Lykyn is a $300 smart fruiting chamber designed to make growing mushrooms at home easier and more visually striking. During a month of use, it functioned effectively as a controlled growing environment: its app managed humidity, airflow, and lighting, and mushroom blocks began producing fruit within days. The setup had a few frustrating details, including a stiff sliding door and a humidifier that needed troubleshooting, and the short one- to two-week fruiting cycle may make the price difficult to justify for some growers.
Photo: Kat Melk
Setup, shipping, and a little fog
Lykyn is based in the San Francisco Bay Area, but its fruiting chambers are manufactured in Turkey and shipped directly from Istanbul at no additional charge. The unit arrived in 11 days, without customs or other special duties. That was especially notable because the order included the custom wood handle engraving add-on ($15), which lets buyers replace the word “Lykyn” on the handle with their own text. I had my name engraved.
The 13 x 13 x 15-inch unit is available in white or black plastic and arrives mostly disassembled. Assembly requires removing the protective film from both sides of each acrylic panel, sliding the panels into the tracks on the base, adding the corner posts, and filling the unit with distilled water.
One panel serves as a sliding door and was difficult to install. It took several attempts to open and close it smoothly, and it still requires both hands to open. The Lykyn connects to 2.5-GHz Wi-Fi and uses a 5-volt USB-C cable for power; the power brick is not included. The small LED light panel on top plugs into the base.
The main troubleshooting involved the ultrasonic humidifier. It periodically releases a visible cloud of mist, which is audible but no louder than a conventional humidifier, while a fan removes excess moisture. In this case, the sprayer produced no mist and the Lykyn app repeatedly reported that the water tank was empty even though the reservoir was visibly full.
Moving the preinstalled wick farther into its slot and adding a little water to the top membrane, or “priming” it, resolved the problem. The app’s humidity readings were later compared with a hygrometer and were within a few percentage points. Beyond refilling the water tank, the Lykyn requires little maintenance.
Impressive growth, brief results
Lykyn is a “smart” fruiting chamber, meaning that the app uses species-specific settings to control humidity, airflow, and lighting schedules. Those variables can also be adjusted manually. The app displays temperature, but the chamber cannot heat or cool the air.
The chamber accepts fruiting blocks from any brand weighing up to 6 pounds. Testing used Lykyn’s own 5-pound blocks, including shiitake mushroom and pink oyster blocks.
Fruiting blocks are sold separately and are not included with Lykyn purchases. The blocks also do not include instructions, so buyers should look online for preparation guidance. Some varieties, such as shiitake, must be removed completely from their packaging. Others need only an X-shaped cut in the side of the bag.
How the blocks were prepared had a major effect on the appearance of the chamber, which sat prominently in the dining room during testing. Unwrapped shiitake blocks resembled moon rocks or unusual scientific specimens beneath the colorful lights. The lighting is customizable, although the default setting displays the mushroom’s “emotions”: green means “happy and thriving,” while red means “stressed and anxious.”
The pink oyster blocks, which remained inside black bags, looked much less distinctive. Still, both varieties began fruiting within days under the Lykyn’s controlled lighting and humidity, rather than taking weeks with other growing methods. The difference was particularly noticeable with shiitake mushrooms, which are notoriously demanding.
Source: www.wired.com
