Injecting CO2 into sprout hood

[Michibacy]

When I begin to grow sprouts I put a plastic painter's plastic hood over the plants to keep in humidity/heat.

In previous years I grew veggies and such inside in a small grow tent (nothing funny grown in there), I noticed one day that releasing CO2 into the tent REALLY helped the plants grow/flourish.

My question is this: would it benefit sprouts to have CO2 pumped in, in small amounts?

 

[SmokesAhoy]

I dunno by how much but it makes sense that it should have some positive benefit. Perhaps place your homebrew primary fermentation bucket in with your sprouts and give them a sip now and then for symbiosis and to prevent jealousy

 

[Michibacy]

Hey now not a bad idea! Mead! Drinks all around!

 

[andrewislord]

In my experience CO2 increases growth a lot. If you have the light for it. I don't know if it would be much of a benefit to little sprouts though.
People do all kinds of things to get CO2 in there rooms. Home made fermenting things are common, there is a lot of recipes out there. And pre made stuff that is similar. Here is one:
http://www.discount-hydro.com/products/CO2-Boost.html
In the long run tanks are cheaper though, if you're using enough.

Pretty much CO2 just makes the plants metabolize and use the fertilizer and light faster, increasing growth. But if you don't make up for the increase in CO2 with more light or fertilizer it would be a waste. Also, in my experience, plants with CO2 supplemented put up with heat better.

I might be wrong though.

 

[johnlee1933]

I dunno by how much but it makes sense that it should have some positive benefit. Perhaps place your homebrew primary fermentation bucket in with your sprouts and give them a sip now and then for symbiosis and to prevent jealousy

I never thought about it but it does make sense. CO2 is what chlorophyll metabolizes for growth. Increasing it's concentration basically means more food = more growth. -- J

 

[ne3go]

I've not tried this one but sounds good!
Also, another "organic" way to boost oxygene in roots, is to water plants with a very thin solution of Hydrogen peroxide (H[SUB]2[/SUB]O[SUB]2[/SUB]).

 

[Chicken]

i think it would be a waste to try and use co2 on such young sproutlings,

perhaps if you grew the whole plant indoors it may make a difference,

the only time ive seen co2 professionally used to grow a plant,

was some big indoor marijuana grows,

....................................................................

if your seeking ideas, about helping a plant grow, you should look into some knowledge the pot growers have figured out,

them guy's have mastered the art of growing any plant,

 

[andrewislord]

I've used H202 in the water a lot, not sure how much it helps, but it makes sense. I heard it could kill organics, and to let it set a while in the water to absorb into the water. I stopped doing it, except for very sterile things, like takes clones or something. I just use air pumps and air stones.

Forgot to mention on the CO2. You could run natural gas or propane to do something like this.
http://www.discount-hydro.com/products/C.A.P.-Natural-Gas-CO2-Generators.html

Less pricey in the long run and you don't have to keep filling CO2 tanks. I still prefer the tanks though.

Another thing, when using a lot of CO2, you need controller and monitors. It gets really expensive. I don't know if it would make sense on vegetables or even tobacco.

 

[Markw]

You need to get your lovely lady to bake you sour dough bread each day. lots of CO2 is given off and you get lovely fresh yummy bread every day.

Markw

 

[Chicken]

^^^^

i like that idea,

 

[Michibacy]

Haha oh if only if only. I forgot about this idea: In fish tanks/aquariums live plants are often placed in the water to help produce Oxygen for the fish. But, as we all know most plants need CO2, so a very cheap and easy way to insert CO2 is to make a water/sugar/yeast slurry in a 2 liter bottle, run a hose through the cap. In about an hour it produces small bubbles of CO2. I could convert this set up to run the hose under the hood and make a small amount of CO2. I wonder if it'd be worth it. When the plants are just single sprouts I really don't think it would matter much (I agree with you Chicken) but when they have half-dollar sized leaves +, I think that the extra C02 would help increase the plants mass.

A farming article I tracked down here at the office (talking about global warming) tells that one of the little known secrets of global warming is the increased Co2 actually helps out the plants, enlarging/thickening the foliage of plants (the taller the plant the more of a percentage the leaves increase. IE Red Woods compared to lettuce)

Another thing I wonder is this: Would gassing off C02 into the water jug that I water the small plants (while still in the green house) benefit them? An liquid form/small particle gaseous form of C02 would appear to be easier to absorb.

 

[johnlee1933]

A farming article I tracked down here at the office (talking about global warming) tells that one of the little known secrets of global warming is the increased Co2 actually helps out the plants, enlarging/thickening the foliage of plants (the taller the plant the more of a percentage the leaves increase. IE Red Woods compared to lettuce)

I thought this was common knowledge. Through out earths history (at least since chlorophyll) the more CO2 the more rapid world wide plant growth. As the foliage fixes CO2 out of the atmosphere as plant hydrocarbons the earth radiates more heat to space and the earth cools. As this process is reversed the earth warms up again.

This is my understanding. If I'm wrong corrections are welcomed. -- John

 

[Michibacy]

John, I believed it to be true before I even read it, reading it just reenforced my theory.

 

[BigBonner]

If Im not mistaken Any plant including tobacco has to have oxygen in the soil for the roots .

 

[johnlee1933]

If Im not mistaken Any plant including tobacco has to have oxygen in the soil for the roots .

You are absolutely right. Plants like most other living things need oxygen to sustain life. There are some anaerobic life forms like the Clostridium botulinum bacteria that make botulism As I understand it plants (chlorophyll) metabolize CO2 when it's light but burn oxygen for life like the rest of us. Overall the ratio is hugely towards oxygen manufacture. -- John

 

[Matty]

Ok, I have to speak up. Years ago, before I had a REAL job, I was an indoor "tomatoe" grower. We would use C02 when the plants where more mature when the temperature would get real high. With C02 the plants could handle higher heat levels, as much as 120f. They would grow extremely robust this way, thick, lush and dark green, we had a LOT of light. We would also use hydrogen peroxide for hydroponic grows to maintain a more or less "clean" water supply but mostly to provide the roots with oxygen. The hydrogen peroxide we had was industrial strength specially produced for hydroponics. Getting back to the question at hand, we never used C02 on sprouts because it wasn't economical for our setup, too much would have been lost. We mainly used it for heat control so the plants wouldn't cook.

 

[Chicken]

Ok, I have to speak up. Years ago, before I had a REAL job, I was an indoor "tomatoe" grower. We would use C02 when the plants where more mature when the temperature would get real high. With C02 the plants could handle higher heat levels, as much as 120f. They would grow extremely robust this way, thick, lush and dark green, we had a LOT of light. We would also use hydrogen peroxide for hydroponic grows to maintain a more or less "clean" water supply but mostly to provide the roots with oxygen. The hydrogen peroxide we had was industrial strength specially produced for hydroponics. Getting back to the question at hand, we never used C02 on sprouts because it wasn't economical for our setup, too much would have been lost. We mainly used it for heat control so the plants wouldn't cook.

which job paid the most,????

 

[Matty]

Lol, hard work pays off, even if the pay ain't high. I was earning about minimum wage for growing. I'm glad I'm out of the "growing" trade, no stress, no worries.

As a guess, cause I never tried, adding C02 to sprouts and seedlings may help them by dealing with larger amounts of light enabling them to green-up faster thus reducing transplant shock. In the small space of a seedling tray, it would be easy to see any difference. I'd try it out.