he might have also seen the fear in my first timer's eyes and figured I was about to throw in the towel on the whole idea, so he might as well upsale while he still had the chance.

I feel your financial woes. After my last trip to the hydro store, I came home and compiled a list of things I need/want. I've spent a majority of my time since alternating between checking my plants and prioritizing my wish list.

Are you having trouble with the smell now, or are worried about it in the future? I would think with a crop that size, offset by the herbs and surrounded by concrete smell escaping your domain wouldn't be an issue. I would think you could find a DIY solution for the time being. Good luck!

So, I spoke too soon. For some reason my PH won't stabilize. I'm constantly making adjustments, but can only keep it within range for a few hours at a time. I'm thinking root rot, or that the expanded clay was so thourghly saturated with water that was outside the desired range for so long that it is driving the PH of the water I'm running now through the roof.

I really want to keep the plants I've got. They have been on their death bed and resurrected with some TLC, but I'm thinking this battle has already been lost.

I thought about transplanting my current plants to fresh hydroton, but worry that it will just infest a new batch of hydroton with my current problems if it is in fact root rot. I've given a prescription strength dose of H2O2 to the water, but I'm afraid to go over board.

All signs point to chopping my crop, but you know hard that is after devoting any amount of time to them.

Do I just bite the bullet and chop?

I think superthrive does have uses, the bottle I bought came with no labels except a simple how to use it direction thing printed by the hydro store, I guess they buy in bulk and rebottle it. Its meant to minimize stress on the plant if something stressfull occurs such as transplant, but its not really supposed to do anything on a regular basis, keep it around but dont use it unless your chopping roots or transplanting or stuff like that.

Is there any way you take a peek at your roots? youll know a little more whats happening with a quick look. I don't know much about what causes pH swings though. Have you got more seeds germinating yet?

Thedillestpickle said:

I think superthrive does have uses, the bottle I bought came with no labels except a simple how to use it direction thing printed by the hydro store, I guess they buy in bulk and rebottle it. Its meant to minimize stress on the plant if something stressfull occurs such as transplant, but its not really supposed to do anything on a regular basis, keep it around but dont use it unless your chopping roots or transplanting or stuff like that.

Is there any way you take a peek at your roots? youll know a little more whats happening with a quick look. I don't know much about what causes pH swings though. Have you got more seeds germinating yet?

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I pulled one of my weaker, smaller plants for inspection. The roots weren't virgin white like you see in aero systems, but I didn't feel the slime on them that everyone suggests indicate root rot. I am running the same nutes used by the poster stinkbuddy, because I eventually plan on building his system with my own quirks. His plants also exhibit brown roots in a mediumles grow chamber, but he claims that it is due to the pigment of his nutes. He claims to have had loads of sucess, with photographic evidence, so I wonder if those pigments, combined with the hydroton powder are causing my discoloration.

I appreciate you staying updated on my grow. Although you too are on your first grow, it is nice to have someone sort of agree with my thinking, even if we are both wrong. I have termed seeds, but plan on staying the course. I know it seems as though I have wavered more and more with each passing day, but I think that is due in part to my ignorance of the subject. Again, the original intention was to educate myself about growing without soil. If I chop everytime I run into a hiccup I will never learn anything.

I know these plants will never be high times worthy, or big producers, but they will be educational.