Good Mycelium Growth but no Pins

Started by FadedFungus, November 07, 2012, 10:56:26 AM

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FadedFungus

My cakes have been in the chamber for 4 days now and I have no pin growth. The temp is a stable 77 with 99% humidity.  I have a very small fan circulating the air and I am not getting any growth at all. I should be seeing pins starting to develop by now right? Is my temperature high enough?  Here are two quick pics I took. If anyone has any ideas I would love to hear them. Thanks you....I have no idea what I'm doing wrong.

darksyde

Everything looks fine.  You have to learn to be patient though.  4 days would be crazy fast!  Usually in the 7-10 day range, but Ive had some take up to 16 days to pin.  Start a new batch to take your mind off of things and check back in another couple days.

FadedFungus

OK thank you. I have been leaving them alone and letting them do their thing...I try and only check them once per day.  Also I've noticed a light blue tint on 3 of the cakes.  Does this mean they are in distress?

darksyde

Blue is usually just bruising and could be caused from handling them or low humidity.  Just keep an eye on em to make sure the color doesnt change or start to spread.  You can mist em a few times a day with distilled or spring water from a spray bottle until they start pinning, to help keep the moisture content up.

FadedFungus

Do I need to be worried if they have a blue tint to them? 

darksyde

As I said, Blue color is usually just bruising.  Resulting from either low humidity or from handling the cakes when you placed them in your FC, in the same way the stems will bruise when you pick your shrooms from the cake.  As long as its definitely blue, and stays blue, the only thing you would want to do is mist them a couple times a day to keep the moisture up.  Its colors like green, red, pink, orange, yellow, and black that you need to worry about.  Those are molds or rot that can be dangerous to inhale or ingest.

FadedFungus

It is definitely bruising.  Will the bruising keep the cake from fruiting? And I have had my cakes in my FC for 7 days now and no pins.  I have solid cakes with good colonization...am I missing something?  And thank you for your help darksyde; I give you props for sharing your knowledge.