Menu

Show posts

This section allows you to view all posts made by this member. Note that you can only see posts made in areas you currently have access to.

Show posts Menu

Messages - substrate

#1
Cultivation / Re: Straw basket troubles, diagnosis?
March 20, 2011, 11:32:17 AM
Sorry, nothing i can do will let me see your pics.  When I did staw baskets I did one with oysters, one with Ecuador.  The oysters colonized slower, and trich took over - tossed that one.  Remember, the straw is pasturized, not sterilized and there will always be trich inside of cell membranes.  As the myc breaks down those cells, the trich is released.

The Eqs were more aggressive, colonized pretty quick, but it still seemed like forever to get any real mushrooms out ot it.  Some of the biggest individual fruits I've ever harvested came from that basket, but in reality, the total weight was no more than a half dozen really prolific PF cakes. 

So for all the straw shredding, Pasturizing, grain prep and colonizing, layering, and waiting - a fun excersise, but I wouldn't consider it successful from the stand point of yield...
#2
Cultivation / Re: liquid culture
March 20, 2011, 11:21:52 AM
When LC sits for a while myc begins to clump together, dont worry about that at all.  If your mix is just honey and water, it shouldn't be too cloudy.  If you have a hole in the top of your jar, your brew might be fermenting - making alcohol and killing myc.  That happened to me the first time I tried it (using honey and potato water).

Now I just pour boiling water til the jar overflows, add honey, let cool a bit.  Add spores or myc and put the lid on tight - no hole in it - if it can't breath it can't ferment.
#3
Cultivation / Re: can it be done ?
March 20, 2011, 11:13:50 AM
Also, "in the wild" myc grows deep into the soil.  The myc at the surface is killed off by the cold, but the strands that are deeper are not frozen.  When it warms up, they reextend themselves up toward the heat.  Nature finds a way.  The clinical lab version, not so much.
#4
General topics / Re: Firsttimer Questions on spores
December 12, 2010, 02:00:47 PM
My experience with mycobags was a bit disappointing.  They took three or four times as long to colonize as PF jars or popcorn, I got one flush only with pretty minimal results.  Probably pulled the biggest mushroom I've ever harvested from the mycobag, but it was one of only three decent mushrooms that came out of months of waiting.

To do over again, I'd colonize popcorn then add it to the sawdust substrate blend.  I think it would colonize more evenly and allow for a better harvest.  Just my 2 cents.
#5
I agree with you.  I've been off the forum for the summer months (sorry, motorcycles over mushrooms) but am looking forward to growing something stupid this winter.  It's good to be back!
#6
Cultivation / Re: More experiment stuffs
October 30, 2010, 12:44:47 AM
I second Dub's advise.  Oysters should grow on pf cakes and on grains no problem, I've done it both ways.  I transferred the grains to sawdust in a mycobag.  You can order an LC syringe from sporeworks.com, but I have had equal success just cloning blue oysters from the grocery store.

The blender-tek cloning was WAY more fun than using the mail order LC, just my opinion. 
#7
Cultivation / Re: Oyster mushrooms. need help quick
October 30, 2010, 12:36:03 AM
Yes, I have pics of that on my photo bucket.

http://s979.photobucket.com/albums/ae279/alt0182/lolie%20gaggin/
#8
Cultivation / Re: Strains
October 30, 2010, 12:32:49 AM
I've grown a lot of the eqs.  Compared to other strains I've done (which is only a few) they seem a lot hardier and grow well.  Print well and make a life-long batch of LC.  In all fairness, I have not worked with the other strains you listed.


You now have rave reviews of everything you've listed, looks like you're going to have to grow them all and tell us the answer!
#9
Cultivation / Re: Rotten?
October 30, 2010, 12:28:34 AM
A rotten mushroom will be wet and slimy, and even if you let it dry it will STINK man.  I was trying to ID some big mushrooms from the back yard and some went bad in a plastic bag.  Stank up the room, when I opened the bag it was enough to make you barf.  If they're rotten, you won't have to guess.

...and as my home ec teacher used to say "when in doubt throw it out"...
#10
Cultivation / Re: Spore printing
October 30, 2010, 12:23:42 AM
Yeah, the "let's grow mushrooms" guy has a really good vid about spore printing and making that into a syringe or Lc.  You can make your own inoculation loop with a plastic straw and a paper punch, it's helpful in scrubbing the spores off of the print into your sterile water.
#11
Cultivation / Re: Pics of my Popcorn
October 30, 2010, 12:18:48 AM
Nice!  Be sure to knock those loose and roll the popcorn around in the jar a bit.  That will help blend the colonized and uncolonized kernels.

#12
General topics / Re: mushbox.com
August 19, 2010, 11:46:31 PM
I've ordered tons of stuff from spore works.com.  They ship fast and offer good customer service after the sale, so a newb like me can figure things out.  I have not signed up to be a member of their forums though.
#13
Cultivation / Re: Straw casing
August 19, 2010, 11:35:18 PM
Awesome pics Dub.  Personally I've decided straw is just too much of a pain in the ass to work with.  I did a lasagna pan and two laundry baskets months ago and I still find straw just about everywhere.
#14
Cultivation / Re: Green Mold Control
August 19, 2010, 11:31:51 PM
Yeah, of all the pf cakes I've done I've only ever gotten trich once.  That was when I tried to blender-tek clone oysters from the grocery store.  Didn't get a clean enough sample from the donor.

Glovebox, alcohol, hobby torch, and following the procedures to a T.

Funny thing though.  I dumped those jars of oyster clone myc and trich into a bucket of dried leaves.  Two months later it sprouted over a pound of oysters.  Better lucky than good.
#15
PF - Tek / bunch of new pics - finally uploaded
August 05, 2010, 08:09:33 PM
just uploaded a buttload of pics on photobucket.com user alt0182
#16
Cultivation / Re: blender-tek cloning - just an FYI
June 28, 2010, 05:52:58 PM
I pasturized the straw, a long process (lot of work) for no more than I got out of it.  I did my best to sterilize everything else along the way.  The basket I used was a hanging file folder from office depot - like an old milk crate, but with bigger holes.  It had a lot of odd angles, and I think I failed to get it really sterile.  Should have sprayed with alcohol.
#17
Cultivation / Re: blender-tek cloning - just an FYI
June 24, 2010, 08:18:08 PM
Yeah.  20 days to colonize the popcorn from the blendertek clone LC.  Within 3 days of creating the basket there was myc spreading and growing within the straw.  Just 9 days later saw the first signs of trich.  I'm guessing I blew the sterilization somewhere in the process, possibly on the BASKET itself.

This was with the oysters.  Different story with the others. 
#18
If you think your verm is "dirty", like if the bag was left open or something, I've read that you can put it on a baking sheet and put it in the oven at 100 degrees for an hour.  Same goes for perlite if you're reusing it.

You might want to look it up to verify my numbers though...
#19
PF - Tek / Re: What tek tweaks have worked for you?
June 17, 2010, 10:13:53 PM
Microspore tape has to be a lot easier to work with than the poly fill.  Unfortunately I'll have to use up this big-ass roll of poly fill before I can justify buying the tape.  Maybe I should take up quilting or something...
#20
Cultivation / Re: harvesting spores?
June 17, 2010, 10:02:23 PM
It works really well that way.  If the veil has dropped you should get a good print in 12 hours or so.  The jar is great becAuse all you have to do is add pure water and honey and you'll have a whole jar of LC.

My cakes and grains seem to colonize in about 2/3 the time and far more complete when working with LC vs. Spore solution.