i am a newbie and am getting lots of mycelium.my question is at what point should i birth the cakes? some sources say wait till it pins and has primordia others say as soon as cake is fully colonized. also i have been incubating in darkness some say it needs no light untill it is fully colonized. is that right? thanks for any help you can give.
You can do it either way, I've never tried "in vitro pinning", I just birth mine when they are fully colonised. (don't forget to check the colonisation at the bottom of the jar though).
You probably have more than one cake, why not try it both ways and see what suits you best.
Regarding the light, it's one of the things that initiates pinning (along with an increase in air exchange and a drop in temperature) so unless you are planning to have them pin inside the jars, I would keep them in the dark until you birth them.
I've only just stumbled upon this forum today, your cakes are hopefully shrooms by now anyway, why not post to let us know what you chose to do and how you got on.
Dirk,Thanks for the input on when to birth. I wanted to let you know that my cakes are doing fine.I am doing as you recommended.I read about letting them pin in the jars but so far that has never happened no matter how long I wait.As soon as the jar is colonized it goes in the fruiting chamber.I then see shrooms usually within 2 weeks,the earliest being 1 week.Just wanted to let you know.I guess this strain is tough because I probably did enough things wrong to ruin my whole effort.Maybe it is beginners luck.THANKS AGAIN FOR YOUR HELP>
Excellent news Miles :)