How can I automatically water my mushrooms?

Question

I am growing mushrooms indoors on coffee waste, and I am trying to find a DIY system to water them automatically.

Basically, the reasons why it is different than watering plants are: - You don't know where the mushrooms are going to pop out on the substrate surface, so the whole area has to be (more or less) uniformly wet all the time. - They are very sensitive, especially in the early phase. If they are dry for a few hours, they'll stop growing and die.

It could be a system involving a small tank that I need to fill every other day or something like this. I am just looking for a way to avoid having to spray them twice daily or more like now.

So you have an idea of the size, I am currently using wooden wine boxes. However, I might get/build something larger, so the new box can probably be adapted to the watering system if it needs to be.

My first idea was a kind of clothe that I would spread out on sticks over the mushrooms. I guess some clothe could be tight enough so that the water takes time to percolate through and drop on the mushrooms...

Any other ideas?

Answer 1

I like the mister idea as long as you have humidity sensors as well as have been maintaining and watering your own mushrooms with your own hands manually. It is a delicate balance for moisture and medium especially for mushrooms. To put your shrooms on a schedule you should see a pattern as you manually get to know the needs of your crop, no one else could set a timer for you.

A simple gravity fed medium using a network of tiny hoses with holes from a higher water source seemed to work for a friend of mine but he had to cut the water off manually when at proper moisture/air levels.

Another way to grow plants is to moisten the medium and cover the entire kaboodle with a plastic cover to hold the moisture a long time. Like a terrarium. Gotta know the proper humidity levels and how important it is to keep enough air in the medium and air movement around the mushrooms. Worth looking into especially to get the plant producing 'sexual organs' as the real plant is beneath the soil. Yes? So there are two environments necessary to monitor; the one the plant (fungus mycelium) is embedded in and the crop or fruiting bodies sexual organs in the air.

Have you been doing this for awhile? The pure coffee grounds as medium bothered me so I went out to find this following article about coffee grounds. I am not liking PURE coffee grounds for your medium. It should be only a smallish part of the medium, the rest being sawdust or straw...

I am not a mushroom growing officianado but this sounds sort of a fad that has gone overboard. Similar to 'low carb diets'...our desire for numbers, novelty and magic without basic criteria with which to be able to think through these newbie methods causes failure and much grief. Is there something in nature you can compare this method with? If not, I would be instantly suspicious. Coffee grounds are uniform, yummy texture, yummier color and smells yummiest. But sometimes a little is a good thing and more is not so great.

Read this link I am sending. mushrooms and coffee ground medium Please let me know what you think.

Answer 2

The easiest answer is to buy a mister like for dart from and set it on a timer. You'd simply keep the reservoir filled and set the timer to come on multiple times a day to keep whatever consistency of moisture you want.

Answer 3

It is important to provide moisture to the air - not only the substrate.

One option is, as @stormy proposes, a mist(fog) machine. One options is a piezo one but there are others. Pay attention to get one without LEDs else the mushrooms will curve towards it.

A lazier and cheaper option is to grow the mushrooms on a raised bed above moist perlite(get it from any hardware/building materials shop for a dime). The large surface area ensures increased evaporation compared to simple water container.

Of course both options assume enclosed volume, vented a couple of times per day, proper temperature control and some minimal light coming strictly from above.