Maintaining a slightly cooler temperature of around 21C (give or take a couple of degrees) during the fruiting stage is essential for best results with many popular species of mushrooms, . Essential levels of humidity will naturally build up inside the grow tent or bag from the water you allowed to soak into the substrate during dunking.
Unlike some other grow kits, you should not mist your MycMonster (unless it looks dry). The only time you'll open your tent or bag is when you're ready to harvest your mushrooms. Even peeking for a few seconds is enough to lose humidity and cause growth defects such as aborted pins and caps breaking.
Humidity and Air Exchange
Humidity and FAE (fresh air exchange) are extremely important for pinning and healthy mushroom development, as is temperature and light. They all need to work in harmony.
We suggest cutting a 1cm slit through both sides of the tent near the top and placing an electric fan somewhere in the room on a low setting. This will create a gentle air current inside the room, which will help increase the FAE inside the grow tent. If fruiting in the bag only, you can carefully make small slits in the bag for similar effect, or open it briefly for air exchange as needed.
Light and Environmental Conditions
Your mushrooms will need light to grow. We recommend indirect sunlight or a 5000-6500K LED or fluorescent light a few feet away - if the light is heating the substrate, move it further away.
If you notice the inside of your grow tent or bag looking dry, it may be due to the fan being too close, the holes you cut being too big, or grow lights (if using them) being too close and hot. Observe what's happening and adjust your setup as required. Fantastic results depend on it.
Pinning and Growth
After around 3-7 days, you'll hopefully begin to see lots of tiny white dots. These are hyphal knots that will develop into primordia, aka mushroom pins. It will take 4-5 days for them to grow into fully mature mushrooms ready for harvest.
During this time, they'll let you know if something isn't quite right. Fuzzy mycelium at the base of the mushrooms and/or thin stems are an indication that more FAE is needed. Increasing the fan speed or length of the cuts on the tent or bag might be something to try.
Don't worry about any mushrooms growing around the sides and bottom of the cake. You'll still be able to harvest them. If you want to give your mushrooms more room to grow next time, use a larger fruiting tent or chamber instead of the bag.
Fruiting Troubleshooting Tips:
- Water pooling: If you see pools of water touching the substrate, dab them with a paper towel. Standing water can become contaminated quickly.
- Temperature issues: Maintain stable temperature around 21C (give or take a couple of degrees). Unstable temps can lead to excessive condensation.
- Fuzzy stems: This indicates insufficient fresh air exchange (FAE). Try increasing airflow slightly.
- Dry substrate: Only mist if the substrate looks dry; otherwise, humidity should come from the substrate itself.
- Aborted pins: Often caused by environmental changes. Maintain consistent conditions.
Harvesting and Subsequent Flushes
When the veil beneath one of your mushroom caps is about to tear off, this is when you should harvest your first flush. If you've taken good care of your grow kit, you should achieve multiple flushes of beautiful mushrooms before the nutrients are all used up.
Expected Yields
With proper care and optimal conditions, the MycMonsterโข can produce impressive harvests across multiple flushes. Remember that each flush typically produces less than the previous one, with the first flush usually being the most abundant.
Happy shroomin' folks!
Last updated on 13 August 2025