With a drip system one could conceivably develop a nutrient solution to leach into the substrate. Hydro for shrooms anyone?
Substrate hydration via drip irrigation
- Thread starter BeccaBuds
- Start date
With a drip system one could conceivably develop a nutrient solution to leach into the substrate. Hydro for shrooms anyone?
- Thread starter
- #2
So I have this idea for a very simple small-scale drip system for shoeboxes. Remove the plungers from several used syringe/needle and poke them into the substrate. Viola! Instant drippers! Fill them with boiled, cooled distilled water with a sterile baster. Put 10 of them in a grid and you can evenly re-hydrate the whole shoebox in one pass, no dunk-no funk.
The trick is to squish the tip of the needle to restrict the flow to a few drops a second or so. This needed to be a reasonably precise squish so it doesn't just pinch off the needle, so I used a small machinist's vice (a Palmgren #6) to accomplish the task.
I only have 3 used syringes and needles presently, so I squished 3, and after a bit of adjustment, they are dripping about 3 drops a second. I'd like to get a bit slower but that would be difficult with this technique. Now if I only had a laser drill...
I have a shoebox of Blue Meanie Cubes just beginning to pin, so I'm going to try it out.
Next maybe I'll experiment with adding Liquid Culture Pre-Mix to the water in case they have the munchies after the flush! 
Update: The deed is done. Top 2 syringes haven't changed level that I can see, but the water from the bottom one started flowing back up around needle and onto the top of the cake. Fortunately, only a few CC's, so I pushed all 3 in deeper and gently soaked up the puddle with a previously sterilized paper towel.
So I'm thinking if I wait 2 days before putting water in the syringe, the mycelium will just grow around the needle and self seal.
The trick is to squish the tip of the needle to restrict the flow to a few drops a second or so. This needed to be a reasonably precise squish so it doesn't just pinch off the needle, so I used a small machinist's vice (a Palmgren #6) to accomplish the task.
I only have 3 used syringes and needles presently, so I squished 3, and after a bit of adjustment, they are dripping about 3 drops a second. I'd like to get a bit slower but that would be difficult with this technique. Now if I only had a laser drill...
I have a shoebox of Blue Meanie Cubes just beginning to pin, so I'm going to try it out.
Update: The deed is done. Top 2 syringes haven't changed level that I can see, but the water from the bottom one started flowing back up around needle and onto the top of the cake. Fortunately, only a few CC's, so I pushed all 3 in deeper and gently soaked up the puddle with a previously sterilized paper towel.
So I'm thinking if I wait 2 days before putting water in the syringe, the mycelium will just grow around the needle and self seal.
- Thread starter
- #3
Follow-Up Report: That experiment did not work well. The mycelium overgrew and sealed the tips of the needles. I'm sure it's just a matter of getting the emitter right for it to work well. Will need to experiment some more.
Meanwhile dumping 100mL distilled water into the tub between flushes will still be the goto procedure...
Meanwhile dumping 100mL distilled water into the tub between flushes will still be the goto procedure...
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