Substrate

Started by psycho4psilo, June 21, 2007, 10:48:00 AM

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psycho4psilo

Can perlite be used instead of vemiculite for substrate?
Blend and balance
Pain and comfort
Deep within you
Till you will not have me any other way.

Baphom3t

No.
Perlite is used to produce humidity.


psycho4psilo

Then if I can not find verm. would wild bird seed be the next best product for sub? or do u have any other suggestions?
Blend and balance
Pain and comfort
Deep within you
Till you will not have me any other way.

Baphom3t

"would wild bird seed be the next best product for sub?"

Yes WBS will work.You must have a PC (Pressure Cooker) to do grains.

"or do u have any other suggestions?"

do you have a greenhouse that sells plants, Lowes, Home Depot, Wal-Mart in your city/town?
check those places if you havent,every greenhouse I've been to sells Verm

I never have a problem finding Verm.

Hmmmm,maybe I ought to start selling Verm  :mellow: :mellow:

TC,
Baph


psycho4psilo

FINALLY found verm.  Dome  Hepot no longer carries, nor Wallyworld due to carcinogens.  However, Lowez did have a few bags left, so I bought 'em all.  GOT EXTRA!! :mellow:
Blend and balance
Pain and comfort
Deep within you
Till you will not have me any other way.

Baphom3t

P4P thats all no-sense
here's the link to a thread to shed light on the subject.
Here


psycho4psilo

hey, i was just stating what i was told.  being a smoker, don't think it could be anywhere close to causing what cigs can.  thanks for input. :mellow:
Blend and balance
Pain and comfort
Deep within you
Till you will not have me any other way.

Baphom3t

no probs.
I wasnt trying to bust chops.
I just have seen this going around for over a year and have yet to see the prrof behind the claims.
and yes cigs kill. I know -_-


psycho4psilo

well, my *$#@!$%! verm turned out to be fine.  :angry: i know a medium grade is recommended.  nowhere on the bag does it state as to texture / grade.  so, will it still work?  can i use a little of the brown rice (no brf - have to grind me own) or perlite or anything that wil help from compacting? or should i just go with it?  i hope ya don't tell me i have to back up and  $%!&%#  punt and start over - try  to locate a courser grade.  whats your 'sperience with the fine verm?

thx,
p4p
:huh:
Blend and balance
Pain and comfort
Deep within you
Till you will not have me any other way.

psilocybin warrior

Yes the medium grade is the best, if you ask one of the staff members at the store they should be able to help you.  It will work depending on how tight you pack it in your culture jar the more spaces in it the better it will colonize.  Don't put any perlite in you're substrate.  My experience with the fine vermiculite is that it takes a hell of a lot longer.

psycho4psilo

thanks warrior dude. more patience will be required, i can see and guess i'll just have to wait a little bit longer than normal before i can enjoy the "fruits" of my labor.   'preciate the tip.

p4p
Blend and balance
Pain and comfort
Deep within you
Till you will not have me any other way.

psycho4psilo

#11
It has been almost 30 days since I innoculated my first jars made with the fine verm and no sign of growth.  I fear that possibly too much water may have ben used and medium was too wet - as it was very difficult to judge correct amount using the fine verm.  Two weeks afterward, I used same formula (brf pf tek) and also added crushed cob to see if it would act as a "spacer" for the fine verm.  After innoc and approx 2 weeks, this jar is almost fully colonized, so it was not spore syringe.

Is all lost with my jars?  Is there anything that can be done to the innoculated contents that may spur growth?  I think I will mix one of the jars in a tray with sterilized wbs and see what happens.
Thx
p4p
Blend and balance
Pain and comfort
Deep within you
Till you will not have me any other way.

Baphom3t

The ones with no signs of growth,set them aside.
odds are they are not gonna do anything you should have seen at least something.

"Is there anything that can be done to the innoculated contents that may spur growth?"

NO
Your best bet is to start some more jars


psycho4psilo

 If the sub is too wet, does it kill the spores?  If you can suspend spores in sterlized water, is it possible that these could just be suspended in the sub?
Blend and balance
Pain and comfort
Deep within you
Till you will not have me any other way.

psilocybin warrior

i actually got some substrate REALLY wet but its still colonizing the same.

psycho4psilo

#15
Really?  Not a one of mine ever showed any growth.  The one that I used the fine verm w/ crushed cob is ALMOST fully colonized, but man it takes forever!! It started out FAST the crawld to a snails pace.  I took my foil off and cracked open the jar and with a little fresh air it picked up gain. (found something on that in a tek here somewhere).    After watching how quickly wbs colonizes and how simple it is to take just a few colonized grains from 1 jar and add to a sterilized jar and continue the cycle, I can't see where brf cakes are worth all the work and time.  :huh: Course I am a nu b and there maybe more benefits? using the cakes.  Well good luck with yours, psilo.

Later,
pfp
Blend and balance
Pain and comfort
Deep within you
Till you will not have me any other way.

psilocybin warrior


psycho4psilo

Well my experiment actually worked!!  As I was unable to get any type growth from my first attempt using fine verm in the pf tek -brf cakes, I tried a second time several weeks ago using crushed cob mixed at a 1:3 ratio with the fine verm.   

I used the only solution left from my B+ syringe in one jar and as I had a little sub left over, I used a smaller jar and inno'd with GT.  It took a L O N G time for both jars to fully colonize, but when done I crumbled up the cake and then put in trays.  Here's what I got. 


This is B+

and


these are the GT's.

The first two trays were spawned to straw / manure and cased with 60,30,10.   In the last two trays (1) was cased with 60,30,10 mix, the other (1), one that has the broken veils, spawned to same mix with some straw and manure mixed in and then cased.   The one on rt with straw/manure mix fruited quicker than the other.

All 4 trays show fairly good pinning and coverage and overall I'd say experiment was sucessfull. 
Blend and balance
Pain and comfort
Deep within you
Till you will not have me any other way.