How to Make a Monotub: The Complete Monotub Tek Guide for Mushroom Cultivation (2024)

FAQs

How do you make a perfect Monotub? ›

You will be drilling a total of six 2 inch holes around the perimeter of your tub: two holes on each long side and one hole on each end about 8 and a half inches from the base of the tub. Then, you will drill 1 inch holes positioned approximately 4 and a half inches from the base.

It is finally time to add your bulk sterile substrate to your monotub, and begin inoculating it with your fully colonized spawn! After sterilization, cut open your bag of bulk substrate and fill your monotub evenly so that the substrate is about one inch deep throughout the tub to start.

All monotubs have holes cut or drilled into them, typically four to six, with two on each side of the length of the tub and one on each side of the width. The number of holes depends on the size of the tub, but usually one every eight or so inches is right.

Take lid off monotub about 3 times a day and firstly squirt water inside the walls of monotub and lid. Then gently fan inside for about 30sec. Avoid spraying your substrate directly but keep the sides of the tub moist throughout the day.

After about 10 days your MonoTub should be fully colonised and ready to fruit. Don't worry if it hasn't fully colonised by then, it can sometimes take as long as 2/3 weeks to fully colonise.

Vermiculite can be added for additional moisture retention and promotes airflow in the substrate. It is typically blended with hardwood sawdust to produce fruiting blocks. Hardwood dowels are ideal for mushroom plug spawn production and used in log inoculation.

The more spawn used the faster the bulk substrate will colonize. Recommended spawn ratios are usually no less than 20% (1 part spawn to 4 parts substrate).

Spawn and bulk substrate should be mixed at a ratio if 1 parts spawn to 2/3 parts bulk substrate. If you have to much bulk substrate it could take to long to colonise and contamination could set in. Say you have 1l of spawn and you mix it with 2l ob bulk you would have a total of 3l to spawn to your tub.

We set up our humidifier and humidistat to keep relative humidity between 75-90%. Our fan and cycle timer was set to one minute intervals. The fan in our monotub is set up backwards to blow fresh air in through its filter.

Mushroom grow tents like our BoomRoom II are portable, collapsible fruiting chambers designed for maintaining the ideal fruiting conditions for growing edible and medicinal mushrooms indoors. Grow tents offer 3-5 times as much volume as a single monotub but cost 2-3 times as much.

How to make bulk substrate for monotub? ›

Bulk substrates for monotubs are made from a combination of the following : manure, coco coir, vermiculite, and gypsum. Most modern growers are leaving out the manure and making their substrate from just Coco coir, Vermiculite and Gypsum, also know as CVG.

Introduce the colonized monotub to a scheduled light cycle and keep the bag in an area that will maintain a temperature between 60 and 80°F (this depends on the species you are growing). We recommend using a full spectrum fluorescent spiral bulb.

Monotubs have a large volume that gives cultivators more space to grow and their modular design gives beginners and more experienced growers the freedom to use both passive and automated environmental control systems to dial in factors such as humidity and FAE.

Introduce the colonized monotub to a scheduled light cycle and keep the bag in an area that will maintain a temperature between 60 and 80°F (this depends on the species you are growing). We recommend using a full spectrum fluorescent spiral bulb.

We frequently get asked the question, “how much grains and substrate should I purchase to spawn a gourmet monotub?” The answer is a proper ratio in your vessel of choosing. We feel the best ratio is 1:2 spawn to sub.

Mixing these two materials together can create an ideal substrate for growing some types of mushrooms. Most recipes call for one part coco coir and one part vermiculite. For a standard brick of dried coco coir (about 1.5 lbs) add eight cups of dry vermiculite, along with 16 cups of boiling water.

People also grow side fruiting species of oyster mushrooms in monotubs, including pearl oysters, pink oysters, blue oysters and phoenix oyster mushrooms. But these easy-to-grow mushrooms produce higher yields when grown in bags using a shotgun fruiting chamber or grow tent.