stltoed said:

I think I'm gonna flip these fairly soon. I'm running out of vertical clearance. While I have run this strain before, I've never run it in hydro, or with gas, two factors that can promote an aggressive stretch. I'm thinking I should account for that. My new carbon filter has taken up a fair amount of real-estate above my lights limiting the space up North.
Decisions decisions.

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Yea I prolly went overboard but I was able to train around one top node per scrog hole. I havnt measured but my canopy is prolly 3 to 4 foot from light and I just started showing pistols. Im curious to see how much growth I got back in 24hrs. I stripped them all clean in confidence lol.. Or stupidity.. Guess I'll find out in 4hrs when I get home.

Cashmeh said:

Yea I prolly went overboard but I was able to train around one top node per scrog hole. I havnt measured but my canopy is prolly 3 to 4 foot from light and I just started showing pistols. Im curious to see how much growth I got back in 24hrs. I stripped them all clean in confidence lol.. Or stupidity.. Guess I'll find out in 4hrs when I get home.

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Good luck man. Fuckin plants

stltoed said:

Ok, so you don't stop using it. When do you drop it to 600?

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Can't stop using it they will run out of co2.

Usually last 2ish weeks. After swelling is done. They don't really photosynthesize as much so it's not needed.

Aqua Man said:

Can't stop using it they will run out of co2.

Usually last 2ish weeks. After swelling is done. They don't really photosynthesize as much so it's not needed.

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What do you mean they will run out of CO2?

stltoed said:

What do you mean they will run out of CO2?

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If you shut the co2 off they will not have enough co2 as they consume it fairly quickly depending on room size. Once it starts to drop below I think about 300ppm photosynthesis is reduced and in turn the the plants ability to process light energy into the sugars it needs and growth stunts.

My 10x7 room with only 4x6 of plants will rise to 2200+ ppm of co2 at night from respirarion. When the lights come on it takes less than an hr absolutely tops for them to rip that down to 600

Aqua Man said:

If you shut the co2 off they will not have enough co2 as they consume it fairly quickly depending on room size. Once it starts to drop below I think about 300ppm photosynthesis is reduced and in turn the the plants ability to process light energy into the sugars it needs and growth stunts.

My 10x7 room with only 4x6 of plants will rise to 2200+ ppm of co2 at night from respirarion. When the lights come on it takes less than an hr absolutely tops for them to rip that down to 600

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Ok, so you're talking about keeping the room sealed. I plan on bringing in outside air and exhausting it like a typical grow. My CO2 is around 450 in a situation like that.

It's funny, there's a rather prevalent argument on whether or not outside air should be brought into a sealed room. I don't buy it, but some believe the air "gets old" and needs to be replenished. I was reading a thread on another forum where some were adamant that fresh Oxygen is nessisary for plant health... maybe they should read up on how a plant works, at least the photosynthesis part of it. Kinda funny

Is it worth using supplemental co2 in an unsealed room indoors?

BrokenHome said:

Is it worth using supplemental co2 in an unsealed room indoors?

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I use the word sealed kind of loosely. My room isn't hermetically sealed. There is an array of 6 inch holes in my wall that allows for air to be pumped into the room from the outside and out via an 8 inch fan in my ceiling. There are 2 filters that clean the air coming in and a large carbon filter on the exhaust. I've taped cracks or painted gaps to help trap CO2 gas, but if it finds a way out it's gonna go. In the beginning I was worried that the gas wouldn't stick around, but I found it wasn't THAT big of a deal. I just account for the lose when I introduce more gas. Something like this... gas turns on, burns for 45 seconds or whatever. Once it's cooled it sinks to floor level. My meter is on my SCROG frame. It will measure around 2000PPMs. 20 minutes later the meter will read 1500PPMs as some of the gas has escaped, and it will start again. 1500 is my target amount.

I'm using a generator, if you missed that. So, is basically a small BBQ hanging from my ceiling. It burns propane, and as it does this it creates CO2. I went this way for a couple reasons. 1, propane is so much easier to get for me than CO2, and it's fairly cheap. 2, it seemed easier to work with in my present room size and scalable in the future if/when I double my room size.

When I'm in deep flower I will stop the gas a few weeks prior to harvest. I will then just turn on my exhaust fan an finish the grow as if I wasn't using gas at all. The exhaust fan is on a repeat timer, since it doesn't need to be on all the time. So, this is how I do it. Let me get back to your question...

If you were growing in a small space that was inside a much larger space, and the smaller space wasn't properly "sealed" you could lose a lot of gas. Theres just no putting the genie back in the bottle. In my situation the "array of 6 inch holes" for fresh air are in a snorkel so to speak. I partially walled in these holes leaving the top open about around 5 ft. from the floor. So, instead of a 16 inch by 5ft. open area for the gas to escape, It's only 4 inch by 16 inches. And 2/3rds up the wall fresh air migrates from the outside, up the snorkel, through the filters and into the room. But there's no doubt gas goes out these same holes when CO2 is in use. If I didn't have the snorkel I would lose a lot more gas and I'm sure I'd have to seal these holes.

So my room is far from airtight. It's just airtight enough.

A little vid.

Don’t think I would be comfortable with a burner in the house. I keep some mushrooms growing for a little co2.

Random question… what is the minimum amount of light needed to keep plants from flowering? Some of my greenhouse plants are beginning to flower and I want them to stay in veg longer. Can I just add a small led grow bulb?

BrokenHome said:

Don’t think I would be comfortable with a burner in the house. I keep some mushrooms growing for a little co2.

Random question… what is the minimum amount of light needed to keep plants from flowering? Some of my greenhouse plants are beginning to flower and I want them to stay in veg longer. Can I just add a small led grow bulb?

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There's no minimum really if you're talking strength of light. What you may want to look up is photosensitivity. It's not the strength of the light, but the length of time your plants are in the light. For a greenhouse you can add a light, again, it doesn't need to be super bright. It just needs to give light to shorten the darkness.

So let's say your Greenhouse gets full sun all day. You need to add some light to mimic what happens indoors in veg. Basically anything over 16 hours of light in a day will keep your plants from flower. To be honest, I don't know the exact tipping point where the amount of darkness equals flower stimulation, but it shouldn't be too hard to find, if you wanted to know. Basically another 5 or 6 hours should do it..

If they are starting to flower this may add another facet to your plants. Taking a flowering plants and sending it back to veg creates a situation called monster cropping, which can be a lot of fun. Crazy wild growth, are strange leaf deformation are things that can happen. If you're into big plants monster cropping can give you some.

Here's a pic of me at a friend's greenhouse. You can see the lights in action. Plants are doing well, but needed a bit more time getting bigger. This was just before flower. They simply turn off the lights and the Sun does the rest.

Hope this helps

BrokenHome said:

Don’t think I would be comfortable with a burner in the house. I keep some mushrooms growing for a little co2.

Random question… what is the minimum amount of light needed to keep plants from flowering? Some of my greenhouse plants are beginning to flower and I want them to stay in veg longer. Can I just add a small led grow bulb?

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It's pretty freaky when you see fire shoot out the sides of the generator. I've grown used to it, but I totally see your point

One lastvthing... I tried to add this to the post before the last but there's a half hour limit to "edits".so stupid

If you are going to buy a light(s) for your greenhouse. Pick one with a color temp between 4500k and 6500K.

Not throwing it away. I wet the leaves and sticks a bit, to put a jump on the decomposition, then put a trash bag over it and finally the lid. Pot leaves are the best stuff around for compost because you know already it's what the plant needs. I reuse the soil for all the unused exudates left in it from the previous round. It's too bad the percentage of nutrients in the green stuff isn't very high.

I have this bin that I keep used soil in. I will add some dried additives like fish meal, Azomite, Dolemite lime, etc. And I keep.it pretty moist to recharge it. There are worms and a nice mix of other plant trimmings and kitchen scraps also.



If any of you guys are interested in growing organically in soil there's a trilogy of books from a man named Jeff Lowenfels. Teaming With Nutrients, Teaming With Fungi, and Teaming with Microbes. All great, they really tell you what a plant needs to be successful, how this success happens in and around the plant, how important microbes and fungi are to a plant, and tons more. I don't grow organically, I'll never grow organically, but I learned a lot about plants and their relationship with their surroundings from these books.

If you're not a reader he's all over YouTube also. A lot of the discussions are the same, but I still watch once and a while. He did a 4th book on Autos, I have it, I read it... dont bother.

Also on YouTube, is a dude named Bruce Bugby. Another smart fucker, but targeting lighting for agriculture. He's also President or CEO of Quantum Sensors, a light meter company that puts out some interesting stuff. I bought one of his meters a little while ago and it's changed the way I grow.

Light meter

@Aqua Man do you believe adding CO2 can compromise air in a RDWC hydro rig? Let's say the air pump is sitting on the ground, do you think it hampers growth?

The air pump should be outside of a Co2 room, some say Co2 in roots not good. Another benefit having the air pump outside the grow room, is cooler air temps for roots plus higher oxygen.

You can also move your carbon filter away from Co2 burner. If that’s a sealed room, better to use the carbon filter for scrubbing. Can you change that burner to a 4 burner or 2 burner Co2 I believe. They should have plugs for the outside of burners. I believe you said in video that’s an 8 burner propane?

I just bought a 4 burner Autopilot NG burner, and also purchased Manufacture plugs for it. Plugging some of the burners will cut down the heat in smaller spaces, keeping the room cooler and still provide Co2 levels needed.

Just my 2cents hopefully useful information.

I haven't seen any issues with poorly growing roots, I'm honestly not sure it's that big of a deal.

So far I like the generator. The heat isn't an issue, at least this year. I thought about plugging some burners, but its only on for 45 seconds, so it's a chicken and egg thing. Is it better to have more burners for less time or twice the time.

Yeah, I was just curious how AM felt about an air pump pushing CO2 into water. A problem would make sense, but I just haven't seen one. Thanks for the info.

Your room temperature will let you know, if running less burners is better. Size of space + Room temps, as well as “Leaf temps”.As long as leaf temps are under 82F day time that’s great. Night time swing is what hurts most. Doesn’t take much to get Co2 levels you need.

Plants look very good Btw!

MedicalHydroponics said:

Your room temperature will let you know, if running less burners is better. Size of space + Room temps, as well as “Leaf temps”.As long as leaf temps are under 82F day time that’s great. Night time swing is what hurts most. Doesn’t take much to get Co2 levels you need.

Plants look very good Btw!

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I'm good with the room temp. It's gone over 85 a couple times, but nothing serious.

Thanks!

stltoed said:

A little vid.

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Air pump should be raised above the water level in case of power outage it will siphon your pails empty