Lykyn Review: A $300 Smart Mushroom Grow Chamber

Wired reviewer Kat Merck spent a month testing the Lykyn, an automated mushroom fruiting chamber made by a company based in the San Francisco Bay Area. The device costs $300. She concluded that it works well as a legitimate fruiting chamber, but that buyers must decide for themselves whether that price is worth it for a process lasting only a week or two.

Shipping and setup

The chambers are manufactured in Turkey and shipped free from Istanbul. The reviewer's unit arrived in 11 days, with no duty fees or other customs problems. She had also ordered a custom engraved wooden handle for $15.

The unit measures 13 x 13 x 15 inches, comes in white or black plastic, and arrives partly disassembled. Users must peel protective film from the acrylic panels, slide them into tracks on the base, add corner posts, and fill the unit with distilled water. One panel works as a sliding door, which was fiddly to install. The device needs a 2.5-GHz Wi-Fi connection and a 5-volt USB-C cable; no power adapter is supplied.

The only real trouble was the ultrasonic humidifier, which produced no mist while the app kept reporting an empty reservoir despite it being full. The reviewer fixed this by pushing the wick deeper into its slot and priming the membrane with a little water. Humidity readings later matched her own hygrometer within a couple of percentage points.

How it works

Humidity, airflow, and lighting are managed through an app, with presets for specific species or manual control. The chamber cannot heat or cool. It accepts any brand of fruiting block up to 6 pounds, though none is included. The reviewer tested the company's own shiitake and pink oyster blocks, and both fruited within several days, compared with several weeks using other methods she has tried.