In a natural environment, green plants utilize light energy to convert carbon dioxide (CO2) and water into sugars. However, one common mistake growers make within their own controlled environments is overlooking the amount of CO2 that is being disseminated within their chambers.
It’s a long-known fact the positive effect CO2 has on plant growth, but not attending to it properly can cause the plant to starve, which in return stunts its ability to grow – resulting in lost time and revenue for the grower.
In this article, we walk you through the key benefits of maintaining healthy carbon dioxide concentrations within reach-in and walk-in chambers.
1. Plants will Thrive
Understanding the proper concentrations within plant growth chambers can ultimately lead to crops reaching their full photosynthesis potential. Whether taking the route of combustion of natural gas (fossil fuels being the most popular for grow greenhouses) or liquid CO2 (growth chambers), enriching the air can help optimize the controlled environment to mimic natural conditions, resulting in productive and healthier plant growth.
2. Larger Crop Quanities
One of the biggest benefits as a whole to using reach-in and walk-in chambers is that growers have the opportunity to double or triple their overall crop quantity while also being able to hyper-control the environment to best meet the needs of the crops.
The same goes for CO2 emission. The added supply of carbon dioxide has proven time and time again to increase the yield of grow chamber crops. This is due to growers being able to artificially recreate the balance of elements that encourage crops to start the process of photosynthesis and form new plant tissue, thus leading to higher quantities when it comes time to harvest.
Biora CO2 Control
3. Larger Fruits & Buds to Harvest
Not only does the proper CO2 concentration yield larger quantities to harvest, it’s also been proven to result in larger fruits and buds when the plant begins to flower. As the plant growth chamber enables the grower to create the perfect environment for whichever species they are growing, it allows the plant to reach its maximum potential that could’ve been altered out in nature. This means harvests that are bountiful as they are profitable for the growers.
4. Decreasing Crop Loss
Finding the right mixture of natural elements that will make plants grow to new heights will also help growers decrease the number of crops they lose from season to season.
As seasons change in the outside world, it’s only natural that various plant species die and regrow depending on the time of year. Through the use of controlled environments, growers have the unique opportunity to alter the mix of elements used within the greenhouse to mimic the preferred conditions, including CO2 levels, all year long. This means less overturn of crops.
5. Faster Production Times
Depending on the location, the CO2 concentration outside sits around 415 parts-per-million (ppm). The beauty of a controlled environment is that growers can increase this number in order to further enrich the greenhouse air and achieve closer to 800-1,000 ppm of CO2.
This has a huge part in increasing photosynthesis and maximizing growth – which can all be achieved within a faster timeline than in outside conditions. At the end of the day, faster production times mean greater harvests and ultimately a larger return for growers.
The Bottom Line
When using controlled environments to simulate the growth of various common plant species, there are a range of factors and conditions that need to be constantly monitored. If you’re looking for the biggest bang for your buck while using an indoor grow chamber, nailing down the appropriate natural environments, especially CO2, is crucial.
At MineARC, our controlled environments for biotechnology and agriculture provide accurate and proven monitoring systems for efficient production of test-controlled and controlled environment agriculture and can be effectively used in a range of use cases.