Question about Growing

[Art]

I have seven cakes in a fruiting chamber and, after what has seemed like FOREVER, fruiting has at last begun on three of them with lots of pinning on all.  My wife and I are going out of town for three days this weekend, and I am looking for guidance on what to do with the fruiting chamber during our absence.  We are keeping my mycological studies secret, so enlisting help from family/friends/neighbors is not an option.

I am using a "shotgun terrarium" (http://gamerchronic.com/magic-mushrooms/terrarium/), which consists basically of damp perlite in a clear plastic storage container with lots of holes in it.  The chamber must be ventilated and misted 2-6 times daily to remove carbon dioxide (which suppresses growth) and maintain humidity (which supports it).  As I will suspend these activities for the three travel days, I am worried that the fruits will be damaged at what might be a vulnerable stage of their development.

The only two options I have thought of are (1) to keep the lid on the chamber, which may keep humidity levels on the high side but might allow a build-up of CO2; and (2) to keep the lid off, which would presumably have the converse effects.  I am leaning toward option 2 as the "lesser of two evils" on the theory that lower humidity might slow growth, while excessive CO2 might be damaging, but I have no idea whether these assumptions are valid.  If there are other options, I don't know them.

Anyone have any experience with this type of problem?  Or ideas on other sites where I might find guidance?

Thanks!!!

Art

[Tony Only]

Poor man's pod is an automated chamber so it ventilates (co out, o2 in) and humidifies (o2 coming through the water) by itself. Can easily be left unattended for 3 days even much much longer.

http://www.shroomery.org/9047/Poor-Mans-Pod

[ThatHurtsMyHead]

Art,

One solution that might help:

Get a timer from Lowes, Home Depot etc, that has 15 minute on/off increments.  Plug a small vacuum with a hose attached to your chamber.  Then set the timer for 4 to 6 times a day to turn on and vacuum the CO2 from the chamber. 

If you're using soaked perlite for your humidity control it should re-humidify the chamber.  Just don't vacuum the chamber too often.

Can't tell you why I know this works...   :

J

[Art]

Thanks Tony and J!  I am looking into both of these solutions.

[ThatHurtsMyHead]

Tony,

Not sure if you've tried that aquarium pump system and got it to work.  A friend of someone I knew tried it long time back and ruined some nice.. umm oyster mushrooms.  Even tried a high volume 4X output aquarium pump.  It wouldn't clear the CO2.  Pretty sure the air came out at such a low volume that it just drifts to the top w/o reducing the high CO2 at the bottom of the terrarium.  You could open the top and stick your face in, and know immediately there's too much CO2.  Air is thick and unbreathable.  After killing quite a few cakes, the entire idea hit the trash.

J

[Tony Only]

Naturally I have not tried any of these myself. I just happen to know this stuff.

PMP can produce twice as big flushes as shotgun when set up right. But it's a process to get it working properly; good plan to start would be for an example terrarium of 70 liters, ONLY 2 holes on top (10mm wide each) and naturally 2 holes on the side for air hoses and pump that can deliver at least 200 litres per hour (even more the better). This should produce "o2 mattress" at growing level and Co2 should exit nicely. When it is set up correctly you will see the results.

People I know would not go with anything else anymore

[Tony Only]

The goal is well explained in the link above

"Is there a vent for CO2 to escape?

Yes the vent holes are I the top. They are put in the top for a reason. The fundamental principal behind using air entrainment is to sufficiently mix the two (fresh air and stale air) together and then re-distribute them back into the environment in a more balanced way that is then more beneficial to the mushroom crop. Without this sufficient mixing of the gasses present within the grow space, the crops will remain stunted and will likely never reach their optimum potential.

With the poor mans pod, the settling co2 air is met and diffused by a curtain of fresh air rising from beneath the Geolite surface. This rising flow of air is created from the air diffuser rod situated below the Geolite surface, which is powered by the air pump. The rising air pattern not only prohibits the heavier co2 air from settling down onto the bottom surface as usual but it also simultaneously diffuses the co2 with fresh air as it is distributed back into the environment or grow space where it can be put to good use.

In this way, the poor mans pod creates the same desired phenomenon as offered by more conventional means of air entrainment found in much larger-scale commercial applications where a mixing box is commonly used to accomplish this important task. "

[Art]

J (ThatHurtsMyHead), I just wanted to thank you for the tip. It worked great, I came home today to find amazing growth.  Now I have a harvesting question, which I'll pose in a new topic.

Tony, the set-up you mentioned looks interesting, but switching to it wasn't practical for this crop.  I may give it a run on the next batch, assuming busting actually helps.  In any case, thanks for the ideas.

Art