|
PitcherCrab
Crescent Fresh



Registered: 12/02/06
Posts: 2,446
Loc: The bottom of the sea.
Last seen: 1 year, 1 month
|
Help me put together my FC!
#26640281 - 05/01/20 01:07 AM (3 years, 8 months ago) |
|
|
I'm currently putting together a fruiting chamber and I'm pondering my options for shelving. All you larger scale gourmet growers, how do you have your FC's set up? What is your shelving like?
My FC will be ~10'x 17'4" max. If I can go ~8'x17'4" that would allow for a bit more room for my colonization area, but that really depends on my ability to fit shelving. I'm framing it out of 2x4's then insulating from the inside with 1" polyiso board which will also act as a vapor barrier.
I'm open to any shelving option, but right now I'm thinking I'd like to do conduit shelving similar to this:

My current thoughts are to build x1 ~12" shelf on the wall, then an aisle ~24" wide, x2 ~12" shelves in the center, a second aisle then x1 ~12" shelf on the opposite wall. So, x2 aisles with 12" shelving on either side. If that doesn't make sense I can post a drawing.
My main question is, could I get away with having 24" wide shelves against the walls? My concern is there wouldn't be space for the mushrooms to fruit off the edge of the shelf if they are on the wall side, so I'd have to fruit them off the top of the bags. Maybe this isn't an issue however... I've just been waaaaay over thinking things lately so I'm not really sure. 
I'll be grateful for any input and thoughts!
-------------------- PC's LAGM 2021 (TOC & TWC)P. natalensis Growlog 2021Pans for PC Fall 2021 Growlog “I must not fear. Fear is the mind-killer. Fear is the little death that brings total obliteration. I will face my fear. I will permit it to pass over me and through me. And when it has gone past I will turn the inner eye to see its path. Where the fear has gone there will be nothing. Only I will remain.” - Bene Gesserit Litany Against Fear
|
seagu

Registered: 03/03/18
Posts: 952
Last seen: 8 days, 8 hours
|
Re: Help me put together my FC! [Re: PitcherCrab]
#26640531 - 05/01/20 05:34 AM (3 years, 8 months ago) |
|
|
hah.. I used his shelving idea as well. But a smaller grow space and only 1 isle. His channel and all his videos are a must for anyone wanting to grow professionally, imo.
So as you probably know I am not big. But like I said I did use his shelving idea. So, some things I learned. I am using 5-6 lb bags so I didn't make the shelves as tall as his figuring smaller bags than he uses smaller clusters... That is true weight wise but physically the clusters can and sometimes will grow long, tall and wide and even grow as tall as from shelf to shelf. And I only made them just slightly shorter than he did.. not by much. So, keep that in mind if you are thinking of getting more shelf space that way like I did. Is it a problem though that I am concerned about enough to readjust the space? no.
So that leads me to your isle. You do not want to skimp on it even if you are skinny. You move around when picking and inspecting and can easily bump clusters on the other side and or knock over bags off shelves because of bumping the clusters. And I didn't skimp on isle space. Though maybe not as wide as his.
So, as to your main question about 24" shelves against the walls. if you want to top fruit right there. Other wise think how deep just your bag is plus add how deep your clusters will be growing.. plus add on just in case grow space inches and needed air flow space. So I would say no, unless you want to top fruit right there against the wall and the bag sitting on the isle side side fruit.. but that sounds like a cluster you know what.
-------------------- Plan to win or you are planning for failure. Don't let anyone tell you you can't do it. Just figure out the solution. Even if that means banging your head on a wall until the solution oozes out of you.
|
PitcherCrab
Crescent Fresh



Registered: 12/02/06
Posts: 2,446
Loc: The bottom of the sea.
Last seen: 1 year, 1 month
|
Re: Help me put together my FC! [Re: seagu]
#26640715 - 05/01/20 07:57 AM (3 years, 8 months ago) |
|
|
Hmmm... Good point about having enough space in the aisle for the mushrooms to fruit into, also important for cleaning, pushing a cart to harvest, and general work-ability. I think I'm going to have to make them 12" deep along the walls and make the aisle wider... Else I will be knocking clusters off left and right!
He had a blog post I found which laid out his exact shelving specs. They are 10.5" (2" from the wall) wide with 36" aisles. Using those exact specs I will have room for two aisles with shelving on either side.
The exact specs from his blog post were:
- Our racks are ¾” schedule 40 PVC pipe run through holes drilled through pressure treated two-by-fours. - Our design is 10.5” wide at the end, which gives a 6” space between the rails for our fruiting blocks to straddle. Make sure to leave at least 2” of space between the rack and the wall, or your fruiting blocks will tend to fall out into the aisle. - We found 12” of vertical space between shelves to be ideal, starting 6” above the floor. We made the bottom shelf out of wood to stabilize the racks. - 36” is what we found to be the minimum width of the aisles. You may be able to push it a little, but you want the room to be comfortable to work in, as well as space efficient. - All together, the minimum width of an aisle with shelves is 5’ per aisle. That’s 2” of space behind the rack, 10.5” of rack itself, 36” of aisle space, and the second rack and space behind it. (technically, that comes out to 5’1”, but I’m sure you can figure out how to save an inch somewhere.)
-------------------- PC's LAGM 2021 (TOC & TWC)P. natalensis Growlog 2021Pans for PC Fall 2021 Growlog “I must not fear. Fear is the mind-killer. Fear is the little death that brings total obliteration. I will face my fear. I will permit it to pass over me and through me. And when it has gone past I will turn the inner eye to see its path. Where the fear has gone there will be nothing. Only I will remain.” - Bene Gesserit Litany Against Fear
|
seagu

Registered: 03/03/18
Posts: 952
Last seen: 8 days, 8 hours
|
Re: Help me put together my FC! [Re: PitcherCrab]
#26640771 - 05/01/20 08:35 AM (3 years, 8 months ago) |
|
|
So I just measured my isle and it's 38" from pvc to pvc. So even with two more inches you still will have to be careful as you turn and whatnot. And I had made my shelves 9" tall on center. Was able to get a lot more bags that way. But there was an occasional trade-off when sometimes a cluster was very tall. But you still get more usable product no doubt.
-------------------- Plan to win or you are planning for failure. Don't let anyone tell you you can't do it. Just figure out the solution. Even if that means banging your head on a wall until the solution oozes out of you.
|
deadmandave
Slime


Registered: 02/16/10
Posts: 3,355
Loc:
Last seen: 6 hours, 4 minutes
|
Re: Help me put together my FC! [Re: seagu]
#26640829 - 05/01/20 09:06 AM (3 years, 8 months ago) |
|
|
not to derail too far but can you link to the inspiration?
|
PitcherCrab
Crescent Fresh



Registered: 12/02/06
Posts: 2,446
Loc: The bottom of the sea.
Last seen: 1 year, 1 month
|
Re: Help me put together my FC! [Re: deadmandave]
#26641017 - 05/01/20 10:47 AM (3 years, 8 months ago) |
|
|
Quote:
seagu said: So I just measured my isle and it's 38" from pvc to pvc. So even with two more inches you still will have to be careful as you turn and whatnot. And I had made my shelves 9" tall on center. Was able to get a lot more bags that way. But there was an occasional trade-off when sometimes a cluster was very tall. But you still get more usable product no doubt. 
Really good to know! Thanks so much for the replies. I'll probably do my shelves 12" high as he specs as I'm using 10lb bags, so they are a little taller than the 5lb ones. I do really like the idea of just fruiting off the ends though so making the shelves a lot shorter. I haven't had great luck with top fruiting, much better success when cutting slits on the ends.
Any chance you could post pictures of you setup? I'm also curious how you did the bottoms of the shelves. Did you do 2x4 cross pieces on the bottom?
Quote:
deadmandave said: not to derail too far but can you link to the inspiration?
https://www.mossycreekmushrooms.com/blog-1/2019/01/18/2019-1-18-setting-up-a-grow-room/
-------------------- PC's LAGM 2021 (TOC & TWC)P. natalensis Growlog 2021Pans for PC Fall 2021 Growlog “I must not fear. Fear is the mind-killer. Fear is the little death that brings total obliteration. I will face my fear. I will permit it to pass over me and through me. And when it has gone past I will turn the inner eye to see its path. Where the fear has gone there will be nothing. Only I will remain.” - Bene Gesserit Litany Against Fear
Edited by PitcherCrab (05/01/20 10:57 AM)
|
seagu

Registered: 03/03/18
Posts: 952
Last seen: 8 days, 8 hours
|
Re: Help me put together my FC! [Re: PitcherCrab]
#26641859 - 05/01/20 05:55 PM (3 years, 8 months ago) |
|
|
 Just built a box frame and drilled holes for the pvc to slide through. You can see my circulation fan hanging. I currently have it facing downwards and had to set it on low. And my exhaust fan can be seen over by the window just waiting to be hooked up. The humidi-bucket runs up to the top. Total bag space is 64. 32 each side. 4 per shelf. Bottom shelf is either 6 or 9 inches up from the plastic bottom.
 Everything all put together and lit up. The Exhaust fan puts my negative pressure on the plastic and pulls everything nice and air tight so that nothing leaks out into the room. Which means only the FC humidity goes up. No door needed. 
 A peek inside. My LED strip light is hanging down the right side of the picture. And my exhaust can be seen down at the bottom right.
 A fruit of my labor.
Edited by seagu (05/02/20 05:27 AM)
|
SHROOMSISAY01
Mr. Shrooms



Registered: 01/22/17
Posts: 3,849
Loc: Virginia, USA
Last seen: 2 days, 16 hours
|
Re: Help me put together my FC! [Re: PitcherCrab]
#26641989 - 05/01/20 06:54 PM (3 years, 8 months ago) |
|
|
|
PitcherCrab
Crescent Fresh



Registered: 12/02/06
Posts: 2,446
Loc: The bottom of the sea.
Last seen: 1 year, 1 month
|
Re: Help me put together my FC! [Re: seagu]
#26643506 - 05/02/20 11:36 AM (3 years, 8 months ago) |
|
|
Quote:
seagu said:
 Just built a box frame and drilled holes for the pvc to slide through. You can see my circulation fan hanging. I currently have it facing downwards and had to set it on low. And my exhaust fan can be seen over by the window just waiting to be hooked up. The humidi-bucket runs up to the top. Total bag space is 64. 32 each side. 4 per shelf. Bottom shelf is either 6 or 9 inches up from the plastic bottom.
 Everything all put together and lit up. The Exhaust fan puts my negative pressure on the plastic and pulls everything nice and air tight so that nothing leaks out into the room. Which means only the FC humidity goes up. No door needed. 
 A peek inside. My LED strip light is hanging down the right side of the picture. And my exhaust can be seen down at the bottom right.
 A fruit of my labor.
Awesome! That looks great. I just framed out my first wall yesterday. It looks like I'm going to have to make my aisles a little bit skinnier at 32" wide. Hopefully that will be wide enough! Still, its much better than my initially planned 24".
-------------------- PC's LAGM 2021 (TOC & TWC)P. natalensis Growlog 2021Pans for PC Fall 2021 Growlog “I must not fear. Fear is the mind-killer. Fear is the little death that brings total obliteration. I will face my fear. I will permit it to pass over me and through me. And when it has gone past I will turn the inner eye to see its path. Where the fear has gone there will be nothing. Only I will remain.” - Bene Gesserit Litany Against Fear
|
seagu

Registered: 03/03/18
Posts: 952
Last seen: 8 days, 8 hours
|
Re: Help me put together my FC! [Re: PitcherCrab]
#26644267 - 05/02/20 05:42 PM (3 years, 8 months ago) |
|
|
Quote:
PitcherCrab said:
Quote:
seagu said:
 Just built a box frame and drilled holes for the pvc to slide through. You can see my circulation fan hanging. I currently have it facing downwards and had to set it on low. And my exhaust fan can be seen over by the window just waiting to be hooked up. The humidi-bucket runs up to the top. Total bag space is 64. 32 each side. 4 per shelf. Bottom shelf is either 6 or 9 inches up from the plastic bottom.
 Everything all put together and lit up. The Exhaust fan puts my negative pressure on the plastic and pulls everything nice and air tight so that nothing leaks out into the room. Which means only the FC humidity goes up. No door needed. 
 A peek inside. My LED strip light is hanging down the right side of the picture. And my exhaust can be seen down at the bottom right.
 A fruit of my labor.
Awesome! That looks great. I just framed out my first wall yesterday. It looks like I'm going to have to make my aisles a little bit skinnier at 32" wide. Hopefully that will be wide enough! Still, its much better than my initially planned 24".
Thanks. Its' perfect size for getting the feet wet and being able to carry on to the next level, I think. yea umm.. 24" -14" =10" usable isle space... the -14" is because say 7" each side for the mushroom cluster sticking out maybe even more because of the bags hanging over the shelves. So maybe -16" = 8" usable isle space. StickMon say, !
-------------------- Plan to win or you are planning for failure. Don't let anyone tell you you can't do it. Just figure out the solution. Even if that means banging your head on a wall until the solution oozes out of you.
|
|