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 Shikamaru
Jounin
 
Registered: 06/21/18
Posts: 87
Loc: Chicago 
Last seen: 23 days, 14 hours
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 Starting a School Mushroom Farm  1
#26691082 - 05/23/20 07:38 PM (3 years, 10 months ago) |
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Hi Shroomerites!
A very exciting opportunity has arisen where I have been given 2 rooms inside of an existing school to create a mushroom farm.
I thought it would be a good idea to document progress here as well as gather ideas from any lovely souls who are able to.
I am relatively new to growing so any advice/guidance given is greatly appreciated  The CEO of the school has given me 100% control over the entirety of the project.
He has told me to make a list of supplies needed and he would get funding from grants,etc. through the school itself or he will come out of pocket to pay.
The two rooms are currently used as storage rooms. The rooms are approximately 300 sq. ft each, I will update with exact measurement after I take them.
The two rooms are connected by a bathroom area. I have taken pictures of the two rooms below.
Room 1
   
Room 2
 
Room 3?
The second room hasn't been touched and the pics for room 1 are after a partial cleanup.
The floor is tile and the walls/ceiling seem to be plaster. There are some windows and some dressers/shelves made out of wood that I might tear down.
The 3rd room is a question mark because I may have access to make this into a dedicated lab. I am pretty sure I will be able to get it for that but it's a question until confirmed.
The CEO just gave me the rights to use this space 2 days ago so it's very early and I am still intensely studying everything.
I want to make this a cutting edge program while also keeping things as simple as possible.
Oyster mushrooms are high on the list but I know for sure I want to grow Lion's mane. I plan to start with maybe two species with one being Lion's mane.
I also have access to the garden space outside which I plan to place mushrooms logs.
I also envision setting up a greenhouse outside for further cultivation but that will be later down the line.
As stated above, it is very early so any advice on how to go about it, any lessons learned from growing on scale, general advice/warnings, anything at all is greatly appreciated.
I will continue to update this as things progress 
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 ModularMind
M.P.F.
Registered: 02/09/10
Posts: 7,902
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 Re: Starting a School Mushroom Farm [Re: Shikamaru]
#26691088 - 05/23/20 07:42 PM (3 years, 10 months ago) |
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Edit: This sounds like an amazing opportunity. Is it a charter school that it has a CEO?
I’m sure folks here would love to provide guidance toward instituting a mycology education program.
Edited by ModularMind (05/23/20 07:57 PM)
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Shikamaru
Jounin
Registered: 06/21/18
Posts: 87
Loc: Chicago
Last seen: 23 days, 14 hours
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Re: Starting a School Mushroom Farm [Re: ModularMind]
#26691139 - 05/23/20 08:02 PM (3 years, 10 months ago) |
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Hi Modular! It is a charter school and it's located in Chicago. I'm glad you mentioned the mycology education program because I foresee instituting that for sure once class is back in session. The school is currently empty due to covid-19 so I have the whole summer to get things up and running for when school returns.
Edited by Shikamaru (05/23/20 08:03 PM)
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ModularMind
M.P.F.
Registered: 02/09/10
Posts: 7,902
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Re: Starting a School Mushroom Farm [Re: Shikamaru]
#26691149 - 05/23/20 08:11 PM (3 years, 10 months ago) |
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Nice. I grew up in the burbs out there. Go Cubs Go. W
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SHROOMSISAY01
Mr. Shrooms
Registered: 01/22/17
Posts: 3,851
Loc: Virginia, USA
Last seen: 23 hours, 11 minutes
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Re: Starting a School Mushroom Farm [Re: ModularMind]
#26691238 - 05/23/20 08:53 PM (3 years, 10 months ago) |
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do You have access to water in the rooms? How many lbs of mushroom are you planning on growing a weeK? Are you going to need a cooler to keep the mushrooms in before you sell them? You are at least going to need lab space and an incubation space beside your growing space. But 1st you need to decide what types of mushrooms you will be growing. For instance you will not need nearly as much incubation space to grow oyster as to grow shiitake.
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Shikamaru
Jounin
Registered: 06/21/18
Posts: 87
Loc: Chicago
Last seen: 23 days, 14 hours
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Re: Starting a School Mushroom Farm [Re: SHROOMSISAY01]
#26691365 - 05/23/20 10:18 PM (3 years, 10 months ago) |
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Hey Shroom!
I do have access to water in both of the rooms. The rooms were used as dorms a long time ago and both rooms have sinks in them. I'm not quite sure, but I would like to grow as much as feasible based on my available space. I will have access to a commercial refrigerator on the property. That is a great point regarding incubation space. I could start off making one room an incubation room, or grow mushrooms with low incubation needs. I have yet to finalize what species to grow, but looking into it now. I do plan to get creative with the shelving. Want to maximize space.
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ModularMind
M.P.F.
Registered: 02/09/10
Posts: 7,902
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 Re: Starting a School Mushroom Farm [Re: Shikamaru]
#26691381 - 05/23/20 10:28 PM (3 years, 10 months ago) |
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Are you going to requisition funds for a laminar flow hood from the get go?
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Shikamaru
Jounin
Registered: 06/21/18
Posts: 87
Loc: Chicago
Last seen: 23 days, 14 hours
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Re: Starting a School Mushroom Farm [Re: ModularMind]
#26691426 - 05/23/20 10:56 PM (3 years, 10 months ago) |
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I definitely plan to request funds for that. I want to make that small room a lab and I would have the flow hood in there.
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ModularMind
M.P.F.
Registered: 02/09/10
Posts: 7,902
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Re: Starting a School Mushroom Farm [Re: Shikamaru]
#26691457 - 05/23/20 11:16 PM (3 years, 10 months ago) |
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2x Presto 23Q pressure canner(or better)
Three plate magnetic stirrer.
Media flasks
..........
Gotta start somewhere.
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Shikamaru
Jounin
Registered: 06/21/18
Posts: 87
Loc: Chicago
Last seen: 23 days, 14 hours
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Re: Starting a School Mushroom Farm [Re: ModularMind]
#26691464 - 05/23/20 11:26 PM (3 years, 10 months ago) |
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Thanks you for the list of supplies, will be most likely getting all of those. I love the presto
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SHROOMSISAY01
Mr. Shrooms
Registered: 01/22/17
Posts: 3,851
Loc: Virginia, USA
Last seen: 23 hours, 11 minutes
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Re: Starting a School Mushroom Farm [Re: Shikamaru]
#26691590 - 05/24/20 01:50 AM (3 years, 10 months ago) |
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I am not sure you realize how many mushrooms you could grow in that space. I use a 10' x 4' seen feet high space and I can do 120 lbs a week.
If you plan on growing that much you need to keep an eye out on https://hgrinc.com/ I could have bought an almost new commercial 8 foot flow hood for $600 but it would not fit in my place. It was a $15000 flow hood new. Anyway, you will want to go high-pressure mist for sure. I would buy a cat pump and build it. You will end up with a great pump for cheap.
The cheapest place to get the pump is here...
https://car-wash.kleen-ritecorp.com/search?ts=custom&w=CAT%201CX05
Save all the money you can on the hood and high-pressure mist.
Then use the money you save to buy a batch mixer and autoclave big enough to make your life easy.
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Shikamaru
Jounin
Registered: 06/21/18
Posts: 87
Loc: Chicago
Last seen: 23 days, 14 hours
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Re: Starting a School Mushroom Farm [Re: SHROOMSISAY01]
#26692050 - 05/24/20 08:12 AM (3 years, 10 months ago) |
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That is amazing to get that perspective. Like you said, I'm still trying to wrap my head around how much I could possibly grow but it's looking like quite a lot!
Thank you so much for the links and the advice regarding the pump and the industrial surplus website. I had no idea about either of them.I will most likely go with your suggestion for the build.
Going to scour the website link as well 
Will take your suggestion in putting most resources towards the batch mixer and autoclave. Would you suggest trying to build or buy these?
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SHROOMSISAY01
Mr. Shrooms
Registered: 01/22/17
Posts: 3,851
Loc: Virginia, USA
Last seen: 23 hours, 11 minutes
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Re: Starting a School Mushroom Farm [Re: Shikamaru]
#26692448 - 05/24/20 11:16 AM (3 years, 10 months ago) |
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Some things to remember oyster mushrooms are easy to grow and take less space but will need to be sold quickly because they do not have a long shelf life. Shiitake takes more space because of incubation time but can be shipped in refrigerated trucks and have a longer shelf life.
HGR has flow hoods every once in a while but you have to keep looking and Keep in mind the one I was going to buy was listed as an exhaust hood even though it was obviously a flow hood and had a sticker on the side that said laminar flow hood. The people at HGR do not know what they have half the time but I have always gotten killer deals from them.
I was going to suggest my build for high-pressure mist from a pressure washer but you are going to big. I would just pay for the cat pump and be done. I am designing a kit so people will just use a water hose to hook up to my high-pressure misting system. I have proved out the system over 2 years now so I am confident in selling a kit. I would use the low water pressure switch I have designed on my tek though. It can be built for cheap and does the same thing as the low-pressure switches for the normal mist pumps but they cost like $300 mine can be built for about $30 and works perfectly.
I also have a build on a low-pressure drum steamer but they take a long time. They can be used if you need to save money. You will just need to build a few because you are going to need a lot of bags sterilized.
If you want a real autoclave you need to buy one and they are expensive. Remember if something goes wrong you are dealing with a bomb. I would not try to build one and I used to make 40000 ground salutes a year for the 4th of July. Believe me it was dangerous but nowhere near as dangerous as something of that size blowing up!!
As far as a batch mixer there is too much going on there to build with no experience in building one. HGR has them also every once in awhile. They would need some modifications but it would be much easier than building it from scratch.
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Shikamaru
Jounin
Registered: 06/21/18
Posts: 87
Loc: Chicago
Last seen: 23 days, 14 hours
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Re: Starting a School Mushroom Farm [Re: SHROOMSISAY01] 1
#26692961 - 05/24/20 03:47 PM (3 years, 10 months ago) |
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I was wary about the shiitake for just that reason, they have a long incubation period. I'm leaning towards oyster and lion's mane.
I'll keep an eye at HGR for the flowhood.
Very impressive tek! Ill still keep that design handy.
I am interested in your low pressure drum build Looking into all options for bulk sterilization.
Looks like I'll be buying an autoclave and batch mixer then 
Thanks for the tips so far! Been very helpful
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Shikamaru
Jounin
Registered: 06/21/18
Posts: 87
Loc: Chicago
Last seen: 23 days, 14 hours
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Re: Starting a School Mushroom Farm [Re: Shikamaru] 1
#27099527 - 12/20/20 03:21 PM (3 years, 3 months ago) |
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Happy Holidays everyone!
It has been a long time since I have posted an update. A lot has happened since last post which I will summarize. I originally got involved with the school to grow mushrooms but I am also in charge of the agricultural space at the school. I spent a lot of time preparing the outdoor garden since it is the end of the year. I got it prepped for the Spring. In addition to agriculture, I will be using the garden space for mushroom logs and mushroom mulch beds. I will also be performing Mushroom Biotech experiments by making mushroom structures for the garden space.
Here is a partial look at the garden space. It has a layer of aged horse manure and plenty of space for experiments.
The plan is to keep this thread updated more consistently from this point on. Going full speed with gourmet mushroom production. I will create a few posts to give a few major updates of what has happened over the past few months.
Edited by Shikamaru (12/20/20 04:18 PM)
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Shikamaru
Jounin
Registered: 06/21/18
Posts: 87
Loc: Chicago
Last seen: 23 days, 14 hours
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Re: Starting a School Mushroom Farm [Re: Shikamaru] 2
#27099547 - 12/20/20 03:33 PM (3 years, 3 months ago) |
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One of the first and best things I did was to finally build a flowhood! I never had a flowhood ever in my life. I've been still air boxing it since I got into Mycology. After some research, I settled on building instead of buying my flowhood. I am very glad I made that decision! I was able to find a large Hepa Filter on Craigslist for $200  It was from a broken flow cabinet and the filter was professionally cleaned and sanitized. The gentleman I bought it from was going to use it to build a flow hood himself but he settled on focusing on agricultural garden instead.
I followed some online flowhood build plans, adjusted for size of my filter in the design process, and built the beast below.
      ]
It works out fantastic! Did the lighter test and also left some freshly made plates open in front of the hood for 30 minutes and none contaminated. Has made my life a lot easier on all fronts and has become cornerstone of my lab work.
Edited by Shikamaru (12/21/20 09:17 AM)
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Shikamaru
Jounin
Registered: 06/21/18
Posts: 87
Loc: Chicago
Last seen: 23 days, 14 hours
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Re: Starting a School Mushroom Farm [Re: Shikamaru] 2
#27099567 - 12/20/20 03:49 PM (3 years, 3 months ago) |
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In this update post, I'd like to focus on the spawn making process. I'm currently running 3 presto pressure cookers which I use to prepare grain and sterilize.
Above is a pic of the 50lb bags of whole oats that I use for grain spawn as well as the trusty presto pressure cooker. I boil the oats to hydrate them in the same 23 quart pot and then i dry them in room pictured below.
I put down some thick plastic sheeting to place my damp grains on. I have 2 large industrial fans that I use to quickly get grains at the correct moisture levels. I will turn over the grain every so often and let fan run a few hours while checking moisture periodically. Works great to easily process lots of grain. In addition to normal large metal colanders, I also have 5 gallon buckets that I poke holes in to help process lots of grain at a time. I drain the grain in colanders immediately after boiling and they will drain there for a couple hours before fan drying.
Above is a pic of some final grain jars after sterilizing.
Above is a pic of 5.5 pound bags of master mix. I can fit four 5 lb bags per cooker if I struggle, but can more easily fit three per run. These bags will be used for lions mane.
Does anyone have any experience using the above hardwood pellets? I talked to the company and they said that the pellets are mainly Oak and maple in the recipe.
I also got into liquid culture for the first time! Found this 6 plate magnetic stirrer on Craigslist for $100 and I bought a liquid culture premix online. I've had no contamination issues so far and love how fast the mycelium colonizes the grain from liquid culture.
Overall, spawn production is going very well! I will be growing lion's mane and Black Trumpet mushrooms first.
Edited by Shikamaru (12/21/20 09:20 AM)
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Shikamaru
Jounin
Registered: 06/21/18
Posts: 87
Loc: Chicago
Last seen: 23 days, 14 hours
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Re: Starting a School Mushroom Farm [Re: Shikamaru] 1
#27099597 - 12/20/20 04:10 PM (3 years, 3 months ago) |
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This post will detail where I stand today (12/20/20).
I am currently in the grow room design process. I have collected many supplies, but am still collecting supplies and finalizing my plans.
   
Above is a picture of the room I will be transforming into a grow space. The grow rom is 169 square feet and 1,352 Cubic Feet. It already has a floor drain which is very handy and a sink. This room is located on the top floor so I have handy access to the roof. My plan is to use the silver vent as an access point for fresh air. I am currently thinking of going to the roof and completely removing the vent to have full access to outside air which I will duct in.
It is winter in Chicago and was wondering if anyone had any information on warming the incoming air before pumping into my grow room? I plan to make a t least 2 separate grow rooms in this space dialed to different conditions to support strains that have different fruiting needs. Is it a good plan to pump the cold air into the room and have heaters going in the room to warm the air and then pump the air in the room into the grow spaces? Would the heaters be too slow to heat the air in time? Would it be better to pump outside air into adjacent room, heat air in that room, and them duct the heated outside air into the grow room? If anyone has any advice on heating cold air before ducting into the grow space, I would greatly appreciate any advice on proper direction.
Besides that consideration, I'm still trying to decide how to set up a grow tent. I purchased 6 mil think contractor plastic from Lowes, Panda Film, and Sunfilm. My plan is to use the contractor plastic to lay out the shape of the grow space and then layer that with either the panda film or the sunfilm. Maybe do something like a giant martha. Still deciding if anyone has any suggestions or ideas, I would love to hear them!
I have spawn of Lion's Mane, Black King Trumpet, and Wild ganoderma sessile I foraged and cloned myself that will be the first to experience the new grow space. Hope to hear ideas from the community and will update more consistently from this post on. Keep on Shroomin!
Edited by Shikamaru (12/20/20 04:24 PM)
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pineninja
Dream Weaver
Registered: 08/17/14
Posts: 12,468
Loc: South 
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Re: Starting a School Mushroom Farm [Re: Shikamaru]
#27099602 - 12/20/20 04:15 PM (3 years, 3 months ago) |
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I'm just going to sit in on this thread.
This is a great education tool...Thanks for taking the time and effort to do it.
--------------------
Just a fool on the hill.
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Shikamaru
Jounin
Registered: 06/21/18
Posts: 87
Loc: Chicago
Last seen: 23 days, 14 hours
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Re: Starting a School Mushroom Farm [Re: pineninja] 1
#27099630 - 12/20/20 04:38 PM (3 years, 3 months ago) |
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Welcome, and thank you! Glad others can learn along with me while building the gourmet farm.
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