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Messages - Quintessence

#1
PF - Tek / Re: Pinning/Fruiting
March 30, 2007, 01:18:29 PM
I just spotted my first pin! I know everybody says to be patient, but how can you be? lol.

Looks like I have a few Hyphal Knots elsewhere to, but I'm not 100% sure on that. It's been stinking hot here recently, so the temp in the FC has risen to 78-80, from 74'ish. Do you think this could be why I have pins or is this to hot? I don't really have any way of cooling though.

What should I do with my fanning/misting now?

Thanks for all the help guys, I'll try and post some pics of my setup soon, but my macro doesn't seem to want to focus to well.
#2
PF - Tek / Re: Pinning/Fruiting
March 28, 2007, 10:27:40 PM
cool, I'll jack the temp up to around 78.

I did do a water dunk in the fridge for 24 hours after birthing and used a mild bleach solution, 300:1
#3
PF - Tek / Re: Pinning/Fruiting
March 28, 2007, 02:53:14 PM
Not sure if I'm allowed to say were I got my spores from?

Anyway, I made my syringes at the same time and exactly the same way and I think I was pretty sterile. I innoculated 6 jars with the old spores and 6 with the 'duds'. I left 3 control jars with no spores. All the jars with old spores germinated and none of the 'duds' germinated, but they had no contams either. It's at least a month later and those jars still have nothing growing in them, so I think I can rule out contams. I had one wet spot mold growing in one of the jars, which I chucked. Otherwise, all good.

I've heard different theories about fanning, some reckon only once a day whilst other say up to 5x a day, so I've kind of shot for the middle ground and done it 2-3x per day. Any more ideas? My temp is usually 74, will raising it help induce pinning at all?

Thanks for all the help.
#4
PF - Tek / Re: Pinning/Fruiting
March 28, 2007, 02:36:31 AM
I ordered some spores too, but they must have been duds because none of the jars I innoc'ed did anyhing. The 6 year old print I almost threw away, but then I thought what the heck, and nocced up a few jars with it anyway, not expecting anything. Strangely, the old spores worked and the new ones were duds.

Anyway, here is my setup:

I have a small 5 watt flouro on a 12 hour timer set up in the cupboard, but for the time being they are 'on display' and are just getting natural sunlight / ambient incandecant light.

I'm using a fish tank for my fruiting chamber, with Perlite . Humidity is 95-100% and temps hover between 72 - 75 deg. I fan 2-3 times a day. I used pint jars and dunked for 24 hours in the fridge and Double End  cased. The jars were innoculated at 84 deg and kept in the dark. I left them for about 5 days after full colinisation before birthing.

They have only been in the fruiting chamber for 5 days, so I'm not too worried that they are taking too long, yet. I was just a bit worried that I only had one innoculation point.

The cakes got fuzzy after about 24 hours and are a brilliant white colour, no bruising  or metabolites, so they look healthy.

I've stopped misting them for now, as the humidity levels seem fine. Is this ok? I assume at some point I'll need to mist some more cos the fanning must remove a lot of moisture, right?
#5
PF - Tek / Pinning/Fruiting
March 27, 2007, 01:33:00 PM
I'm using the PF Tek and have a few jars innoculating and 1 that has been birthed and in the Terrarium  for 5 days, no pins yet. This is my first time btw.

The spores that I used were really old, like a 6 year old print that a friend gave me a while back and because of this, a lot of my jars only innoculated in 1 of the holes. I have just watched a shroom growing movie on youTube (I forget what it was called) but it mentioned something to the effect that the cakes will not fruit unless 2 or more Mycelium  spots combine.

Is this right and if so, what can I do about it? I thought maybe transfer some Mycelium  from one jar to another, but that is risky for contams.

A bit confused what to do...
Thanks
#6
PF - Tek / Poor Growth
February 26, 2007, 03:17:30 AM
I'm not having much growth with my first attempt and can't figure out what is wrong. Here is what I've done so far:

I prepared & innoculated 10 jars 2 weeks ago. 5 with spores that I obtained recently (Thai) and 5 with spores that were at least 6 years old - a friend bought them in a head shop in Amsterdam many years ago and never did anything with them. They were Amazionians. I used the syringe TEK to prepare my syringes and left them for 5 days before innoculating my jars. I innoculated 2cc's into each jar, so 0.5cc per hole. For the first 5 days, the jars were kept at 74-76 deg, but after that I made a small heater and the temp is now between 78-81 deg.

1 jar was infected and showed signs of infection after around 5 days, so I isolated it. (until I was sure) Of the remaining jars, only 2 of the Amazonians are showing Mycelium growth and none of the Thai's are. I was really surprised, because I didn't think I'de get anything from the Amazonians cos they were so old, in fact, I almost threw the spores out! Anyway, they only showed growth after 10 days and only in 1 innoculation point each. Those 2 points seem to be growing steadily now, but will take ages to complete because there is only 1 point of growth and I'm using pint jars too. The holes on my jars are covered only with tin foil, no tape.

The only thing I can think of is that my subtrate is too dry. I followed the Tek, but there is a bit of subjectivity on how wet it should be. When I mixed my subtrate, the Tek said a little water should start to run out of the mixture. It did, but only a very little and it took a while. Any ideas before I conclude that the spores were at fault?

Thanks
Q
#7
PF - Tek / Re: Newb question about jars
February 11, 2007, 02:01:00 PM
Thanks for the replies.

I've just finished preparing 12 pint jars and my syringes have been ready for 4 days or so, so probably going to inoculate tommorrow.  I have a question about temperature. In the different PF Teks I've read, I heard anything from 70-86 deg fahrenheit for optimum mycelium growth, with the jars themselves being 4 deg warmer than the outside temp. What do you normally use as your optimum temp?

The other problem I might have is with excessive heat. The temp right now is around 75 so it should be perfect, but last week it was 95+ and I expect in the next 3-4 weeks it will get there again. I know how to raise the temp using 2 containers and an aquarium heater, but is there any way to lower the temp? Would a small pc fan help?

Thanks again
#8
PF - Tek / Newb question about jars
February 06, 2007, 01:23:22 AM
I have a newb question about caning jars. I live in South Africa so we don't have quite the consumer choice that US & UK residents have. I've searched high and low and the only jars I can get are pint jars. (They are tapered with wide mouth. I had to drive 150km to get them too!)

I know that the half pint jars are recommended for PF Tek, but can I not just fill the jars half way and leave a lot of air space at the top, or does the jar have to be completely full? The only problem I forsee is getting a needle long enough to reach into the subtrate.