Need a good Bulk Recipe???

[Mr. NIce GuY]

Hey guys so i am moving out of my house, and moving into a new one so i am getting my jars ready now i am using rye grain, so i can be ready to case when i move in to my new place. I wanted to know what some good Bulk recipes with straw and poo, i know there are so many to create and follow, but i just wanted to see what would be the best for these strains (B+, TAZ, and Pes Hawian). I probably only one do one bulk since it will be my first time. I saw Dubs BULk in the Nov. contest pic of the month and that looked like it worked pretty well for you.. 

[dub504]

More than I know what to do w/ them! You want to get at least 4" of substrate.  I just kind of eyeballed 50/50 straw/worm castings and some verm in an old pillow case. Soaked overnight in water w/ hydrated lime. Pasteurized @ 170 for 1:15, drained and cooled. Layered grains and straw mix let colonize. Case, let it be for four days. Put in FC

[Mr. NIce GuY]

WOuld it be the same ratio with dung/straw and also i am sure you can get worm castings from any garden store??

[dub504]

Yeah, the ratio should be the same. It's all just food anyways. You could just use straw if you wanted to. I prefer castings to dung. Castings don't stink! If you do use poo make sure it is the dried stuff. You don't want fresh, it's really acidic and then you have to do extra steps w/ it like soak in bleach... Castings are pretty available, I happened to find mine at a hydro store.

[Mr. NIce GuY]

Also i am doing lava rocks with a 30 gal fc and 30 gal whisper air pump. SInce the air pump is running 24/7 do i still need FAE. and Only mist between flushes like usually??

[dub504]

You should be fine to rock like that.

[Mr. NIce GuY]

ALso how much did you yeild off all that cause i plan on doing maybe my (GT's, B+, and pes Hawiian) with that method castings/straw??

[dub504]

80 or a little over grams dry. The second flush is looking healthy as well.

[Mr. NIce GuY]

Right on man i wanna go a little bigger not to much cause i dont want my guys not getting enough room to get nice and tall.. What are the dimesions of your casing box???

[dub504]

I think it's a dish tub. I found it at the Wal. Red, plastic Sterilite 12 Qt. 6" deep, 11" wide, and 14" long

[Mr. NIce GuY]

and when you colonized your substrate, did you use a bag or did you just crumble pieces of rye grain with your hay/castings and let it colonize in your casing??

[dub504]

On that particular tub, I crumbled and layered colonized Br. Rice/Millet and Straw/Castings. I think I had a little Flax seed in there too. It would work fine to mix it all up by hand too in your tub. I did this w/ no use of a glove box etc. as the colonized grains and pasteurized straw don't contaminate easily. After this mix is fully colonized, You put a layer of casing on top let that colonized for a few days and put in FC.

Nice, I noticed you mentioned hay in your last post. Don't use hay, use straw.
GL

[Mr. NIce GuY]

My bad i meant straw well wheat straw is what i have a whole bundle... ANd i am using quarter oz mason jars do you think one whole jar willl be enough for the subtrate???

[dub504]

Just making sure on the straw thing.
I guess it depends how much you are spawning to. The more spawn the faster it will colonize. A couple of Qts will get things going nicely!
One more thing. Compress the substrate so there are no pockets of air (where water will pool inside) and lay foil or plastic directly over the substrate during the spawn run so it doesn't dry out or get puddles.

[Mr. NIce GuY]

ok thanks man so i am guessing cover with plastic then put a book on top or something to compress it.. And when you pasturize straw/castings in my pc should it be strained after just like with casing material and it has a wet texture?

[dub504]

Yeah, let it drain and cool... Field capacity, like casing. I was just saying when you get the spawn/substrate mixed or layered, pack it down as you go. Incubate in the mid to high 70's because the substrate will create a bit of it's own heat while colonizing.

[Mr. NIce GuY]

ok i went to nature pantry and got rye berries but it says its organic whole grain. And also got yellow pop corn kennels are these ok to try.

[dub504]

Should be fine. I didn't know if you were going to mix them, but you might want to try them separately to get it down.

[fattrout]

yeah, either one will work good. but remember popcorn and rye use two different TEKs...
popcorn needs to soak a lot longer..

[Mr. NIce GuY]

okk cool thanks, and you all will be hearing from me really soon....