Even fungi can produce C02, awhile back I grew some Oyster mushrooms and placed the spawn in a bag along with my C02 meter. And sure enough it was full of C02 after awhile. Now I think it would be harder to manage a setup where you can collect gas from mushrooms to then feed to a grow tent or green house. But surely not impossible. One of the biggest problems can be fruit flies and gnats, things you do not want in a green house or grow tent.
We can see the bag reads 1626PPM, quite a high level C02. As a goal is around 1200PPM for optimal plant growth.
Now you may ask why is producing all this C02 so important for plants. It is because elevated levels of C02 can increase plant growth and general vigor. It also raises the plants heat tolerance by around 10F. Meaning I can grow plants in a tent that is 95F, when usually I would have to keep it under 85F. So not only I can increase heat tolerance, but the plants metabolic speed is raised by the heat, but without the risk of stress. Making everything produce faster inside the plant.
To better understand how plants get stressed when too hot, we must look at an enzyme called Rubisco. It can make up to half of the plants enzymes in leaves and this enzyme helps plants convert C02 to sugars, but when temperatures get too hot the enzyme may grab an Oxygen molecule instead of a Carbon Dioxide molecule. This wrecks havoc on the plants growing process and stresses it. But by increasing the amount of C02 PPM in the air we can avoid the heat stress by another 10 degrees F.
Having a high C02 environment, along with a high humidity level allows the plants stomas to open and uptake much more C02. And by raising temperatures in the green house or grow tent you can raise the plants metabolic cycle making it grow faster.
So if I was to use mushrooms to produce C02 to help a grow tent or green house. I would first need to build screen to keep out any fruit flies or spores that the mushrooms have. And then have the ability for the gas to pass through this filter but nothing else. But it could work, just have to keep a healthy mushroom colony going.
In a future post I will check out "grow bags" which are basically mushroom spawn in a breathable bag you can have near your plants to increase C02. Since I am about to be growing outside again soon I wont be needing them, but come winter time I will probably give the C02 mushroom spawn bags a try.
Previous posts on this project:
https://peakd.com/science/@solominer/c02-production-experiments-sugar-and-yeast
https://peakd.com/science/@solominer/c02-production-experiments-citric-acid-and-baking-soda
What about a simple bottle of sugar water with yeast and a cotton wool bung to elevate CO2 in a grow tent ?, have you done any measurements using yeast fermentation ?
Yeast's also a fungus. Should work and be much more controlable than oyster mushrooms.
Yep I did that method for a long time, its works well if you do not mind the smell..
https://peakd.com/science/@solominer/c02-production-experiments-sugar-and-yeast
Amazing!!! taking advantage of CO2 produced by your other production to help your plants growing!!! hahaha First time reading that! Smart!
Yeah that would be the most sustainable way of doing it. Maybe one day I can pull that off.
How interesting how you leverage these elements to maximize results!
You deserve every success for it!
Thanks for sharing!
Congratulations!
Thanks much, it has been quite the journey.
Just plopping the mushroom bags in a grow tent along with the plants doesn't work then, eh?
At nights, the plants produce no O2, but breathe it - same as the mushrooms.
The raised heat tolerance also goes out the window, as the mushrooms (oyster at least) do not tolerate high heat themselves...
(Maybe try Pleurotus pulmonarius or another heat resistant variant)
The mushrooms need high humidity, the plants are probably better off in dryer condotions...
Personally, I think it's too much hassle for something you have so little control over. If co2, then from a tank, or even better: just leave it...
The mushroom bags will be my next test, but I am done growing indoors until winter time. So I will come back to this experiment later in the year for more testing.
Something interesting when the lights were off in the grow tents when using yeast and sugar. It would go dormant at night, and then come back when the tent heats up again.
As for the mushrooms in the cannabis tent I do not think that would work. I think I would need two grow tents.. one just for the mushrooms, and a way to pull the air from that tent (but no spores) and use it for the cannabis tent.
Indeed this is all quite a lot of work, but it is all interesting to consider.
That's a great discovery. Co2 is essential for fast growing plants.
Sure is.. helps them a lot I hear.
Interesting your experiment! Where can I buy that meter! I recently came across some mushrooms on a trail walk. I want to explore the fungi world, I find it fascinating. Excellent post
Oh wow those look cool, never seen mushrooms like that.
Here are 2 more that I photographed at home! I didn't know the Velo de novia which is the second image . Then I discovered that you can eat it 🧐 ... today I'm just going to the same area where I took the picture of the strange fungus that like you I had not seen. I'll be on the hunt for mushrooms 🍄.
very cool your research about mushrooms but I if there is mushrooms I will definitely cook it and eat the mushrooms because of the very taste
Hah yeah they are tasty.