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OfflineRandomGuyOnTheNet
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Registered: 12/27/20
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Last seen: 3 years, 22 days
Questions and plans for an automated grower * 1
    #27110625 - 12/27/20 12:08 PM (3 years, 1 month ago)

Hi all,

I just recently got into growing mushrooms and followed the PF Tek method using this guide.  I have room for three tubs but only started with one.  Overall it worked fairly well, netting me ~45g of dried mushrooms so far in ~2 months.  A few photos of my setup can be viewed here.

That said, I really don't like the manual process and lack of process controls.  I have a technical background, and am planning to automate the process.  The key points are:
  • Ability to monitor the temperature and humidity of each tub in real time.
  • Use an external fogger to add humidity as necessary to each tub.
  • Incorporate an air exchanger into each tub that will allow cycling of fresh air at a user-definable schedule.
  • Control lighting for each tub with user defined scheduling.
  • Turn an external heat source on/off to regulate the overall temperature.
  • Estimate water consumption and notify the user when the reservoir is getting low.
  • Notify the user when key parameters fall outside of an acceptable window (e.g. temp, humdity, rate of change of temp/humidity, etc).


I've done some research and it seems that the TI HDC2080 is a very good candidate for temp/humidity measuring within each tub.  Accuracy is 2% RH up to 80%RH, scaling linearly to 3% at 100%.  It also has an internal heater to deal with false readings due to condensation.  I've already designed a breakout test PCB for the sensor and picked up a fogger and parts for air exchange testing.  My goal is to do basic testing to understand the ability to read/control temp/humidity within the next few weeks, and then do a grow cycle using two tubs (one manual PF Tek and one automated) to compare yield and process control metrics.

If the testing goes well my ultimate plan is to design a custom controller/manifold using 3D printed parts and small stepper motors that will allow the system to direct one fogger's output into different tubs.  I've already laid out a scalable architecture that allows the manifold and control unit to increase the amount of outputs/tubs using simple snap-together modules (so in theory you could use one controller to automate from 1 tub up to however many can reasonably be placed near the fogger).  Experimentation would determine the maximum number of tubs based on fogger reservoir and the time necessary to raise the humidity back up in a tub after an air exchange event.

In theory if all goes well I could foresee being able to sell a kit that would allow people to augment tubs bought from Home Depot into automated growing vessels.

So if you've gotten this far, I have a few questions for the group:
  • Are people interested in something like this?
  • Is anyone familiar with someone trying something similar?  And if so were there any roadblocks or other fundamental issues with the approach?
  • What are some features that people would be interested in seeing in the device?  Keep in mind that I am very much still a novice in growing mushrooms, and so may be overlooking things beyond the basics.
  • I chose the PF Tek approach because it seems to be the easiest entry into growing mushrooms.  I have a background in sterilization methods and aseptic handling techniques, and had no problems with contamination.  That said, I haven't done too much research into agar and more advanced cultivation methods.  My understanding is that an automated growing chamber like this would translate well to other growing methods (since regardless of method you need to control light/temp/humidity/CO2), but is there anything else I should know about regarding the needs of more advanced growing techniques?


If people are interested I'll post updates as I progress with the project.  And I don't check my throw-away email account too often so I might be delayed in responding to people, but I'll definitely pop-in every once in awhile if this starts to gain traction in the community.

Thanks for reading!


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OfflineLand TroutM
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Registered: 01/08/18
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Re: Questions and plans for an automated grower [Re: RandomGuyOnTheNet]
    #27110706 - 12/27/20 01:30 PM (3 years, 1 month ago)

It’s a lot easier than you think it is, like spawn good spawn to coir in a tote and room temperature and harvest when they fruit without even needing to look at it. 
Of course you want to observe your tote every couple days to see if everything’s going alright.  But cubes are pretty much hands off from spawn to fruit.
If you could build an autoclaveble  AI surgical robot that could be programmed to identify mycelium traits and transfer them from dish to dish inside of a clean room and sell them for under $200 that could have value.  Or mechanical harvesters, that are cheap.


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OfflineWizardSJ
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Registered: 08/20/20
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Last seen: 6 months, 6 days
Re: Questions and plans for an automated grower [Re: RandomGuyOnTheNet]
    #27110723 - 12/27/20 01:45 PM (3 years, 1 month ago)

Air sterilization prior to it entering the chamber would be good, Thinking uv light and or hepa. Standard fittings so you can plug and play. Suitable for both pf and mono tub. Small footprint, no bigger than one standard tub.

In regards to the air sterilization i would use something like this to set up secondary grows to create spore prints. Would be nice not to have to clean high volumes of air, just enough for a few tubs.


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OfflineRandomGuyOnTheNet
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Registered: 12/27/20
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Re: Questions and plans for an automated grower [Re: WizardSJ]
    #27114846 - 12/29/20 07:47 PM (3 years, 1 month ago)

That makes a lot of sense, thanks for the suggestion!  I've ordered a few different HEPA filters to test out for the air exchanger.


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OfflineSmurf shoes
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Re: Questions and plans for an automated grower [Re: RandomGuyOnTheNet]
    #27114892 - 12/29/20 08:18 PM (3 years, 1 month ago)

I think it would be pretty awesome to be fully automated maybe throw im some sort of mister like the ones for pet frogs and a small fan. Just a thought. I would love to see progress pics till the end. Keep us updated


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OfflineTstone
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Re: Questions and plans for an automated grower [Re: RandomGuyOnTheNet] * 1
    #27114895 - 12/29/20 08:21 PM (3 years, 1 month ago)

To be honest, there wouldn't be much clientele for  your kit. Here's why:

Mono tubs are 100% self sufficient until harvest.

I personally don't think, someone would  spend kit money, when a momo tub is so incredibly handy, and better results per sq ft than cube cakes.  Either way, person has to be around to harvest.  I don't touch my tubs for 12-14 days. Awesome idea, but a $8 tub, and pressure cooker, takes the hassle and stress out of everything. Too many contraptions for cakes, mushies not that finicky. I could run 100 tubs, without anything but air circulation and an ambient air thermometer.  Great thoughts, but for set and forget, mono tubs most practical and most rewarding.


--------------------
Wake now, discover that you are the song that morning brings, but the heart has it's seasons, it's evenings and songs of it's own"


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OfflineRandomGuyOnTheNet
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Registered: 12/27/20
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Re: Questions and plans for an automated grower [Re: Tstone]
    #27115349 - 12/30/20 02:39 AM (3 years, 1 month ago)

Yep, completely understand your point. I'll still move forward with designing it for a few reasons:
  • I like general design work like this so it'll be a fun personal project
  • Cakes appeal to me because you don't need to store/consume growing medium
  • The idea of having fine process controls appeal to me
  • Once I have three automated tubs I can start running experiments with proper controls. Already have a list of yield/process optimization questions to test. And it would be interesting (to me anyways) to have a direct comparison between an optimized cake grow vs a monotub grow.


Worst case is that a spend a couple months and a few hundred bucks on a design that no one finds value in. If that happens I'll put everything up on GitHub for the few people that would want to make their own.


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Offlinehazyhorse
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Registered: 03/19/19
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Re: Questions and plans for an automated grower [Re: RandomGuyOnTheNet]
    #27115406 - 12/30/20 04:09 AM (3 years, 1 month ago)

oh if you’re just fucking around for your own sake it sounds like a super dope project to work on. it would be fun to try to run experiments in controlled conditions. but as far as selling a kit goes, i gotta agree w tstone i don’t know that it would sell well, at least to people in this forum. growing mushrooms is already too easy with just a tub & a mister, even cakes aren’t really that much work to get good results from w relatively little effort. but i don’t want to discourage you as it sounds like a fun project & you should definitely give it a go


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InvisiblebodhisattaMDiscordReddit
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Re: Questions and plans for an automated grower [Re: hazyhorse]
    #27115428 - 12/30/20 04:43 AM (3 years, 1 month ago)

Automated kits made by people with a lot of experience growing mushrooms suck. The ones made by people with little to no experience are absolute trash.


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Invisibleseifer699
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Posts: 65
Re: Questions and plans for an automated grower [Re: RandomGuyOnTheNet]
    #27115440 - 12/30/20 05:07 AM (3 years, 1 month ago)

Your way over thinking mush cult. Just use a unmodded tub


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OfflineLand TroutM
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Re: Questions and plans for an automated grower [Re: seifer699]
    #27115885 - 12/30/20 10:08 AM (3 years, 1 month ago)

It almost seems like this post is on an automated repost every few months.


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OfflineProfessor X
School for the Gifted
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Re: Questions and plans for an automated grower [Re: Land Trout]
    #27115901 - 12/30/20 10:15 AM (3 years, 1 month ago)

Yeah. No. Just spawn them to coir. Check every so often. If dry then mist. Harvest when ready, rinse repeat. This isn't rocket science or even tomatoes. I don't understand why once people learn about sterile technique they over think the growing process.


--------------------

My no pour Petri TEK - https://www.shroomery.org/forums/showflat.php/Number/27252059/page/1


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OfflineRandomGuyOnTheNet
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Registered: 12/27/20
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Last seen: 3 years, 22 days
Re: Questions and plans for an automated grower [Re: Professor X]
    #27117716 - 12/31/20 07:56 AM (3 years, 1 month ago)

Well, seems that the feedback is pretty unanimous. But since I already have all the basic parts on order my plan is to setup three tubs to do a side by side comparison:
  • Cakes in a SGFC (what I have setup now)
  • Cakes in an automated fruiting chamber
  • Bulk in a monotub


I know that there seems to be a solid consensus that the third option is the way to go, so this is just for me to play around hands-on.


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OfflineLand TroutM
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Re: Questions and plans for an automated grower [Re: RandomGuyOnTheNet]
    #27118360 - 12/31/20 01:19 PM (3 years, 1 month ago)

That sounds like a good plan.


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