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Anyone Supplementing their grow chamber with Co2?

I've not seen this topic discussed much in the CP community, or if it has I've missed it. I had always wanted to try supplementing co2 but never got around to it. I think this time I may give it a go.

What to do you guys think ? I can't really think of any potential negatives if starting off slow and low. Maybe start off trying something like a small "grow bro" that the medicinal plant community uses.


-jess
 
Yes, I've supplemented co2 in the past. I'm really interested in seeing your results b/c I did this in highschool with various cps & did not do proper comparisons or continue long enough to see desired outcome. Its been 10+ years & I have always wanted to try again but, like you, haven't been able to even come close to getting around to it. It would be nice to see comparisons of plants grown with & without supplementation. All I have to say is you grow bro!
 
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thats a good idea, I have two N. robcantleyi that are from the same vender that are the same size and same medium. Those would probably be good test subjects since they're pretty much the same. however it won't be a ultra controlled test as I have no means of measuring the co2's atmospheric PPM the Co2 plant will be exposed to (thus why I think the grow brow is the best option as it is an organic Co2 generator so it releases at a predictably slow rate) . Those small grow bros last up to 8 weeks I'm not sure that would be long enough to see a difference so I may end up getting two grow bros, an extra to replace the spent one for up to a 16 week exposure. Im going to have to figure out how to separate the two as I want them to have the same lighting cycle and I only have one grow chamber right now, so I may have to rig up a partition of sorts with maybe a venting fan blowing positive pressure into the non Co2 side so that Co2 can't seep its way to the other plant. So I need to figure out some of the logistics before going ahead. But this could be quite interesting.
 
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I have been planning this too but never did it because I was too unsure about the dosage and the way to measure the CO2 level in the terrarium. CO2 meters are expensive and I wouldn't even know how to feed the gas into the terrarium.
 
All the extra CO2 in the world won't make the slightest difference in growth rate unless CO2 is the limiting factor to the growth of the particular plant in its particular situation.
 
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well grow chambers being enclosed perhaps there is or can be a Co2 deficit...
 
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Let me preface this by saying that it is beyond doubt that for certain plants under certain circumstances, the benefits of CO2 supplementation are well documented. If you want to try this for fun, go for it, but from a scientific perspective any results will be completely anecdotal given the parameters you have laid out. Way too many variables in your protocols. First off, and most obviously unless your test and control subjects are genetically identical genetic variation could easily account for any differences in growth. You should also consider that if your chamber does normally become CO2 deficient, by maintaining positive pressure in your control chamber with air which has a normal level of CO2, you will also be supplementing CO2 in it as well. So it really won't qualify as a control per se, merely a subject receiving a different level of supplementation. As I said, if this is something you enjoy doing, that's all the justification required for doing it. Just don't consider it as proof of anything.
 
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of course theres no scientific value to this, I never implied there would be just a simple, like you stated, anecdotal test. It is just for the enjoyment of messing around with my plants. I mostly just wanted to know if anyone else has tried it and noticed any anecdotal changes. At best there will be an improvement that I can neither measure or even see, at worst I wasted 20 bux on a grow bro, lol.
 
I tried supplementing the water beneath my Utricularia once with CO2. If you don't want to spend a whole lot, using yeast is a perfect way to do it. Just mix up some water, sugar, and bakers yeast in a gallon jug, and connect a tube from that to your terrarium and you'll have CO2 flowing within hours. Every few weeks you can take a few cups of the old batch and pour it into the new batch and keep the culture alive that way. Like Subrosa said, CO2 may only be beneficial if it is the limiting factor in growth, and even then a plant may only utilize CO2 up to a certain concentration before the returns on additional CO2 become less. Good luck! And make sure to share your results with us
 
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I tried supplementing the water beneath my Utricularia once with CO2. If you don't want to spend a whole lot, using yeast is a perfect way to do it. Just mix up some water, sugar, and bakers yeast in a gallon jug, and connect a tube from that to your terrarium and you'll have CO2 flowing within hours. Every few weeks you can take a few cups of the old batch and pour it into the new batch and keep the culture alive that way. Like Subrosa said, CO2 may only be beneficial if it is the limiting factor in growth, and even then a plant may only utilize CO2 up to a certain concentration before the returns on additional CO2 become less. Good luck! And make sure to share your results with us

Now in aquatic environment it's a different matter entirely. As long as there are no fish in the system excess CO2 has the considerable benefit of allowing higher plants like Utricularia to outcompete algae for available nutrients. All my aquatic systems that are in full sun tend to grow mass quantities of algae until the surface plants fill in enough to shade things a bit. If I cared enough about algae a CO2 system would definitely help control it early in the season.
 
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