Here's what was happening:
I had For Science (Yes this may be the problem) and automated science smapler on. When I finalized the results on the plant growth experiment it came up with the completed experiment dialogue but after clicking keep data, no data was kept and on the plant growth pod was only the finalize results button, which if clicked had the same result. Once I deactivated FS and automated science sampler it worked fine so it might not be automated science sampler causing the bug. I have since unistalled FS as this mod superseeds it and have had no further issues since.