Thoughts On Growing With CO2 Supplementation?

[ControlLED]

Do you grow with added CO2 Supplementation - If So How Do You Do It? We would like to start a discussion on how different people are using CO2!

As Plants use CO2 as part of the process of photosynthesis; using light, CO2 and water to create energy for the plant. Ambient CO2 levels are usually 300-400ppm. As light intensity increases more CO2 can be utilised by the plant which will in turn allow the plant to use more of the available light and turn it into energy!

We recommend increasing CO2 levels to between 600-1200ppm, this can be achieved in several different ways!

1. For smaller spaces, natural-release CO2 bags are an effective way to increase and maintain levels in your growing area. You can find these online or at your local hydroponics stores, Things such as ExHale XL Bag from Homegrown CO2 are a great option and will help gently and naturally increase your CO2 levels!
 
2.For complete control over your environment, we recommend a dedicated CO2 controller that will maintain set levels using bottled CO2 or a gas burner.  When using CO2 bottles with a doser, using a fan-speed controller to reduce the speed of your extraction fan when dosing ensures your plants use the available CO2 while it is in the room.

I'm Looking forward to hearing everyone's thoughts and opinions!

-Control LED Team

[Smokey McBongface]

Think for most here man the CO2 bags are probably what’s affordable, I have been looking at grabbing an Exhale bag but the stock and pricing of them seems all over the place.

 

Would be cool if there was a more budget friendly option to running a CO2 controller with a bottle. 

[Keye]

My supplier has almost doubled the cost of a CO2 tank refill over the last 6 months......

Edited September 22, 2022 by Keye
edit: smelling pistakes.

[ControlLED]

17 minutes ago, Smokey McBongface said:

Think for most here man the CO2 bags are probably what’s affordable, I have been looking at grabbing an Exhale bag but the stock and pricing of them seems all over the place.

 

Would be cool if there was a more budget friendly option to running a CO2 controller with a bottle. 

we are exploring the options on the market for smaller spaces so far we have come across the tnb naturals CO2 bottles which you shake every day to increase  c02 levels but this means you have to go in every day when your lights switch on to give it a shake

alternatively we are exploring the possibility of using aquarium co2 dispersal kits and adapting them to work in smaller grow spaces with a co2 controller  once we get some in and have a chance to test the outcome we will make a thread about our results  

[ukbudz]

Be interesting to see if those exhale bags actually increase c02.

 

Most people I see place them at the top of there tent next to the extract. 

[ControlLED]

1 minute ago, ukbudz said:

Be interesting to see if those exhale bags actually increase c02.

 

Most people I see place them at the top of there tent next to the extract. 

co2 is heavier than air but i would be careful having it too close to your extraction as you wouldn't want it getting sucked straight out and going to waste 

I would recommend having it above an oscillating fan so it falls onto the fan which then throws it across your canopy 

I personally have seen an increase with using co2 exhale bags but they take about 2 weeks to "kick in" so I would typically hang one the day i flip so that the boost comes around week 2 when a majority of stretch is usually finished and i feel the co2 is boosting flowering rather than stretch

they are deffo worth it under led or hid especially if you are dealing with high light intensity/ higher temperatures than usual

[ControlLED]

32 minutes ago, Keye said:

My supplier has almost doubled the cost of a CO2 tank refill over the last 6 months......

we feel you there dude unfortunately everything is going up at the moment but we believe co2 supplementation is still cost effective given that it is used correctly  for people using closed loop or leds with minimal extraction they will 100% see the benefits especially in winter as the need for extraction is lowered meaning the co2 is less likely to be pulled from your grow space and put to good use. thats the only down side of hid lighting now in order to have a closed loop running hid you would need air conditioning etc or lots of extraction to keep temps down.

 

 

[GreenVision]

I think the issue is providing evidence, or thereabouts, that adding CO2 to the grow room will warrant its investment. 

 

I'd love to give it a go, but as a personal grower with an intake / extraction setup I often find myself pondering over the cost / effectiveness of full on CO2.

 

I've tried 3 Exhale bags in a grow tent replaced half way through bloom, and I have to confess I thought there was an increase in health and yield. Its hard to tell as home grower in a tent etc, but it was a clone run and I did feel there was a difference. So again I'd be interested also in knowing how folks get on with CO2. 

 

Have to agree the TNB do look interesting. Would also like to see how people got on with them.

[Keye]

If you're really interested, @GreenVision, you could invest in a CO2 monitor, without the valve setup. This would give you actual readings from your space and tell you how far off you might be already. You could even do a home brew (mines at 6.5% this morning....) or buy one bag and see if it actually changes any numbers to a degree worthwhile. Then you've got a calibration and you can weigh up cost vs return.

[Saddam]

3 hours ago, ControlLED said:

We recommend increasing CO2 levels to between 600-1200ppm, this can be achieved in several different ways!

 

This is a site for percy growers, most of whom use a standard inlet/extraction system which makes the best of the free CO2 which is held in the atmosphere. Those CO2 bags are pointless if grower is using extraction system as any CO2 produced by the bags will be whipped out of the grow room before the plants have had a chance to use it.  CO2 is for sealed rooms and/or commercial setups.  

 

If you are here to push worthless products on our members, like most would expect from any shitty grow store, then I'll save myself the bother of reading your spam. 

[KC]

I'm pretty sure it was on Overgrow, there were some grows with closed rooms and aircon running co2 and the bud sizes were amazing. For us Europeans and our fast extracting I doubt co2 would be worth the money. If anyone wants to give it a go I'd be very interested to see the results. I really can't afford to be investing more in growing at the mo  or I'd give it a go. 

 

 

edit- I do think it's worth a discussion. Saddams always a bit grumpy  

Edited September 22, 2022 by KC
the edit

[ControlLED]

@Saddam
Its not about pushing worthless products onto member's at all, its about discussions and finding out what works for different people! 

I've spoken to many people who use CO2 bags in smaller setups, some have great things to say about them and others don't think there worth it! Everyone does things slightly different, so its just about finding what works best for people! The post was more to start a conversation about different products and methods rather than trying to push certain products on people!

thanks!
 

Edited September 22, 2022 by Owderb
Quote removed

[Saddam]

2 minutes ago, ControlLED said:

The post was more to start a conversation about different products and methods rather than trying to push certain products on people!

 

If that's the case, why mention the product by name and manufacturer in your first post?  

[ControlLED]

@Saddam More for an example of a popular product you can find in most hydro stores & easily online! 

Not trying to push people to buy these products at all... More just to educate and let people know what is out there!

There are many different products that work the same as your probably aware, this was just an example of one!





 

[MindSoup]

Other than in sealed environments with complete environmental control I haven't seen any real evidence of CO2 supplementation making the slightest bit of difference. Plenty of people convincing themselves it works, but nothing even remotely scientific. I've also not seen any commercial greenhouse farmers (tomatoes, salads etc) using them which I'd imagine would be widespread if they had any merit/where worth the extra cost. Personally I'm not convinced, to me it just seems like yet another pointless grow product, the number of which grows every day. But, If someone can link me to 2 concurrent grows of the same cut, in identical unsealed environments other than CO2 levels where there was a noticeable difference that could be replicated then I would be prepared to change my mind.