Boosting Growth: Electrical Stimulation w/ Pv Cells!? ^^

We are continuing this conversation over at the Fractal Culture forums. Feel free to drop by and help out, only the opening post has been recreated. I think you'll also like the forum topics a lot . Here is the link: http://www.fractalculture.com/experimental-mj-cultivation-techniques/2-boosting-growth-electrical-stimulation-photovoltaic-cells.html

Hello mates, thought it's time for me to tell you a little bit more about a somewhat "shady" technique I've been using in my grows.

Like in my other thread, concerning ultrasonic frequencies, I'd like to point out that it is your responsibility to use the information given here wisely, and be extra cautious so that you wont stress or damage your plants. Be gentle.

Also, I'd like to point out that I'm no technical expert. My knowledge about electricity and technical issues is confined within the area of my growing necessities. I know what I know through experimentation, and working with my plants.
So I'd like to suggest to anyone who has a better knowledge than me about any of the things mentioned below, to give their 2c here. This is still experimental for me. There is a lot of room for improvement.


Things you will be able to do after reading this:

i)Achieve a higher seed germination rate
ii)Boost your seedlings' growth, as well as their survivability
iii)Achieve an increase on the growth of your plants as high as TWICE the growth you had
untill now, depending on the lighting that you provide for them. And I'm not trying to be funny.
iv)Be able to grow plants with the same results as before, but with just a fraction of the lighting you previously used.

Electrical root stimulation is no news for the worldwide commercial cropping research dudes. The effects of electricity on plants have been explored before. The thing is, though, that no source of power can be expected to replace sunlight. When electrical root stimulation is used on plants that have all the sunlight they need, the results are barely noticeable.

Bear with me, I'm getting somewhere.

On the other hand, the effects observed on electrically stimulated plants that were grown under artificial lighting, were nothing less than humbling. A growth rate of twice the magnitute of the control plant population was observed, and the total plant mass nearly doubled.

Now, I haven't experimented for that long with this technique, mates, but so far, it seems to me that the less light the plants have, the more benefit they get from the electrical stimulation. It's no big deal growing a plant in a closet with minimum lighting, if you supplement its growth with this technique. Lets dwelve a bit into the specifics of plant energy absorbtion.

Plants metabolise the nutrients they take through root or foliar intake, using energy they get from light, through a process called photosynthesis. No news for you, I'm sure.

Now, a plant's leaf acts as a solar panel, absorbing light with an absorbtion rate of just 0.1%. Light, is converted into the desirable form of energy inside the plant.
It seems logical that if we supplement the amount of energy a plant is taking, we will help it achieve the desired results. This is just one side of the coin, though.

There is another theory of why mild electrical stimulation helps a plant's growth. Roor growth. I haven't been able to test this myself yet, but, since the connection between a plant's root mass and its upper body is a widely accepted fact, it seems right that if we stimulate the growth of the roots, the upper plant mass will follow.

If that is the case, then electricity is beneficial for the root system, and has nothing to do with the amount of energy a plant uses for metabolism.

Whatever the case may be, mates, the effects of electricity on plants is an easily observable fact. Let's see how you can implement such a system yourself.



DIY - Its as easy as it gets!


You're gonna need a source of mild electrical current. In my oppinion, its better not to mess with batteries and such, since they are expendable, and contain chemicals which could be released in your soil and ruin your plants.

Instead, we'll use Photovoltaic Cells. What better than green energy for our plants? A photovoltaic cell, much like a leaf, converts ligh energy into electricity. Unlike leaves though, PV cells do a much better job, converting a staggering 12% of the light they take into electrical current.

Have you ever seen one of these outdoor lamps for gardens, that don't need batteries? They're sold almost everywhere! They have a small PV cell on the top, recharging them during the day, and they use that energy at night. Pretty cool.

Lets go grab ourselves one of these gadgets. They're not expensive at all. I get mine for about 5-6$ each. If you know some other way of obtaining a small PV cell, as I'm sure some of you do, that will be also ok.

What you want to do now, is bring out your destructive isnticts, grab yourself some tools, and open this fucker up. Careful, don't break the PV cell. Just start unscrewing everything untill you're left with a small square black cell, about 2x2 inches, with two electrodes coming from it.

This is your artificial leaf. All you have to do now is just stick it in your planting pot, one electrode from each side of your plant's main stem, and bend it a bit so that it's facing the light. That's it!

Now, you might be thinking, ok, so how do I know that this little fucker is not gonna burn my plants up, stress the fuck out of them, or cause some evil unthinkable disaster, like making my soil acidic as hell, or crystalising the salts in it, or who knows what else?

Well, mates, all you have to do to test this is experiment. Its that simple. You don't need to perform your experiments with your plants, just go get yourself a couple of wild weeds from your back yard, or a couple of tomato plants or something similar.
Put both plants in a place where they get the same amount of light, and stick your PV cell in one of their pots. Obviously you don't want them to be in the same pot.
Try to simulate the lighting that your cannabis plants are taking. If you can put the test plants inside, with a fluoro on them, or close to your cannabis plants, that would be even better.

Remember, the less light they get, the more difference your cell will do.

After about 10 days-2 weeks you will begin seing the first results. If your results are similar to the ones of my epxerience, you can expect some pretty amazing impact from the PV cell. After about 30 days, you can expect the stimulated plant to have almost double the size of the other.

Another experiment you can do is on seed germination. Just stick a PV cell on a container where some of your seeds are germinating, and leave the rest in another container without electricity. You can expect about 30-35% increase in germination rate. Talk about some good results!

There may be many other possible uses for this interesting technique. Be creative. Try to find new ways of using this. Search the internet. All the information I have found for this technique and a few others came from the net through many hours of searching and reading.

Also, keep in mind that I do not provide this info as solid truths. These are things that work for me. You have to epxeriment for yourself, and actually do some work, if you want to achieve the desirable effects.

Do not come to me afterwards telling me how you burned your crop because you thought providing more electricity would be better.
Do not come to me afterwards telling how you messed up your flowering cycle because you left the PV cell sticked in your soil during the dark hours, and the results where unpredictable. Do not invoke Dug's Wrath.

Experiment, mates. There are many things we do not know about the way our plants grow and thrive, and the only way to find out is experiment. Don't be afraid to try new things, radical ideas, and phunny thoughts.

If each one of us uses his/her creativity to push the borders of our knowledge a little further, we'll pretty soon reach new plateaus of growing efficiency.

Again, don't take my word for it, you don't have to believe me. Just try! I'm sure you won't be dissapointed!


And, finally, I can't stress this enough. Don't be an asshole, share your results, and your ideas. Every little bit of knowledge counts towards the collective progress.



Keep in touch.
~Dug


EDIT: You can find more about this and more advanced experimental techniques HERE.

 

Sure thing, mate. I'll hook you up with some info. Photographs from my grows is unfortunately not an option, as I have a no-photo rule for my internet ventures - I'm sure you have already figured this out. Maybe in the near future I'll break this rule, but not yet, I hope you understand. But I'll do my best to provide you with all the info and results you may find useful, as I did untill now for my experiments.

So, for starters, what better than a newspaper article on the subject?
HERE is a New York Times article describing how a farmer tapped into the local trolley power cable, drawing electricity into the soil where his crops where planted. Quoting from the article:

Photographs of electrified and non electrified plants of equal age show that the former ones are, generally speaking, at least twice as luxuriant as the latter, and that maturity is attained in about half the time.

Twice the size, mates, and in half the time. In fact, this article is that originally sparked my interest for this field of experimentation.

Also, in 1984, in the Univercity of Meryland conducted some experiments with this specific technique, using Photovoltaic Cells to stimulate root growth. The results, once again, where mindnumbling. In this experiment, they compared 14 salvia plants that were stimulated, with 12 baseline group plants (the control group).

Well, after 4 weeks of growth, the control population's height on average was 5.5 inches, while the stimulated plants' average was a staggering 10.5 inches. Talk about some nice results.

For more info on this, if anyone is interested in the specifics of the experiment, you can contact Ms. Betty Morqavan, the Greenhouse Manager in Meryland's Uni Research Greenhouse Complex. If you need contact details, I'm sure I can find some.

The same info can be found in James Bongs Ultimate Spyguide to Marijuana lol talk about an interesting book. If requested, I might be able to find an online version to hook you guys up.

Precisely, mate! PV cells is the best way I have found so far of supplementing the plant's growth when Ultrasound Frequencies are also used. It's just that there is so scarce info on these matters that I really am blindly experimenting.
I mean, I've just read somewhere that some guy claimed that actual electrodes spiralling along the plant's main stem was the trick. The is a ton of possible ways to go here, and only a few plants. I think my experiments will be greately speeded up when I get my Phalaris seeds.

That's really great to hear mate. Nice vibe, thumbs up!


To conclude, let me quote a small text from the previously mentioned NY Times Article:

"This opens a vista of pleasure for dwellers in cities, from the owners of concervatories to the less fortunate occupants of apartments, who are united by a common desire:
To Grow Something!"


Take care, mates, and keep in touch.

~Dug

 

You're fucking rockstars. Thanks, a pat on the back goes a long way when it comes to retaining the will to experiment.

It doesn't store any energy since it has no battery in it, but my guess is that it may be able to actually produce a small amount of energy from light leaks that would be otherwise harmless. Remember, a leaf converts 0.1% of the light it gets to energy, but a PV cell does a way better job, converting around 12%, depending on the PV cell's quality.

Since I've seen the impact such a small amount of electricity has on the plant's growth, it wouldn't surprise me if it had an impact on the state of the plant, too. It's just better to be safe untill we get the opportunity to further explore this specific issue.

Both hydroton and soil will transfer an amount of electricity through them even with a minimum amount of moisture in them. Since the cell's electrodes will be planted inside the growing medium, it is not likely that the medium which will be around them will be left completely dry.

I know you do, mates. It's just that paranoia is always around the corner when it comes to revealing specifics of me or posting pics.

Somebody recently suggested to me that it is possible that some companies will not have a pretty friendly attitude towards my recent experiments. It seems logical, since there are products out there that utilize the same concepts we have been exploring, like ultrasonic frequency growing supplements, and Sun Sticks.

I'll talk to a FOAF about the security issues concerning photo posting.

Till then, take care, mates, and keep in touch.

~Dug.

 

This is one of the things that I'm trying to specify, mate. It seems that when the electrical current used to stimulate the plants is pretty low, like a PV cell, then if the plants get all the sunlight they need, you're not gonna see a big difference. Or so the experimental data i've found said, at least.

On other cases though, where the current is stronger than that of a single PV cell, like cables burried under a field, or like the case of a badass farmer who buried a huge copper plate on the one side of the field, and a huge zinc plate on the other, and connected them aboveground, thus creating an underground electrical field, a huge improvement has been observed on the plants. Now here is the catch:

On the experiment done with PV cells on plants growing with plenty of sunlight, the average height and plant mass was calculated. Seing no big difference, the results were categorized as unsuccessfull.

What they didn't measure though, was the quality of the end product. On the case of the farmers playing with electricity, it is mentioned that the end product, the fruits and vegetables, of the stimulated plants, were far superior to the ones that were not. Shelve life was multiplied, and overall quality was way better.

On the PV cells experiments though, no measurement or observation upon the end product is mentioned. I don't know if this was due to the fact that it wasn't worth it, or due to negligence. We'll have to find that out from our own experience.

A PV cell on your plant would not be a bad idea at all, mate. It can't harm them, and it will most probably benefit them. Do you have more than one plant? If yes, try placing cells on some of them, and keep the others for "control" population.

Good luck!

~Dug

 

@WUN: I find your situation ideal for a PV cell. mate. If your results are even close to mine, you'll see a tremendous boost in growth within 4-5 days from when you introduce a cell to your girl^^.

As for the less light question, you are right, less light=less stimulation, but because a leaf converts ~0.1% of light to energy, and a PV cell converts ~12%, a cell does a hell of a better job.

So when light is not abundand, a PV cell makes a difference, because it more successfully absorbs it, whereas when the light is abundand, the plant already has all the energy it needs, or at least such a small amount of extra energy has little impact on it. Read below for more info on this. And stay in touch, mate, supplementing techniques like this could indeed be ideal for your plant.


@la vie demain: Hey mate, glad you are taking it seriously. These are ideal, the ones I use are only slightly smaller, so you should be fine! If you are worried that you might damage your seedlings, just space the electrodes 2-3 inches from each side of the stem.

A link or some info on where will you purchase them from would be helpfull for other dudes who want to try this. Gg, man, keep in touch!


@whodini2k2 , WUN: "A typical battery-operated TENS unit is able to modulate pulse width, frequency and intensity. Generally TENS is applied at high frequency (>50 Hz) with an intensity below motor contraction (sensory intensity) or low frequency (<10 Hz) with an intensity that produces motor contraction"

This is perfect!!! And pretty cheap, actually, TENS units start from 50$, like that one from Amazon. Great find! This is exactly what I was looking for to be able to modulate the frecuency of the electrical pulses, and their intensity. New boost for our explorations, thumbs up!
Amazon Tens: [ame="http://www.amazon.com/Digital-Relief-Carrying-Electrodes-Battery/dp/B001PTDUC0"]Amazon.com: Digital TENS 7000 Pain Relief Unit w/ 5 Modes with Carrying Case, Electrodes and Battery: Sports & Outdoors[/ame]

~Dug

 

Thanks mate, I hope you'll stick around. It's great seing people who act. I'm a diy gyu too

Yes bending it a bit is better, it would be even better if you attached a kind of metal piece on each end, like a big screw. Carefull, don't put the electrodes to close at first, test your plant's response progressively.

As for the small PV cells you got, why not, if you can be bothered to connect them together, they would be like a normal PV cell. Parallel.

Ah, fell free to post the info whenever you like. Credits and a link to this thread would be cool indeed, not nessecary though ^^. Information for everybody, by everybody. Try making more people post their results.



@Ganja47 , @WUN, these are some excellent reads mates!!

Plantricity
Robert A.Nelson: Hemp Husbandry ~ Electro-Culture (Ch 5)

The info contained within those articles is mindnumbling! Well done dudes, thanks for the finds.
Plantricity demonstrated just the right kind of curiocity and will for exploration we got to have in order to progress! The possibilities are endless.
Nelson's stury is nothing less than staggering! So much great info and bizzare techniques.

Damn, with so many techniques around that have such great results, but are not widely known, the cannabis growing community could have been on an entirely diferent page by now! We need more peolpe with the curiosity bug in them!

Keep it up, we're getting somewhere!

~Dug