Anyone Pump Air into Their Soil?

[rrog]

like a nice big batch of ACT!

I will have to look that up. I assume that's a tea.

I have to digest that 27 page thread that MadL linked. Get that soil cooking. I'll have seedlings ready next week. Hope that's enough time to cool of the soil.

EDIT: Given my timetable over the next week, I'm not going to be able to acquire all of these raw materials secondtry delineated on the last page of that thread. I have Super-coarse coco, medium coco, commercial (x-tra coarse) perlite and vermiculite, and the basic organic amendments for NPK. And some "okay" compost. I'll look around and see how I might mix them to get a good soil.

I'm excited that the air-less grow will be similar to what I'm doing now with air. I certainly would be good to simplify. That message hasn't been lost on me.

 

[jaykush]

you have been here this long and you don't know what ACT is? get with the program RROG!

 

[Mr. Greengenes]

Sorry I didn't read the middle of the thread, just answering the OP's question to me way back on the first page about bubble size. The theory about small bubbles doing a 'better job' than bigger ones is based on a misconception that I spoke about in my first post. Most people assume that the bulk of the air is being absorbed through the actual bubbles, and if this were true, it also would follow that many smaller bubbles have more surface area than fewer big ones (true). Then your statement would carry weight. Unfortunately, that is not the case. The majority of air is absorbed into a body of water through the surface, which has more area than all those bubbles opened up and added together, at any given time. Follow? Trying to increase the amount of dissolved air by increasing the surface area of bubbles at any given time is a game of diminishing returns, whereas presenting more surface area to the air will succeed in loading the water with as much O2 as it can hold. Big bubbles stir the (surface of the) water better. Believe me I've trialed them against each other, both in fish tanks and in DWC. You can go on purchasing those expensive airstones on theory, or you can make a test yourself, your choice.

 

[foescan]

I did something similar to this, dubbed "aerated earthbox" on the web years ago. Basically I filled the res with lava rock, replaced the plastic section that holds the soil and soil wick with a few layers of coco mat, then filled with an airy soil heavy on coir fiber. Keep the water level at the proper height and loads of moist air will slowly and constantly percolate through the soil. Very evenly too, no air "channels" formed.

I think this method is somewhat similar to your OBBT. What some people may be missing about such methods is that there is an incredible amount of turbulence on the surface of the water. The water level is set at an optimum level in the lava rock, which allows water to bubble up through the rock reaching the sol. The soil never gets soaked, but remains evenly moist. Whereas a standard earthbox design relies on a passive soil wick constantly saturated, this method actively bubbles moist air through the medium uniformly.

I ran several of these DIY earthbox setups outdoors in 18G rubbermaid tubs. The growth in these was ridiculous vs my non-aerated tubs. Also, the fungal activity was the highest I have ever seen. I even had several kinds of tiny mushrooms crop up. I'm confident that this method can bring the microherd to its maximum potential. And at the end of the year, roots from the tomato plants had penetrated through the coco mat layer and were all through the lava rock. Completely healthy roots due to plentiful oxygen levels.

The downside is that they are a lot of work to set up and maintain, and I didn't like having to dump the soil to get to the res for cleanup. And you need pumps and electricity, and the res has to be kept at a certain level to be effective. I think photos of this method would be helpful in explaining it to everyone. Unfortunately I can't provide any as my tubs are well-documented on a gardening forum. ;-)

 

[Mountain]

Big bubbles stir the (surface of the) water better.

Yup.

I remember some dude on OG running some experiments with aerating soil and seemed he was getting a response but his control group was too small IMO to make his testing anything credible.

 

[mad librettist]

what about releasing one large bubble as opposed to many smaller ones equalling the same volume of air?

 

[Mountain]

what about releasing one large bubble as opposed to many smaller ones equalling the same volume of air?

I couldn't say but big bubbles create more surface turbulence and that's what you want. I ran a bunch of DO tests in a hydro res and basically what Mr. Greengenes has said.

Anyway this is the soil forum and the thread is about pumping soil in. I dunno...Shanti's aerated beds also was something I wanted to try indoors.

 

[mad librettist]

there is definitely a benefit IMO to having breathable walls whenever containers are involved

 

[rrog]

To that point my three air-less soil pails would have conditioned Coco chunks, coarse commercial vermiculite and perlite. A bit of medium coco, then compost and amendments. No supplied air but airy.

I'm still considering whether to have a rock layer on the bottom with water or just have the three pails drain to waste.

 

[rrog]

you have been here this long and you don't know what ACT is? get with the program RROG!

I know, I know. I'm still looking. I assume a tea of some sort

I'm going to guess Aerated Compost Tea