Learning some tricks from pot smoking hippies

Hi all,

I've done some poking around online, and stumbled across some forums and websites for, well, pot growers. They were discussing generating C02 around their plants. It's my understanding that commercial greenhouses also control their carbon dioxide levels, and there is a certain range that is optimal for your plants (shouldn't exceed 1500 ppm). I have a fairly large shelving unit in a spare bedroom, and I have to keep the room closed up otherwise my cat likes to snack on the plants. Apparently if your plants are exposed to people enough, the C02 that we produce really would be enough for the plants (talking to your plants actually DOES help them grow!). I'm hoping some people around here, who perhaps have fried one or two less brain cells than those on the other forums, can provide some insight. Has anyone tried this? I wonder if it's worthwhile. I guess I could just kick my husband out of our room and make him sleep beside the plants... but the poor things would probably die from the smell haha.

The setup I think that would work best is this:

2L coke bottle with water, sugar, yeast. (Sugar feeds the yeast, the yeast farts out carbon dioxide)
Poke a hole in the cap, insert a tube and run the tube around some plants.
Poke some holes along the tube so the C02 escapes sort of evenly.

Wow, way too complex for me! I don't do anything special for my seedlings, as far as CO2 goes, and they seem to be fine. On the other hand, if you like to make sour dough starter, it'd probably like the same conditions as your plant babies. Flour, water, sugar, yeast.

I did learn about indoor lighting from the cannabis on-line crowd, however. I ended up not going with their expensive light setups, but I did line my shelves and walls with aluminum foil for my babies. After I bought all my grow lights, etc. from amazon, they started "suggesting" books on growing pot. Had to set them all to "not interested." Really, what I want are 100 Tomato Plants. Amazon must have gotten the hint - they are now trying to get me to buy herb seeds - but of a different ilk - more like basil and parsley! THAT, I can do.

My husband would probably snore so much the plants would shake and fall off the shelves ;-)

Happy gardening!

Oh my gosh! There are actually forums for pot growers???? I'd think they'd all be in competition with each other and wouldn't want to share secrets.... LOL!

lorvan - sounds like too much hard work to me! Just talk to them several times a day, breathing on them as you talk is all they need. (giggle)

I breathe on my seedlings several times a day - it must work, 'cause I have more seedlings growing in my garden room than I have room for in the outside garden!

I agree with you folks - it's a bunch of work! I don't think I'd have time to make this setup anyway, I was just wondering if other people actually do this and if it really makes a noticeable difference. I always wonder how greenhouses have such big plants, and so many of them. They can't afford to waste time/money on seedlings that just don't grow well or seeds that don't sprout at all.

kmom - using aluminum foil? That definitely sounds like a pot growing tip! LOL I got my ideas from this website, there's so much valuable information on here. The more you dig, the more goodies you find :)

SoFla - haha I know... well communities gotta stick together, I suppose.

Honeybee - I wish I had time to talk to my plants several times a day! I work full-time, though, so I don't normally spend more than a few minutes at night watering them etc. Maybe when I retire in 40 years!! :D

If I see you talking to your plants, then I'm gonna know you been smokin' some other plants!!!

Doug

lorvan - thankfully, my days of having to work eight hours a day outside of the home are over. When I look back on all those years, I wonder how I had time to raise two children and vegetables.

Since when is the by product of plant respiration CO2? Plants,including yeasts, expire nitrogen and utilize carbon dioxide for respiration. That is why we need plants to balance our atmosphere. As for the use of carbon dioxide in commercial greenhouses, it has several purposes including bringing flowers into bloom at an opportune time for commercial marketing. The use of CO2 in pot growing is, I am guessing, to maximize bud production which is where the high levels of THC are. What does any of this have to do with the price of tea in China? I'm baffled. I can't see how this would impact basic gardening technique in regards to seed starting or propagation..

Honeybee - I'm sure you killed two birds with one stone... get the children to help you raise the vegetables! My mom always had me out there weeding for days on end when I was a kid... and somehow now I still love to garden :)

May, plants require carbon dioxide and produce oxygen, so you're right - we need plants! Yeast, however, requires oxygen and food (sugar) and converts the sugars to carbon dioxide and ethanol. I'm not so sure about the nitrogen... plants need nitrogen, and that's why we have it in our fertilizers. I would think that producing the right amount of carbon dioxide would make stronger, bigger, better plants.

This message was edited Apr 14, 2011 8:58 AM

Actually, flat white paint reflects better than aluminium foil, has no hot spots, and may be easier to clean.

"Titanium White" artists paint may have another few % of reflectance over average matte white.

Glossy white reflects less when both are clean, but is easier to keep clean and dust-free than matte or flat white.

I know this because ... ummm ... it must have been my ROOMATE who read all those websites and books, officer! Then he told me about it, that's my story.

Corey

I have my plant shelves and lights right against the side wall of my garage, which is flat white. It does a good job of reflecting--I turn the trays every couple of days, or the plants nearer the wall outpace the ones nearer the center of the room.

David

Funny thread. My roommate used those accordian folding windshield protector thingies to reflect light back on his roses. Mirrors work well too.

Interesting idea, but I'm not sure all the effort is worth it. My understanding is that air has plenty of CO2 for plants.... supplemental CO2 is only needed in enclosed spaces without a lot of air exchange (some greenhouses or growing setups). Opening a window to the outside or a door to the rest of the house might do as much good.

MaypopLaurel - You're right about plants using CO2, but yeast is definitely not a plant. Its a fungus and produces CO2 in abundance! Beer making is a perfect example. Yeast is used in the fermentation process and gives beer its "fizz" (aka carbonation).

I have a CO2 setup for growing plants but mine is in a very confined space, my aquarium. I don't have a whole lot of fish to make CO2 in there so I supplement with bottled CO2. When the dissolved gasses and nutrients are at the optimum levels the plants have to be thinned every week or we can't see the fish.