NO'2 & hydroponics

Just got back from a friends after a lengthy convo on the finer points of canabis cultivation only to find i could'nt sleep because i may have stumbled onto an idea that may be useful to some so here it is.
Years ago iheard that lightning fuses nitrogen to water molecules during a thunderstorm somehow, and my mate previously being a student at agricultural colledge backed me up on this therory only to go on and say that he'd heard of trucks carrying a tanker load of NO'2 turning up to farms and sub-irrigating seed beds and crops of various types as a form of fertilising in the early stages of growth.

Here's my idea Get you're self (for those growing pot) a pack of whiped cream bulbs, a.k.a nangs, dispence one or two of them into a bulb machine then sub-irrigate your your growing medium via 12ml polypipe or garden hose attached to the nozzle of your blub machine. If applied during the light cycle the plants will recive a boost of useable N & O and grow vigorously.

Please note this is only a theory & no resposability will be taken for dead or frozen plants due to this experiment. Any feedbacks, facts or ideas would be appreciated. sweet-tooth

You probably get feedbacks in the BL's Cannabis forum.

NO2 is not nitrous!! NO2 is not nitrous!! NO2 is not nitrous

I get the feeling I'm repeating myself here

First of all you may want to look at this warning given yesterday N20 is NOT NO2

While it may be fair to say NO2 spilt in a liquid form, may help to enrich the soil, it's also likely to kill everything initially. This brown gas is a nasty acid when dissolved in water. In fact, it forms the greater part of pollution causing acid rain, which kills trees and dissolves marble.

I can say with certainty that an NO2 rich environment would kill plants. A very small amount may be beneficial to plants but I have my doubts. It would certainly pose a life threatening situation for anyone in the house or living nearby.

A story goes that once a dentist was sent NO2 instead of N2O. By the time the dentist had realised something was wrong, the patient had died.


So before you order a tank of Nitrogen Dioxide (NO2), try dropping a bit of copper in some nitric acid. Do it outside in a non-residential area. Keeps well away from the highly toxic gas emanating from the reaction. Even in this environment you'll likely catch a whiff. That should convince you.

I was cured of any fascination for this gas while at high school. The bastard chem teacher (not my teacher) was relieving and prepared the reaction apparatus, before dumping in the copper and having the lab fill with the gas. People were coughing and trying to get to the door. The teacher turned around and said " Most of you young people smoke. This is no worse for you than cigarette smoke, in fact it's a constituent of tobacco smoke". Of course it wasn't safe; these days he'd have been in big trouble for pulling such a stunt.

In regards to available nitrogen; Just because a compound has the element needed for growth, it doesn't mean these are arranged (chemically bonded) in such a fashion as to be available as a nutrient form. Hydrogen peroxide is only water with an extra O atom. But both are very different molecules; one sustains life, the other produces free radicals which react with and destroys almost any biological organism contacting it.

Nature produces some interesting ions during a lightning storm and nitrogen is "fixed" in soil by molecules which form in the upper atmosphere. These react with soil microbes and minerals within the soil to provide easy assimilation by plants. The reactions are complex, just as the reactions involving carbonic acid are, which incidentally is largely responsible for rainwater having a slightly acid pH rather than being a neutral 7 on the pH scale.

[Edit: Thanks Mac, that will teach me to rush a post. Title corrected as per Cowboy Mac's alert.

cheers p_d]

^^ p_d's post header has a typo: no2 is not nitrous oxide, n2o is.

I remember this from trade school although I can't find my notes to back this up it.

That is why after a lighning storm with rain, everything greens up and I would also expect mushie numbers after such storms to be higher.

Plants require the NO+. the ions, which must be broken down as solutes in the ground... or further more when lightning stikes, creating N+, NO-, N bloody everything ions. That is the ONLY way (except a few) plants can absorb Nitrogen from anything. It is very inefficient and hard for a plant to absorb nitrogen from the atmosphere.

just use fertiliser 8)

Re: N2O is not nitrous!! N2O is not nitrous!! N2O is not nitrous

phase_dancer said:

I was cured of any fascination for this gas while at high school. The bastard chem teacher (not my teacher) was relieving and prepared the reaction apparatus, before dumping in the copper and having the lab fill with the gas. People were coughing and trying to get to the door. The teacher turned around and said " Most of you young people smoke. This is no worse for you than cigarette smoke, in fact it's a constituent of tobacco smoke". Of course it wasn't safe; these days he'd have been in big trouble for pulling such a stunt.

Click to expand...

No teacher would get away with that today... In the chem lab where I am the teacher is so paranoid about being sued he's like a nazi when it comes to some chemicals. Mind you, after watching a girl walking around with a bright, ditzy smile on her face, thongs on her feet and burning phosphorus on a spatula in her hand, I don't blame him.

sweet-tooth - Buy some fertiliser.

I second the call for fertiliser..... (Although pot needs a very carefully balanced nutrient suply to grow REALY well) Too much will make your plants sick and to little can do the same. If anthing gaseous is going to help your plants its probably a slightly higher Carbon Di-Oxide content in the air. Infact I have been told of cases where a tank of the stuff has been allowed to leak into the gowing invironment (very slowly mind you).

DONT DO THAT AT HOME KIDS, no one likes to ASPHYXIATE do they?

You get good results just from spraying you plants if you had some with soda water from the shop.Only if your growing a small amount.Bigger grows can go the bubbler way.