Growing mushrooms at home becomes much easier when you automate your fruiting chamber. This guide breaks down how to turn a basic monotub into a self-regulating, low‑maintenance system using SporeVault’s Automated Fruiting Chamber Kit.
What’s in the kit
- Clear monotub – pre-drilled with ten air vents and filter membranes installed.
- Ultrasonic humidifier – quiet and tuned for steady mist output.
- Digital humidity controller – with dual outlets and a sensor probe for real‑time humidity and temperature.
- Mist delivery kit – flexible coil tubing and suction cups for clean mist injection into the tub.
- Filter membranes – for clean airflow.
Step 1 – Choose your setup location & mount the controller
Set your monotub on a surface higher than the humidifier so condensation doesn’t run back into the grow. Keep the mist tubing sloping smoothly downward and avoid areas with drafts or big temperature swings. Mount the humidity controller using either drywall anchors or the included adhesive pad (the adhesive is a quick and easy option).
Step 2 – Set up tubing and the humidity probe
Pick which filter vent you’ll run the tubing through – the center back works great. Make a small “T” cut in the membrane just smaller than your tubing, feed 3–5 coil rings through the vent and collapse the tubing back to lock it in place. Run the remaining tubing to the humidifier on a gentle downward slope. Install the humidity probe inside the tub at mid height, away from the mist stream and fruiting block; this lets it read the air rather than surface moisture.
Step 3 – Plug everything in & set humidity
Plug the humidifier into outlet #2 on the controller and connect the controller to a wall outlet. For most mushrooms set the humidity around 90 % relative humidity; gourmets like oysters or chestnut mushrooms may need slightly higher. Once set, the humidifier turns on when humidity drops below your target and shuts off when it hits the set point.
Step 4 – Fresh air exchange tips
The SporeVault monotub already allows passive fresh air exchange through its ten filter vents. After colonization you can pop off one or two filter membranes to boost FAE. If your substrate is fully colonized, the contamination risk is low but always work in a clean area.
Step 5 – Lighting & positioning
Mushrooms need about twelve hours of indirect or artificial light per day to trigger fruiting. Use a grow light with a built‑in timer (12 hours on, 12 hours off) and position it above or next to the tub, not shining directly on the mushrooms. You can even plug your light into the controller’s temperature outlet as an extension cord – just set a higher temperature so it never shuts off.
Final thoughts
Building an automated fruiting chamber makes growing mushrooms easy and repeatable, especially for beginners. Whether you’re cultivating gourmet species or legal microscopy specimens, this step‑by‑step setup reduces the hassle and helps you scale up confidently. Once you’re comfortable, explore other SporeVault tools like the monotub system, harvesting knife and grow light for a complete kit.