# Photovoltaic Root Stimulation



## sopenderope (Feb 13, 2008)

Does anyone have any information on this topic?

Besides this link below I cant really find anything on it.


PHOTOVOLTAIC ROOT STIMULATION

Any replies would be appreciated, sorry this is short I dont really know much about it heh.


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## sopenderope (Feb 13, 2008)

Has anyone ever tried this before?
Or even heard of it?

The SunStick isnt available around here,
but you can buy solar cells at radio shack.


Any input?


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## oscarmiya (Feb 13, 2008)

Seems like it would be something at least try out if you are growing in a small area without tons of light. I may give it a shot on some Seedlings and Clones. Good find man, very interesting.


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## sopenderope (Feb 13, 2008)

even if you are growing in an area with a fair amount of light it seems it would be a beneficial boost.

i did some tests with a .5v solar panel a multimeter and a few different kinds of lights

by comparison (voltage output):

worst- aquarium/plant florescent bulbs
mid - daylight florescent bulbs
best - 26watt cfl

the 26watt cfl bulb maxes the output of the .5v solar cell.


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## northerntights (Feb 13, 2008)

It seems like the electrical energy wouldn't impact the roots (or their cells) directly but would create an electrical "push" that would increase the absorption of ionic nutrients into the root structure. Those chemicals are often impacted by electrical charges. Thats my guess, only because the current generated is SO small and the mechanisms in the plants cell for photosynthesis function on a quantum-chemical principal, not electrical. The old idea of photosynthesis, that energy is transfered from one molecular form to another in sequence, was disproved by recent experiments that show an almost instant transition of plant metabolic energy via a quantum principal... and that can NOT be influenced by simple electrical current.


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## overfiend (Feb 13, 2008)

i wonder if you could put a plant in no light and run the electrical charge into the pot and get it to grow. the posibilities for hiding plants would be endless.


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## sopenderope (Feb 14, 2008)

that in an interesting question, although i dont think you could remove the need for light if this works well it would be a great way to push your plant to grow bigger or have a higher yield.

The only problem is i cant find any research on the topic still heh, so i have no idea how many volts were used for how many weeks to produce the extra height described in that article, or how many volts would just plain kill your plant.


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## asdfva (Feb 14, 2008)

That's an incredibly interesting read.
Especially in reference to indoor growing.

Thank for the link!


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## sopenderope (Feb 14, 2008)

yea it says something about it works best on plants that have never been exposed to actual sunlight, which would be perfect for indoor.

anyone about to start some plants? we need an experiment, one or two with electrodes in the soil wired to a panel and then one or two controls without.

i read instructions for using the photovoltaic stimulation for germination so you could really use it the whole time. see if after a few weeks of veg the ones with the solar panels are bigger or not. would be great to watch.


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## oscarmiya (Feb 14, 2008)

Ok Everyone.. I did some research last night and came up with a few good sources but one of which I liked the most. They call this Electro Culture.. just as water culture etc... Anyone interested in this please read Electro-Culture: Stimulation of plant growth with electricity, magnetism, sound, &c as there are MANY different tested methods of Electro Culture. I recommend reading the entire page- very interesting for those who are always looking for new ways to improve your grow. Good luck all


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## sopenderope (Feb 14, 2008)

Thats a great find, thank you for the info.

""Under the influence of the electrical current, the numerical proportions between hemp plants of different sexes was changed by comparison with the control to give an increased number of female plants by 20-25%, in connection with a reduction in the intensity of the oxidative processes in the plant tissues.""

Seems it would be a good idea to start it right at the beginning. This plays along with the environmental aspects affecting the sex of plants in the "Are seeds predisposed" thread.

[FONT=Times New Roman, Times, serif][SIZE=-0]"The stimulating action of the alternating current was greatest when the current with density of 0.5 mA/sq cm... A direct current with density of 0.01 mA/sq cm had approximately the same action. When these optimal current densities were used in hotbeds, the yield of green mass could be increased by 40%." (1)

Small hobby solarcells available at radioshack provide a voltage of .5vdc with a current of .3amp which is 300mA so if i'm not mistaken wouldnt those cells provide you with basically the same current used in their experiment? Please correct me if i'm wrong, electricity and math arent really my subjects.[/SIZE][/FONT]


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## oscarmiya (Feb 14, 2008)

sopenderope said:


> Thats a great find, thank you for the info.
> [FONT=Times New Roman, Times, serif][SIZE=-0]
> Small hobby solarcells available at radioshack provide a voltage of .5vdc with a current of .3amp which is 300mA so if i'm not mistaken wouldnt those cells provide you with basically the same current used in their experiment? Please correct me if i'm wrong, electricity and math arent really my subjects.[/SIZE][/FONT]


If your using a circle pot for soil I would assume the following would be correct to find the correct pot size for .01mA/Sq. Cm.

A 10" Dia. pot has about 78 Square inches (3.1416 x 5" x 5" = 78.54).
There is about 2.5 Centimeters in a inch so 2.5 x 2.5 = 6.25 Sq. Centimeters in a Sq. Inch.
Now to see how many Sq. Centimeters a 10" pot has we would take 6.25 * 78 = 487.5 Sq. Cm. in a 10" Pot.
Too see how much of a load in mA that is, we would take 300mA / 487.5 Sq. Cm. = .6 mA/Sq. Cm.

A suitable pot would be about a 80" Dia. pot.

That seems big.. probably was used in a Planting bed.


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## sopenderope (Feb 14, 2008)

There's 2.54 centimeters in 1 inch. 
I don't know the formulas for the square inches of the pot.
I'm blazin right now, I'll try again soon heh.


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## oscarmiya (Feb 15, 2008)

sopenderope said:


> There's 2.54 centimeters in 1 inch.
> I don't know the formulas for the square inches of the pot.
> I'm blazin right now, I'll try again soon heh.


Your right. I got ahead of myself.. there are about 6 Sq Cm in an inch (6.25 to be more precise) and that is where I got that number. I'll blame that one on the pot lol.. I fixed the post.


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## iamgrowerman (Jun 10, 2009)

To be even more precise, there's 6.4516 square centimeters per square inch. There's a lot of questions surrounding electrical rooting stimulation but I think the precise amount of current per square centimeter is the least of those.

For example, does supplying electrical stimulation to the roots of marijuana during darkness influence flowering positively or negatively? Would it have the same effect as incomplete darkness? Or would it provide a way to significantly supplement the energy the plant can use to grow bigger and fatter buds?

It seems that the electrical rooting stimulation works best for plants that don't receive as much light as they need so it might not help if you've got plenty of HPS on them already. Sounds like something that will be interesting to test, but I'm still going to use my tried and true rooting stimulator - Voodoo Juice.


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## TN2CO! (Mar 15, 2010)

does anyone have any idea how to aply this to hydroponics??? please tell me if you have a way! i have a expirmental closet grow where i just try new things but its a hydro/scrog. i would love to try this but not sure how. I read a study on tomatoes photo/ hydro, unfortunately it didnt say how they did it. if anyone could help me with this i would be apriciative.


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## Illuminati08 (Apr 14, 2010)

okay you guys, your fellow electrician/pothead is here, i have set up a very simple VERY simple, set up for supplying voltage to the root system of an unsaid plant,use your imagination. i took the circuit chip out of a solar charging automatic light for drive ways, and added about six more cells to the panel, and wired them in parallel for maximum voltage. i only used the circuit in the light to insure that when the sun is not out, it will disconnect the solar panel from the circuit and use a battery supplying the same amount of voltage (1.5-2.5 volts in this case) to keep power going to the roots even at night time. a much simpler solution than just sticking a solar panel leads into the dirt, because i have recently discovered that solar panels DRAIN power at night, very bad it you have to things fighting for the current flowing through the dirt. this is day 1, of the experiment, and i DO have a control, which is SLIGHTLY bigger than the one being supplied electrical current. 
so if there is ANY change it will be noticable rather quickly. 

*testing on the lead posisions in the soil, at this point i have them about one inche from the stock and about 1-1.5 inches into the soil, as to not touch the roots, only supply energy to the soil around it.

i dont know what else i would want to know about this experiment, so i dont know what else to say, if you got any more questions, just ask. otherwise ill be updating regularly on the results being obtained, unless it turns out to work TOO well, then ill just keep it a shecret. lol
peace

oh yea and i'll post some schematics if anyone is interested.


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## Illuminati08 (Apr 15, 2010)

day 1, and the smaller plant of the two, which is being fed 2.5 volts, is noticably larger in just 24 hours. the leaves and broadened and turned a darker green.
and the stem is now taking on a green, red color instead of an imature yellow.
again, these results are being noticed in just 24 hours. ill be back to keep posted


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## yardy (Dec 6, 2017)

There is a way to grow plants without light and it was actually in an article about stimulating plants with electricity -
You get some metal sheets and attach a wire to the sheet and then into the plants pot but plants must be mounted above ground level and if the sheet is too big it will burn he plant but too small and growth will be weak - I can't find the article but check out rexresearch for electroculture ideas


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