The automated fruiting chamber project is an element of collective programming that focuses on the development and implementation of automated designs for automated fruiting chambers intended to facilitate the reliable indoor cultivation of macro-fungi. The project is more focused on the "automated" element than the "chamber" element - the idea is to create a modular computer that can be connected to a variety of sensor suites and physical containers in order to be useful to both small-scale home growers all the way up to commercial-scale operations.
The motivations behind why recomposers began developing this element of collective programming include the following:
- The desire to make reliable indoor cultivation more accessible to the disposessed and the working-class
- The need to fill a niche that is left empty by the popularization of home grown kits as a common fungiculture product. These kits are often relatively expensive and come with minimal, if any, supporting tools. While sold as an accessible introduction to fungiculture, they are relatively easy to accidentally contaminate the kit or fail to provide the correct growing conditions. As part of the Mycology Program's goal to popularize mycology, there is a vested interest in making the practice of indoor fungiculture as accessible as possible. While there are already purpose-built automated fruiting chambers on the market they are often some combination of expensive, non-modular, and limited in their scale, which makes them inaccessible to most people.
The goals of the Automated Fruiting Chamber Project include:
- Create a working collectively produced design for the chamber's computing hardware
- Establish an initial data-set of key fungal species for cultivation
- Provide an open-source system for both homegrowers and developing large-scale operations
- Software
- Firmware
- Computer Hardware
- Sensor suites
- Humidity Sensors
- Temperature Sensors
- CO2 Sensors
- Circuitboard
- Memory
- Outer casing
- Chamber
- Water reservoir
- Lights
- Mounts
- Fans
- Programming
- PCB design
- Soldering
- 3D Printing
- Assembly
- Fungal species selection
- Testing
- Operation
- Design
- The open-source design for the fruiting chamber computer and all subsequent updates openly shared by collaborating recomposers
- Data-sets
- The sharing of data-sets that contain key cultivation details for desirable fungi species in order for the fruiting chambers to be able to effectively function and customize environemntal parameters to a given species
- Physical Instances
- Physical copies of the fruiting chamber hardware produced by local nodes of the Recomposition Collective either for sale or for provision to members and relevant community partners as part of our material support.
DIY Solutions
The traditional solution to automating fruiting chambers is to use a combination of off-the-shelf parts such as humidity/temperature such as those produced by Inkbird, which are traditionally produced for greenhouses and allow users some basic functionality. They work by allowing users to set a desired range for humidity and/or temperature that result in an linked appliance (often a fan, humidifier, or heater) being turned on or off depending on whether the current measurement is above or below the set range.
Pros:
- Off-the-shelf and readily available
- Very simple to use, requiring basically no knowledge of electronics making them plug-and-play with no assembly
- Multi-purpose, can be used for both automating fruiting chambers as well as greenhouses or terrariums when not being used for fungiculture
- Relatively cheap for individual units with humidity/temperature sensors
Cons:
- Does not scale without buying additional units, meaning that if you want to scale from a single box to a larger fruiting chamber you may need to buy additional units
- Not open-source, meaning you can't make them yourself and they are not designed to be easy to repair if something in their malfunctions or breaks after extended use
- Relatively expensive for standalone CO2 sensors ($199.99 CND)
- Very limited programmable parameters, which requires a user to manually adjust each sensor suite when changing between growth stages or fungi species
- No ability for remote connectivity
Shroombox
Shroombox is an open-source IoT (Internet of Things) enabled automated fruiting chamber that includes a number of useful features, including:
- Controls for temperature, humidity, CO2, and light
- Additional sensors for tracking substrate moisture
- Blynk integration for IoT functionality
- A small built-in interface
Pros:
- A well developed set of sensors, including CO2, which are usually excluded from many DIY builds due to the expense of standalone units
- Scalable to different chamber sizes
- Open-source with readily available documentation
- DIY meaning that individual parts can be ordered in bulk to lower their unit price-point
- Option for connection to remote devices via IoT
Cons:
- Reliance on IoT means that the actual integrated interface is very primative and small
- IoT protocols are often relatively weak in terms of security, which could lead it to becoming a vulnerability point for cyber-security
- Reliance on a small intergrated water reservoir raises risk of eventual bacterial contamination if not regularly decontaminated
Mella
Mella is a model of automatic fruiting chamber that is sold as a countertop appliance intended for the home consumer and hobbyist market. It features a premade chamber made of stainless steel and clear acrylic paneling, along with an integrated and and reservoir system that utilizes filters to prevent exposure to spores and odors from the fruiting chamber. The Mella and its parts are no longer being produced or sold by its manufacturer. The improved control panel uses an arduino nano for adjusting environemental settings.
Mella has since become an open-source project.
Pros:
- Integrated dimmable LED lights
- Automated humidity and fresh air exchange
- Elements of it are open-source
- Can be assembled when bought without requiring knowledge of circuitry or other electronics skills
- Comes with the capability to connect to an app for remote access
Cons:
- When it was for sale its price was $479.00 USD, which is very expensive for the hobbyist crowd and inaccessible for those just looking to get started with indoor fungiculture
- Fixed chamber size means scaling requires a total re-design
- Actual avaialble open-source documentation is limited and elements like a parts list are not readily available
- Remote connection poses the risk of a network vulnerability if it is not properly secured