The how to and why fors of CO2 supplementation for growers

[Lazyman]

Thanks for all the comments guys, good to see you all.

 

[fluffygrrrl]

thanks again, this topic is very important to many and you've really helped a lot of folks

 

[SpasticGramps]

I was wondering about CO2 in veg, because I'm going to be running a totally closed system. I found this thread. I think the conclusion is if you have the proper setup and are prepared for faster growth then it works well..

 

[Lazyman]

Spot on Gramps, I've heard it makes plants pretty thin and leggy in veg so if you want short bushes I'd avoid CO2 there, and most folks say to stop co2 enrichment 2 weeks before chop too.

 

[SpasticGramps]

Spot on Gramps, I've heard it makes plants pretty thin and leggy in veg so if you want short bushes I'd avoid CO2 there, and most folks say to stop co2 enrichment 2 weeks before chop too.

If you are in a totally sealed room without intake or exhaust, wouldn't turning off the CO2 eventually starve your plants after two weeks? How does that work?

What effect does cutting off the CO2 two weeks before chop have?

 

[Lazyman]

Sorry, I should clarify, levels should be dropped to atmospheric levels, roughly 300 ppm which probably won't require the generator to run at all. Stopping it is supposed to speed ripening of buds and trichomes.

 

[SpasticGramps]

Gotcha. Makes sense. I'll definitely make sure I do that!!

You can buy doors from home improvement stores like home depot and lowes that have some type of a weather strip on all 4 sides of the door. When the door is closed it really is a tight seal. If you have a regular door already you can put thin pieces of weather stripping on the top and sides and by one of those door strips for the bottom.

 

[sparkjumper]

The last couple weeks of flower the plants arent using the excess co2 anyway,its wasteful unless you have other plants less developed.I set my controller for 1500PPM which seems to have worked best for me and is in line with what I've read.Someone mentioned using 700 PPM thats really not going to accomplish much IMO.The co2 levels indoors are nautrally higher I run over 600PPM in my house.I would go with 1000PPM at the very least but 1500 seems to be the magic number.I have a door flap on the bottom of my door but to be honest I dont think it was really necessary.I wasnt losing much co2 at all through the cracks or the bottom of the door.I never considered a "sealed room" to be hermetically sealed if you know what I mean.Your controller will let you know what is up in your particular situation.As for co2 in veg if it were one or the other,I'd definately go with co2 during flower.I've never used it in veg but have never really seen a need to.Usually I am trying to slow my vegging plants towards the end of veg waiting for my 60 day flowering plants to finish.60 days can veg a cut into a monster without co2 enrichment

 

[BuddahBoyee]

Thank you Lazyman! I have been searching for info as I am introducing CO2 to my grows now. Much appreeciated.

 

[Lazyman]

No problem guys, I know setting up a CO2 room is hard work and sealing a room airtight is a bitch, but a 20% yield bump is worth a lot of sweat equity to me!

 

[Lazyman]

Oh, here's another idea, I haven't tried it yet but I will on my new grow:

Using the gas-fired water heater in a basement as a giant HydroGen!

There's a sink next to the water heater, I could plumb a 120V inline valve (from Farmtek.com) to the sinks hot water line, and when energized (by a co2 controller) it will open the valve, draining to waste and turning on the big WH. Should only take a few minutes to enrich the room to 1500ppm with the giant burner, and when showers are taken they'll get an extra boost. Just have to point the WH exhaust into the room instead of out of it.

 

[SpasticGramps]

The last couple weeks of flower the plants arent using the excess co2 anyway,its wasteful unless you have other plants less developed.I set my controller for 1500PPM which seems to have worked best for me and is in line with what I've read.Someone mentioned using 700 PPM thats really not going to accomplish much IMO.The co2 levels indoors are nautrally higher I run over 600PPM in my house.I would go with 1000PPM at the very least but 1500 seems to be the magic number.I have a door flap on the bottom of my door but to be honest I dont think it was really necessary.I wasnt losing much co2 at all through the cracks or the bottom of the door.I never considered a "sealed room" to be hermetically sealed if you know what I mean.Your controller will let you know what is up in your particular situation.As for co2 in veg if it were one or the other,I'd definately go with co2 during flower.I've never used it in veg but have never really seen a need to.Usually I am trying to slow my vegging plants towards the end of veg waiting for my 60 day flowering plants to finish.60 days can veg a cut into a monster without co2 enrichment

So having the CO2 high during the last couple of weeks is not detrimental in anyway, (ie inhibits trichome maturity) it's basically just a waste??

Is your veg room sealed too or are you exchanging the air through some sort of ventilation separate from your flower room? I ask because my entire grow area is going to be one big sealed room divided into sub rooms and the whole area has to share the same air. So if I'm running 1200-1500 CO2 ppm in flower that air (because it has the AC) has to be circulated through the veg room to cool it. So I'll have 1500 in my veg/clone room.

Unless there is a way around this. Ideally, I'd love to have 300-500 in my veg and 1500 in flower. I think that's asking a lot though. I won't really know until I get this shit hooked up. I might be over thinking it??

 

[Lazyman]

My new grow will be the same way gramps, not really worried about it.

 

[SpasticGramps]

I found this thread that has a real good explanation about why you should just run your co2 at 1500ppm and 80-85 degrees the whole time.

 

[jammie]

hey all. i got a Q. I do 5 gal dwc buckets and a big ass air pump to supply o2 to the roots. If i pump co2 into the room, won't it get pulled into the air lines and buckets thereby decreasing o2 sat and killing the bennies??

 

[sparkjumper]

Spastic I keep my flower room at 1500PPM until the bitter end for my plants because I have other plants in there that are only 30 days in.If you ask me it total bunk saying the excess co2 somehow will be detrimental to your finishing plants.Like I said they arent really utilizing the extra gas but its certainly not harming them.I guess thats one of those internet things that if you say it enough,its true lol.

 

[SpasticGramps]

Spastic I keep my flower room at 1500PPM until the bitter end for my plants because I have other plants in there that are only 30 days in.If you ask me it total bunk saying the excess co2 somehow will be detrimental to your finishing plants.Like I said they arent really utilizing the extra gas but its certainly not harming them.I guess thats one of those internet things that if you say it enough,its true lol.

Your're right. I looked into it further and was able to establish that higher levels of CO2 will NOT hurt a plant it just won't be able to use it. I think the other major part of running with CO2 is keeping your temps around 85 if you are at 1500 so the plant has the ability to use the CO2. The heat and CO2 ppm have to be dialed in or you are wasting CO2, but never hurting your plant. Unless you crank it up to 10,000ppm. (Point of interest. 10,000ppm for an hour will kill all bugs, unfortnately humans too, so be careful if you try that).

 

[BudBoi]

Excellent Thread, my head isnt hurting as much as it normally does when reading up on Co2. Just a couple of points and questions. Firstly, last time i tried with co2 i made sure my aircooled supernova shades were air tight (loads of extra silicone) and were indipendantly vented from my room, which really wasnt a good idea in my situation as i had cold air blowing through them and with the condensation filled with water lol!! I will stress that not everone will be in the same situation i was in as where the air was being drawn through the lights was basically from outside but just thought id mention it as aircooled shades filled with water isnt a good scenario lol. And one question (along similar lines as Jammie's) as im about to try again with co2 in a tent. I'm going to be running an ebb and flood bucket system and was wondering wether it would be worth clearing the room of co2 b4 every flood and drain cycle so the roots would be getting a fresh supply of oxygen, i have a half decent controller that measures the ppm and i could set it to switch off b4 each flood and drain cycle and switch back on again after as it automatically resets itself after a power failure, as it will only be a 1.2 mtr square tent the loss of co2 wouldnt be that bad. Cheers in advance D

 

[Lazyman]

Nope not worth it to mess with the co2 for flooding bro, remember we're not removing oxygen from the atmosphere as much as we're adding CO2. If you're really worried, better air pumps have a 1/2" inlet nozzle, just run a hose to it from outside or something.

 

[MarquisBlack]

I imagine excessive CO2 levels causing problems in the root zone if the necessary precautions aren't taken.

http://archive.lib.msu.edu/tic/gcman/article/2003jan181.pdf

(A carbon scrubber at floor level exhausting straight up is a great preventative. Keeps CO2 from settling at the lowest point, especially helpful if using cold bottled CO2 rather than generated CO2)