beautiful!!!

Thanks. The golden mushroom is slowly spreading its lovely cap

I have another question though. So far I've been relying on central heating to provide optimal temperatures, but this is getting a bit costly. Is there a cheaper solution that would work with this kind of growkit?

I've seen some people use reptile mats to provide a constant 23°C (some are even sold at smartshops specifially for growing mushrooms), but I wonder if this isn't counter-productive due to the direct heat? Would such a mat work if I elevate the kit slightly above it?

Another solution a lot of people seem to turn to are aquarium heaters, though these are mostly used in tubs and terrariums. Could I perhaps make a sort of tub in a tub to place it in? I know this is used particularly for incubation (the so-called TiT), but could it also be used for fruiting (obviously with lower temps)?

Also, if these methods would be viable, would it provide as good results as heating the entire room with a heater?

Excuse the double post, I couldn't seem to add pics to my previous post.
The big one is looking about ready for harvest, I'm giving it just a bit longer. I picked one lone mushroom today (apparently a bit late since it seemed to have dropped its spores). I'm curious as to whether these other pins will follow the lead or end up aborting. Looking far better than my first flush either way, I'm happy to see that I at least improved my methods and have some knowledge to take with me for future grows

Lookin tasty!!



If you can find a cooler big enough for your tub, or even a tub big enough, with blankets wrapped around, you can use an aquarium heater. You'll want it pretty insulated. You'd put the aquarium heater in some type of jug, like a soda bottle, jar, etc and fill it with water (aquarium heaters are meant to be run only in water). This way, you'd have a nice heat source that you can regulate. This avoids the issue of the reptile mat applying heat directly.

It's all I use to heat my mushie babies!

Hey guys, it's been a while

I have recently harvested my third flush, and strangely it's been the best one yet!
One day I came home to a cluster of about 4 big shrooms with another handful of smaller fellas attached to them. There were another couple of large and smaller shrooms as well. All growth is centered on one part of the box now though, seems like the nutrients on the other side are about depleted. The mycelium is currently being dunked, and I will be waiting another good week for perhaps a fourth flush. All in all it's been a really educational project, and I can't wait to start making my own substrates and doing my own inoculating and spore printing soon. And of course trying out some other varieties of cubensis

Congratulations to your success

I also get the "best" results from the second or third flushes, almost never from the first one...

I find this quite common - first few flushes from all over the place, later ones from the sides, and also from the "deeper" parts of the sides of the fruiting container.

Great! With the 4th flush, the casing soil sometimes already smells pretty bad, something like a mold. Nothing bad visually, but it just starts smelling... So, take care.

awesome read and well done on the babies