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BlueGrower
Stranger



Registered: 01/14/11
Posts: 61
Last seen: 3 years, 8 months
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Trial Grow Room before growing commercially
#14227583 - 04/02/11 06:37 PM (12 years, 9 months ago) |
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This is a trial setup to learn as much as posible and when ready start a commercial mushroom growing business. In this trial growroom we will be doing the same tasks as in the future bigger setup but with less substrate, 40kg of substrate/week.

- The room has a northwest orientation and has a big tree by the window. These and the A/C unit if needed will help keep the room fresh during the summer
- There is plenty of natural light and no direct sunlight so artificial light is not needed
- The Floor has been covered with several layers of thick plastic

- We will put extra shelves (12 in total) to accomodate three blocks of 3 kilograms each

- The two humidifiers maintain a 90-95% humidity. Due to the dry weather in Madrid (30%-40% this days) i have the big one 24/7 and the small one on a timer 15 mins ON / 45 mins OFF.

- Some trays with perlite help to maintain the humidity when the greenhouse is quite empty. We place them on the empty shelves

- We had at home this old Thermo Hygrometer because my grandfather and father used to run a business where they sold them, it has become my favorite gadget. It records humidity and temp. for a week with no shitty batteries. It´s also very accurate.

The image above shows the evolution of the humidity. It took me some hours to setup the humidifiers to maintain 90-95% RH.

For FAE (Fresh Air Exchange) we just cut 4 holes on one side. We also live the zips from both sides of the greenhouse´s door wide open.

- This is the space for incubation which will be cleared of soon to accomodate all the substrate bags
- We will put something to stop some rays of sunlight that manage to hit the shelves

- Bag of pasteurized substrate (50% horse manure 50% worm casts) spawnned with king oyster (pleurotus eryngii)

- This is our pasteurizer. It uses the steam cleaning machine on the right to inject steam inside the pasteurizer and elevate the temperature between 60-70ºC

- The box is made of to plastic containers, one smaller and placed inside the other.
- Between the two a thick layer of insulation (sleeping bags) is placed covering all of the inner container

The inside container has a metal wireframe some centimeters above the bottom. This makes posible that the steam is injected from under the substrate.

We use jars to pasteurize the substrate. We tried bigger containers but the center of the substrate took up to 2 hours to reach 60ºC. With the jars it takes about 45 minutes

A thermometer with a sensor that we place in the middle of the substrate tells us when it reaches the pasteurization temp (60ºC). We maintain a temp between 60ºC-70ºC for 1 hour.

Another Thermometer introduced through a hole in the inner container gives as the ambient temperature inside the pasteurizer. When the temperature drops below 60ºC some more steam has to be injected into the box.
With the insulation we have now we are injecting about 3 minutes of steam at the beginning and then 1 minute every 30 mins.

The missing piece of the growing room is a space for spawning and filling the bags. This is a sketch of what we wanna make
thanks to all shroomery, from where i´ve learned sooo much this last months
Would love to hear some feedback
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fngbronco
Monkey Man



Registered: 09/26/10
Posts: 2,877
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Re: Trial Grow Room before growing commercially [Re: BlueGrower]
#14227792 - 04/02/11 07:11 PM (12 years, 9 months ago) |
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That is awesome! Can't wait to get a bigger place and create a grow room! Good job!
-------------------- I challenge you to challenge yourself more! When you feel complacent and ready to hang it up, challenge yourself to get over it! If you fail, don't look at it as you didn't succeed, look at it as you would a rock face you're trying to climb. Stand back, wayyyy back, and look at it and plot another path. If you can't find one, shuffle down the way a little, a little change of scenery or a view from a different angle may give you the insight you need. Anything I state is relayed information from a friend of a friend and should be viewed as completely fictitious. I do not partake in any illegal or grey-area-of-the-law activities, but do have lots of friends who may or may not. -fngbronco Pill Divider Agar Tek
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RogerRabbit
Bans for Pleasure



Registered: 03/26/03
Posts: 42,214
Loc: Seattle
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Re: Trial Grow Room before growing commercially [Re: BlueGrower]
#14228121 - 04/02/11 08:23 PM (12 years, 9 months ago) |
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Nice setup.
For shiitake, you'll do fine, as with king oysters. If you want to grow P ostreatus, you'll want more light. Don't block rays of light coming in through a window. They'll be diffused enough by the time they get through the plastic sheeting and to your substrates. RR
-------------------- Download Let's Grow Mushrooms semper in excretia sumus solim profundum variat "I've never had a failed experiment. I've only discovered 10,000 methods which do not work." Thomas Edison
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ambargh



Registered: 08/15/09
Posts: 3,433
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Re: Trial Grow Room before growing commercially [Re: RogerRabbit]
#14228141 - 04/02/11 08:28 PM (12 years, 9 months ago) |
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That's really nice. I like that Thermo Hygrometer thing, and your pasteurizer.
-------------------- "The fact that we live at the bottom of a deep gravity well, on the surface of a gas covered planet going around a nuclear fireball 90 million miles away and think this to be normal is obviously some indication of how skewed our perspective tends to be.." - Douglas Adams ambargh's easy agar
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BlueGrower
Stranger



Registered: 01/14/11
Posts: 61
Last seen: 3 years, 8 months
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Re: Trial Grow Room before growing commercially [Re: ambargh]
#14229941 - 04/03/11 05:21 AM (12 years, 9 months ago) |
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Thanks to both!
RR, i was planning on blocking some rays of sun that hit the shelves i have for incubation as can be seen in the picture below:

Would you recommend to leave those hitting the incubation bags? Seems they´ve been incubating well with a lot of light but i was afraid of direct sunlight.
You say for oysters i will need more light, so ¿will i need artificial light?
thanks again
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Greycat16
The cat



Registered: 10/21/10
Posts: 73
Loc: Tip of africa
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Re: Trial Grow Room before growing commercially [Re: BlueGrower]
#14230092 - 04/03/11 07:30 AM (12 years, 9 months ago) |
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Awesome thread. I also plan on trying to get a commercial scale grow op. going in the future so your thread is and will be a great help to me. Thanks
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fungus_tao
Hah Zah!



Registered: 05/10/06
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Re: Trial Grow Room before growing commercially [Re: Greycat16]
#14230257 - 04/03/11 08:52 AM (12 years, 9 months ago) |
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Very nice setup you got there. Looks very organized. How often do you refill your electric steam generator? How long do you hold pasteur temps?
-------------------- Follow the light The Light is your guide.
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BlueGrower
Stranger



Registered: 01/14/11
Posts: 61
Last seen: 3 years, 8 months
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Re: Trial Grow Room before growing commercially [Re: fungus_tao]
#14230404 - 04/03/11 09:42 AM (12 years, 9 months ago) |
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Thanks greycat, i´ll keep the thread updated
fungus_tao, my process for pasteuricing is as follows
- I fill up the cleaner with water - I turn on the steam cleaner until its ready (about 10 minutes) - I inject steam until the temp inside the pasteurizer reaches 80ºC (176ºF). Takes about 2 minutes. - The first time heat is lost quiet quickly to the containers, substrate, etc. so i stay for 5 mins and inject steam again until it reaches 80ºC again - I turn off the steam cleaner and i live and come back 20 minutes later - I turn on the steam, wait until is ready (about 1 min) and inject steam to reach 80ºC again - I turn off the steam cleaner and i live and come back 40 minutes later - I turn on the steam, wait until is ready (about 1 min) and inject steam to reach 80ºC for the last time. It maintains over 60ºC (140ºF) for at least 1 hour more.
I keep the at pasteurization temp a little over 1 hour from the moment the center of the substrate reaches 60ºC (takes about 50 minutes)
It isn´t the simplest, cheapest or more efficient method for pasteuricing but i love it because it is soooo clean.
Hope i was helpful
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BlueGrower
Stranger



Registered: 01/14/11
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Last seen: 3 years, 8 months
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Re: Trial Grow Room before growing commercially [Re: BlueGrower]
#14230412 - 04/03/11 09:45 AM (12 years, 9 months ago) |
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Ah, fungus. I don´t have to refill the steamer in all the process, i think i use about 1 half of its 1 litre deposit. The sleeping backs make quiet a good insulation and not much heat escapes.
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solumvita
Q.B.E.


Registered: 02/12/08
Posts: 2,061
Loc: South Africa
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Re: Trial Grow Room before growing commercially [Re: Greycat16]
#14230483 - 04/03/11 10:07 AM (12 years, 9 months ago) |
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Nice and innovative! especially the steamer. Good luck
-------------------- One of these days all the answers will be revealed until then we learn from each other! www.mushrush.co.za
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Toni L
Amateur



Registered: 01/01/11
Posts: 439
Loc: Earth
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Re: Trial Grow Room before growing commercially [Re: solumvita]
#14231063 - 04/03/11 12:57 PM (12 years, 9 months ago) |
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Nice setup "tocayo"
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Humility
Working on it



Registered: 10/07/08
Posts: 6,745
Last seen: 6 years, 11 months
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Re: Trial Grow Room before growing commercially [Re: Toni L]
#14231435 - 04/03/11 02:44 PM (12 years, 9 months ago) |
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You're very clean. Please keep us updated with the progress of your grow.
--------------------

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BlueGrower
Stranger



Registered: 01/14/11
Posts: 61
Last seen: 3 years, 8 months
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Re: Trial Grow Room before growing commercially [Re: Humility]
#14232073 - 04/03/11 04:59 PM (12 years, 9 months ago) |
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Thanks, i´m not so organized in my everyday life I thought i would have to be methodical if i want to slowly make a business of this.
This are some picts made this morning, our first king oyster flush!






I took the blocks out of the bags, now i think i should have left the sides of the bag to prevent the block from drying ¿what do you think?
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Feelers
Anti-Myth-Rhythm-Rock-Shocker



Registered: 06/18/02
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Re: Trial Grow Room before growing commercially [Re: BlueGrower]
#14233280 - 04/03/11 08:55 PM (12 years, 9 months ago) |
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Can I ask about the economics of this? You say 40kg of substrate per week, I'm quite interested in your breakdown of costs/expected returns.
Hope I'm not being too nosy! 
PS the setup looks awesome, I have some background in Aquarium automation (for crazy reef setups), and you could probably create a way to automate both your humidity and the pasteurizer quite cheaply. The pasteurizer is a great idea, but any hassle you can remove from the constant checking/re-steaming would just make the process that much easier.
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BlueGrower
Stranger



Registered: 01/14/11
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Last seen: 3 years, 8 months
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Re: Trial Grow Room before growing commercially [Re: Feelers]
#14234766 - 04/04/11 04:16 AM (12 years, 9 months ago) |
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Hi Feelers, i´m just calculating the costs this days, when i finish i can send you the excell sheat
The 40kg / week is only for the trials, we will be processing about 200kg of substrate when we are ready.
About the automation i´m looking at installing a solenoid valve connected to a thermostat to control the intake of steam into the pasteurizer.
I was also thinking in buying an hygrometer to control humidity but it looks like i´ve got it at a 95% constant RH with the timers
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FractalXplora
Grainiack




Registered: 02/11/06
Posts: 2,494
Loc: UK
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Re: Trial Grow Room before growing commercially [Re: BlueGrower]
#14234843 - 04/04/11 05:14 AM (12 years, 9 months ago) |
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good stuff, bookmarked. good luck! interested to see how many flushes you pull off the King's.
--------------------

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BlueGrower
Stranger



Registered: 01/14/11
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Last seen: 3 years, 8 months
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Re: Trial Grow Room before growing commercially [Re: FractalXplora]
#14240214 - 04/05/11 04:24 AM (12 years, 9 months ago) |
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I was thinking in prunning / trimming some of the primordia so i get less but larger fruits ¿do you think the right moment would be now?
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Mycelio
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Re: Trial Grow Room before growing commercially [Re: BlueGrower]
#14240369 - 04/05/11 06:09 AM (12 years, 9 months ago) |
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Nice setup! I really like your pasteurizer and hope that sleeping bag doesn't get too wet upon usage. I would recommend to have the incubation and inoculation space in a separate room, as you always have mold and other nasties in your fruiting space after a while. Also, fruiting cultures will release billions of spores into the room, effectively inoculating whatever you work on. I once did everything incl. fruiting in my kitchen, until I had too many oyster contams.
Regarding those pins, right now you may just concentrate on keeping some alive. I see a lot with brown, dieing tips. Remove them as soon as larger parts of them turn brown, they would only rot and get moldy.
Carsten
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debianlinux
Myconerd - DBK




Registered: 12/09/02
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Re: Trial Grow Room before growing commercially [Re: Mycelio]
#14240654 - 04/05/11 08:13 AM (12 years, 9 months ago) |
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What purpose does the plastic on the floor serve? In my experience it creates a more difficult surface to keep clean assuming the floor underneath is tile or wood or concrete (obviously if carpet it won't work uncovered). Plastic remains a trip hazard with the wrinkles and it eventually tears and scuffs becoming increasingly hard to clean. If you are trying to contain condensation I suggest investing in washing machine trays that are generally large enough to contain a Martha tent as well as other shelving. In this way the normal floor can be more easily mopped and vacuumed. Use a HEPA filtered vacuum to prevent dust scattering.
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BlueGrower
Stranger



Registered: 01/14/11
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Re: Trial Grow Room before growing commercially [Re: debianlinux]
#14240862 - 04/05/11 09:18 AM (12 years, 9 months ago) |
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Thanks Micelio, i was wondering if the brown tips where the caps developing or dried heads. The second night after i openned the bags, the humidifier turned off because of a bad connecting in the wall´s plug (i´ve already repaired it) and RH fell to about 60% for about 6 hours. I think this made some primordia to dry and others have cracks on their stem
Anyway some are developing the caps and look healthy. Below you can see 2 picts from today with some nice grey caps.
debianlinux, i´m totally with you about the plastic but my father (we set up this grow space in his house) was very worried about the wooden floor and this was the quickest solution for now. I´m searching for a big tray to accomodate the greenhouse as you commented buy haven´t found one big enough (greenhouse is 143cmx143cm but i only have 1/2 of it setup, so it is 143cm x 71.5cm (about 53" x 28")

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