Harvesting Co2

[dans6401]

Hi all,
What a great site. Even for us n00b K&K brewers.
Anyway my ? is this.
Has anyone tried using the gas when fermenting to give their plants a boost? Recently read the post about growing chillis. Just planted some seeds of bhut jolokia and 'penis' pepper myself, and got to thinking. So i Googled and found this " most botanists agree that CO₂ is the single most limiting factor in plant growth and reproduction." Seems like a big statement considering other limiting factors such as water, light, and nutrients. But what the hell might as well try, and i can't think of a better way to utilise this by-product.

 

[Blackfish]

Welcome to the madhouse Dans

you should do the science , then we'll all know

2 plants, identical species in identical pots, with identical potting mix. Clear plastic bag over both, run a hose from the top of your airlock into one bag. Measure growth & health of plants at intervals. Post the pics in this thread for our enjoyment / interest.

My experience of these things is that it often does not work out like you thought, but, if your have an itch, scratch it.

:icon_cheers:Beers!

 

[Supra-Jim]

+1 for the experiment, do it and make Dr Karl K proud!!!!

Cheers SJ

 

[Gulf]

I was looking at a bubbling airlock the other day and was thinking this exact same thing. I have heard of gardeners pumping CO2 into greenhouses to improve growth.

The normal concentration of CO2 in the atmosphere is very small, less than 0.04%, so it wouldn't take much to increase that level in a confined space like a greenhouse or similar. I'm sure just piping the airlock emissions into a fairly well sealed greenhouse/grow room would make a difference.

If you wanted to spend $$$ on finding out, something like this would be interesting:
http://www.co2meter.com/products/co2-tempe...-humidity-meter

 

[seravitae]

CO2 from fermentation certainly works for supplementing plants - lots of pot growers purposely make a high gravity neutral wort (just sucrose/water/baker's yeast) to supplement growth to their plants.

There are also plenty of legitimate studies of CO2 concentrations and plant growth..

I'm still waiting on someone to get a Haskel gas booster and start compressing CO2 from their brews back into their tanks. Last numbers I did, a single batch would fill a 6kg tank.. Not bad. free refills

 

[dans6401]

lots of pot growers purposely make a high gravity neutral wort (just sucrose/water/baker's yeast) to supplement growth to their plants

What? :blink: Don't they know they could be brewing a great batch at the same time?
Thanks for the feedback. Will have to try the experiment. Some of the bhut jolokia have just started to raise their hot little heads. Now i've got to work out exactly how to do it. (something like you mentioned blackfish) What if i use two seedlings the same size, put each in a cut down coke bottle. Place side by side so they get same sunlight etc. Then fixed a tube to the airlock so the other end could be inserted into one of the pots / bottles. What do you think? Would Dr Karl Kruszelnicki be proud? Would i get a free copy of his book?

 

[Mantis]

Lots of folk use DIYand bought CO2 bubblers in their aquariums to aid plant growth. The plants in the aquariums will not do very well without it.
I have a 160L aquarium and put a liquid form of CO2 in it daily

 

[dans6401]

So that's why i can never get plants to survive for long in my aquarium. Have to look up the details on how this is done. Anyway set up experiment today, tried to keep things even as possible. Put two seedlings in each pot, one chilli, one tomato and one soybean seed. Seeds were a last minute thought, i know there can be big differences in two seeds in identical conditions, but thought what the hell. Hopefully the fermentation kicks off soon. It's my first time using yeast cultured from coopers bottles.

 

[Mantis]

That looks good. Will be interesting to see if there is a noticable diff in growth.

 

[MarkBastard]

Wow so we could be using our fermenters to make our hops grow better?

 

[dans6401]

More than willing to try with hops, if anyone's got a spare rhizome or two. :icon_cheers:

 

[The Big Burper]

Hi all,
What a great site. Even for us n00b K&K brewers.
Anyway my ? is this.
Has anyone tried using the gas when fermenting to give their plants a boost? Recently read the post about growing chillis. Just planted some seeds of bhut jolokia and 'penis' pepper myself, and got to thinking. So i Googled and found this " most botanists agree that CO₂ is the single most limiting factor in plant growth and reproduction." Seems like a big statement considering other limiting factors such as water, light, and nutrients. But what the hell might as well try, and i can't think of a better way to utilise this by-product.

dans,

I had this idea for my tomatoes, and have photos to show that extra co2
does increase plant growth. I will also show a pic of the harvest of 5 of
these plants. Var Mini-Roma, grown on the ground.

cheers
BB


http://www.aussiehomebrewer.com/forum//ind...ic=34736&hl=

 

[redbeard]

Could also use the gas in a empty keg. perhaps some sortof flow control to slowly release it.

 

[The Big Burper]

Hi all,

Tomato pics now posted up on my original thread in "The Pub" forum.

cheers
BB

 

[Mantis]

I thought, what the hell and put a box of coopers brew enhancer in a 20L bucket with about 15l water and chucked in a bakers yeast
Put it in my greenhouse where its been brewin away. Dunno if it will help my plants as they are nearly hitting the roof of the greenhouse already , but it has trapped a few earwigs and is getting a nest of ants drunk :lol:

 

[dans6401]

Just checked on the experiment, and it looks like the seedlings receiving the C02 boost are doing worse than the others. Will post more photos next week, but it's not looking promising.

 

[Mantis]

 

[Leigh]

With that set up I'm not surprised they are doing worse.

Plants need an elevated level of CO2 (they also need oxygen, especially overnight when it's dark).

Remember CO2 is heavier than air, so the CO2 will be coming out of your tube and filling the growing area of your mini glasshouse. Your setup will be creating a pure blanket of CO2 for the plants to live in...not good at all!

A mate fits out the big glasshouses (talking 1/2 ha to 4 ha) with electrics. He almost always has to wire in a diesel generator that is used primarily to elevate CO2 levels, but also has the extra bonus of making heat in winter and a bit of electricity...

 

[seravitae]

that sounds pretty gross, i'm not sure what all those NOx's and other crap would do to plant growth. can understand using bottled CO2, but deisel exhaust..

anyway +1 about CO2 blanketing, you'll be asphyxiating your plants. maybe grab a air-CO2% sensor and see what the levels are, chances are the rate of CO2 production from fermentation is so high that one fermentor might be good for like, a whole room worth of plants rather than a seeding.

Also as plants absorb CO2 through leaves, you're unlikely to see much change in growth until they have lots of them, at the seedling stage they probably dont have enough to tell.