Mycelium fails to colonize the upper part of the jars

Started by spp., April 06, 2010, 02:00:47 AM

Previous topic - Next topic

spp.

Hello everyone. At the moment there are 3 jars inoculated 17 days ago with Transkei strain, kept at fluctuating 29-30.5 Celsius. The colonization started from bottoms of the jars and was slowly reaching the tops of them. Now they seem to be fully colonized except some upper spaces.  2 days ago I inverted the jars because there was too much water heavily condensing on the bottoms of the jars (this is my first time doing the PF tek and of course everything is a little bit messed up). This appears to have aided the issue with uncolonized upper areas a bit, but it's still going very slow. What could be the reason for the jars not wanting to colonize the upper parts of BRF/verm mix and how could I help it? Thanks in advance.

DiegoSeesMush

Hi,
I just completed my first time through the PF Tek so my advice may not be entirely solid.
However the same thing happened to me and I took the same action; inverted all my jars.
When the jars were around 95% colonized, i took off the tape that was guarding the jars for the outside world and let some fresh air in. This replaces the CO2 built up from the mycelium with fresh Oxygen that I believe helped my cakes finish colonization. Of course I was concerned about contaminants getting in through the holes so I laid all the jars out on my kitchen table and placed a stationary fan right in front of them on the highest setting. This (at least gave me the illusion of) protected the jars from having stuff fall into the holes and the cakes getting spoiled.

None of my jars were contaminated! First time through and all 24 jars good! Hope this helps and best of luck!  :ph34r:

substrate

If your cakes are 95%, you're probably in good shape and ready to go.  I would go ahead and dunk them,  You can rinse under rapidly flowing tap water and just wash away any uncolonized brf.  That helps ensure the brf doesn't rot or get moldy in the FC.

The last part of the 3rd video here:
http://www.mushroomvideos.com/BRF-Pf-Tek
shows rinsing under tap water before and after dunking.

spp.

Yes, I am going to dunk them around Friday . However, I won't roll them as I've read that this particular strain is especially prone to making an overlay.

MT

If you roll them in clean verm after they are dunked followed by a really good misting  it will greatly increase the moisture retention in your cakes and contribute to the size of your flush.

spp.

Ok now, so I waited 3 weeks after inoculation, birthed them, scraped away the excess vermiculite (didn't case because couldn't find the verm in the shops). The previously mentioned uncolonized areas were due to the upper non-nutritive verm layer falling down into the jars. No wonder it wasn't colonized. Cakes were dunked for 9 hours and then put into the terrarium with holes stucked with synthetic fiber for FAE, perlite and air pump underneath it. The pump output is a little overkill I guess, so it decided not to manually exchange the air, since there are only 3 cakes and many holes for FAE. They do get misted once a day though. Now it's been 3 days after I put them into the terrarium. The cakes have grown some nice fluffy mycelium here and there. When should I expect them to fruit? It's 23-24 Celsius, and they are provided with luminiscent light 10-12 hours a day. Don't own a hygrometer, so can't really tell the RH. The cakes sit directly on the perlite because when they were put on the foil initially, there was free water accumulating on the foil, which the cakes didn't really like and started growing some glass-like protective layer (the same I saw on the cake's surfaces which were in contact with free water during incubation).

Sorry for the cumbersome details, have never succeeded in growing yet, so I'm excited and stuff.

Baphom3t

"Don't own a hygrometer, so can't really tell the RH. "

Get one asap,it is mandatory , or all the work and time you've invested will be for nothing.

"The cakes sit directly on the perlite..."

Get them off the perlite.
Use a lid from the jar or foil. Bend the foil to where it will not puddle.

Don't let your excitement be your downfall.  ;)


olzo

Also the temperature seems a bit high, I've read that if the cakes are reluctant to fruit it might help to "shock cool" them. Putting them in the fridge (not freezer!) will do the job. Only thing is it might raise the time in between flushes.

Agree with Baphomet. Get a hygrometer! You can find them in pet stores where they sell terrarium stuff. Got mine for only 10 bucks with a thermometer attached.

Started my second breed and everything worked way better. My advices for inocculation through birthing are:
1. Don't use too much of the syringe for each jar. This will upset the water / substrate ratio and growth might be hindered.
2. Keep the temperature below 28 ° C since the growing process produces warmth itself and 30 ° C is the growth optimum (at least for cub that is).
3. After the first mycelium shows, take the tape off of the jars to ensure enough gas exchange.
4. Should jars not fully colonize though to the bottom try flipping the jars.
5. BE PATIENT! It might take up to 5 weeks for full colonization.

Good luck!

spp.

 I did cold shock them while dunking in the fridge. And yep, patience is the most difficult part here I guess   -_-
Bought a hygrometer today btw. Gonna install it right away. Also I did not tape the jars, just covered them with foil. I suppose it certainly does allow some gas exchange 'cause all the incubator is smelling with mushrooms already  ^_^

k12357

cubes do not benefit from cold shocking.  they are a tropical species.  cold shocking is for cold climate edible mushrooms.
"We're sorta like 7-Eleven. We're not always doing business, but we're always open."

spp.

I got the impression that debates regarding cold shocking will continue forever. It's like Darwin's theory, I guess  :rolleyes:
On the topic: if one dunks in the fridge, he cold shocks the mycelium, whether he wants it or not. Since it's advised to dunk at low temperatures, dunking=cold shocking.

k12357

That is true, I also believe the debate will continue forever.  Although When I did cakes I never dunked in the fridge, always on the counter with room temp water.  Never had a problem.  But that was just how I did it, everyone finds what works for them.
"We're sorta like 7-Eleven. We're not always doing business, but we're always open."

olzo

Yup and believe me the shrooms feel ya so if it's right for ya it's right for the shrooms :p