Messages

thanksgiving is the last Thursday in November.  it is a celebration in America and Canada where family's get together and have a good meal usually with a turkey as the main course.  it started traditionally when America was first colonized as a celebration to thank god for the fall harvest.

more than likely not for new years. you can try though. you need to order spores from somewhere first i recommend

http://ralphstersspores.com/

while your waiting get your other supplies depending on which way you go grains or cakes the tek will tell you what you need. then get started once you get your spores.

its not the strain, could be the supplier.  but more info on how your doing things is needed.  whats your substrait? how are you casing?  how are you fruiting? whats the temp and humidity while fruiting?  give as much info as you can.  nothing is different for GT's than any other strain.

what type of FC are you using?  the retarded pins are probably due to the humidity problem yes.  ditch the green cake.  you have to get your humidity up, it you have a shotgun fc plug some of your holes until it gets into the 90's also you probably wanna start misting the perlite when you fan.

could take 2 weeks or so to see growth.  hard to tell the yield without more info, fruiting chamber, casing or not, how many cups you have, etc.

are you using brown rice or brown rice flour?   if your folowing the PF tek you should be using brown rice flour.  ive never used just brown rice before.   malabar could probably tell you more on just using rice i believe he uses it.  as for white rice no dont use it. 

Ive heard of people substituting perlite for vermiculite, but i have never done this myself.   you should also check out

http://www.shroomery.org/20/Casing-Procedures

There is lots of information on there as well.

Philosophers stones are truffles.  they produce there fruit beneath the ground, in the sclerotia.  Ive eaten them before but never tried growing them.  I did find this web site 

http://www.mushplanet.com/cult_growtruffles.php

hope it helps.

4 days is too soon to tell.  if it was over 100 degrees Fahrenheit then yes the spores were probably killed once you innoculated the jars. 

you can not do grain without a pressure cooker.  grain has endo spores in it that wont be killed threw steaming in a pot.you'll have to use the pf tek.

a little room is ok.  the mycelium will take over the casing material anyway.  you can cut a cake into wedges and put them in the cracks to make it tighter if you feel it is to loose.  ive never crumbled cakes before, and ive heard arguments for both sides of the crumbling issue.  your choice.

ive got an old mirro-matic.  Only one ive ever had, has worked great for a long time.  if your buying used make sure the gasket is not cracked and see if you can get new gaskets for it.  if it has a gasket.

looks like lactarius indigo. If it is its edible.  not all lactarius species are edible some are poisonous.  check it out here

http://www.mushroomexpert.com/lactarius_indigo.html

Yes pull the aborts.  Just patch any holes you made while picking with more casing material.  then a healthy mist.  i usually mist multiple times over an hour or so. 

your gonna have to put them on image shack and then load them onto here.

I Spray mine with water.  a very healthy misting, couple of times sometimes if it looks like they need it.  a week or longer from harvest to pinning again.  depends on genetics and environment.

And they'll run us down like dogs.

Jesus! Did I say that? Or just think it?

Was I talking?

Did they hear me?

Are you ready for that?  checking into a lasvegas hotel with a fake name and a head full of acid.  I sure hope so...

no.  ive used it when i had a shotgun FC before with no sideaffects.  When your hydrating it with water all the miracle grow washes away any way.

Then use grains.  Such as rye berries or wild bird seed.  I would go with the rye berries.  The addition of the wood chips and saw dust isnt nessicary to grow the mycelium for spawning.  Im not sure if there would be any positive or negative affects of mixing the sawdust and woodchips with the grain.   Test it and see what happens.  Also yes the low amount of plugs is a big factor in slow colonization.   More plugs is better,  Do like PW said and make the 3 inch diamond.