using dry ice 4 co2

ive got 2 shop lights with 2 builbs in each light, 60 watts each builb, and 4 plants inthe center of the lights. i keep the lights about 2 inches from the top of the plant. the lights are hanging from the clothes rack in my closet. i bought a little fan and some plastic drop clothes (the ones for panting). covered the whole thing with the drop clothes so its hanging from the clothes rack to the floor, got 3 pounds of dry ice put it in a tub with warm water and stuck it in the enclosed area on one side and had the fan on the other suching the fog over the plants. when i did this the plants where in the dark. when the ice had all melted the pulled the drap up. the next day when i checked the plants the seem to have grown about an inch bigher the the day before (the light had only been on for a few hours). i was woundering if anyone has done something like this and could covering the plants like that be bad . the plastic does not touch the plant though. any info thanks.

I have never experimented with dry ice, if the result of dry ice is co2 then i see no reason why this would harm the plants, and if they grew an inch as you say and look healthy then go for it.

How much do you pay for dry ice and where do you buy that from? is it more economical then a co2 tank system?

Dry Ice def helps your plants grow. Dry Ice is frozen CO2, so when it evaporates it is releasing pure CO2 into the air. If i were you, I would let the CO2 evaporate on its own (loose the warm water). This will slow down the evaporation rate and allow the plants to consume all the CO2. If you have the CO2 release into the air more quickly then there is a greater chance some of it escapes before the plant can absorb it. I have looked into this because I am considering using dry ice as well because CO2 enrichment in the air can increase the growth and quality of plant enormously (as you have seen in your 1in growth).

I am very curious how expensive the dry ice costs you and where you get it from?

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Originally Posted by rapid88

is it more economical then a co2 tank system?

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Nope.

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Originally Posted by JohnnyPotGrower

Dry Ice def helps your plants grow. Dry Ice is frozen CO2, so when it evaporates it is releasing pure CO2 into the air. If i were you, I would let the CO2 evaporate on its own (loose the warm water). This will slow down the evaporation rate and allow the plants to consume all the CO2. If you have the CO2 release into the air more quickly then there is a greater chance some of it escapes before the plant can absorb it. I have looked into this because I am considering using dry ice as well because CO2 enrichment in the air can increase the growth and quality of plant enormously (as you have seen in your 1in growth).

I am very curious how expensive the dry ice costs you and where you get it from?

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I'm in the SF area of cali and the local Raleys grocery store sells it for $1 a pound. You can also try Baskins & Robbins ice cream store or another ice cream shop may have.

A dollar a pound! That sounds really cheap! How much do you have to use (per plant) in order for it to have any signifficant effect? Also can you store the dry ice in the freezer or do you have to use it pretty much the same day?

http://www.dryiceinfo.com/

Thanks for the link, but it doesnt say anything about how expensive it is or whether you can store it for a long period of time... It also has no information concerning growing... so thanks but not really looking to do a book report on dry ice hardon.

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Originally Posted by JohnnyPotGrower

Dry Ice def helps your plants grow. Dry Ice is frozen CO2, so when it evaporates it is releasing pure CO2 into the air. If i were you, I would let the CO2 evaporate on its own (loose the warm water). This will slow down the evaporation rate and allow the plants to consume all the CO2. If you have the CO2 release into the air more quickly then there is a greater chance some of it escapes before the plant can absorb it. I have looked into this because I am considering using dry ice as well because CO2 enrichment in the air can increase the growth and quality of plant enormously (as you have seen in your 1in growth).

I am very curious how expensive the dry ice costs you and where you get it from?

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Well i got my ice for .99 cents a pound at safeway. co2 is heavier than oxegen, so the co2 stays in the plastic, the more co2 in the plastic the less oxegen ,so this is pushing the oxegen out the top of the plastic.its like putting your plants in a big plastic bag, with the opening on the top and filling the whole thing with co2. dry ice is compressed co2

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Originally Posted by JohnnyPotGrower

Thanks for the link, but it doesnt say anything about how expensive it is or whether you can store it for a long period of time... It also has no information concerning growing... so thanks but not really looking to do a book report on dry ice hardon.

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Most supermarkets have it. its very cheap stuff, but to store it for a long time is hard becuase its frozen at -109.3°F or -78.5°C your freezer dosnt do. and some more info on plants and co2 http://biology.clc.uc.edu/courses/bio104/photosyn.htm

Has anyone used this lately?If so how much is a good amount?

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Originally Posted by JohnnyPotGrower

Thanks for the link, but it doesnt say anything about how expensive it is or whether you can store it for a long period of time... It also has no information concerning growing... so thanks but not really looking to do a book report on dry ice hardon.

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Actually, that link did have information about storage and applications to plant growth...

:smokin:

AS WITH ANY CO2 ENRICHMENT,, USE IT DURING LIGHTS ON, NOT DARK PERIOD.

I NOTICE BIG DIFFERENCES WHEN I USE CO2 GAS. I CAN TELL WHEN MY TANK RUNS OUT. THEM GIRLS LOVE THE GAS!!!

GOOD LUCK

i use dry ice enrichment and it works great
every night i break a chunk off a 5lb brick of dry ice and let it set on the soil and turn all my fans off and just let it sink in.
i reccomend you have a ventilated light fixture so that the stale c02 can be pulled out of the room cause if you have your fans all it just blows it all away and doesnt give it time to set into the plant or anything

Can someone please give a clear answer on how much to use ??????

Im using dry ice currently as we speak i just changed it from the cooler to a bag with a couple holes and its hanging from my top its right in between the plants,i figured they would get more c02 if it was elevated since the c02 seems to stay low when its evaportating, i bought 7lbs for 1.39 at albertsons and its still going from early this morning...im didnt know why they wouldnt want c02 at night??

There's no co2 absorbtion at night because when it's dark, there's no photosynthesis going on so no need for co2...

Photosynthesis occur only when the plant receive light and convert co2 into o2.

Good Day! :thumbsup:

...and also DAzed4now, placing it on your soil is not optimal. Your roots want oxygen, not CO2. Put it in a dish near the plants. Sounds like you are just throwing your dry ice away.

ive read somewhere that the c02 doesnt work as well into flowering can anyone clear that up?

Okay, this may sound a little weird and a little off topic, but may still be related. Has anyone ever tried burning candles for CO2? In a combustion reaction, CO2 is produced like the following example:

CH4 + 2O2 → CO2 + 2H2O

As you can see, oxygen is consumed in this reaction. But during photosynthesis, the plants only need light (photons), water, and CO2 like the following reaction:

2n CO2 + 2n H2O + photons → 2(CH2O)n + 2n O2

So ideally, you wouldn't be losing Oxygen, since the plant will produce as it as a byproduct. I just don't know if the Oxygen the plant produces will be sufficient to nourish the roots during the dark cycles. Does anyone know what this reaction or cycle is called? I can't look it up if i don't know what its called :(.

So I was thinking if this method would be more practical than dried ice, or even better, to be used in conjugation with the dried CO2.

Here are some problems/concerns that may come up:

1. the grow box/room might get too hot.
2. It might burn down my place....
3. the candle burning may not produce pure CO2. The combustion reaction may produce other gasses produced like Nitrogen (which probably isn't so bad, but still might be an influencing factor on something)
4. Theoretically, the amount of oxygen in the space will be halved since it takes two moles of O2 to produce one mole of CO2. I don't know what the effect of this will be

So I was thinking, blow out the candles during the dark cycle, light it back up during photosynthesis (alot of work, but still better than waking up early in the day and buying dried ice)

Im not a very experienced grower by the way. I'm just trying to think of ways to skip/minimize the ventilation step so that my grow box is a little more discreet/stealth for my next grow. I want to try this method, but I also don't want to buy dried ice every day. My gf didn't approve of me growing so she indirectly made me choose between her or the plants - which i think was bullshit. I thought to myself whats better ganja or tang? I chose the later since tang doesn't grow on the ground and I figured I could eventually have both. But dammit it was so hard to kill my two babies that I cared for almost 2 months...anyways that was a little off topic, but I wanted to share my ideas....

Thanks guys, sorry for the long post :)...

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Originally Posted by oddish

CH4 + 2O2 → CO2 + 2H2O

3. the candle burning may not produce pure CO2. The combustion reaction may produce other gasses produced like Nitrogen (which probably isn't so bad, but still might be an influencing factor on something)

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Good info here - taking a break from studying for my 1st organic chemistry exam tomorrow

Just curious, were did you get the chemical makeup of wax to be methane (CH4)? I know wax is a hydrocarbon, and that there isn't one set chemical formula for all candle wax, but I guess it doesn't make a big difference.

This does make absolute sense though, hydrocarbons + O2 -> CO2 + H2O + light + heat

According to the equation - where are these other gases, such as N, coming from? And yes, N isn't bad, as it composes roughly 78% of the air we breathe (just sucks to have it produced, cuz it drops down the overall percentage of CO2 being produced).

It's just neat to see this seemingly-useless information (Ochem) starting to make an appearance in grow room techniques. I don't doubt you though and I am going to try this instead of using yeast for CO2. Just have to watch the added heat, like you mentioned.
:stoned:

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Originally Posted by DOUGAL25

Just curious, were did you get the chemical makeup of wax to be methane (CH4)? I know wax is a hydrocarbon, and that there isn't one set chemical formula for all candle wax, but I guess it doesn't make a big difference.

This does make absolute sense though, hydrocarbons + O2 -> CO2 + H2O + light + heat

According to the equation - where are these other gases, such as N, coming from? And yes, N isn't bad, as it composes roughly 78% of the air we breathe (just sucks to have it produced, cuz it drops down the overall percentage of CO2 being produced).

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Yeah, I don't actually know the exact formula for wax. I just know that is a lipid composed of many hydrocarbons, just like you said :). So it should produce CO2 when burned.

I also found this formula on wiki...

its says, "When air is the source of the oxygen, nitrogen is by far the largest part of the resultant flue gas."

CH4 + 2O2 + 7.52N2 → CO2 + 2H2O + 7.52N2 + heat

I havn't taken chem in a while, so my knowledge is a little limited. I'm having trouble figuring how having high amounts of nitrogen will affect the amount of CO2 produced. The nitrogen doesn't seem to affect the production CO2, it's just the largest product. Do you know for sure if having lots of Nitrogen will affect CO2 yield in combustion reactions?

Also, i was doing a little more digging and found that when oxidizing hydrocarbons, lots of CO is produced, some CO2, and little NO is produced. I know that CO is toxic to humans (affects hemoglobins affinity for O2), but I dont' know its effects on plants...

I guess i shall do some experiments with other plants before I try with the real thing :)...

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Originally Posted by oddish

I also found this formula on wiki...

its says, "When air is the source of the oxygen, nitrogen is by far the largest part of the resultant flue gas."

CH4 + 2O2 + 7.52N2 → CO2 + 2H2O + 7.52N2 + heat

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I looked it up too on wiki - makes more sense now.

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Originally Posted by oddish

I havn't taken chem in a while, so my knowledge is a little limited. I'm having trouble figuring how having high amounts of nitrogen will affect the amount of CO2 produced. The nitrogen doesn't seem to affect the production CO2, it's just the largest product. Do you know for sure if having lots of Nitrogen will affect CO2 yield in combustion reactions?

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I didn't mean it like that, that N would affect the quantitative amount (partial pressure) of CO2 produced. It's just a shame that the "flue gas" has to have so much N in it, and drops the percentage of CO2 in the flue gas. The amount of CO2 is unchanged. But this a cheap method of providing CO2 to the plants, not like a CO2 tank.

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Originally Posted by oddish

Also, i was doing a little more digging and found that when oxidizing hydrocarbons, lots of CO is produced, some CO2, and little NO is produced. I know that CO is toxic to humans (affects hemoglobins affinity for O2), but I dont' know its effects on plants...

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Dead on about about the biochemistry with hemoglobin and CO. CO's affinity to bond to the heme is (i think) 4x stronger than O2's. It takes a while for the CO to break off the heme, and allow it to carry O2 again. Also curious for what that means to a plants biochemistry, if CO is present.

I know Stinky is great with chemistry - if she sees this, maybe she can enlighten us on the topic of CO + plants?

:stoned: