| Materials needed: Styrofoam Cooler Adaptation-11 Wire Mesh (1/4 or 1/2 inch is ideal) Plexi Glass (a 24 by 24 inch piece of window insulation or fluorescent light diffuser) Optional if using an ultra sonic humidifier. Silicon Glue Humidity Gauge The cooler needs to have a very tight fitting cover. The idea is to seal in humidity, and the looser the lid is, the more difficult this is. Except for the cooler, everything you need can be found at your neighborhood building supply store. Below are diagrams detailing the various components of the terrarium. There is no way to predict the dimensions of the cooler that you will use. You will need to use some common sense as we walk you through the steps to build your terrarium. Example Example 2 The purpose of the wire mesh is to hold the rice cakes off the bottom of the cooler where moisture will collect. The easiest thing to do is cut a piece of wire mesh an inch wider and an inch longer than the dimensions of the bottom of the cooler. Then, use a pair of pliers to bend a 1/2 inch ridge all the way around the piece of wire mesh. The piece of mesh will be held up by the bent ridge. Often times, when mushrooms are growing, space above them is at a premium. Try not to raise the wire mesh more than a 1/2 inch above the bottom of the cooler. Doing that simply wastes valuable space. Next, if you are going to use the hand sprayer method of adding humidity, a drip shield needs to be installed. If you are using a fish tank bubblier or an ultra sonic humidifier, it is optional but still a good idea. As moisture condenses inside the terrarium, this protects the rice cakes from being 'rained' upon. Any moisture that forms on the lid of the cooler can drip and will be stopped by the drip shield from hitting the rice cakes. Any moisture that forms on the bottom side of the drip shield will form beads and run down to the side of the terrarium where it can drip harmlessly. If you use a piece of plexi-glass that is textured on one side, put the textured side pointing up. You want a smooth surface on the bottom side of the drip shield so that moisture can easily run down to the side of the terrarium. The drip shield is held up by several bolts sticking through the side of the cooler. Depending on what size canning jars you use and the height of your wire mesh, you will need to figure out where to put them. You want the drip shield to be at as steep of angle as possible to make water run down it easily, but you want it high enough that your mushrooms have room to grow without touching the drip shield. The drip shield needs to fit well. You need a small gap on the edges to let air circulate, but keep it small. About 1/4 inch is good. In other words, the drip shield should fit pretty well to the inside of the cooler, but it is not supposed to be air tight. Also remember when shaping the drip shield that you can not go to the very top of the cooler because the lid will recess into the cooler a little ways. If you are using a Styrofoam cooler, you should use washers on the bolts on both the inside and outside of the cooler. This will allow you to tighten the nuts on the bolts snugly to keep the bolts from tearing up the cooler as you move the drip shield during normal maintenance. Next, the top of the cooler needs to be modified to allow light to enter the terrarium. Psilocybe Cubensis is a phototropic mushroom. It needs light to initiate pinning and to tell the mushrooms which way is up. You should have some plexi-glass left over from the drip shield that can be used for this purpose. Cut a hole in the top of cooler. Cut a piece of plexi-glass a little bit bigger than the hole in the cooler lid. Run a bead of silicon glue all the way around the hole in the cooler top. Position the plexi-glass over the hole and let the glue setup. See the following diagram: Example That is it. The basic grow chamber is done. Now you need to decide which method you are going to use to keep the humidity high and the CO2 concentration low while the mushrooms are growing. Method One [Hand Spraying] Method Two [Useing a Fish Tank Bubblier] Method Three [Useing Ultrasonic Humidifer] |
| Basic Grow Chamber |
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