Compared to many of the people here I am still pretty new to the whole mushroom growing experience. I may have been at it for a while now, but for the most part I've just been screwing around, getting a feel for things, etc... As such, I haven't even really bothered getting too high tech about things. (e.g. my 'terrarium' is just a tupperware container, I'm still using the old vermiculite humidification technique, etc) Recently though I've been wanting to kick it up a notch, and have been putting a lot of thought into things like expanding my operation, cost effectiveness, and all that other nice stuff. One of the things I've been trying to come up with is a cheap terrarium that requires little attention, doesn't take up much space, and has some sort of drainage hole. I think I may have actually come up with something of that nature too...now I just have to test out my idea to see if it's really as good as it sounds in theory. (keep in mind I'm going for cost efficiency and space here more then anything else) I just thought I'd post my idea here to see if I could get some feedback from some of you who have a lot more experience then I. So any constructive critizism would be apreciated. Thanx
Poor Man's Terrarium (revised) The idea is the same as the original, with a few minor differences. For starters, the two liter bottles are used inverted (upside down) and a filter disk is used over the opening in the top (formally the bottom of the bottle - which was cut off) as opposed to a three liter bottle. In theory this would allow air flow, while (hopefully) maintaining good relative humidity. The main source of humity would be supplied by a layer of moist vermiculite (or perlite) that the cakes would sit on. This layer could easily be held in place (e.g. kept fom falling down through the 'drain hole') with a coffee filter or any other piece of material that will keep the vermiculite layer up but still let excess water drain through...and can be easily sprayed from the bottom (through the drain hole) to maintain moisture. This would also eliminate the possibility of damaging the mycelium by not having to spray it directly (which I'm sure no one ever does anyways...but you know what I mean) And finally - a small makeshift stand could easily be built using cups, or bent wire hangers, or a cardboard box with a few holes in it, or anything really. The idea is to keep the bottles standing vertically, so anything that will accomplish that would work. (preferably though it would be stable enough to take a bump or two without tipping over... unless of course you wouldn't mind having to pick em up every time the fan swivles over to that side of the room)
So what do you guys think? You think I might be on to something here, or am I just waisting my time dreaming up ideas that have been thought up a thousand times already? (my guess is it's probably the later of the two...but that still doesn't mean it won't work)
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"Only those who risk going too far can possibly find out how far one can go..." T.S. Eliot
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