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Messages - veda_sticks

#21
ignore is bliss.

your free to do what you want. I try to post with as much information i can so that people can get the most out of there grows.

If
#22
PF - Tek / Re: Second Fruiting Chamber (Pictures)
May 27, 2009, 07:24:53 PM
Perlite is supperiour for humidification. It has a large surface area due to all the nooks and crannies that hold the moisture right at the surface, making it easily availible to be evaporated into the air. It has way more surface area than hydroton and probably holds more moisture too. The best cake grows i have seen have been in shotgun fruiting chambers with perlite.

Perlite also requires no standing water or ar pump.

everyone has there own opinion
#23
 I just tried this with some gc cakes that were three weeks old.  Only difference is i slice mine instead of crumbling.  I usually see myc in like 5 days max.  Two weeks and the slices hadnt even formed together.  I threw it out.  I dont think this is a viable option, but let me know if it works for u.



And that is exactly why i said not to crumble and case cakes, more specifically crumble cakes that have been birthed for any length of time. Mycelium ages and as it does, cell division slows down. The older it is, the ess likely that netowrk will be able to repair, if it does it takes longer and is more likely to contaminated.

IMO casing substrate shouldnt be a substitute for good fruiting conditions.

Srface area is irrelevant, food  and age is. crumbling and casing doesnt axpand the network and it doesnt add eny more food, so to say that it increases yeild doesnt make sense. Any increase in yeild will have more to do with the casing layer making providing moisture right at the surface of the mycelium.

If your cakes arnt fruitin, yo need to look at your fruiting conditions. Fresh air exchange is very important. Keep your rh high and mist also to replae moisture that has evaporated.

If your cakes arnt fruiting it could be bad ginetics.

If you want to crumble cakes, might as well spawn to some bulk substrate.


By all means, try it and see what works for you.  But the way i see it, why not just just mix with bulk, increase of yeild right away.

Im going to be crumbling and casing cakes, but only because im not using perlite fruiting chamber, ill be using mini dub tubs and i will also be spawning to bulk also in others.

If you to a good isolate, and fruited them as cakes in a good terrarium and compared with crumbled in the same terrairum yeilds would be very similar if not the sam.e
#24
Cultivation / Re: Homemade Substrate
May 23, 2009, 10:09:06 PM
Quote from: Azurascender on May 09, 2009, 05:22:47 PM
I once grew mycelia from azurescens spores on untreated cardboard as an experiment, but never got further than a 2 inch circle of growth. I should experiment further and write the tek, I think I'm getting somewhere with this...

done before, its used for something, maybe starting outdoor beds or something cant remember.
Pf tek substarte is probably the most likely thing you can make with commen items.

Brown Rice Flour (you can make it with brown rice in a coffee grinder or blender)
Vermiculite
water
-drinking glasses with foil lids (canning jars recomended though)

www.mushroomvideos.com
#25
Cultivation / Re: Need a question answered
May 23, 2009, 10:02:25 PM
Are you sure its not 3.5 thats alot of spore solution.
#26
Cultivation / Re: my 1st casings
May 23, 2009, 10:00:12 PM
Great work nonetheless. those look good!

also, you cant have to much rh. 99-100% is deal, and you cant get higher than 100% anyway
#27
Cultivation / Re: my 1st casings
May 23, 2009, 09:58:48 PM
Its a cased substrate, not casing. Casing is the act of applyhing a casing layer.

Also, that looks like coir, which would have been better used as a bulk susbtrate, and just fruit incaused. Unless that is what you did, spawn to coir which would then just be a bulk substrate;
#28
Cultivation / Re: Spore print!
May 23, 2009, 09:55:33 PM
Quote from: anno on February 08, 2007, 05:09:34 AM
If you want to inoculate directly with a sporeprint, you would have to scrape spores directly on the sterilized substrate. This would preclude you from using a protecting vermiculite layer, and thus preclude from using the pf tek.

What you could use is http://www.fungifun.org/English/Grain-For-Simple-Minds but the contamination risk is quite much higher than using a syringe to inoculate pf jars.

Grains are no more contaminant prone than pf tek jars. Using that tek however could lead to higher contamination rates.

Grains should be pressure cooked for 90 minutes at 15 psi, not 60. Also, that method of preparing grains is old.

http://www.mushroomvideos.com/Grain-Preparation

Best rye grain tek IMO, prefect moisture content everytime.

The pf tek does not need to have the dry verm layer. You can leave out the dry verm and instead use a filter just as you would a grain jar, using tyvek for instance.

The disadvantage of using spores from a spore print, is it may take longer for your spores to germinate as they will need ot hydrate sitting ontop of your substrate.
#29
Cultivation / Re: Humidifier Question
May 23, 2009, 09:49:32 PM
Quote from: Deadneck on May 21, 2009, 05:36:51 PM
Veda,

I have a shotgun terrarium and to be honest, I'm not too happy with it. My friend gave me this humidifier and I'm going to build a second FC, mostly b/c I need more area to fruit. How much time is enough to get an adequate amount of humidity in a 30 gallon FC with this type of humidifier, if it were set on a timer?

Thanks,
Deadneck



You have the humidifer anyway so try it out. you will also need to make sure you are getting plenty of FAE somehow. And make sure to mist and fan aswell.
#30
Cultivation / Re: Casing Grains
May 23, 2009, 09:45:25 PM
dont use coir in your casing layer. Its good food for fungi, it will usualy just colinse and become part of your substrate which isnt a biggy. If you have coir, simply spawn your grains to  coir/verm and allow to colinise and fruit uncased.

Id stick to 50/50 recipie for the casing layer.

Do not add coffee to your casing layer.

Also, bulk substrates should not be sterilised, they should be pasturised. Also the microwave is not a great method for either pasturisiation or sterilisation.
#31
Cultivation / Re: to dunk or not to dunk
May 23, 2009, 09:41:14 PM
Just dunk your cakes in clean tap water, or bottled spring water if your water isnt drinking quality.

To many people are far to scared about contamination during fruiting and can end up making things worth. Fully colinised substrate is pretty resistant to contamination.
Some bacteria may grow on the surface of your cake during the dunk, however you can easily wash that off before and after the dunk with a good rinse under the tap.

Ive always just dunked in a pot of tap water fully submerged for 24 hours. No problems.

#32
Cultivation / Re: not too bad?
May 23, 2009, 09:38:22 PM
Very nice work, however there are a few incorrect statements in this thread.

QuoteI am just now starting to do them the correct way (casing)

Casing is optional with cubensis, either way works, neither is wrong, or right. Some argue it improves performacne, others say they dont notice much difference. Ive seen both cased and uncased do great. The only benifit that i see is an extra moisture reserve, which would explain why you seem to see larger mushrooms form cased substrates, however the yeild is usually around the same if fruiting conditiosn are good. Its good practive however if you decide to move onto species that do require a casing layer.

QuoteIt is Polyfil and is used to allow FAE and keep out contams. Cotton is not recommended.

Polyfill will filter out contaminants, however that is not why its used, since fruiting chambers do not need to be sterile. Fully colinised substrate is pretty resistant to contamination. Polyfill will allow FAE to some extent and will help maintain  RH, Because the holes are so large, leaving them open wouold just let out all the moisture.

You can infact do away with the polyfill complelty, and instead drill smaller holes, 1/8th" or1/4" along the substrate leve and just micropore tape/tyvek during the spawn run. Ive seen quite a few people use monotubs with no polyfill and didnt experience contamination.


#33
PF - Tek / Re: Second Fruiting Chamber (Pictures)
May 23, 2009, 09:30:45 PM
Quote from: dan on May 22, 2009, 06:02:04 AM
Get rid of that hygrometer, I have the same one and out of the box it read 70%, I used it for a few days in my fc and it still read 70%?  I took it out of the fc and put it in a dry place overnight, the next morning, guess what, 70%.  I through it out...

sounds like a faulty meter, etiher way. stick you can get good quality hygrometers from cigar shops or cigar online stores, $20 and it will last yo a long time, plus it wont build up moisutre on the inside like that one does.

But, if you build a shotgun fruiting chamber correctly, yo wont need a hygrometer, unless your living in a desert climate, which you should run a small humidifier in your room, it will save yo on heating in the winter, as dry air is a poor conductor of heat, plus you will feel more confortabnle
#34
PF - Tek / Re: Wha'd i do?
May 23, 2009, 09:25:52 PM
Quote from: fattrout on May 22, 2009, 02:47:25 PM
if you plan on get into this hobby for the long term, get a pressure cooker... steaming and boiling are fine for PF jars. IMO the PC makes life easy.

I agree complelty, i used to have a 5 litre pressure cooker and i was doing pf cakes. Less risk of running your pot dry and you can just leave it do its thing for an hour - being in the next room ofcoarse - never leave a presure cooker unattending ie dont go out to the shops, just incase.

I found that with steaming, especialy if your lid doesnt fit  too well you have to check on it every 20 minutes incase you have to refill. its a pain having to refil 3-4 times in 2 hours. If you have a decent pot, you shouldnt have to refil though.

Im kicking myself for not taking my pressure cooker when i had to move.
#35
Dont crumble and case your cakes, not even after birthing. it has no benifit. All you do is waiste time and energy making the mycelium repair the network before it will fruit. your not adding any food, nor expanding the mycelium. Same amount of substrate, same yeild, more risk of contaminatoin.

Doing it with old substrate is not recomended. As time goes on mycelium ages, it gets old and weak and cell division slows down. The older your mycelium is, the longer it will take to rejoin the network, if it does.

Leave your cakes as is, check your cakes are hydrated, they may need another dunk. Hydrated cakes should feel heavy for there size. And check over your fruiting conditions.

Make sure there gettng plenty of FAE. FAE is very important, it causes evaporation of moisture which is a pinning trigger. You have to replace that with misting also. i recomend fanning more than you mist. Also mist before you fan, so that you dont leave things wet, which on mushrooms can cause bacterial blotch.

Also, bright light in the daylight range will also help stimulate pinning. A few minutes of direct sunlight a day also has been reported to help/

And, as always ensure that you are maintaing humidity. 95%+ is ideal.

#36
Cultivation / Re: PW OR BAPH
May 21, 2009, 05:20:10 PM
Quote from: psilocybin warrior on May 19, 2009, 09:25:31 PM
Ill sue you for your ID:Skillz, JOHNNY COCKRAN BETCHES! SEE YOU IN COURT

PW

Trust workman on this, hes a great identifier.

In future if your wanting an ID, you need to post location, where it was growing, under tree grass etc take a spore print so you know what colour it is, colour of bruising.

If  the spores are purple black and produces blue bruising, its usualy a good sign that you have an active species, however still get an ID.

www.shroomery.org is a very good place for posting ID requests.

And dont eat anything you until you get an ID, there mushrooms that are similar and could be very posines
#37
Cultivation / Re: Some questions...
May 21, 2009, 05:15:59 PM
Quote from: spiralout on May 17, 2009, 04:00:12 PM
1)  When you have jars that don't fully colonize and stall out, is there anything that can be done to kick start them?  Can they be moved to a fruiting chamber at only 50% colonization and still result in a few mushrooms, or is that a waste of time?


2)  If the fruiting chamber was cleaned pretty well before being put into use, is there any risk in mushrooms that grow out and end up hitting the walls?  Is there a risk of contamination or drowning from the condensation on the wall?


3)  Do all of the mushrooms tend to mature at the exact same rate and open at the same time or are there usually a few "fast growers" that have their caps open earlier?  Do you harvest the early ones individually or just let them sit in the chamber until the other mushrooms are ready?


Thanks to anyone that can help!

stalled jars can be birthed, but you must remove the uncolinised substrate otherwise it willc ontaminate. Best find out why first, as it culd be somethning silly like not allowing gas exchange (leaving the foil over your inoc hoels). Overlay wet substrate will slow and possibly stall, and using pint jars will too

Mushrooms are phototropic, they will grow toward light (plus its a pinning trigger, daylight range 6000-7000k) as long as your cakes are not to lose to the walls and ou have lighting abvoe, they shouldnt hit the wals. Contgamination isnt a concern during fruitn as long as  your providing enough FAE. A clean fruiting chamber is however a good idea. if a mushroom hits the wall and your worried about it getting wet, move the cake. yu dont want it to stay wet for long as that will encourage bacteria to grow and can cause bacterial blotch.

No, when working from multispore you wont get fruits that pop up at the same time and mature at the same time.You will likely get different sized, different looking fruits that will mature at different times. You would need an isolate for those kind of results. Also potency will vary from fruit to fruit and even flush to flush when working from spores. Just pick as each is ready.

If you get a cluster with a mature mushroom, and smaller ones that arnt ready, simply cut the larger shroom with sterilised knife so the smaller ones can catch up
#38
Cultivation / Re: Seed oat jars
May 21, 2009, 05:08:29 PM
If you see growth in as little as a day, its not likely mushroom myceliu, that is ifyou started from spores, even from LC thats pretty quick.

Even with lc mycelium will take a few days before noticabe growth
#39
Cultivation / Re: Right amount of water
May 21, 2009, 05:07:05 PM
wet grains will lead tos low colinisation and bacterial contamination.

its normal after the PC cycle for you jars to hav a little mositure butif theres pooling its bad.

Before loading your grain into jars, they should not be moist, they should be dry on the outside. All the moisture should be on the inside.

Also remembe to raise you jars out of the water. In a pressure cooker you really dont need much water, a few incehs is plenty.
#40
Cultivation / Re: Fast Blast
May 21, 2009, 05:05:04 PM
Nope and i doubt anyone except the makers no.

But everyone who has used it has been raving about it over at shroomotopia. People have had some crazy qucik colinisatiojn,

Its even been tried in the pf tek,