CO2 Overdose?

Hi all,

Long time viewer, first time poster.

I had a plant that I just put into flowering (4 weeks old). I read that during flowering they love co2 so me being the bright person I am, went out and bought a bunch of co2 cartridges.

I then cracked one open so that the tiniest amount of co2 would constantly escape the cartridge and put it about 3 inches above the plant.

I came back 30 minutes later, and my entire plant is keeled over (shriveled up, leaves shrunk). I immediately brought fresh air into the area and the plant's main stem instantly (within a few min) straightened up. This was short lived however, because just about an hour later, the top part of the main stem keeled over and hasn't recovered since.

Up to this point, it was a healthy plant.

The only thing giving me hope is that the main stem is still standing upright, but the top part of the stem with about 4 top leaves are all keeled over, shriveled, dark green, and not showing any signs of life.

Did I kill her? Is there any hope in reviving her? It has been 3 days since this happened and it is not recovering. Is there anything I can do or is she RIP?

it certainly wasn't from the amount of co2 you would get from a box of co2 cartridges . I and a lot of other folks spending money on more cost affective ways of supplementing co2 wish it were that simple.

Let me preface my previous statement with the size of my grow area (Its a cardboard box about 2' x 2' x 2'.)

Do you think that the tiny space would have made a difference?

that is small. that changes things a bit. pretty airtight?
one guy on here claims to kill bugs with 15000 ppm of co2. where he obtained a monitor that will read that high a level I don't know.

I have 1 fan blowing air in, and another blowing air out.

However...

When I opened the Co2, I turned the ventilation OFF so as not to blow out the co2 from the box. The ventilation was off for about 30 minutes before I noticed the problem.

I've read that 4000 ppm will kill a plant. also a human or probably pretty much anything that relies on oxygen.
But the time period exposed to the high levels of co2 were much longer I though. Couple hours to kill bugs.

The only other thing I can think of is the heat. I have 8 26w CFM lights (4 on each side of the box with the plant in the middle).

The reason I am skeptical that it was heat was because I had the lights on for an entire 12 hour day before I installed ventilation. The plant was just fine and happy.

What I am thinking is maybe the higher level of CO2 had an impact on how heat was accelerating in the box? Im not a chemist but I know that some gases impact temperature (faster/slower or hotter/colder).

If it wasn't a CO2 overdose, then it had to have been heat...But I don't remember there being anything that jumped out at me when I opened the box as far as high heat...It is on average about 85 degrees in that box without ventilation.

never seen anything like that. 85F with supplemented co2 isn't too high although getting there. as far as the plant growing still a few degrees to spare.
Yours should be fine. Dunno what caused your problem but maybe someone else can tell you. good luck and happy growing.

I will post pictures of it later tonight when I get home. Thanks for your replies so far! If anything, I learned a great deal from this first grow. I will post the pics shortly.

i did the same thing a few years back with a paintball co2..i thought i made a good device to slowly leak it ,but didnt work and they looked bad a few hours later..those little co2's can fill a few bike tires .so a 8 cubic foot grow room would definatly fill up fast..