About
Hi, I’m Matt. Paramedic, mushroom hobbyist, and now, somehow, the guy building the app.
It started the way it starts for everybody: a spreadsheet. Then a grow log. Then a separate thread for every species I was trying, because surely that would keep things organized. It did not.
Notes went missing. I’d do something at the bench, tell myself I’d write it down later, and later never showed up. Before long I was flipping through pages trying to work out which jar was which, and eventually I quit logging altogether. The logs had become a bigger pain than the grows.
So I went looking for an app that did just this. I found a couple. One had reviews I didn’t love, and the other cost a lot and still didn’t do the things I wanted. Which left one reasonable option: build my own.
SporeDesk was only ever supposed to be for me and my grow. Then it worked. Then it got genuinely useful. And I thought, hell, maybe other growers could use this too (and yes, maybe I could make a little money along the way. I’m not going to pretend otherwise).
A lesson, learned the hard way
One day, running on total autopilot, I sealed a substrate bag before it went into the pressure cooker. When I opened the lid, the bag had inflated and stretched to the full size of my 23-quart Presto. It never popped. It looked ridiculous.
And it was still sealed and sterile. So I used it.
That’s the spirit of SporeDesk. Things go sideways, you write it down, and you keep growing.
What I actually use it for
The desktop version is my favorite because it prints the labels. Stick a QR code on a jar, and later one scan takes me straight to that container’s record. No more flipping through a binder to find the right page.
The phone is where the fast notes and the photos happen, every step of the way. Desktop and phone work as a team: one prints, the other captures.
Seeing how far back a set of genetics has come is my favorite part. Then I zoom out to see how much further back it goes. Then I zoom out again. I have lost real time to this. No regrets.
I know it still has a ton of work to go. But for something I cooked up in my living room, I think it’s pretty fun, and I’m proud of every hour I’ve put into it.
SporeDesk isn’t a startup with a team and an investor. It’s me. By day I’m a paramedic working event medicine: ballgames, concerts, and festivals around Nashville. The rest of my free time goes to the grow room and the code. It’s quickly turning into a borderline obsession, and I’m fine with that.
It has nothing to do with my day job or any employer. It’s my own thing, and I’m building it for the growers who’ve stared at a binder and thought there has to be a better way.
The private beta is open for applications. You get full use of the app, free for 90 days, and I get honest feedback from people who actually grow.