• Do you need help identifying a 🌶?
    Is your plant suffering from an unknown issue? 🤧
    Then ask in Identification and Diagnosis.

CO2 and Peppers - Steroids or Snake Oil

BringTheFlameThrower

BringTheFlameThrower

So I'm planning on getting a grow tent and trying out CO2 enrichment.

I'll be setting up a yeast sugar bucket and running a line to the back of my soon to be purchased clip fan. I plan on enriching through seedling into veg stage. with 18HR cycles, both light and CO2 hooked up to a timer.

http://www.monsterga...mart&Itemid=184

Has anyone used CO2 to boost plant growth?

A bit pricey.. I could probably build one of these on my own using sugar and yeast, instead of their "mushroom spores and 'carbohydrate' mix"

At the end of the day, its just a 5gal bucket with a hole cut in the top, big enough for a PVC pipe with some holes drilled in it, hooked up to an air pump. Shouldn't be hard at all. After DIY costs, it's just a matter of buying more of whatever the crap is they're using, or buying some more bakers/brewers yeast and lbs of sugar.

The best way to determine how much CO2 you need is to calculate how many cubic feet your grow space is.

HydroFarm has a decent CO2 Calculator
http://www.hydrofarm...ces/co2calc.php

HydroFarm also has a nice explanation of enrichment methods
http://www.hydrofarm..._enrichment.php


If/When I do move forward with this setup, I plan on moving to a Deep Water Culture (DWC) setup. I'm still reading about DWC's and how they work. I'm a little confused as to how the nutrients and water is cleaned/cycled. Soil is much more strait forward. Some of the DWC setups I've seen (illustrations only so far) have no mention of water circulation or replenishing via reservoir. I did notice one rig that had an airstone at the bottom, an air pump, water level indicator, a 5gal bucket, and a lid with a litte Hydroton in the pot.
 
i think the consensus is that the yeast based systems are sort of a joke in terms of a viable method to enrich co2. unless you have a brewery or some such thing, i don't think you are going to come anywhere near to the ability to maintain the 1000+ppm co2 required to really augment plant growth.

IMO if you are willing/able to shell out 120 for a bucket thing. you might as well go for a tankless hot water heater or gas burner type system.

keep in mind that you are not going to be able to measure the real co2 concentration. if you really want to go the extra yard, you might consider getting a co2 sensor. i wouldnt bother with anything hydro related...if you are handy, you can get co2 sensors from hvac systems for far less. many of the hydro store co2 sensors are just rebrands of hvac stuff anyway.

way back i picked up an honeywell c7232 unit with an lcd readout for like 30 bucks.


about the water heater... heres what im talking about
http://www.amazon.com/Eccotemp-L5-Portable-Tankless-Outdoor/dp/B000TXOJQ4
 
queequeg152 said:
IMO if you are willing/able to shell out 120 for a bucket thing. you might as well go for a tankless hot water heater or gas burner type system.

keep in mind that you are not going to be able to measure the real co2 concentration. if you really want to go the extra yard, you might consider getting a co2 sensor. i wouldnt bother with anything hydro related...if you are handy, you can get co2 sensors from hvac systems for far less. many of the hydro store co2 sensors are just rebrands of hvac stuff anyway.

way back i picked up an honeywell c7232 unit with an lcd readout for like 30 bucks.
Click to expand...


Awesome idea. Yeah the whole hydroshop thing has always bugged me a little it. It seems like they have to much rebranded crap IMO. Hoe depot sells sprayer bottles for $6-7,hydro shops sell them for $10 a pop. Calling a decent nutrient, lets say NPK is 6-4-4, can be found at different places for various prices, but when you slap a label on it that says "$uper Unicorn Big Bud Jungle Grow Juice" you're looking at marketing at it's finest.

That said... If you're going to shell out $120 for a bucket, it would almost be cheaper to go for the $90 C02 regulator by ActiveAir and get a CO2 tank. The initial setup might be somewhere between $150-$200. But each tank refill is about $20, and depending upon the grow room/tent size, will last much longer than with a bucket. Not to mention the mess buckets of sugar and yeast will cause, and the added odor. (Just did some reading on the ActiveAir Regulator).

I totally agree with you queeequeq

Heres some sensors and meters I found...
http://www.co2meter.com/
 
Well, whatever setup you go with, I can tell you that it is steroids not snake oil. Giving plants CO2 is like feeding fire with oxygen. So the same concept applies that you are going to burn through the nutes in the soil or water (dwc) Make sure you keep them with enough food to promote that fast of growth or it won't matter how much CO2 you give them...once the fire is out, it's out and needs more fuel to burn, if you get my metaphor.

As for the DWC, basically you are going to measure out nutrients to the specific PPM you are looking for, then you will add it to the water and introduce oxygen via whatever source you go with. (fish pump, etc.) Then you change this water out about every two weeks to a month, dependent on how you are growing and what you are growing. Hydro is a bit harder than soil because you have to make sure the nutrient ppm is just right. You can cause nute lock out, over or under feeding. Give it a go, nothing like the experience gained from personal trial and error. Good luck!
 
BringTheFlameThrower said:
Awesome idea. Yeah the whole hydroshop thing has always bugged me a little it. It seems like they have to much rebranded crap IMO. Hoe depot sells sprayer bottles for $6-7,hydro shops sell them for $10 a pop. Calling a decent nutrient, lets say NPK is 6-4-4, can be found at different places for various prices, but when you slap a label on it that says "$uper Unicorn Big Bud Jungle Grow Juice" you're looking at marketing at it's finest.

That said... If you're going to shell out $120 for a bucket, it would almost be cheaper to go for the $90 C02 regulator by ActiveAir and get a CO2 tank. The initial setup might be somewhere between $150-$200. But each tank refill is about $20, and depending upon the grow room/tent size, will last much longer than with a bucket. Not to mention the mess buckets of sugar and yeast will cause, and the added odor. (Just did some reading on the ActiveAir Regulator).

I totally agree with you queeequeq
Click to expand...

very true i forgot about the whole bottle route. im always thinking about burners because im always imagining giant co2 enriched greenhouses. but for a small indoor tent? a bottle would be awesome.

i would still keep a co2 sensor in the mix tho. im not saying you have to build a controller or anything fancy. but it would be nice... REAL nice to be able to see what your concentration is at a given time, and adjust your regulator accordingly.
all you really need is a multimeter or even a regular cheep panel type volt meter or ammeter. most hvac outputs analogue signals that are either 4-20ma or 0-10v or even 0-5vdc. just by powering on the senor and reading the voltage or current being output you can get a reading of the current co2 concentration.

look at some of these.
http://www.ebay.com/sch/i.html?_trksid=p5197.m570.l1313&_nkw=co2+sensor&_sacat=0&_from=R40

this one looks promising... it looks like it may or may not be factory set to give you an on off signal at 750ppm with a 100ppm deadband.
if you can figure out the UART signal you could read co2 concentration as well.
http://www.ebay.com/itm/GE-SENSING-SAFEAIRE-T6603-5-CO2-SENSOR-TELAIRE-MODULE-Carbon-Dioxide-detector-/310427100403?pt=LH_DefaultDomain_0&hash=item4846e5a4f3





 
im not sure TBH. im sure there is loads of info, but im not sure where to point you.

basically the voltage or current the little sensors push out corresponds to a CO2 concentration.
the relationship between voltage and co2 is designed to be linear such that say... 5 volts =1000ppm, and 10 volts =2000ppm. so if say you read the voltage in the middle of the day and you get 6.25 volts you know you have 1250 ppm co2.
maby someone else can explain it better.
 
Co2 enrichment is impressive, providing your levels are 1200-1400 ppm. Most rooms in house are around the 325 to 425 ppm mark.

Enrichment will boost the veg cycle considerably. One cost effective way is to pick up a co2 valve, 20lb tank and a timer. Run cycles at the top of every hour your lights are on. This method will bring up the levels high enough to make a difference.

You may want to consider checking out come YouTube vids, the 420 community has used these cheats for a long time. With proven results.
 
Using CO2 became popular among the Mary Jane growers because you can turn a 6 month grow into a 3 month grow using CO2 (proper feeding, light cycles and color spectrum as well)

The faster it grows the more cash comes in. It's cost effective with the green cash crop. For pepper growing reasons, it could definitely become essential if you for instance; start late and need to play catch up before plant out, you have a desire to have peppers sooner (since the growing time is usually 120-180 days) your plant is recovering from disease would be another useful situation.

It has its place....and it's just really cool to see your plants explode! This is a hobby for most and cost effective doesn't come into play too much in hobbies. If you can afford it and want it, you usually get it. Once you are set up, it really isn't expensive for the CO2.
 
[background=rgb(255, 244, 228)]It has its place....and it's just really cool to see your plants explode! This is a hobby for most and cost effective doesn't come into play too much in hobbies. If you can afford it and want it, you usually get it. Once you are set up, it really isn't expensive for the CO2.[/background]
Click to expand...


Tell me about it... Peppers, Shooting sports, Survivalism/Prepper, Photography, Audio production, Airsoft,... blah... HUGE HOLE In my pocket... (Reverse order I started in... LOL - Now peppers *face desk*)

Ditched the airsoft before it became big (sold my TM-G36C :/ I hear they sell for good money these days), sold all my drum machines/effect/controllers, took up photography while my ex was doing fetish/pinup work, stopped wasting money on waiting for the end of the world, I have my standard 'merican issue arms and thats all I need, and farming is now the thing, and its freaking awesome. So much to learn.
 
If you wanted to do it properly... I think that an enrichment setup is waste, unless youve designed your entire grow for it. You must have a sealed grow space, meaning that you cant ventilate for fresh air exchange when CO2 is running. Your will need a seperated system/fan/hood just to cool your light using only outside air, and then another ventilation system/fan for exhausting the rooms air that cycles on and off in between doses of CO2....

seem practical?? i personally dont think so on a small scale
 
bushwhackxj said:
If you wanted to do it properly... I think that an enrichment setup is waste, unless youve designed your entire grow for it. You must have a sealed grow space, meaning that you cant ventilate for fresh air exchange when CO2 is running. Your will need a seperated system/fan/hood just to cool your light using only outside air, and then another ventilation system/fan for exhausting the rooms air that cycles on and off in between doses of CO2....

seem practical?? i personally dont think so on a small scale
Click to expand...

See, when I think of a hobby, I don't see there as being practical and impractical. Unless someone is trying to profit off of the peppers. and in all honesty it's not that expensive/hard to have duel ventilation IMO

I mean if you want to talk about practical and impractical. Starting peppers months in advance indoors would fall under the impractical category of gardening. If you are basing practical on, popping seeds in the ground and waiting for them to grow. Then the lengths we go to just to start our peppers for the spring garden would be considered impractical. Why not jump off the deep end and get yourself a CO2 setup while we're at it! I'm in....
 
Greenhouses spend lots of money on CO2 BUT they are well sealed structures....(usually Hydroponic) and they have probably played around and figured out what works best.
 
Yeah the more I read about CO2 the more it points to growing other kinds of stuff. Peppers seems to do well under natural conditions. Natural lighting, natural weather changes, and so forth. It seems that this whole CO2 thing is better suited for other kinds of projects. Not really beneficial IMO, especially for some 10-15 pepper plants... Right now I got 3 plans, and 1 seedling. My seedlings died off when I left for NOLA, and my roommate sent me an email... All dead, except the plants I moved into 1Gal smart pots. :/

Anyways. I gather, CO2 can work if you're willing to spend the money, but it's not really a viable option. Sure it's fancy pants, and if you have a large garage with a grow tent, you could possibly get a cool tube to run ventilation through your lights, and kick on the secondary ventilation at night, but turn this off when thats on and this is off when this is on and pipe that through... are we still growing peppers or are we building a pepper-lab? It would be awesome to do something like that, but not solo. I would rather build a setup like this with a partner or someone with a green house.
 
Never tried it, but am considering experimenting with this year's seedlings.
 
I'd be inclined to find a good meter for ~$50. Then.... Go Ghetto!
 
Assuming your grow area is fairly well sealed, burning a charcoal briquette or two each morning ought to bump CO2 quite nicely.  Even if most of it leaks out by the end of the day, you'll enjoy many hours of enhanced growth.  (Perhaps you'd want to synch CO2 levels with light?)  
 
Candles, a propane heater, etc. are other easy and sorta-cheap ways to generate CO2.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top