air in soil

ok another idea ppl say u have to be carefull not to over water and cause no more oxygen to be in the dirt...well what if u put an air pump with a air tube in there either like one of those air curtain or a disk one.... and provide lots of oxygen for the roots???

not even a word on this ... has it not been done b4 or is it that stupid of an idea

i have never heard of it being done. Doesnt mean it wont work, but knowing how air works, its just like water and electricity as it will always take the path of least resistance. This in mind, the air being pumped in would probly just build pressure and push out of the drain holes in the bottom of the pot, it the stone were at the bottom of the pot. I'm not sure what would happen if the stone was burries about half way down in the middle of the pot.

Dude, quit posting while high. It's just a stupid idea. It's kind of like saying "what if we coated a wagon wheel with rubber" when we already have modern tires.

If you want to bring oxygen to the roots there are numerous ways that work. You can do a soilless mix, rockwool, DWC, etc. It's just a moot idea.

I have heard of lots of people putting airstones in their soil...

They even claimed benefits...

I'd be more careful before calling someone's question STUPID...

Read enough and you will see just about everything being done...

you might just end up blowing all the soil out of the pot. or you can give your plants a little h2o2 if your not growing organics

RickWhite said:

Dude, quit posting while high. It's just a stupid idea. It's kind of like saying "what if we coated a wagon wheel with rubber" when we already have modern tires.

If you want to bring oxygen to the roots there are numerous ways that work. You can do a soilless mix, rockwool, DWC, etc. It's just a moot idea.

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your stupid for just posting something just to talk shit.... and yeah was thinking about a half way down.. i would use one of these stones i found that NEVER clog... it says on the box, and its 25 bucks for a 3 inch stone... and i would get a pretty powerful pump.... and no its not fucking dumb... its all the benefits of soil with a plus of extra oxygen... ive done dwc, ebb&flow, aroroponics and i just wanna try something diff....

crazy7605150 said:

your stupid for just posting something just to talk shit.... and yeah was thinking about a half way down.. i would use one of these stones i found that NEVER clog... it says on the box, and its 25 bucks for a 3 inch stone... and i would get a pretty powerful pump.... and no its not fucking dumb... its all the benefits of soil with a plus of extra oxygen... ive done dwc, ebb&flow, aroroponics and i just wanna try something diff....

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You're right - it's a brilliant idea. I don't know what I was thinking. It's not as if the air is going to simply find a crack in the soil through which to escape. I'm sure it will behave just like Rockwool - go for it man!

I have tried it dude with less than agreeable results. Causes the soil to dry very quickly near the stone, then the rest of the pot soon follows. Roots didnt care for it much. There may be away to make it work. Its just not as simple as covering a stone. I do bubble my water for a couple of hours before watering though, def seen good results from this. I think its a better use for an airstone and pump. Good luck.

while this is not exactly a 100% soil grow, you might find it an interesting concept. check it out http://www.icmag.com/ic/showthread.php?t=130800

bb

too much of anything is a bad thing, including air to the root-zone.

Just an FYI, the only real benefit of soil is that it's hassle free and more forgiving than hydro. Aside from that the drawbacks greatly exceed the benefit. How about instead of growing in soil you just buy a few big 6" Rockwool cubes and hand water them. You can also set them in a tray and leave about 1/4" nutrient solution in the bottom and the Rockwool will wick it up. Same hasel free setup as soil with the root aeration you are looking for.

A stone in soil will just make a crack in the soil and all the air will escape through it. Do you honestly think the air will evenly distribute though the soil?

RickWhite said:

Do you honestly think the air will evenly distribute though the soil?

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Depending on the mix I can see it distributed evenly...

If you are growing in clay.. yes you will have issues.. but if you have nice fluffy soil with a good perlite mix.. I can't see the issues you guys are pointing out...

But then again.. I am a hydro grower...

GypsyBush said:

Depending on the mix I can see it distributed evenly...

If you are growing in clay.. yes you will have issues.. but if you have nice fluffy soil with a good perlite mix.. I can't see the issues you guys are pointing out...

But then again.. I am a hydro grower...

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Here is a little hint. It will just find a crack or crevasse in the soil from which to escape. No way it will evenly distribute - not even possible.

just use a good mix of perlite, or maybe hydroton, and forget about it, heyyyyyyy...... LOL

RickWhite said:

Just an FYI, the only real benefit of soil is that it's hassle free and more forgiving than hydro. Aside from that the drawbacks greatly exceed the benefit. How about instead of growing in soil you just buy a few big 6" Rockwool cubes and hand water them. You can also set them in a tray and leave about 1/4" nutrient solution in the bottom and the Rockwool will wick it up. Same hasel free setup as soil with the root aeration you are looking for.

A stone in soil will just make a crack in the soil and all the air will escape through it. Do you honestly think the air will evenly distribute though the soil?

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I'm going to go with quality as the my reason of choice.. Some of us have been around the bush for a while you know.. Pretty much every truly exceptional bud I've smoked to this day came from dirt..
And btw, stagnant 6" RW cubes are a horrible way to go IMO.. Your suggestion definately won't outperform quality dirt!
Oh and your logic regarding airflow is flawed, some air will leak that way, but other air will penetrate.. You mentioned electricity, if you have a large resistor in parallel to a small resistor, current will still flow through the large resistor..

@crazy
Silky makes a good point.. The last thing you'd want to do is effectively air-prune those too close to the base, so be careful about things drying out at the surface too much.. If its an effective method, overwatering should be difficult anyways..
I've actually considered this (and ethylene soil gassing) myself, but never got around to it..

born2killspam said:

I'm going to go with quality as the my reason of choice.. Some of us have been around the bush for a while you know.. Pretty much every truly exceptional bud I've smoked to this day came from dirt..
And btw, stagnant 6" RW cubes are a horrible way to go IMO.. Your suggestion definately won't outperform quality dirt!
Oh and your logic regarding airflow is flawed, some air will leak that way, but other air will penetrate.. You mentioned electricity, if you have a large resistor in parallel to a small resistor, current will still flow through the large resistor..

@crazy
Silky makes a good point.. The last thing you'd want to do is effectively air-prune those too close to the base, so be careful about things drying out at the surface too much.. If its an effective method, overwatering should be difficult anyways..
I've actually considered this (and ethylene soil gassing) myself, but never got around to it..

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Um, no. What will happen is that all the air will just create a crack from which to escape. Anyone who thinks the result will be different simply lacks the ability to comprehend the physical world around them. Rockwool is designed to provide maximum root aeration and solution exposure. Whether it's hand watered, drip watered or ebb and flow it is far superior to soil. What we have here is a few stoner's pulling a half baked idea out of their ass. Get a clue, air stones in soil will not work. If it did, why would anyone bother with hydroponics? Duh.

But like I said, if you insist on being a horse's ass, have at it - I look forward to your write up on how awesome your idea worked. Thumbs up bro!!!!!!

If you have soil that drains well, oxygen will be pulled down to the roots as the water drains through.That's all you and your plants need.

RickWhite said:

Um, no. What will happen is that all the air will just create a crack from which to escape. Anyone who thinks the result will be different simply lacks the ability to comprehend the physical world around them. Rockwool is designed to provide maximum root aeration and solution exposure. Weather it's hand watered, drip watered or ebb and flow it is far superior to soil. What we have here is a few stoner's pulling a half baked idea out of their ass. Get a clue, air stones in soil will not work. If it did, why would anyone bother with hydroponics? Duh.

But like I said, if you insist on being a horse's ass, have at it - I look forward to your write up on how awesome your idea worked. Thumbs up bro!!!!!!

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Dude, why are you fucking with RW when you could have aeroponic fogging going down??
I did get my best commercial yields in hydro I do admit, but the buds were lacking at the connoisuer level.. I think its just impossible to provide everything a plant might want without a healthy microbial infrastructure, but I admit I never went for the gimmicky lines of fertilizers, just DNF (still overpriced) and some experiments..
When I went to soil (organically enriched mixes of various forest & meadow dirts with no bias against chems) I found a whole new richness to the genetics I'd grown all along.. I do admit that I pick up on subtle/possibly imaginary aspects of flavour and smell, but I'm always the first person to detect odours and odd flavours etc.. Perhaps its because I've been distilling for so long, and those senses are critical to producing a quality product..
Don't worry.. The RW does get the job done.. For a first grow its fine.. But when you get some experience you'll find that RW can get pretty fucking disgusting, and infact doesn't aerate anywhere near as effectively as the hydro-guy touted unless you have your watering scedule pegged..
If you want a simple hydro setup use hydroton in a drip setup.. Things stay alot cleaner
See, alot of us have been around the block..

Anyone who thinks the result will be different simply lacks the ability to comprehend the physical world around them.

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I'm working on that.. I got my physics degree, thought I was close at one time, but this newer unparticle theory is turning some shit upside down..

olishell said:

If you have soil that drains well, oxygen will be pulled down to the roots as the water drains through.That's all you and your plants need.

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Nice to see someone knows what they are talking about.