Air Stone In Soil?

[ftwendy]

Thanks for the interest in this guys. I'll do my best to give this a whirl.

Got my bennies today -- thanks cap! Currently doing some reading... but I will have a test going within the month (waiting on fresh clones for mono culture). Independent of the clone arrival, I'm going to start playing around with some living teas immediately. Should be exciting just to see them do their thing.

Plan is to do three forum cuts: one in promix+ewc no bennies (control), one pro+ewc with bennies, and one pro+ewc with bennies and supplemental air. Haven't decided on how I'm going to deliver the air yet, so please chime in with ideas or experience.

 

[hatty 420]

just playin with it now and use at low air pressure seems to work fine

 

[ftwendy]

just playin with it now and use at low air pressure seems to work fine

Throw a few pics up if you have them.

 

[Shamus]

could one use an octa splitter with tubes almost like the things that scratch your head (or a octopus) at the base of the stem and fill around it with soil cutting small slits in smart pot or little holes in pro plastics and pulling the lie thru. and having the flow of air go THROUGH lines in the pots octa spaghettis and out the bottom but having a bit of a reducer at the bottom (or melt it a bit) and have small holes in the lines with passive air leaking into the pots.
the options seem endless here. Good luck I've wondered this as well.

 

[hightide]

Well heres my stoned idea...

Why not use a meat injector type setup? It seems as though most other options require some type of barrier to keep sediments out.
I think this way would alleviate the need for this and would also keep you from having a dedicated air stone or tubing in your media.
Just run a splitter and "inject" as many locations as you like.

They make various sizes of needles, with numerous hole configurations.

Something like this.

 

[Capulator]

ftwendy I believe compaction and soil density may be the reason that the extra oxygenation
was not really noticeable in my soil grown plants
The airier more porous mix's of perlite,coco ,and hydroton seem to allow for more oxygen dispersion throughout the media

I have thought of adding about three levels of diffusers/airstones in the larger soil containers
IE: one near the bottom ,another about 1/3 of the way and another about 2/3's of the way to
the soil surface........
I've never done this ,but wondered if that would help disperse the oxygen more efficiently
in the soil...?

You pocket of perlite idea may help with oxygen dispersion throughout the soil

I always placed my diffuser or airstones near the bottom of the containers
They were positioned in the 3 inches of hydroton I put in the bottom of the containers
They may be more efficient and productive if placed more near the middle of the container

Good luck experimenting ftwendy

I'm feeling like the air in the bottom of the pot would just easily make it's way around the hydroton and out the drain holes. Perhaps int he middle would be better.

 

[dankworth]

Having built and run some systems, I learned that growth rate directly depends on oxygenation(atmosphere, anyways)of the root system. More air is better. I recommended I think to DwD(and others in real life) to run air lines to air stones at the bottom of hempies or chow containers or whatever.
5 or 6 years ago a dude working at a grow store claimed he had seen a guy put endcaps on pre-drilled pvc, with air lines running to them, and shoved a bunch of them in bigass soil containers. Said the growth rate was comparable to hydro.
I will run air to any container. Shit, if you end up not liking it, just cut the airlines.

Edit-check out everything JK has said on this issue

 

[416T.O]

Late reply I know. .. but I just heard about this whole set up... my buddy went to school for plant biology and studied Marijuana. .anyway .. says to use a.double bucket system 5 gallon buckets inside each other drill the inside one .. place your air bubbler or w.e at the bottom about 4 inches from the bottom.... he also had me run my fluorescent lights on the walls and my metal halide and hps hanging... also said u can use dry ice ... which is co2.. can put it in a bottle on a shelf or on the light to keep them cool... also told me.to.supper crop from day 2 all the way until 3 weeks before harveat

 

[happy b]

Theres a system or more like a technique called ait "air injection tech" by a company called "modular hydro" i think it is.basically an airstone & pump designed to be used in soil.theres plenty of vids of it on you tube.i dunno how to do links.

 

[Calixylon]

Would this increase your rate of watering, i feel like all that air running thru the growing medium will increase the rate of evaporation by quite a bit. Especially if you had any HID lighting going while the oxygen was running. Maybe not though, just a thought