hello, im new here and am hoping to one day be able to grow my own mushrooms. So to get me started, i was wondering if anyone had tips on how to get started. :huh:
Welcome to the forum, Eclipse. You'll want to start by reading a couple of Teks. There are pretty much two routes you can go. You can use the PF Tek which is "BRF" brown rice flour cakes that the mushroom mycelium uses as a food source to fruit from or you can grow w/ grains and casing Teks etc... I recommend grains, but hey, they both grow the same fruit!
http://www.fungifun.org/English/Teks (http://www.fungifun.org/English/Teks)
Hey thanks alot, Im going to start reading right away, but just for starters, do you think me being a begginer and all, is their a good chance that i might have enough time to get a batch ready for newyears? Last year I and some friends went ahead and tried the peyote cactus for newyear's and it was a wonderfull experice, yet recentrly one of them took a trip to Oaxaca mexico and based on what he told me i just have to try them. So anyways , what do you think?
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.
OMG im so overwhelmed, so just to check , any of theese spores should do the trick?
It will probably take you a little time to get set up. Grains are def faster than PF Tek. You could use: wild bird seed, millet, rye, or a mix of millet/Br. Rice.
Some strains perform a little better than others, but for the most part, A cubensis is a cubensis.
You might want to look into finding/ordering 1 pint Ball Wide Mouth Jars I like them better than 1/2 pints. Truth be told, I like the wide mouth QT jars better, but you gotta start somewhere and the pints will colonize a little faster.
Lastly, get a pressure cooker! It is a must!
We're here for you when you get hung up. Good luck.
This site has good info too.
www.shroomery.org (http://www.shroomery.org)
Hey i had a question, im kinda sketchy as far as the whole process goes, but the first part of the process is to create little cakes in these jars, which i will then steralize, and then inject the spores into right? And also how much should i purchase if i plan to make enough for like 3 people? :huh: , and thanks in advance to whoever responds -_-
That's the basic idea. Follow the procedures on this page - http://www.fungifun.org/English/Pftek (http://www.fungifun.org/English/Pftek) to the letter, and there's no reason you shouldn't produce enough for at least 3 doses.
Let us know when you have specific problems, or if anything on that page is unclear.
eclipse, welcome to the forum.. i highly recommend you watch this. its 1 hour long, but worth it.... :mellow:
http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=3286686859329905674#
Eclipse...im currently working on my first grow as well. I went with the BRF cakes method, because it seems easy and it seems to be a good way for beginers to get used to how fungi works. From all the info i've read and all the questions i've asked, the BIGGEST thing about growing fungi seems to be Cleanliness (second being Patience, lol). While i have been waiting for my spores, i decided to see if my Incubation Chamber and my FC (Fruiting Chamber) were up to snuff in terms of Temperature and Relative Humidity (RH). I put some mineral water in a sterilized jar in my FC just to check and see how clean it was, see if it would get any contams just from being in there. Ive just been fine tuning everything trying to get it perfect and keep myself busy while my spores are on the way. I just found out today (2 mins ago) that my spores were shipped this afternoon. So ill be just a few steps ahead of you i think. So, if you decide to do the BRF cakes, id be glad to answer anyting i can. but if you wanna talk to a pro, there are plenty here who can help. to name a few: Anno, Malabar, Shroomzer (who i believe only grows cakes, may be wrong), Fattrout, Psilocybe Warrior, Dub504, the list just keeps goin. Just trust what they say, they have given me so much advice that i feel like im growing shrooms for the 50th time, lol. Another thing, alot of the questions you are gonna ask can be found using the Search tool. Its really amazing how much info is on the forums. Dub is right when he says Shroomery.org has alot of info too.
Aaaaaanywhoooo....Welcome to the Forum! And Good Luck! ^_^
Now that you mention it are thees the cakes?
http://cgi.ebay.com/PF-Logic-Pint-Mushroom-Grow-Substrate-Jars-6-pack_W0QQitemZ280428392508QQcmdZViewItemQQptZFertilizer_Soil_Amendments?hash=item414ad5b03c
and if so, is it frowned upon if i go about it this way instead of preparing them myself, because i mean i dont have a pressure cooker so that would definitely be an issue for me.
Yes, those are the BRF cakes before being innoculated with spores. Im not sure if you wanna go thru Ebay to get Pre-Sterilized jars. Im not sure about the quality of the product. If you want Presterilized Jars, i would recommend using one of Shroomery.org's Sponsers. A good place to get started looking for pre sterilized jars or even Fungi Bags. Go to Shroomery.org and check out thier sponsers. its a good learning experience either way. MycoPath.com will have all the pre sterilized stuff you need to get started. Most would probobly tell you to just do it yourself, its alot cheaper. Read everything and anything you can. And watch the vid that Fattrout suggested, it'll help ALOT. There are lots more to watch as well. being able to see the process visually really take the scariness out of getting started. Hope this helps. ^_^
Having NOT ever tried the Fungi Bags, the pre-sterilized jars you speak of are the 'ready to use' type? If so no luck with those. It is so much better to get your own jars and make your own substrate and PC it. There is a video mentioned, watch it. It will answer questions for you too. Its much more 'fullfilling' for me to do it all myself. Making my substrate, PCing, Inoculating and watching them grow knowing I did it. And if I fail I also know that I did something wrong, not having to wonder if it were done prior to my receiving it anything bought through a supplier. So much can happen to something 'pre-made' from any supplier since it has to sit in mail trucks in different temps. etc.
Read the PF TEK for simple minds.
This can appear daunting @ 1st~. Once the loose BRF substrate in the jars is colonized by the mushroom mycelium it becomes a cake. Grains colonize faster because you can shake the jar and redistribute the colonized grains, which increases the # of inoculation points. Speeding/helping things along.
There is not much difference from casing a crumbled BRF cake than casing grains or, Malabar has a grow on here from not the not too distant past of cased grain cakes performing really nicely.http://www.fungifun.org/forum/index.php?topic=1680.0 (http://www.fungifun.org/forum/index.php?topic=1680.0) that thread is pretty interesting.
I think you are better off mixing your own substrate and sterilizing your self. How can you be sure that the jars will be sterile when you get them? Seems like a lot of variables from point A to point B...
Welcome. Sounds like your heading for a good start, doubtful you'll have any ready for newyears. ~Better luck next year~
PW