Using carbon dioxide

Hello ppl!

I've been making homebrews for some time, and one useful byproduct you get from fermenting alcohol, is carbon dioxide.

You guys think it would help plants grow faster if I put a fermentor next to them, and have it constantly spew CO2 inside a greenhouse? (CO2 is heavier than air, so it'll accumulate at the bottom of the room).

If you’re not producing close to 1000 micro moles over the canopy there’s no need for CO2.

Bosgrower said:

If you’re not producing close to 1000 micro moles over the canopy there’s no need for CO2.

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Forgive my ignorance, so... the plants only need that much (few) CO2? Isn't like 99% of a plant's mass sequestered atmospheric carbon?

The main purpose of supplemental CO2 is to allow your plants to fully utilize all of the light they are receiving. The threshold for supplemental CO2 being necessary is bewteen 900 and 1000 micro moles. If you have powerful lights, CO2 may well improve your grow ... otherwise you're not going to see much if any improvement. It won't hurt anything, but I'm sure you have other things to spend money on.

I used to brew in my lung room I had. If you brew and need a place to store your carboys it's a good place. But I never noticed it helped.

gatewood said:

Forgive my ignorance, so... the plants only need that much (few) CO2? Isn't like 99% of a plant's mass sequestered atmospheric carbon?

Carbon Dioxide Enrichment | Managing CO2 in Your Grow Space

This article details what CO2 enrichment is and how to implement it in your indoor garden or greenhouse.

fifthseasongardening.com

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If you have every other element in your grow controlled and failed in then add co2. if you don’t have everything else in check it’ll only do so much. What kind of lighting are you using?

To really benefit from supplemental CO2 you do need intense lighting and you also need warmer temps. considering the CO2 production isn't "guaranteed" to keep the CO2 PPM at a high number like 1000 - 1500 PPM then you don't want to keep the plants in the warmer temperatures. So it's probably pointless. Also know that you don't want excessively high PPM and that could happen too if you aren't monitoring the CO2 PPM.

Autopilot makes these little monitors that will let you see what the CO2 levels are, for a few bucks more you can get a CO2 controller that could control a tank/regulator setup.

Also know that if you are exhausting the tent to control heat and RH% then you would exhaust the CO2 as well.

Renfro said:

Also know that if you are exhausting the tent to control heat and RH% then you would exhaust the CO2 as well.

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Yeah you really need a recirculating closed system for this to work well, with proper HVAC to automatically maintain environmental parameters like temperature and humidity. I wish I could afford (justify) that for my legal 4 plant Canadian grow. Lol

i herd that its used in sealed grow rooms so the plants use it up and produce oxygen

go go kid said:

i herd that its used in sealed grow rooms so the plants use it up and produce oxygen

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Yup. In a sealed grow room, without a constant artificial supply the plants would quickly use up the CO2 is available and die of starvation. CO2 is used by the plants to make sugar which it uses to power all the little chemical making factories it has going, including the production of THC.

Northwood said:

I wish I could afford (justify) that for my legal 4 plant Canadian grow. Lol

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Just grow 4 trees like I do and you will be pulling like 13+ pounds. 3 to 4 pounds a plant.

One interesting thing to note is the plants will actually put out CO2 when it's dark, so in a sealed room it's often the case where lights on CO2 levels are actually higher than ambient. In the instance of an occupied home, if you are drawing the intake air from the living space the CO2 levels are often higher than ambient due to occupancy.

Renfro said:

Just grow 4 trees like I do and you will be pulling like 13+ pounds. 3 to 4 pounds a plant.

One interesting thing to note is the plants will actually put out CO2 when it's dark, so in a sealed room it's often the case where lights on CO2 levels are actually higher than ambient. In the instance of an occupied home, if you are drawing the intake air from the living space the CO2 levels are often higher than ambient due to occupancy.

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Hey I'm hoping to get 3 pounds from one plant indoors too! https://www.rollitup.org/t/one-pink-lemonade-no-till-cycle-7-in-4-foot-diameter-pot-5x5-tent.1028655/

Outdoors that's easy, but indoors I only grow between 3 to 4 kg per year, depending on how many cycles I can squeeze in with my 5X5 tent. Usually I can count on 3 full cycles per year with my no-till, with a harvest of 1.1 to 1.4 kg each.

That was just with regular LED household light bulbs though that you can buy anywhere: https://www.rollitup.org/t/my-budget-5x5-setup.982183/
I have new lights now (4 X Kingbrite 240w V4), so maybe I'll do better this time with just one plant! lol

It's a pretty crazy experiment