So i think this is practical but I cant find anything online. I put together a few differnt compost mixes in plastic bags and left them in my grow tent. Containing a 1:1 mix of brown and green. The C02 sky rocketed. The bags are pumping out like 4,000 ppms of c02. Now there are a few reasons why you dont want a “hot Compost” but i think there is a balance here and we could potentially use this as a tool. Microbial Activity: Excessive heat can kill or harm beneficial bacteria, fungi, and other microorganisms essential for the composting process. This can slow down decomposition.
:Thats fine if the primary use for the compost is c02. After we get what we can from a batch we fix the mixture and add a healthy colony. Loss of Nutrients: High temperatures can lead to the loss of nutrients through evaporation. Vital elements such as nitrogen may escape as ammonia gas, resulting in nutrient loss from the compost.
: plant leaves absorb significant quantities of ammonia from the air, even at naturally occurring low atmospheric concentrations**. source Methane is another factor i have considered but after a lil it of research i am now experimenting with Zeolite
: Clinoptilolite filter media, otherwise known as zeolite, is an effective means of removing ammonia . It also provides a large surface area for nitrifying bacteria in recirculating systems.
I cant find the link now but i read that it actually releases the ammonia as Co2 after its oxidized.
With all that said the tent is not sealed and with the dozens of plants pumping out oxygen my ppms are like 500 n the tent on average.
@PsillyRabbit this is the type of conversation I am here for!!
I don’t use a lot of hot compost or co2 supplementing but I have measured soil respiration by trapping respiration and calculating rates. If youve got access to some soil that has healthy microbial populations and mix in a sugar source and water til hydrated, you will generate bursts of CO2 as the microbes metabolize the sugar.
Not sure how helpful this information is right now, but you might hear something later where this could help!
Thats awesome to hear. There are some yeast in there and they will make c02 and alcohol,Lactobacillus will emit c02 and lactic acid. When these bags slow down a bit ill put some sugar in one and see how much it pushes out before mixing it with new substrate.
Mushrooms are also really easy to produce for C02 but i was never able to get them the same c02 ratings even with 20+ pounds of live substrates.
Make sure you mix some moisture with the sugar, that is crucial to Kickstart the metabolism.
I’ve heard lots of people mention mushrooms before, but I’ve never used them. I have to believe that their success depends on size, amount produced, and ventilation. If you constantly moving air at a high rate I could see CO2 concentrations increasing only slightly
@PsillyRabbit based on this post I feel compelled to ask if your first name is Roger over on the Shroomery
That CO2 production is significant! With that high of a nitrogen/carbon ratio, do you get a lot of anaerobic putrescence? It seems like it could be pretty foul as compared to the typical 15:1 or 30:1 used for traditional hot composing.
I’d also be curious to note the effect of adding something like JADAM Microbial Solution to the mix. JMS is made by boiling a potato very soft and placing it with a handful of active compost in a mesh bag, and suspend it in a bucket of chlorine free water, where i macerate the potato, and then let it all stand for 24-48 hours.
I water it into my cannabis plants, but I throw excess into the compost out back. It typically spikes the internal temperature by 10-20 degrees F when applied full strength (i dilute it 1:10 when watered into the plants).
So instead of seeking
I would theorize the populations could be maintained/reinforced in the existing environment, likely with a decreased nitrogen ratio compost to prevent overheating. #stonedrambling
This guy nailed it. The differences in C:N between green material and woody material is one of the reasons the lasagna stacking method of bed making is so productive. Provides short term and long term substrate for populations
