Homemade heatingbox for colonization ver. 2.0

[I_Belive_I_Can_Fly]

Well the title say's it all. And sorry for the dobbelt posting, but think i missplaced the 1. version of this thread.
I'm done whit my 1. attempt at growing my own shrooms, whit good result i may add.
So now i trying some of my ideas for my 2. attempt. So in this thread i'll try and do a followup on my new homemade heating-box.

I used a catering transport box, 1 digital thermo-timer (from my favorit online shroomshop, drop a private message for a link), 1 Xtra thermometer for control and one old lamp whit a heavyduty glascover (glas stores heat pretty well )

I placed the sensor from digital thermo-timer on the alufoil covered lamp to prevent overheating, and the control Thermometer i the middel of the box. The temp fluxes between 28,4- 29,2 celsius (83,1 - 84,6 fahrenheit) whit this setup.

Total price 60€ and ½ hours work time:
1 digital thermo-timer, 40 €
Thermo caterbox new, 20 €
all the others materials was found "in-house" or as recykeled scrap.

PLZ drop a comment

[AnotherDimension]

Anything above 80 makes me nervous since you can kill the myc since inside a jar is usually 3-8 degrees higher. I do my stuff at room temp, though the residual heat from lights, etc keep it just about right, plus bacteria grows rampant in high heat so you may lose some jars that you wouldn't have in cooler temps since if the myc colonizes 1st it will often win out.

[I_Belive_I_Can_Fly]

To prevent overheating i have an Xtra thermo reading, it's from this i adjust my heating source.
My Jars are at this time at 90% colonized whit 100% succes rate

[AnotherDimension]

Very nice....

....ya, I only mentioned that cuz I killed my 1st few tries when it hit 92 by accident....so i stopped using heaters and though it my take an extra day or 2, the results are close enough....but i have timers now too so I could start using a heater.....I went and got all the stuff a while back but never got around to it.

I have been trying to do a Hydroponic shroom type thing using a lil walmart fish tank but you need to keep the water just at the top of the platform so evaporation wise it will need to be sealed up tight with something bacteriacidal....I used a half of a half pint cake and got 4-5 shrooms but they were little....but it doe keep re-fruiting 1-2 at a time so I guess with the size of the substrate that would be the size of the shrooms...i was just hoping it would grow big ones cuz the neverending water supply....but i guess not....

[MadHatter]

i really cant understand why all of you are having problems, thermal death in myc does not occur untill 106 deg farenheit, i have had my incubator set at 85 with excellent results, but it is true to take into consideration the substrate and container, for example, bags hold heat better than jars, and compost holds and creates some heat, while Wbs does not untill myc growth is present. and AnotherDimension, your problem is the hydroponic method itself, unless you are making a LC, you are wasteing your time, the myc cant get the oxygen it needs, and thus the smaller shroomies, dunking between flushes is good, but thats just inviting Bacillus and keeping the myc from respiring areobically.

Got Cambo?

[DopeMushroomMoFo]

I incubate at room temp, about 81-83 degrees, because it's hot than a motherfucker here... I get fast as fuck colonization, I have had jars 100% colonize in as little as like 3-5 days. Not cobweb I mean fingered Myc, but because it's so hot everything drys out quickly, so I have to keep moistening the perlite, and the casings, and fruiting takes a lot of work, :). i have gotten cakes up past 100 degrees, 104 to be exact, (wasn't home, came back and was like WTF?!) and they were still alive, so I mean I can't imagine it dieing at 80 degrees.

[slandshroomynewbie]

i keep mine at 80 or 81 cant get it at a steady 80 it jumps between them 2 but mine colonizes quite quick and had no problems yet i think(knocks wood)

[bobby]

ive read all ur post and see alot of different degrees hear. ive been at this for some time now and i grow about three different types of fruits all the time .i do about 64 jars at a time . i keep mine at 86 to 87 dergrees in a sealed old refregerator with a electric space heater on the bottom. with a basic therm, to watch the temp. after u see that the temp is holding at 87, leave the damm thing along. i have 100 % grouth everytime in two to three weeks. i always leave in for 4 weeks for shits and grins. if u dought ur self keep a log book to mesure times and make sure to use the log to remember everything u do different. this helped me majorly. i discoverd alot of tricks this way.

[DopeMushroomMoFo]

ive read all ur post and see alot of different degrees hear. ive been at this for some time now and i grow about three different types of fruits all the time .i do about 64 jars at a time . i keep mine at 86 to 87 dergrees in a sealed old refregerator with a electric space heater on the bottom. with a basic therm, to watch the temp. after u see that the temp is holding at 87, leave the damm thing along. i have 100 % grouth everytime in two to three weeks. i always leave in for 4 weeks for shits and grins. if u dought ur self keep a log book to mesure times and make sure to use the log to remember everything u do different. this helped me majorly. i discoverd alot of tricks this way.


That is a little too high of a temp and will stall growth, if you want optimum growth try moving it down to 80-85f, 83f gives me the fastest growth, so i would assume it is ideal... The longest it has taken me to fully colonize a jar is 2 weeks, and it was a slow colonizing strain. The fastest was 4 days, and that's fully colonized there was noticeable growth on day 2.
[EDIT] I usually let mine sit a week after fully colonized, but lately I have just been casing once it's 100% colonized. I think if you lowered the temps just a few degrees, you could be mass producing faster, and would have a more efficient grow.

[slandshroomynewbie]

yeh tht right dopemofo,,its also a cuple degrees higher in the jars anyways so at 86 87 u could really be into the 90's,,best to keep it higgh 70's low 80's

[deepfried]

I repurposed a refrigerator that no longer refrigerated. The box is insulated. I put a ceramic heater in it. The kind used for reptile cages. I also bought a thermometer with electric switch to control the heater. Both the thermometer and heater came from PetSmart. I have used this for over a year with no issues. The inside temperature stays at a perfect 84 degrees. The top freezer section is used for storage. I use it for both LCs and bulk substrate incubation. An extra bonus is that the light comes on when I open the door.