Better Than Nothing, Or Is It: First Time Grow On The Cheap

[jahliver209]

So while I have some growing experience, it's been a while and I've never grown from seed. I had a few laying around and was bored, so I decided to see what i can or can't do.

I literally have no budget for this, just a couple of bucks here and there. So the challenge is to use whatever I can to maximize efficiency. No space, no lights, nothing special - just a bookshelf, surge protector, and some socket plugs.

Walmart carries a 100 watt replacement daylight bulb (17.5 actual LED watts) for $5.16. It says it outputs 1600 lumens and has a color temperature of 5000K. My local 99 Cent store has a 2 pack of 17 watt 2700K LEDs for $2.99. I modified the diffusers (I think that's what they're called) to push out more light, or not restrict as much from coming out.

Attached is what it looks like at the moment.

 

[jahliver209]

Some shots of the seedlings..

 

[fanleaf]

So while I have some growing experience, it's been a while and I've never grown from seed. I had a few laying around and was bored, so I decided to see what i can or can't do.

I literally have no budget for this, just a couple of bucks here and there. So the challenge is to use whatever I can to maximize efficiency. No space, no lights, nothing special - just a bookshelf, surge protector, and some socket plugs.

Walmart carries a 100 watt replacement daylight bulb (17.5 actual LED watts) for $5.16. It says it outputs 1600 lumens and has a color temperature of 5000K. My local 99 Cent store has a 2 pack of 17 watt 2700K LEDs for $2.99. I modified the diffusers (I think that's what they're called) to push out more light, or not restrict as much from coming out.

Attached is what it looks like at the moment.

That'll work fine for now bu what type of water are you using? What are you going to do for a whole lot more light in a few weeks? They will need many many many more of those bulbs for a mediocre yield. Are you on city chlorinated water? What type of soil? There are plenty of people here to help you through your grow. Just keep in mind, by the time you buy 20 of those bulbs you could have bought a real LED grow light.

 

[fanleaf]

Some shots of the seedlings..

2 plants that close together in 1 really small container is a problem. It will be anyways.

 

[jahliver209]

.. what type of water are you using?

Plain 'ol tap water. I've read RO is good to use.

What are you going to do for a whole lot more light in a few weeks?

I'm not sure. I never expected them to make it this far. I've been researching fixtures, and have my eye on a few if I can scrape some pennies.

They will need many many many more of those bulbs for a mediocre yield.

Yep. I might pick up another few packs, I'm not sure. I didn't really expect this to happen. But I want to go through the motions with minimal equipment, so i can see the process with minimal upfront investment. Then I can apply what I learned to better equipment and get that better-than-mediocre yield.
Gotta walk before I crawl, though.

What type of soil?

Just a generic $3 bag from Walmart. Nothing hot.

2 plants that close together in 1 really small container is a problem. It will be anyways.

Yes. But I had put them in the soil together and they grew like that,and I didn't feel like further shocking the ones that survived with further transplanting. Many died so these can live. This was how they started out:

 

[fanleaf]

Well, we are all here to help you through with anything we can. Looks well so far.

 

[MochaBud]

Plain 'ol tap water. I've read RO is good to use.


I'm not sure. I never expected them to make it this far. I've been researching fixtures, and have my eye on a few if I can scrape some pennies.


Yep. I might pick up another few packs, I'm not sure. I didn't really expect this to happen. But I want to go through the motions with minimal equipment, so i can see the process with minimal upfront investment. Then I can apply what I learned to better equipment and get that better-than-mediocre yield.
Gotta walk before I crawl, though.

Here ya go...I used CFLs when I started too...but now they have much better bulbs than those small low wattage things I used..... and to the forum...

 

[jahliver209]

Thanks. I've been reading here for a while after Google kept bringing me here when I searched for solutions to a problem. I've racked up hundreds of pictures in the past few weeks alone just documenting the process, and I thought I might share my experience complete with visuals. It's what I wanted most - to see this in action.

Speaking of which, just put them to sleep. Had to take photos before doing so.

 

[fanleaf]

Looks good. I would definitely stop cutting off problems on leafs though. That stops the leaf from transpiring as it needs to. It may make it look better for your eyes but the plant will just rob what it needs from the next leaf and you will keep chasing it.

 

[jahliver209]

I would definitely stop cutting off problems on leafs though. That stops the leaf from transpiring as it needs to. It may make it look better for your eyes but the plant will just rob what it needs from the next leaf and you will keep chasing it.

Ooooh, didn't know that. Duly noted.

 

[jahliver209]

Some updates..

 

[fanleaf]

Looking very healthy. Good job

 

[Chris Scorpio]

U need to separate those two plants or the small one will get dwarfed

They are old enough to handle it

Get errrrrr done!!!

 

[fanleaf]

U need to separate those two plants or the small one will get dwarfed

They are old enough to handle it

Get errrrrr done!!!

I tried that already lol.

 

[jahliver209]

U need to separate those two plants or the small one will get dwarfed

That's kind of what I want. This is my first ever grow from seed, and I'm having fun watching the process unfold. Those two are the last survivors of 2 different attempts to sprout seeds, so I decided to leave well enough alone and let them be. Knowing full well the roots will get in the way of each other, I decided to leave them in the same pot for the sake of simplicity.


Not really expecting anything out of this grow. This is more like an experiment.

 

[Chris Scorpio]

I tried that already lol.

Lol

Guess he has this then

Lol

 

[fanleaf]

Lol

Guess he has this then

Lol

Yeah, unfortunately it's not much of an experiment if we can tell him exactly what is about to take place. It would be a far better "experiment" to surgically separate them.

 

[jahliver209]

Okay, I'll rephrase: I'm tired of reading and looking at pictures.

Everything I've read says "do this because of XYZ, and after that, do ABC because if you don't something horrible will happen!!1!" That's good and well and all, but I'm stupid. I need to learn the hard way and see it first hand. It solidifies my understanding of the process. Google searches and forum reading can only do so much; I need some hands on training.

I expect to fail. It's part of the learning process.

 

[fanleaf]

You're not stupid, your just new to this. To be quite honest it just makes dome of us cringe to see what will happen. You could have 2 healthy plants if fixed but it kinda in a way hurts many of our stomachs to watch what we know happens in this situation, happen.
Let me put it this way, I always cut a few extra clones than I will need but when they all take root and survive and start to grow, it really takes everything I have to kill the few extras I don't need or can't have. I just hate to see a good plant go to a death of my doing.

 

[jahliver209]

You're not stupid, your just new to this. To be quite honest it just makes dome of us cringe to see what will happen. You could have 2 healthy plants if fixed but it kinda in a way hurts many of our stomachs to watch what we know happens in this situation, happen.
Let me put it this way, I always cut a few extra clones than I will need but when they all take root and survive and start to grow, it really takes everything I have to kill the few extras I don't need or can't have. I just hate to see a good plant go to a death of my doing.

Thank you.

Yes, I understand that perspective. As a person speaking from experience, you see my plants' placement as something wrong and thus feel inclined to warn me of the potential dangers.

I admire that. That level of knowledge is where I would like to be. You've probably been doing this a long time, have done a lot, and know your way around. I want to look back and say, 'yeah, fanleaf said that was going to happen', and do it right after that.

Yes, it can be painful to watch.