Pearlite? Really?

Share your own customer images
Imagine Gold
Tropicaire Humidifier & Air Exchanger
3.6 out of 5 stars See all reviews (16 customer reviews) |
Price: $17.56 & eligible for FREE Super Saver Shipping on orders over $25. Details

In Stock.
Sold by Two To Tango and Fulfilled by Amazon. Gift-wrap available.
Want it delivered Friday, April 20?
Order it in the next 23 hours and 46 minutes, and choose One-Day Shipping at checkout.
Details
13 new from $12.20

I didn't say I did. But a while back, when a fruiting chamber was a tub, sure, perlite was used.
Now I have the enclosed shelf environment, an use ultrasonics.

I actually have the air pump and a hand made humidifier jar with hydroton, polyfill and of course the airlines.

If its one of those small piezo element humidifiers, just forget it, they all die after a few cycles.

This one isn't. Pumping air through a humidified environment at 2.5 - 3 changes per hour is really the best way to perform your air exchanges and modify your humidity. The changes make lessen the contamination factor especially if you prefilter the air. You can positive pressure your chamber for even more protection by NOT drilling holes in it and of course you can manage your humidity to a very fine degree. The use of one of these or one similar is the only way to grow species of mexicana with any regularity - in my opinion.

I'm gonna start fruiting in a coupla days. I wasn't thinking of using the airpump method as of yet. But maybe I'll give it a try from the start.

DaSprout said:

I'm gonna start fruiting in a coupla days. I wasn't thinking of using the airpump method as of yet. But maybe I'll give it a try from the start.

Click to expand...

Best to have the right equipment for the job Sprout. Head down to walmart - pick yp a cool air humidifier - not the visible moisture ones but the evaporative one - 35 bucks I think, then go on to the bin department and pick up a nice sized bin with the tightest lid you can find, then go on to the fish section and get a couple of air pumps - 10 bucks each - I think they pump something like 1200 ml per minute - figure the capacity of your fruiting chamber so you get enough pumping power for 2 to 3 changes an hour - get yourself some tubing and you are done. put the pump or pumps in with the humidifier, run the tubing from the tub to your fruiting chamber - all you have to do is change the water in the humidifier every couple of days.

Couldn't be easier - I have tried the ultrasonic ones but they tend to cause condensate in the pre-conditioning chamber. ALWAYS use RO or distilled water in your system, and if you really want to do it right, use 5 percent bleach. Try using 8 percent bleach in your spray bottles - it keeps your casing basic and keeps down the trich. Even 10 percent bleach will not seriously harm robust mycelium.


I have done a number of air flow tests to find out the best way to send air into your chamber. Just putting the tubes in the chamber will work but it tends to entrain the air and mixes poorly (cigar smoke baby, you can see everything). I have tied those micro-sprinkler systems but there isn't enough air pressure to make most of them work right. Best bet is to drill holes along the length of the tube that is in the chamber - make the holes equal to the inside diameter of the tube. 1/4 inch should use 4 1/16 holes - like that. Your problem is twofold - first even 100 percent humidity flowing air will dry the surrounding surface so if you lay your tube on your casing it will cause dry spots but trich desires stagnant air the more you move your air around the less likelyhood of contamination - so you want very gently flowing air from many points so the co2 will be mixed and carried up to the lid where you have natural openings - check your lids you will see - no need for holes. Hyou will also attain a slight positive air pressuer in your chamber - this keeps "things" from falling into your chamber - the down side is if you spread spores in such a way that they will get into your conditioning bin - then you will be forcing bad spores directly into your bin. Hence the 5 percent bleach. Also even with good water you are still libable to grow bacteria in there and spew that - although bacteria is not nearly a danger for your grow - it sure is if you have petri dishes in the same room. You can pick up some micropore filter disks and righ an inline filter for your pump if you think ahead and you can be assured of a realitily sterile air flow.

Sounds like a plan. I think that I will try that out.

DaSprout said:

Sounds like a plan. I think that I will try that out.

Click to expand...

Do it and you will be ready for the exotics - the REAL challenges and of course the fruit from these exotics is far superior in quality to any other - believe me. Beyond even that do yourself a big favor and forage in your neighborhood for shaggy manes - there is no mushroom in the continental US that looks even a little like a shaggy mane so you won't have a problem identifying it. Once you find one use my agar technique and get a clone (forget about spores brother you will have a tough time getting spores from the wild) - or you can get spores from any mushroom bank. Grow them in your horse manure or straight straw. These are some of the finest eating mushrooms on earth - short only of morels and chantrelles (neither of which have been domesticated). The problem with manes is that they autodigest. They do not keep and cannot be dried. Only people who have mastered growing their own - or those who forage get to taste the flavor of these wonderful treats. I have been growing them for years from the samples I found and my friends beg me for them when they visit.

Great. Thanks alot Canndo. Just more to add to my ever growing DIY list. It never ends. Never.

All I know a 4 or 5 inch thick bed of perlite works perfectly.

ANC said:

All I know a 4 or 5 inch thick bed of perlite works perfectly.

Click to expand...

As I've said, what works can't really be argued with - some people swear by PF some or horse manure or whatever - and they swear by it because it works. All I am saying here is that one needn't fan one's growth when they have a constant, regular flow of 90 + percent humidity replacing all the air and co2 in the box 2 or three times an hour. And more importantly, this is almost a necessity for growing the exotics. Not as cheap as pearlite tho.

No need to fan Tubs if you make a proper shotgun terarium with holes on ALL sides.

ANC said:

No need to fan Tubs if you make a proper shotgun terarium with holes on ALL sides.

Click to expand...

All the better, however, I have found that stagnant air is more likely to promote contamination in later flushes - again, this is just my experience, others find ways that work as well.

If you have holes in all the sides, like literaly shotgun the thing with a drill, convection will take care of itself, the mycelium mass creates heat as a byproduct of metabolism, this heat rises to leave through the holes in the lid and is replaced by fresh moist air through the bottom holes. Remember to make some feet so air can get under.