Best Humidifier for Growing Mushrooms

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Best Humidifier for Growing Mushrooms

Mushrooms thrive in humid and dark environments. You may want to use a humidifier to maintain the recommended humidity levels if you cultivate mushrooms. In this article, we shall look at the best humidifier for growing mushrooms. Remember, you don’t want droplets hitting your mushrooms lest they get brown spots. These can make them unappealing to customers.

What humidity do mushrooms grow in?

If you live in an area that’s prone to old trees, you may have seen mushrooms growing from their barks. One thing that differentiates mushrooms from other plants is the fact that they don’t contain chlorophyll; neither do they need sunlight to facilitate growth. Still, these plants require some water, light, and heat in order to grow efficiently and generate fruit.

You should know that there are numerous varieties of mushrooms some of which are dangerous for human consumption. If you don’t know how to differentiate between safe and toxic mushrooms, you can just opt for commercially grown mushrooms. Here is an analysis of what mushrooms need to grow.

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Light

Mushrooms don’t contain chlorophyll which means they don’t need photosynthesis and can thrive in a dark area. Still, they need some amount of light to facilitate the formation of their fruit bodies. If you want to achieve success in the fruiting section, you need to expose your mushrooms to light just for a few hours per day.

If your plants are growing indoors, then you can expose them to indirect sunlight or use a fluorescent lamp. If you’ve noticed, wild mushrooms often grow in wooded and shaded areas where they’re exposed to filtered light.

Water and Humidity

Your mushroom plants will need moisture to produce fruit. Seeing that they don’t have a skin, the moisture is easily dissolved. This is why you need to grow your mushrooms in a highly humid environment to maintain humidity.

Mushrooms inhale and trade gases with the environment and sometimes they’ll disappear only to reappear once the humidity and moisture levels subside. Whenever you’re growing these plants indoors, you should ensure that the soil is moist but not wet.

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Growing Medium

Mushrooms can grow in various places such as decomposing leaves, on trees or tree barks, on mulch dung, compost, and even soil. During this time they’ll be feeding on the rotting matter of such substances. Commercial mushroom farmers grow them in a combination of straw and manure. As for wild mushrooms, their growing medium is hardly visible.

What temperature and humidity do mushrooms need?

Mushrooms will thrive in a cool environment where the temperature is approximately 70 degrees Fahrenheit. Wild mushrooms aren’t fussy in terms of temperatures. They can form the threads of their fungus body also known as mycelia in temperatures ranging from 40 to 90 degrees Fahrenheit.

When it comes to the formation of the fruit, they’ll need temperatures ranging between 50 to 70 degrees Fahrenheit. Commercially grown mushrooms thrive in temperatures between 55 to 60 degrees Fahrenheit.

Will mushroom grow more if the moisture is increased?

While mushrooms require sufficient moisture, you should ensure that there’s proper drainage. If your mushrooms sit in stagnant water they’re likely to get mold infestation and this makes them poisonous.

Humidifiers for Mushroom Humidity Control You can consider

Mushrooms require appropriate humidity to facilitate successful growth. You may want to use a humidifier if you’re growing your mushroom indoors and for commercial purposes. Choosing the ultimate humidifier can be an arduous task but you can use the analysis below as a guide to finding the best gadget for your mushroom fruiting chamber.

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A Spray Bottle

You can find a simple spray bottle from your local store. It’s ideal for a small fruiting chamber. What you need to do is just spray all around the walls of the fan and chamber with fresh water. Spray the chamber multiple times per day to maintain sufficient humidity. Don’t spray the mushrooms directly to avoid damaging them.

You’ll also need to fan the chamber to encourage circulation of fresh air. If you’re using a shotgun fruiting chamber, you may want to include perlite beneath it. This will help you maintain more consistent humidity. Remember, massive humidity fluctuations may cause the fruiting process to abort.

Wicking Humidifiers

Wicking humidifiers are also known as evaporative humidifiers. These are configured using a simple spray bottle. Usually, the humidifier is channeled in the fruiting chamber by fastening a PVC pipe to the unit’s outlet. Wicking humidifiers work through wicking up water from a reservoir and circulating it across a larger area.

Air is then blown across this area with a fan which vaporizes the water to increase humidity in the air. While wicking humidifiers function well, you should know that they’re self-regulated and this limits their functionality when it comes to raising the humidity levels. Still, you can use it for your small fruiting chamber.

Ultrasonic Humidifier

An ultrasonic dehumidifier comes with spinning discs which vaporize water droplets. These are then inflated out of the unit and circulated in your mushroom chamber. You can use this humidifier to increase the humidity within the chamber up to 100% with minimal struggle. You can either place your humidifier inside the fruiting chamber or even outside.

One of the benefits of channeling humidity in the fruiting chamber is that the humidity goes in with fresh air which plays a huge role in cutting down carbon dioxide levels and enhancing the production of better-looking fruits.  Whichever ultrasonic humidifier you choose, ensure it has an on and off timer because you don’t want to drench your mushroom in water and end up destroying them.

Still, you’ll need to monitor the humidity levels in the chamber closely in order to establish the appropriate pattern that your timer requires to achieve your preferred humidity level. One thing you should keep in mind is that you need to clean your humidifier regularly to prevent bacteria from growing inside the gadget and eventually contaminating your mushroom.

Ultrasonic humidifiers will generate humidity depending on the number of discs they have. One of the tried and tested humidifiers which are ideal for use in your mushroom fruiting chamber is the Crane Tear Drop Ultrasonic Humidifier. This gadget can pump out a sufficient amount of water which means you can use it effectively if you have a big fruiting chamber.

Which is the Best Humidifier for Mushroom Humidity Control?

Are you trying to become a successful mushroom farmer? If the answer is yes, you may want to get the multidisc floating ultrasonic humidifier. Humidifiers falling in this classification come with multiple discs which float on top of the water. All you need to do is place them in a bucket full of water and direct a fan towards the bucket.

Multidisc floating ultrasonic humidifiers are powerful and you only need to use them for a short while. An example of these humidifiers is the House of Hydro Commercial 3 Head Mist Maker Kit which you can use in your big fruiting chamber. Remember to change the water every few days to prevent mold and bacteria from growing.

Finally

If you’re growing mushrooms either for commercial or domestic purposes, you’ll need to ensure that they have the ultimate humidity to facilitate growth. With a good humidifier, this process can be successful. The above guidelines should help you choose the best gadget for your fruiting chamber.

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My name is Isabel and welcome to Blooming Air I created Blooming Air to be a place where homeowners can keep their homes healthy for them and their families with high-quality air units.