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dollarjuice

Shotgun terrarium humidity

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Hey guys I'm having some problems with the level of humidity in my shotgun terrarium made using part of this tek.

I don't have a hygrometer so I'm really only guessing here but the inside doesn't seem to be anywhere near the high enough humidity it should be.

No cakes are in there as of yet, but I wanted to get the whole fruiting chamber set up to see if it would be of high enough quality as this is the first one I've ever made (and frankly the design of the terrarium seems to be the hardest part of the whole growing process for me)

I've been fanning/spraying it roughly 5 or 6 times a day every day but it just doesn't seem neither warm or humid enough on the inside...

I was wondering if I were to buy a room humidifier and keep the terrarium in a small room with the humidifier keeping the room at a fairly high humidity, would that help keep the humidity inside the fruiting chamber up? and maybe a small space heater in the same room would also help?

Any advice at all would be appreciated.

And sorry I know there have probably been many threads about fruiting chambers/terrariums before but I did a search and couldn't find anything of much help.

How do you have your terrariums set up and how do you keep them at the required/recommended temp. and humidity?

Thanks in advance, dollarjuice.

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Hey mate, my add wont let me read that tek. But how many holes and where did you drill them? Is the floor covered in perlite or expanded clay balls?

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A tub with about 5-6cm of expanded clay balls on the bottom. Then a water level about 1cm lower than the expanded clay balls. Two long airstones with an airpump outside the box buried under the clay balls. You can even bury a fish tank heater in the water and balls in the colder weather. This will keep pretty much 90% all the time

If your fanning 5 or six times a day there aint really any need for holes in the side. But if your only fanning once or twice a day just stick with two or max three holes per side, covered with micropore tape just above the surface of the balls and only about 6mm diameter.

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Hey HB thanks for the advice, these are some images, one is my terrarium, and the other is a picture taken from the guide since you are having trouble viewing it.

The holes in my terrarium are about 5mm diameter, and there is just over 7cm of damp perlite in the bottom of the tub. The holes are on all sides (including top and bottom) and as you can see it's sitting up from the ground to enable air flow to the bottom.

I should be able to pick up everything you've listed for your terrarium at a local pet store shouldn't I?

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Edited by dollarjuice

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Wow, thats to many holes IMO, youd really struggle to keep up the humidity in that. Yeah all from a Aquarium or decent pet shop.

You could just tape up all but maybe six of those holes and try again. I just like the Aquarium pump and air stones because it creates fresh air exchange and humidity without having to do much.

Edited by El presidente Hillbillios

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Yeah it had some theory behind it with air pressure systems and it's what I've seen a couple other people recommend on the shroomery, but it just isn't working.

Could you please elaborate what you mean with the air pump?

Two long airstones with an airpump outside the box buried under the clay balls.

 

So is it outside the terrarium? Or buried in it with the fish-tank heater? I only ask because I'm attempting to draw up a little bit of a schematic.

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the air pump is outside the box. Drill a little hole above the waterline for the air hose to tightly fit through.

Airstone like one of these

AS6.jpg

Air pump like this thing

Air_pump__ozone_pump_873.jpg

Edited by El presidente Hillbillios

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Thanks for all your help HB. In the next week or 2 I think I'll buy a new tub and all the parts and try again (tub was only about $8 anyway)

This is the dodgy little sketch I did up that will be the general plan of the terrarium.

I think there's some araldite laying around that I could use to seal up the hole the air pump goes into really well.

How often and for how long do you think the air pump would need to be run for each day?

And the clay balls, would they be from an aquarium shop aswell, or would I have to swing by a bunnings/similar store to pick up those?

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Thats pretty much it, but the hose off the pump atatches to the air stones.

Run the air pump all of the time, the bubbles it makes with the airstones keep the humidity up while creating fresh air exchange.

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just gotta be sure the heater stays under water and off the plastic off the tub. The suckers they come with keep em off the floor, just gotta keep an eye on the water level.

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Thanks so much for all your help mate! I'll be sure to post some photo's of the finished product when I get everything together.

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Dollarjuice: Your shotgun looks the goods to me. Just like RogerRabbit recommends it! It's probably the best innovation for beginner mush cult since the PF tek. Simple and cheap and no fuss. I fruited dozens and dozens of cakes in one of those before I moved to monotubs and other fruiting chambers. Have you drilled holes in the bottom and top too? That's crucial for the design to work. Also, it has to be raised. The drilled holes on the bottom need to be off the table/floor/whatever for convection to draw the moisture up from the perlite and through the terrarium.

Without a hygrometer there's no real way to "see" humidity. Hillbilly's design has its place (ol' skool flava B) )but before you invest more money and time in bubblers, etc, get yourself a hygrometer. You can get a $10 analogue one from Bunnings (check the section with thermometers and rain gauges) or better still, for <$40 you can get a good digital thermometer/hygrometer from Jaycar that will record and store the day's highest temp and RH levels (if you're getting a digital one, make sure it displays RH up to at least 95%). You'll need one whatever design you go with.

I've used my shotgun terrarium in an outdoor toilet, a laundry, a kitchen counter and even a cupboard. It's foolproof as long as you don't have a spot with a big draft. I'd fan and mist the perlite and cakes once a day, but if I was away for a day or two, it never mattered at all. RR's videos are an excellent starting point and if you follow RR's thorough instructions to the letter, you pretty much can't go wrong.

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What Marcel said. Your shot gun terrarium looks fine from what I can see. I am assuming the holes are 2 inches apart. I've used the shot gun terrarium heaps before. You can get into building fancy chambers later on.

Your misting and fanning level is good too.

If the room you are using is a bit cold then you can use a space heater. An oil one is good because they are safer if you have to leave them on, especially if you aren't around. They don't have flames and modern ones have safety features which will turn them off if they get knocked over etc. They won't use up the oxygen in the room either which is what your mushrooms need to grow.

If it is a little cold then your jars will colonise slower and your mushrooms will take longer to grow. Too cold and they won't want to grow. Remember that pinning triggers are light, humidity and temperature.

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I think my house just doesn't have a high enough humidity for it to work properly. So I have 2 options, build a terrarium that doesn't rely on the house' humidity, or but a humidifier. I think i have a bit more planning and thinking to do. Thanks for your input guys.

And yeah marcel holes are also in top and bottom, and it is raised about an inch and a half about the ground sitting up on chinese take-away containers (as you can see in the photo)

And I wasnt exactly 'measuring' the humidity, more sort of sticking my hand in there every now and then to see what it felt like. I know i really should get a hygrometer :blink:

I'll throw together a price comparison for a humidifier+heater vs the items needed for the terrarium HB mentioned, and figure out which one looks better.

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I've read of people in the deserts of Arizona (read: extreme dry heat) using shotguns with no problems. Trust me: as long as you don't put it in a drafty spot, it'll be your best friend. Save your money for food dryers, vacuum sealers and all the other millions of things you'll need when you have your fruits arrive.

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You don't need a humidifier if you use a shot gun terrarium. That's what the perlite and misting is for. Sticking your hand in to measure humidity is worthless. Try the tek and see it work for yourself.

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You can get flexible air stones and all you need from Woolies.

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Ok so I figured I'd go with the popular consensus and stick with the shotgun for now and see how it goes.

The tub is now in my room, much cleaner, warmer, and less drafty compared to the previous room.

Just pondering about the light placement since the tub has a black top that doesn't let much light through but high up on the side seems to work alright, what do you guys think?

Still no cakes in it as of yet but I cant wait :)

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The black lid aint so great. They will grow towards the light so they won't necessarily grow upwards as much. One side looks a fair bit darker than the other too. Some indirect light from that window next to them would help fix that though.

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I bought it without thinking about the lid initially. :( It was on special though!

Thanks for your input the window idea is great.

I don't particularly mind if the mushies don't grow straight up, if it becomes an issue I could just rotate the cakes right? Or create a new lid out of something that's clearer and see-through.

Would placing the globe of the lamp inside the terrarium be a good idea? or could it possibly raise the temp. by too much?

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shotgun is all i use. well a few of them ;) i cant see the need to go any fancier. yields are always terrific.

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i'd say ditch the lid, have you got any perspects or glass for a lid? to be honest I'd just use cling wrap and keep an eye out for a substitute because the cling wrap will give you the shits after a while.

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A trillion open holes,

instead of 8 good, polyfilled holes..

is a crap idea imo.

Its just dumb. Time wasting, and asking for contams

Better than expensive perlite crap too,

which when dry will f*ck u up solid,

is to simply spawn to bulk poo,

a couple of inches thick

lined in iso'd garbage bags.

The shrooms will be gargantuan compared to trays,

and the humidity will work itself out.

In fact, the idea with that one is that u spawn and fruit in the same tub

and don't open it until you've got a massive forest canopy : )

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Yeah i dont really see why so many holes are needed. However it really is easy, they will fruit in a bin bag, pretty much anything will get some kind of results

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Mud: so-called "monotubs" are indeed the best way to go, but I suspect dollarjuice is working with cakes here, so the monotub idea doesn't really cut it. That's for grow number 2. :)

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