Dry Ice as a CO2 supplement?

ive wondered the same thing for months.

 

i was gonna try this in a few weeks.. im just gonna put a block in a tray over my lights and let it drip ive got a badass deep freezer that i HOPE will keep the ice longer than normal. i dont think 1 block at a time could be bad for the plant.. as long as its not freezin em

 

No you can't. I mean you could if you wanted to, but otherwise it'd just be a waste of time...burner, tank & regulator are really your only options for co2 to see increased growth rates. Everything else is just a gimmick, you give your plants co2 just by talking to them

 

why wont it work though...i mean dry ice is frozen co2 and water

 

I think that the rate at which you would have to melt a block of dry Ice to make any noticeable difference makes it impractical.. With a tank and regulator you would have compressed CO2 emitted over a much shorter time period allowing for a buildup of CO2 that is enriching enough to boost the growth of the plant.. something that I think the dry ice isn't capable of doing is emitting a dense enough co2 cloud... It might look good as a fog but you're not trying to shoot a horror movie around your plants...

 

Kinnetic...I thought the biggest problem would be the inability to regulate how much you get and the extreme cold the ice would cause. would be like blasting your plant with artic air.

 

It's not that it doesn't work...it's just it doesn't do anything, you won't notice much increased growth using methods like that. They do exactly what they say though they all emit co2 in the grow room which doesn't hurt anything. So you can do it and it will increase co2 levels but not to a point where you'd see bigger buds.

 

Wouldn't it get pretty expensive after not too long? Forking out for a tank and regulator would be less expensive in the long run.

 

ok...co2 is not the friendliest stuff in world....Does it realy make that much difference?

 

co2 coming out of a tank under pressure can be controlled in a metered way to maintain a level of concentration that will benefit the plant.. meaning you pump in co2... you can't pump in co2 with dry ice... it's like freezing bubbles of o2 into Ice and letting the ice melt in the hopes that the melting ice will raise the o2 level in the room to a very high level.. there isn't sufficent co2 levels in a block of dry ice..

 

I think it's like 1 20lb tanks will last a grow...don't quote me on that could be 2 refills could be 3, but I remember hearing one tank will last a gro...but it's not expensive probably less than 10 bucks from a welding shop. If you keep it controlled though it doesn't always stay on, so it's not always being used. That's why it's used in sealed grow rooms so it can't escape and be wasted.

If done correctly with good environmental control...could see 20% increased growth.

 

I've done it. You'll wind up buying 10lbs blocks every couple of days. I got an ice chest, and put it in a bigger ice chest, and put the block inside of that.

It will melt over the course of 3 days or so, and it melts during the night time when you don't need it. There are a few disadvantages to dry ice and if you are running a system with exhaust you pretty much negate the CO2 increase.

CO2 systems require enclosed ventilation or they are very expensive. A tank system, or a burner, will go through 10x the ammount of material in an exhausted grow room. Just trying to drop some CO2 on your girls is not going to work as well as intended.

For the sake of the matter a plant is about 80% carbon and it gets all of that from the air it breathes. Before trying to just toss more at it why not learn the ins and outs of surfactant foliar wash and high frequency bird song effect on leaf stomata. Then you need to really maximize your lighting. Upwards of 15,000 lumens per sqft is a good estimate of the kind of lighting I'm talking about. Then get your temperatures right, your method nailed in, get the equipment you need over the course of a year or two and before you know it you'll be ready to use CO2 supplementation without wasting your cash.

A real CO2 system is going to cost $800 minimum with the cost of an AC system and a few testers. A real system is more like $1200 to $1500 depending on environment control. A new light might cost $350, or a light rail for $150, there are other places to put your cash than in to dry ice over the course of a grow. Add in the costs of the ice chests to keep it around long enough to be useful... Just take the money and put it where it will count.

That's my experience and I don't use dry ice any more for good reason.

 

I have only had one grow under my belt but It went amazingly, the reason I think my first went so well is because I followed the Jorge Cervantes horticulture guide. It says that 1lb will be enough dry ice to supplement a 8'x8' room for one day. Because Dry ice is frozen co2 and co2 is a gas at room temperature the dry ice goes from solid to gas very quickly, and there isnt a way to make it melt slower. You can watch this like someone was saying they watched it "drip". Make sure that you do hang it up somewhere. By definition co2 is heaviear than ambient air. what this mean is let it fall on the canopy of your garden or since you are looking at your growroom decide the best place where fans will pick up and distribute the co2 which has sank to the floor

 

It'll work, but chances are it's much more expensive than just using a regulated tank.

 

Part of the dry ice melting is going to be the ambiant temp of the room.

A sealed room is needed for Co2 ppm to be effective.

Plants growing in the wild outdoors does quite well and does not need elevated Co2 ppm

A house with proper ventalation like a/c etc etc is just as good.

If your growing less then 12 plants the cost to maintain a high level of Co2 might not be worth the small amount of extra growth. If you want more growth why not just grow a couple extra plants

Just my 2 cents on a million dollar question