Getting Started

Set up your SH-Room controller and start your first mushroom grow.

What Is SH-Room?

SH-Room is an automated mushroom growing controller built by Simply Horticulture. It monitors temperature, humidity, CO2, and light inside your monotub and automatically adjusts fans, heaters, coolers, humidifiers, and lighting to maintain the perfect environment for each growth phase. You configure it once through a web dashboard, and it handles the rest.

The controller ships with 24 built-in strain profiles covering psychoactive, gourmet, and medicinal species. Each profile contains optimised parameters for every growth phase so you do not need to research ideal conditions yourself.

Connecting to WiFi

When the controller powers on for the first time (or cannot find a known network), it creates its own WiFi hotspot so you can configure it.

1. Power on the controller. Plug in the 12 V power supply. The status LED will flash to indicate it is starting up.
2. Connect to the hotspot. On your phone or laptop, look for a WiFi network named MushRoom-XXXX (where XXXX is a unique identifier). Connect to it. There is no password by default.
3. Open the configuration portal. Your device should automatically open a captive portal. If it does not, open a browser and navigate to 192.168.4.1.
4. Enter your home WiFi details. Select your home WiFi network from the scanned list and enter the password. Click Save.
5. Controller restarts. The controller will reboot and connect to your home WiFi. The status LED will turn solid when connected.

Opening the Dashboard

Once the controller is on your home network, open a browser and navigate to:

http://sh-room.local

If mDNS does not work on your network (common on some Android devices or corporate networks), check your router's DHCP client list for the controller's IP address and navigate to that directly.

The dashboard is fully responsive and works on phones, tablets, and desktops. Bookmark it for quick access.

Your Data Stays Local

The controller is designed to keep your grow private. There is no user account, no cloud sync, and no telemetry — the dashboard at sh-room.local is reachable only from devices on your own home network. We cannot see your dashboard from the internet, and we have no database of who is growing what.

What stays on your network

• All sensor readings — temperature, humidity, CO₂, lux
• Your strain profile, schedules, PID tuning, and any custom profiles you create
• Historical charts and graphs (stored on the controller's flash, not in any cloud)
• Smart socket and IR puck commands (LAN only)
• Your WiFi credentials — stored on the controller, never transmitted to us

What does leave the device, and why

For honesty's sake, three things do reach the internet:

• Push notifications — only if you enable them. Alerts go via our self-hosted ntfy server (ntfy.simply-horticulture.com). Notification text and the sensor values shown in the alert pass through that server. The notification topic name acts as the access control, so pick a non-guessable topic and don't share the URL. You can use the controller fully without notifications — everything else continues to work offline.
• Firmware update checks — the controller periodically checks our update server for a newer firmware version. The check sends nothing about your grow, only the firmware version it's running. Our server logs the request (timestamp + your public IP, like any web request).
• Time sync (NTP) — the controller asks a public time server (e.g. pool.ntp.org) for the current time so timestamps and schedules are accurate. Standard for any networked device.

What we never do

• No accounts, no login — the dashboard has no "sign in" screen
• No analytics or telemetry beyond the firmware version check
• No database of your grows, sensor history, or schedules on our servers
• No remote access from us back into your controller — we cannot reach your dashboard from outside your network
• If our servers go offline tomorrow, the controller keeps running normally (notifications stop; everything else carries on)

Running the Setup Wizard

The Setup Wizard launches automatically on first boot. It is intentionally minimal — just two choices to get your grow started:

1. Pick your strain profile. Choose from the 28 built-in strain profiles, organised into Psychoactive, Truffles (Sclerotia), Gourmet, Medicinal, and User (custom) groups. Each profile comes with pre-configured temperature, humidity, CO2, and FAE (Fresh Air Exchange) settings for every growth phase. If you are unsure, start with Golden Teacher or B+.
2. Pick your starting phase. Select the growth phase you are starting from — Colonisation, Cold Shock, Pinning, Fruiting, Harvest, or Rest. If you are spawning fresh substrate, choose Colonisation. If you are picking up a grow mid-way, select the appropriate phase.
3. Click "Start Growing". The wizard saves your configuration and the controller begins managing your grow automatically.

Setting Up Smart Sockets & IR Puck

Your SH-Room kit includes smart sockets and an IR puck, each pre-configured and labelled with its role. All you need to do is connect each device to your home WiFi network — the same network your SH-Room controller is on.

Your devices

Connecting each device to your WiFi

Each device arrives ready for setup. When you power it on, it creates a WiFi hotspot with its name so you can connect it to your home network.

Smart sockets (SH-Substrate-Heater and SH-Humidifier)

1. Plug in the smart socket. Wait 10–15 seconds. The LED will blink rapidly — this means it's in setup mode.
2. On your phone or laptop, open WiFi settings and look for the network named SH-Substrate-Heater or SH-Humidifier. Connect to it.
3. A setup page opens automatically. If it doesn't, open a browser and go to 192.168.4.1.
4. Select your home WiFi network from the list, enter your WiFi password, and tap Save.
5. The socket reboots and connects to your WiFi. The LED stops blinking and stays steady — it's connected.

IR puck (SH-IR-Interface-Puck)

The IR puck connects via USB cable and has no physical button, but the WiFi setup process is the same:

1. Plug the IR puck into a USB power source. Wait 10–15 seconds for it to boot into setup mode.
2. On your phone or laptop, look for the WiFi network named SH-IR-Interface-Puck. Connect to it.
3. A setup page opens automatically. If it doesn't, open a browser and go to 192.168.4.1.
4. Select your home WiFi network, enter the password, and tap Save.
5. The puck reboots and connects to your WiFi.
6. Position the puck so its IR LED faces your AC unit's receiver (usually near the display panel). It needs a clear line of sight — IR signals don't pass through walls or furniture.

Each device only needs to be set up once. After the initial WiFi setup, it reconnects automatically whenever powered on.

Finding devices from the dashboard

Once all devices are connected to your WiFi:

1. Open Settings on the SH-Room dashboard.
2. Click "Scan Network for Smart Plugs".
3. Your devices will appear in the dropdown with their names — SH-Substrate-Heater, SH-Humidifier, SH-IR-Interface-Puck.
4. Assign each device to its role — Substrate Heater, Humidifier, or Room Cooler.
5. For the IR puck, select IR Interface Puck mode under Room Cooler.
6. Click Save.

After connecting the IR puck, you'll need to teach it your AC remote's button sequences. See the Dashboard & Settings guide for instructions on the IR learning process.

Changing WiFi network

If you change your router or move house, you'll need to reconnect the controller and all devices to the new WiFi network.

SH-Room controller

There are two ways to connect the controller to a new WiFi network:

• From the dashboard — if you still have access to the dashboard (e.g. changing WiFi before disconnecting the old router), click Reset WiFi in the footer. The controller reboots and creates the SH-Room hotspot so you can enter new WiFi credentials.
• Automatic — if the controller can no longer reach your WiFi (e.g. new router already installed, old network gone), it will automatically detect the lost connection and attempt to reconnect. After approximately 5 minutes of failed attempts, it reboots into setup mode and creates the SH-Room hotspot automatically. No button presses needed — just wait for the hotspot to appear, connect to it, and enter your new WiFi details.

All controller settings, strain profiles, and grow data are preserved — only the WiFi credentials are updated.

Smart sockets (SH-Substrate-Heater, SH-Humidifier)

Press the button on the socket rapidly 6 times. The LED will blink to confirm the reset. The socket returns to setup mode and broadcasts its WiFi hotspot so you can enter new WiFi credentials. All device settings are preserved — only the WiFi is cleared.

IR puck (SH-IR-Interface-Puck)

The IR puck has no button. To reset its WiFi, unplug the USB cable and plug it back in 6 times in quick succession (unplug for 2 seconds, plug back in, repeat). On the 6th power-on, it enters setup mode and broadcasts its hotspot. Your IR codes and other settings are preserved.

After re-pairing all devices to your new WiFi, go to Settings > Scan Network for Smart Plugs on the SH-Room dashboard to find and re-assign them. The devices will appear with the same names as before.

Light Spectrum Sensor (Optional)

The Light Spectrum sensor is an optional add-on that measures the wavelength distribution of light in your grow environment. It requires no manual configuration — simply plug it into the sensor port on the controller and it's detected automatically.

Why does the light spectrum matter for mushrooms?

Mushrooms are not plants — they do not photosynthesise — but they still respond strongly to light, and the colour of that light has a direct biological effect on how they fruit. The most important wavelengths for psilocybin mushrooms (and many gourmet species) sit in the blue range, roughly 400–500 nm.

• Blue light triggers pinning. Without enough blue light during the pinning phase, mycelium often refuses to form pins, or forms them irregularly. Blue light is the signal mushrooms use to detect "up" — it tells them they have reached the surface of the substrate and it is safe to fruit.
• Blue light controls morphology. The right amount of blue light produces fruits with shorter, thicker stems and larger caps. Too little blue light leads to long, leggy stems with small caps (a sign of poor light quality, similar to plants stretching for sunlight).
• The wrong spectrum wastes electricity. Cheap white LED strips often have very different blue ratios — some are heavy on blue (cool white) and others almost lacking it (warm white). Without measuring the actual spectrum, you have no way of knowing if your lights are giving the mushrooms what they need.
• Optimal range is 25–35% blue. Research and grower consensus point to a blue light ratio between 25 and 35 percent of total visible light as ideal for most species. Below 20 percent, pinning is delayed or fails. Above 40 percent, fruits can develop discolouration or stress responses.

What the sensor does

• Automatic blue light adjustment. The sensor measures the actual blue light ratio coming from your LED strip and automatically adjusts the white and blue channels to keep it in the optimal 25–35% range during pinning and fruiting. No guesswork — it tunes itself to whatever LEDs you happen to have.
• Spectrum breakdown on the dashboard. When connected, the Light Spectrum card shows a live colour bar of the wavelength distribution and the current blue ratio percentage.
• Auto-Tune calibration. During Auto-Tune Phase 3, the sensor measures your strip's output at multiple brightness levels and saves a calibration curve. After this, the controller knows exactly how to mix white and blue channels to hit any target blue ratio.
• Plug and play. Plug the sensor into the controller's sensor port. The controller detects it on the next boot — no additional configuration needed.

Running Auto-Tune

Auto-Tune calibrates the controller's PID loops to your specific setup. Every monotub is slightly different — the volume, the fan configuration, the ambient room conditions — so Auto-Tune adapts the control algorithms to work optimally for your environment.

1. Start Auto-Tune from the dashboard. Navigate to Settings > Auto-Tune.
2. Ensure stable conditions. Close the tub, make sure the room temperature is relatively stable, and do not open the tub during the process.
3. Wait for completion. Auto-Tune typically takes 30 to 60 minutes. The controller will cycle fans and heaters on and off to measure how your tub responds. You will see the progress on the dashboard.
4. Review results. Once complete, the controller displays the tuned PID values. Click Apply to use them.

Choosing Your First Strain

For your first grow, start with a forgiving, well-documented strain. The two best choices for beginners are:

Golden Teacher

• The most popular beginner strain worldwide.
• Very forgiving of minor temperature and humidity fluctuations.
• Colonises grain quickly (typically 2 to 3 weeks).
• Fruits reliably across a wide range of conditions.
• Produces large, easy-to-harvest mushrooms.
• Multiple flushes with good yields.

B+

• Another excellent beginner strain, very similar to Golden Teacher in terms of ease.
• Known for producing large individual fruits.
• Tolerates a wider temperature range than most strains (21 to 27 °C for fruiting).
• Strong coloniser that resists contamination well.
• Consistent results even with imperfect technique.

Understanding the Growing Environment

Mushrooms respond to a small set of environmental factors. The controller manages all of them automatically based on your strain profile, but understanding what each one does will help you read the dashboard and troubleshoot if something looks off. None of this is essential to know for your first grow — but it's useful background.

Temperature (chamber air)

This is the air temperature inside your monotub, measured by the main sensor. It is the most important environmental factor for most strains.

• Colonisation (warm, 24–27 °C for cubensis) — Mycelium grows fastest in warm, stable conditions. Higher temperatures speed up colonisation but also increase contamination risk if anything goes wrong. The controller uses the substrate heater and chamber heater to hold the target.
• Cold Shock (cool, 18–21 °C for cubensis) — A deliberate temperature drop tells the mycelium that conditions have changed and it's time to fruit. Without this trigger, many strains never form pins. The controller uses the chamber cooler and (if configured) the room cooler.
• Pinning & Fruiting (moderate, 21–25 °C for cubensis) — Slightly cooler than colonisation. Stable temperature is more important than the exact value — fluctuations stress developing pins and can cause aborts.

Substrate Temperature (probe)

The substrate temperature probe measures the actual temperature inside your colonised cake — not the air around it. Substrate temperature is usually 1–3 °C warmer than air temperature during colonisation because the mycelium itself generates metabolic heat as it grows.

• Contamination detection. If the substrate temperature climbs unusually high (more than ~3 °C above ambient), it can indicate bacterial contamination. Bacteria reproduce explosively and generate heat, so an unexplained substrate temperature spike is a warning sign. The controller monitors this and sends an alert.
• True colonisation health. A small but steady temperature delta between substrate and air means your mycelium is metabolising — a healthy sign. No delta usually means colonisation has stalled.
• Avoiding heat damage. The substrate heater can overheat the cake if the air temperature reads cool but the substrate is already warm enough. The probe lets the controller use the cake temperature directly.

Humidity (relative humidity, % RH)

Relative humidity is the amount of water vapour in the air, expressed as a percentage of the maximum the air can hold at that temperature. Mushrooms are about 90% water and need very high humidity to develop properly.

• Colonisation (85–95% RH) — High humidity inside the sealed tub keeps the substrate from drying out, but the tub is closed so humidity manages itself. The humidifier rarely fires during this phase.
• Pinning (90–95% RH) — Critical. Pins need very high humidity to form properly. If humidity drops below ~85% during pinning, pins abort and turn into hard amber droplets instead of fruits.
• Fruiting (85–93% RH) — Slightly lower than pinning to encourage evaporation, which draws nutrients up into the developing caps. Too high and fruits become waterlogged; too low and they crack and dry out.

CO₂ (carbon dioxide, ppm)

Mycelium produces CO₂ as a metabolic by-product, and CO₂ levels in the tub are a direct measurement of how active your mycelium is. The fresh-air fan exchanges tub air with room air to control CO₂.

• Colonisation (high, 5000–10000+ ppm) — Mycelium thrives on CO₂. The tub stays sealed and CO₂ builds up to many times the outdoor level (~400 ppm). This actively encourages mycelial growth and discourages contaminants like trichoderma.
• Pinning (low, <800 ppm) — Mushrooms detect the CO₂ drop and use it as a signal that they have reached "fresh air" — i.e., the surface. This triggers pinning. The controller starts running the fresh-air fan to bring CO₂ down sharply.
• Fruiting (low to moderate, <1000 ppm) — Continued fresh air exchange. If CO₂ climbs too high during fruiting, you get long, leggy stems with tiny caps — a sign of insufficient FAE.

FAE (Fresh Air Exchange)

FAE stands for Fresh Air Exchange — the process of replacing stale, CO₂-rich air inside the monotub with fresh air from the room. FAE is not a separate sensor — it's what the fresh-air fan does, and the controller uses the CO₂ sensor to decide how much FAE is needed.

How the fan works

The SH-Room controller drives a variable-speed fan mounted on your monotub. The fan speed is expressed as a duty cycle (0–100%), where 0% is off and 100% is full speed. The controller adjusts this automatically based on the CO₂ reading:

• CO₂ above target — fan speeds up to bring in more fresh air and flush out CO₂.
• CO₂ at target — fan holds a steady low speed to maintain the level.
• CO₂ below target — fan slows down or stops to let CO₂ build back up (important during colonisation).

FAE at each growth phase

• Colonisation (minimal FAE) — The tub is largely sealed. The fan runs at minimum speed or not at all. CO₂ builds up deliberately to encourage mycelial growth. A small amount of gas exchange through filter patches or a cracked lid is all that's needed.
• Pinning (high FAE) — The transition to pinning is triggered partly by a sharp increase in fresh air. The controller ramps the fan up significantly to drop CO₂ from thousands of ppm to under 800 ppm. This is one of the most critical environmental changes in the entire grow.
• Fruiting (sustained high FAE) — The fan continues running to maintain low CO₂. Insufficient FAE during fruiting produces long, thin stems with tiny caps — the mushrooms are "reaching" for oxygen. Too much FAE can dry out the substrate and reduce humidity, so the controller balances fan speed against humidity targets.

The FAE vs humidity trade-off

This is the biggest challenge in mushroom growing: fresh air dries out the tub, but mushrooms need both fresh air and high humidity. Blowing in dry room air at high speed drops humidity rapidly. The controller manages this by:

• Running the fan in short bursts rather than continuously where possible.
• Triggering the humidifier after fan cycles to restore moisture.
• Adjusting fan speed based on both CO₂ and humidity readings — it won't run the fan harder than needed if CO₂ is already at target.

Light Intensity (lux)

Lux is a measurement of how bright light appears to the human eye. Mushrooms do not photosynthesise, but they use light as a directional and timing signal.

• Colonisation (dark, 0 lux) — Mycelium grows fine in darkness. Light during colonisation can encourage premature pinning at the wrong location.
• Pinning & Fruiting (300–700 lux on a 12/12 cycle) — Mushrooms use light to detect "up" and orient their stems. They also use the day/night cycle as a timing signal. Too little light and pins form in random positions; too much light has no extra benefit and can stress the mycelium.

How the strain profile ties it all together

Each of the 28 built-in strain profiles defines specific target ranges for every factor above, at every phase. Different species have very different needs:

• Cubensis varieties (Golden Teacher, B+, Penis Envy, etc.) — Warm temperatures, moderate humidity, standard CO₂ targets. The most forgiving group.
• Wood-loving species (Wavy Caps, Shiitake, King Oyster) — Much cooler temperatures, often requiring active cooling. Different substrate (wood chips or sawdust).
• Tropical species (Pink Oyster, Blue Meanie) — Higher temperatures and humidity. Very fast colonisation but more contamination risk.
• Truffle species (Tampanensis, Mexicana, etc.) — Only need stable temperature for sclerotia incubation. No pinning, no fruiting, no FAE.

When you select a strain in the Setup Wizard, all these targets are applied automatically. You don't need to memorise any numbers — the controller manages the transitions based on the phase you're in.

How Auto-Tune fits in

The strain profile tells the controller what the targets should be (e.g. "hold 24 °C, 90% RH"). Auto-Tune teaches the controller how to reach those targets in your specific setup.

• Every monotub is different — volume, insulation, ambient room temperature, fan placement, substrate mass, lid seal, humidifier capacity. All of these affect how the tub responds to heating, cooling, and humidification.
• Without Auto-Tune — the controller uses generic safe defaults. They work, but they're conservative — temperatures may swing slightly more than ideal, and humidity may take longer to settle.
• With Auto-Tune — the controller measures your specific setup (heat-up rate, cool-down rate, humidity rise per burst, LED brightness curve, blue light ratio if a Light Spectrum sensor is fitted) and applies tuned PID values that hold targets within ±0.2 °C and a few percent humidity.
• When to run it — once, after your monotub is fully assembled with substrate inside, ideally during Colonisation before inoculation. Re-run only if you change hardware (different tub, new humidifier, replaced LEDs).

Growth Phases Overview

The controller manages six distinct growth phases. It automatically adjusts all environmental parameters as you transition between them.

Dashboard Overview

The main dashboard shows real-time data from your grow. Here is what each card displays:

Inspect Mode — Safe Light for Dark Phases

During dark phases (Colonisation, Cold Shock, Rest), the lights are off to match the natural conditions your mushrooms need. But sometimes you want to check on your grow without disrupting the light cycle.

The Inspect button on the Light card activates a green-only safe light. Mushrooms do not respond to green wavelengths, so this light lets you visually check your tub without affecting pinning or fruiting. The green light turns on immediately when you press the button and turns off when you press it again or when the phase changes.

Transport Controls — Stop, Pause, Run

The dashboard includes three transport control buttons for quick access:

Push Notifications — Get Alerts on Your Phone

The SH-Room controller can send push notifications directly to your phone when important events happen — faults, phase changes, sensor disconnections, and more. This means you do not need to constantly check the dashboard.

Setting Up Notifications

The controller uses ntfy — a free, open-source push notification service. No account required. You can use the public server (ntfy.sh) or a self-hosted instance.

1. Install the ntfy app on your phone — free on both iOS (App Store) and Android (Google Play). Search for "ntfy".
2. Add the server in the ntfy app. Open Settings (or tap the menu icon), select "Add server" or "Manage servers", and enter https://ntfy.simply-horticulture.com. This tells the app to connect to the Simply Horticulture notification server instead of the public ntfy.sh server.
3. Subscribe to a topic in the app using that server. Choose a unique name that only you know, for example my-mushroom-grow-abc123. This is like a private channel — anyone who knows the topic name can see the notifications, so make it unique and hard to guess.
4. Open the dashboard and go to Settings > Push Notifications.
5. Server URL — pre-filled with https://ntfy.simply-horticulture.com (Simply Horticulture's own server). No changes needed unless you want to use a different server.
6. Topic — type the exact same topic name you subscribed to in the app.
7. Enable the toggle and click Save.
8. Click Send Test to verify. You should receive a test notification on your phone within seconds.

Self-Hosted vs Public Server

The default public server (ntfy.sh) works well for most users and requires no setup. However, if you want full control, you can self-host ntfy on your own server:

• No rate limits — the public server limits you to roughly 250 messages per day per IP. Self-hosted has no limits.
• Complete privacy — notifications never pass through a third-party server.
• No downtime dependency — if ntfy.sh goes down, your self-hosted instance keeps working.
• Easy to set up — ntfy is a single lightweight binary. See the ntfy documentation for installation guides.

If using a self-hosted server, make sure to also set the server URL in the ntfy app settings on your phone so it connects to the right server when subscribing to topics.

What Alerts Will You Receive?

Alert Banner on Dashboard

In addition to push notifications, the dashboard displays a red alert banner at the top of the screen whenever a fault is active. The banner shows all current faults and clears automatically when the issue is resolved. An audio beep also plays when a new fault appears (requires tapping the dashboard once to enable audio on mobile browsers).

Next Steps

With your controller configured and Auto-Tune complete, you are ready to start growing. Follow the guides in order:

1. Strain Guide — Browse all 24 strain profiles with detailed growing parameters.
2. Spore Syringes — Learn how to inoculate grain jars with spores, or skip to Liquid Culture if you already have LC.
3. Grain Spawn — Prepare and colonise your grain.
4. Substrate Preparation — Mix your substrate.
5. Spawning to Monotub — Combine grain spawn and substrate in your tub and start the controller.
6. Harvesting & Drying — Pick and preserve your mushrooms.
7. Multi-Flush Guide — Get multiple harvests from the same substrate.

If you run into any issues along the way, check the Troubleshooting guide for solutions to common problems.