

Welcome to my complete Small Form Factor (SFF) Shoebox Factory Tek. My aim is to make something that is essentially just my regional version of how to prep a shoebox that is 100% set and forget for the duration of the fruiting process. What makes my Tek different is that I live in a 550sf studio. I want to show you in this TEK how to run a pretty hefty, yet small scale run of mushrooms while having it not take over your home. I've always liked SFF in things that don't need to be large, so I aim for my grows to also have this compatibility.



This specific thread will put together the whole process that will take you through creating mushroom forests for people who don't have a lot of space to run projects.



Disclaimer: I couldn't have made this TEK with out the extensive work that came before me. So many memebers of the Shroomery have paved the way for me to do this, and after over running over 150 shoeboxes I wanted to give back and do my best to create something a bit different from other cultivators on here.



Across this whole Tek my goal is to show you how to run a 9-10 shoebox harvest in rotation. I like to create 5 shoeboxes at a time for easy of management for my harvests. If staggered just right you'll be harvesting about 5 boxes every week for about a month. These 10 total boxes should produce around 300+~ wet grams per myco-quart for the first flush, and around 70% each subsequent flush. Subsequent flushes take about two weeks to fruit. If everything works out perfect you'll be harvesting an average of 5 oz of dry mushrooms per week for a month (20 oz or 1.25lbs total). Breakdown:

Week 1 : First 5 boxes flush 1 (1,500+~ wet grams)



: First 5 boxes flush 1 (1,500+~ wet grams) Week 2 : Second 5 boxes, flush 1 (1,500+~ wet grams)



: Second 5 boxes, flush 1 (1,500+~ wet grams) Week 3 : First 5 boxes, flush 2 (1,050+~ wet grams)



: First 5 boxes, flush 2 (1,050+~ wet grams) Week 4: Second 5 boxes, flush 2. (1,050+~ wet grams)



I have a tendency to let my shoeboxes play out for a while after the first two flushes, and usually dump them when I get to the point that I'm getting below 100 wet grams per flush (around flush 4-5 usually)... I really should stop doing that. It's kind of ridiculous that I do this as you start to get diminishing returns on your time/effort pretty quickly after the second flush.



About Pictures: I'm sorry there are none in this thread, I promise the break-out teks are PACKED with pictures and animated GIFs, so hopefully that makes up for this wall of text.



G E T T I N G S T A R T E D



So here's the full list of all the supplies you'll need. I've decided to not include how to get clean spawn as part of this Tek, as there's so many methods you really don't need me holding your hands. I highly recommend using AGAR to get clean spawn. Here's the overall breakdown:



Containers:

5-10 Shoeboxes (I recommend the latching lid Sterlite ones)



18 Widemouth Pint Jars (Or 10 Quart Jars)



1 Medium sized insulated cooler



Large Clear Tub for SAB



Approx. Cost: $55~ (not including tax, and could be cheaper if you have some of these items already)



Materials:

50# Oats



11# block Coir



Approx. Cost: $30 (This may be on the high end as I had to order coir online)



Other Considerations:

Spores



Pressure Canner



Scale (one that can read grams)



A Pot



Hammer and Flathead Screwdriver



Water



Gallon Ziplock Bags



Extra Large Collander



Aluminum Foil



Polyfill



Approx. Cost: $??? (Honestly, you should have many of these around your house already, it's kinda impossible to judge which you have or don't. The Pressure Canner is going to set you back the most, but I found my first one used for $25, so it's possible to find deals)



Also, if you've been following along a bit so far you'll realize that the "Materials" list will be good for more than 10 runs of mushrooms. If you take the math I spitballed above this is enough supplies for 12.5lbs of DRIED mushrooms. Let that sink in.



P R E L I M I N A R Y S T E P S



Here's what I'm not going to walk you through, but only link you to. These parts of the process you likely started at one point or another, so as long as you have these things you'll be good to go.



Still Air Box (SAB) and Good Sterile Technique:

This one is a little tricky to talk about. The SAB is super easy to make, but following Sterile Technique is where you may have to learn from a lot of trial and error. I followed Bod's EAF SAB Tek, which is super easy to do. The one thing I didn't do the first time through is watch all of his SAB Videos. When I started working in mycology I had pretty good luck with my contamination, but when I moved into my current place my contamination rate went up 40% out of nowhere. So I had to go back and improve my Sterile Technique, and those videos were super helpful.



Clean Spawn:

I do not recommend using a Mulit-Spore Syringe to inoculate grains. For this I recommend using agar first. Bod's Comprehensive AGAR Tek is great for walking you through all the steps for this. Roger Rabbit also put together a great video for it, which made me feel confident in working with the stuff after watching it. From agar you can inoculate grains (below) or move over to LC (ala Mushboy or Josex).



Mason Jar Lid Prep:

You also want to prep your jar lids to allow GE to happen in your jars. If you don't you'll suffocate your mycelium and kill it all. If you don't do it well you'll let contam get into your jars. There's many ways to do it, I recommend using Bod's EAF Polyfil Tek, but there's even cheaper was if you don't want to buy polyfil using just post office Tyvek (ala Yesum).



S T E P 1 : G R A I N P R E P A N D I N O C U L A T I O N



Once you have all your supplies and preliminary steps taken care of we're ready to move into Step 1: Grains.



Here is the full SFF Oat Prep and Storage Tek



Here's a quick overview:



1) Bring water to a boil



2) Add Oats, Boil for 20-25min



3) Remove from boiling water into strainer



4) Rinse with cold water



5) Store overnight (in Fridge)



6) Load up your jars



7) Apply foil to lids



8) Setup Pressure Canner



9) Cook (2 hours at 15PSI)



10) Inoculate



The full tek will walk you through how much grains to use, and how to set yourself up to break-down a huge bag of oats. Since I don't have a ton of space to store shit, I'm always looking for ways to save room and keep it secure/dry for years. Not including the wait times for things to dry or PC, there's about an hour or two worth of labor over 2 days in this step (i.e. if I start Monday night after work I'll finish up with inoculation somewhere Tuesday night).



S T E P 2 : C O I R P R E P



After your grains have colonized, you'll need to prepare your coir to add your grain-spawn to.



Here is the full SFF Coir Prep Tek



Here's the quick overview:

1) Take 550g of coir.



2) Boil 2.5L of water +1 cup



3) Put 2 cups of boiling water into a cooler for 10 min to pre-heat the cooler



4) Dump out the water



5) Add the coir the cooler, then pour the remaining boiling water over it



6) Close lid, wait 60 min



7) After an hour stir up the coir to try make sure you don't get dry spots



8) Wait until cool (I just wait overnight)



This process should get you coir that is "Just Under Field Capacity". Many people focus on making sure the coir is wet enough when aiming for "field capacity," however the proper mentality is making sure it's DRY enough as over-saturated substrates create better environments for bacteria, and invites deformation and mutation in mushrooms, as well as small fruits and weak yields. This process will take one night, and maybe about an hour of actual labor at most with a few waiting points.



S T E P 3 : S H O E B O X A S S E M B L Y , H A R V E S T , a n d S O A K



When you have both colonized grain spawn and your coir has been prepped it's time to combine them together in a shoebox.



Here is the full SFF Shoebox Assembly Tek



Here's the quick overview:

1) Empty 2 myco-pints (or 1 myco-quarts) into a shoebox



2) Add 2 pints of coir to spawn, and set aside 1 pint of coir



3) Mix up the grains and coir



4) Tamp down the surface and edges to get a flat surface



5) Add final pint for top coat, also tamping down this top coat, then spraying it down



6) Wait for flush one to come in



7) Harvest



8) Soak



9) Repeat steps 6-8 until you're exhausted





So for the coir we got things "just below field capacity," now we need to kind of make up for that extra moisture we took out. The key to this step is the top coat. Adding the pseudo-casing and saturating it gives the shrooms the moisture they need while not putting any of that moisture in places that will encourage side or bottom pins. This is the easiest step. I can assemble 5 shoeboxes in less than 30 minutes and then you just set them to the side for a while.



S T E P 4 : E N J O Y Y O U R H A R V E S T !



This is a fake step. You can hate your harvest for all I care. If you follow this Tek through entirely you should have just spent about two months waiting for your first set of mushrooms (2-3 weeks to get clean agar, 2-3 weeks to get colonized grain, and 3-4 weeks to get to your first flush). So where do you go from here? Well, the possibilities are endless. You essentially have all the supplies to do this over and over without spending much more money.



I would venture to say that you could easily grow 12.5lbs of dry mushrooms with this process for around $150 total. That materials list will include things you can keep using forever (Pressure Canner), and some of the items will last for even longer than those first 12.5lbs (like the oats). That's a pretty cheap investment in a hobby that will likely take over you life.



Hello, my name is ShaperDreaming and I'm a mycoholic. Here's my story...



--------------------





My Shoebox Factory Beginner's Tek | Shoebox Assembly Tek | Methodology/teks I use | How I Store Bulk Items



Edited by ShaperDreaming (06/14/19 12:03 AM)



Post Extras: