Shotgun Terrarium

Has anyone ever tried a small computer fan on a timer instead of opening the lid and fanning twice a day, or instead of a timer maybe a co2 monitor and have fans kick on when co2 is too high? I don't want to be married to my hobbies.

I had no idea mushrooms were so easy to grow.

spandy said:

Has anyone ever tried a small computer fan on a timer instead of opening the lid and fanning twice a day, or instead of a timer maybe a co2 monitor and have fans kick on when co2 is too high? I don't want to be married to my hobbies.

I had no idea mushrooms were so easy to grow.

Click to expand...

yeah you could automate your air flow, it will take some work to get it dialed just right, you want to keep RH as high as you can while still keeping them from getting choked out by co2, dont forget in shot gun terr. you also have to spray sometimes to keep rh boosted. that could be automated also. i've seen fully automatic mushroom grows but there is alot more money than needed involved normaly. also most people dont use automated shot gun terr, more often its a tank with no holes. have a look around on shroomery, also there used to be a link to a fully automatic shroom grow in the mushroom sticky, I think it may still be there.

hope that helps in some way.

That would in no way/shape/or form be considered a shotgun terrarium. Also it wouldn't work. The shotgun design may seem real simple but its very thought out there is a reason it's designed how it is. Seriously if you want to be successful in this hobby stick to a solid tek and don't stray one bit! No blending of ideas from various teks you have read and no improvising on them cause you think your clever. Otherwise you will soon find it's not as easy as you thought when you posted this. Good luck

dankillerbs said:

That would in no way/shape/or form be considered a shotgun terrarium. Also it wouldn't work. The shotgun design may seem real simple but its very thought out there is a reason it's designed how it is. Seriously if you want to be successful in this hobby stick to a solid tek and don't stray one bit! No blending of ideas from various teks you have read and no improvising on them cause you think your clever. Otherwise you will soon find it's not as easy as you thought when you posted this. Good luck

Click to expand...

well come on now if he gets a shot gun terr and adds stuff to its its still a shot gun terr. just one with add ons. lol if you take a golden retriever and put a hat on it, its still a golden retriever. lol

To the Original Poster.

automated terrariums, are very very VERY rarely of the shot gun type. lol fishtank or something with NO holes in it would work MUCH better for auto air and humidity....


there is not a point to having the fan if you cant set up the humidity to also be automatically replaced though, it will juast dry out your stuff, and this is much harder to dial in properly.


I agree following a mushroom grow tek need to be to the t. at least the first few times.

the grow chamber feel free to test out different ones. just might ask questions before you spend the cash there are lots of other who probably experimented with it before you even had the idea.

you should have seen some of the automatic ones they use to post in hightimes. HOLY SHIT like 50 fishtanks all hooked up to air pumps and humidifiers every tank leaned to drain excess water, each tank with its own little light, each tank at 98% RH or higher. all of them packed full of mushrooms.. it was insane. pretty sure that guy got busted after put his mushroom grow in hightimes though.

shot gun terr cost almost nothing though and work just fine for cakes, if your intrested in somthing better, might just look into bulk grows, the mono tub doesn't need fans or spraying. all it needs is light and it handles the rest its self.

Why would I spray it, wouldn't I just cover some of the drilled holes, and if I spray it, how am I going to do that in a shotgun that doesn't have the shield to keep water off the mushies?

only need an O and I'm good for about a year as I only do this 2, maybe 3 times a year, and it seems if I'm successful i could easily pull that off for under 50 bucks all inclusive.

Do bulk on a zombie tub! You DO NOT need to fan/mist them, AT ALL. You just need to make sure you don't open it up until harvest . They are cheaper than a shotgun FC by far.

Materials

1. 2 6qt Sterlite storage bins ($1 each)
2. Polyfill (free if you have a spare stuffed animal/pillow, cheap at Wal-mart for a big bag)
3. Something to cut holes with
4. Black duct tape (To seal around the rim of the box, also to put on the bottom to prevent side pinning. You can also use foil tape for maximum protection from side pins.)

That's about all you need.

Also, if you were going to go the PC fan way, I would put them on a timer for about 15 minutes a day. maybe 5 mins at different parts of the day, kind of how you would fan them normally.

What size holes/how many in a 6 quart, and I'm assuming the polyfil is for those holes. I can't find the tek for the zombie tub.

And why do I not need to open it up, I guess I'm just not understanding why I can just leave it closed whereas I have to fan out the box with the other step AND I don't have to add more water if I never open it until harvest.

Just trying to understand

spandy said:

Why would I spray it, wouldn't I just cover some of the drilled holes, and if I spray it, how am I going to do that in a shotgun that doesn't have the shield to keep water off the mushies?

only need an O and I'm good for about a year as I only do this 2, maybe 3 times a year, and it seems if I'm successful i could easily pull that off for under 50 bucks all inclusive.

Click to expand...

Yeah you can just cover the holes, but if you make it perfect you wont need the fan either, the way a shot gun works is air flows through the holes in the tub through the perlite and pulls water out of the perlite into the air, so if rh isn't high enough you can cover holes, but if you dont have enough air flow the Co2 wont get out and will choke your mushrooms, which is why people fan them. to much air flow will dry everything out.

most people dont make their shotgon terr very well or dont put it in area with moving air and have to supplement rh with spraying, and remove co2 with fanning.

Darth please show links to successfull automated grows using fans or pumps. They don't exist. I've seen improvised procedures like you speak of done, but with mediocre results at best. If you want awesome results, stick to what others have already done successfully. I know I have debated the shotgun terr with you before, I don't think you seem to understand the science behind how it works.

I'm sorry, here is the link to how to make a zombie tub. You don't need to follow the spawning part of it, but you can if you want. You can use any sub prep you like.
I am going to be making a few of these soon, then I will start up another bulk go at it.
Good luck!

dankillerbs said:

Darth please show links to successful automated grows using fans or pumps. They don't exist. I've seen improvised procedures like you speak of done, but with mediocre results at best. If you want awesome results, stick to what others have already done successfully. I know I have debated the shotgun terr with you before, I don't think you seem to understand the science behind how it works.

Click to expand...

Are you serious man? Just because there isn't a log for it, doesn't mean it wont work. Most designs will work perfectly well. FAE isn't as important as you think. You can still get mushrooms from fanning only once a day, and misting once a day. Sure, you might not get an amazing pinset, but hey, it works. A shotgun terrarium isn't the best either, I would rather use a tiered greenhouse than make a shotgun terrarium any day.

Fresh Air Exchange, the number 1 pinning trigger is not that important, huh? Haha, solid info dude... NOT! Just find me ONE single link using pumps and fans for a successful, repeatable fungi grow. I'm not saying you can't get results from improvising and changing things, they will just likely be mediocre at best, and in no way be consistent result. Guess some people are ok with ok results sometimes, while others shoot for awesome results all the time. The same is true for cannabis cultivation.

I've never been to a mushroom farm that uses shotgun terrariums there only for the poor home grower.

bulk is where its at. everyone knows this.

that being said there are plenty of automated terrariums that work, can you make it with a fish pump and a 20 dollar humidifier. Nope. Do not underestimate the power of money, ingenuity and technology though.

Its fine if the shot gun works for you, it does for me, not every one can keep there grow elevated in a room with air flow. sometimes people have to find another way, and that doesn't mean you cant perfect another tek.

Just look up roger rabbit's shotgun terarium vid on youtube, make it like that, and no fanning required. If you do fan, always mist first, then fan to make sure you don't make dry spots.

dankillerbs said:

Fresh Air Exchange, the number 1 pinning trigger is not that important, huh? Haha, solid info dude... NOT! Just find me ONE single link using pumps and fans for a successful, repeatable fungi grow. I'm not saying you can't get results from improvising and changing things, they will just likely be mediocre at best, and in no way be consistent result. Guess some people are ok with ok results sometimes, while others shoot for awesome results all the time. The same is true for cannabis cultivation.

Click to expand...

It really isn't as important as you think. I'm pretty positive they will work, IN THEORY they would work, although I have never seen one in real life so I wouldn't know if they would work for real, kind of like you with shotgun fruiting chambers. Really man? You think the best way is the shotgun FC, well in reality, ITS NOT. Relying on perlite for bringing the RH up is a poor method, a good one, but there are MUCH BETTER ways. So seriously, stop being a dick.

Now I feel like a dick. Sorry man. Its just FAE isn't really as important as you think, sure its a major pinning trigger, but you can get by without as much as most people say. Also, saying a improvision will be mediocre at best, is a stupid statement, you have no idea what the idea/modification is so you have no where to judge on a hypothetical "improvision".

just to chime in, i first used a shotgun for my first grow. i wasn't a fan. Now I like using aquariums then just get the glass top and a hood with a light. then hook up a tropic air humidifier inside that runs nonstop and keeps me about 93-95% I do fan it out but i don't know if i need too since the airpump providing the humidity inside is using fresh air but it never hurts to fan out. then i just line the bottom with lava rocks. I've yet to really have any problems. like i said my first run i used perlite and it was... ok but i wanted something that worked better.

I think I got what I needed, thanks guys. Like I said I just need an O for a years supply for me, I have no desire to bulk grow because I simply don't need the supply, but I do appreciate the teks incase i ever change my direction.

1st off, stop arguing that fresh air isnt that important. That's really bad information. Its just as important as keeping high rh%. I'm not saying the shotgun chamber is the holy grail of mushroom growing(defiately better bulk methods out there), all I'm saying is if ain't broke, don't fix it, and theres no better small scale method for growing cakes. The OP was asking about a shotgun chamber, so I'm here defending a true shotgun chamber... You guys can call your fish tanks with pumps something else if you want, just leave the poor shotgun chamber out of it.

dankillerbs said:

1st off, stop arguing that fresh air isnt that important. That's really bad information. Its just as important as keeping high rh%. I'm not saying the shotgun chamber is the holy grail of mushroom growing(defiately better bulk methods out there), all I'm saying is if ain't broke, don't fix it, and there's no better small scale method for growing cakes. The OP was asking about a shotgun chamber, so I'm here defending a true shotgun chamber... You guys can call your fish tanks with pumps something else if you want, just leave the poor shotgun chamber out of it.

Click to expand...

I never said that shotgun FC's are not good. Ask someone experienced, FAE is important, it isn't AS IMPORTANT as you are saying. Keeping RH is the only thing that the mycelium network must have to produce fruits. I have seen grows go along with 1 time fanning/misting a day. By the way, I do not use a fish tank or pumps, I use a type of shotgun FC. You can replicate the same thing inside a shotgun FC inside of a 2-litre bottle cut in half.