RyaNayR's Grow Journal

So I got tired of buying bags and decided to start makin bags (mostly for myself and friends). This is a "cheap-as-possible" grow, so all I've payed so far is the soil, and the bags I got the seeds from. I plan on buying some N and P solutions to add to the water used as they are needed (if they are ever needed).

Here's some pics of the whole setup, I'm using a broken Aerogarden system that I found for the lighting.

-The Grow Setup-



-Germination-

The black plastic is to keep the seeds warm and dark.



Seeds 1 and 2, and everything behind them are from a bag I picked up a couple weeks ago, and seed 3 and everything in front of 1 & 2 is from nearly 2 years ago.

Seed #3 is doing the best, which I put in there 15 hours ago along with the others in that row, and the seed right next to it has cracked open but not shown a root, after i took these pics, which was like 2 hours earlier. and another seed from the bottom row has just cracked open a tiny bit.

Seeds 1 & 2 have barely opened up over the last 4 days, and all the ones around them from that same bag haven't done anything.

I find it strange that the seeds from 2 years ago that have been sitting out in light, room temperature, then into a dark drawer, have had like a 60% success rate over the last 15 hours, and the fresh seeds only 2 weeks old that I kept in the right conditions, have had almost no success over 4 days...

I've gone ahead and planted seed #3 about 1/4" into the soil in that beer can. As you can see it has holes drilled into the bottom, so there souldn't be any problems with it. I'll post some more pics once it breaks the surface.

And the soil comes premixed with 0.07% N, 0.01% P, and 0.03% K by bag volume (8 quarts). So I shouldn't have any nutrient problems for a few weeks.

Anyway I'll keep you guys updated as the grow progresses (if it even does, that is).

Wish me luck!

That seed sprouted up today, here's some pics.



The seed sprouted overnight, and this pic was taken 2 minutes after I woke up.


This was taken 30 minutes later.


About 3 hours later


Different angle


I think this seedling is growing faster than average... what do you guys think?

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Firstly, I would like to say that I am a huge fan of palindromes. Second, I think "dirt cheap" grows are really cool, espically ones were you are recycling (the Miller Lite cans). And third, I think your sprout did pop up pretty quick, but I am new to this so I don't have any experience to back up that statement. Good luck with your grow.

Thanks, I think its doing pretty well so far. This is day 2 of it's life since being in the germination plate, just for the record.

Also, I read that putting a clear lid over the sprout is supposed to help it out so I've gone ahead and done that with the bottom of a water bottle.


Perfect fit

This shouldn't cause any problems right?

I don't think so. All it does is raise the humidity around the sprout, which is good for it.

Alright thanks.

Also, one of the leaves has been slowly drooping down, that's not a big deal is it? Its kinda big so maybe the plant just doesn't want to put so much energy into keeping it up?

Cool. We are on pretty similar time lines. I was/am trying to be as cheap as possible too... but I am already getting a bit carried away. Hopefully watching your journal will keep me in check.
Happy growing.

Thanks for the reply, and good luck with your grow too.

I threw some more seeds from the bag of 2 year old seeds into a paper towel, and 4 from a more recent bag, and after 2 days (if that), 2 have sprouted and are ready to be planted, giving me a total of 3 seedlings to work with. There will probably be more on the way.

I'll post up some pics when I get the time.

My first seedling seems to be recovering from whatever stunted it, and is looking a lot greener.

--Day #3--

The serrated leaves are starting to grow out nicely, and there's two more leaves forming at the node. and the embryonic leaves are perking back up too.

--Day #4--

Some really good news! The two seeds I planted have broke the surface and are looking nice, and two more seeds just shot out tap roots and are ready to be planted. That gives me a total of 5 plants if they all live. I'm hoping to get one more plant for a total of 6, and I'll be set.

Hopefully I'll get at least 3 females out of them later on, and that would be really nice.

I'll post up some pics of all of them once my camera battery charges up.

How much do you guys think 3 plants that were vegged for a month could yield under these lights?

And how much do you think they could yield if I put them under two 4 foot florescents?

Got my 6th seed to sprout, once again it wasn't one that I expected to do anything. Although I'm not sure it will make it... I saw the tap root barely emerging last night and checked again today and it looked exactly the same, like it either died or just stopped for some reason. Anyway I've decided to let nature take its course and just planted it in soil and put it under the lights. I'll leave it there for a week and if it doesn't show up by then I'll dig it up to see if it did anything and if not, replace it with a new sprout, if i can get anymore to sprout that is.

Problem is I'm running out of seeds, about 20 of them that I started germinating 3 days ago seem dead and the ones from 5 days ago I know are dead. They also started growing fungus on them... is there any way to prevent that? other than bleach.

However, my 3 sprouts are looking nice and healthy, the other two haven't popped the surface yet, but I only planted them yesterday, so I expect to see them sometime tomorrow or the next day.

--Day #5--




Plant #1


Plant #1 Closeup

Are there going to be any problems with each plant being like a day apart from eachother in growth? There wasn't really much I could do about that...

Don't worry man, they still have lots of veg growth ahead
might turn out that the smallest ones turn into the best ones

keep an eye on them but too much love will kill

Thanks, that's actually very good advice, and a good buddy of mine pretty much told me the same thing. guess i just get too paranoid sometimes.

--Day #6--

Two more just popped up, this grow is looking real nice now. I've started giving the big one some nutes with her water. not too much though, just some very diluted 16-16-16 nutes. (i can't seem to find any high in nitrogen, just generic plant food)

The 3rd pair of fan leaves are forming at the node.

Also does anyone know what's up with this one sprout having such fat fan leaves?

Last one popped out. I've got 6 healthy plants now. Not sure why, or if its good or bad, but a couple sprouts have started developing the second leaf set already, one looks like it just forgot about the first pair and abandoned them. I would even say it looked like it was dieing, but the leaves came out like that when it opened up and it just never put and energy into them, or hasn't yet at least. the stem is still growing at the same rate as the others too.

Also the stems on some are turning red, not sure what that's about, but I don't think its a big deal.