i've read many different threads about the kits but no one ever answers if they are successful or not or if they produce a decent amount. All i ever see is "fuck the kits do it yourself". The 120$ does not bother me at all yea its a lot but it being my first time i want to make it as easy as possible. After i figure out everything like where the best place to put them in my house and what not, (its winter here and if the heat is not on it gets to about 66F which i don't know it that's too cold). Once i get the kit out of the way i will go about doing it myself from there on out but I would just like others input that HAVE used the kit or any other kit out there, the only one i have see is the kit that is in the High Times magazine.
Ez grow??
- Thread starter dr5hakalu
- Start date
glShemp
Active Member
Vermiculite, rice flower, jars, plastic tub, rubber gloves are all commodity off the shelf items. You don't need a kit. If you really want to spend money to save time, you can buy pre-cooked jars on ebay and knock them up yourself. Except for the clean procedures during inoculation, it's no trickier than baking a cake.
Top5
Active Member
it is possible to order a nice kit on ebay, there a guy on there called "tons of fungi" and he does pre sterilized myco bags and jars for casing and such. I say bump pf cakes and go straight to casing...youll get a good amount of shrooms. Id suggest making it yourself if you have a pressure cooker though. you cant be lazy or skip anything. follow the instructions to the T and youll be glad with the end result.
yea ive been thinking about it and im not going with a kit anymore i am going to just start off with the pf cakes pry going to get some spores from spores101. I also was curious if the temp can go up and down because it gets about 66F at night but then goes up to 80F during the day when i am home. i was also thinking if thats a problem, leaving the container sit on a dvr thing since its always on an is pretty warm(could be too warm??)
smokiemcbowl
Well-Known Member
I just started a grow and ordered the random 4 pack from spores101. Bought enough gear to do 12 cakes at a time and spent less than $200 w/ the spores. Never done a grow kit (this is my first mushie grow) but id just spend the money to get ur own stuff instead of a grow kit. I have heard of good results with grow kits/bags though. Id say try both ways out. Ur gonna spend more money but hey, ull find what works for u n the end and end up spending less n the long run. Id get a heater to just for at night. Keep ur mushies at 80-82F when ur lettin em grow n the jars and ull b good. Although i doubt the temps u got now will really do a whole lot. Maybe slow em down a day or 2 bit thats about it
mojoganjaman
Well-Known Member
if you are using 1/4-1 pint jars just colonize them in a cupboard above the fridge...always a perfect temp there....1 quart jars gets my wife a tad irked....lol
I spent less than 35 bucks doing brown rice flour jars (already had pressure cooker) for my entire setup, using a 2 gallon empty laundry detergent bucket with syran wrap lid, so my FC was basically free. I did open air innoculation and had no contams and I'm 70%+ colonized on my pint jars.
The cupboard above my fridge wasn't warm enough because it's cold here as well, so I put all mine on top of the water heater where it was just a few degrees warmer and they really took off then.
I don't care what I yield, as long as I have enough for me to trip balls 2 or 3 times over the next year, then I'm good. Hopefully 9 pint jars are enough for every mistake in the book and still have 10 or so grams dried when its all said and done.
The cupboard above my fridge wasn't warm enough because it's cold here as well, so I put all mine on top of the water heater where it was just a few degrees warmer and they really took off then.
I don't care what I yield, as long as I have enough for me to trip balls 2 or 3 times over the next year, then I'm good. Hopefully 9 pint jars are enough for every mistake in the book and still have 10 or so grams dried when its all said and done.
canndo
Well-Known Member
do yourself a big favor and skip the cakes and all that jazz. I know plenty who won't do anything but PF because they don't want to buy a pressure cooker. You say that 120 won't bother you? then get yourself a good pressure cooker for about 90 bucks and go with straight grain in quart jars - nothing could be easier.
the only thing im really worried about is the temp there is nothing above my fridge so i don't want them just chilling out for anyone to see. Although the water heater sounds like a good idea although that's in my basement which has to be 10 degrees colder then my room. my number one problem is the temp so if i can figure that out i will be able to get it started i read someones comment on another post that said he grew in 60-65 degree it just took longer which an extra week wont bother me at all i am familiar with waiting 9+weeks for my plants to finish
What does having or not having a pressure cooker have to do with the PF tek, you don't need a pressure cooker for PF tek anyway if you don't want to use one. It works either way, and for a guy just needing a pressure cooker to grow a couple mushrooms, I wouldn't send them out after a near 100 dollar pressure cooker just to try. I'd tell them to get a shitty used one for the few times they will need it. If you get serious, then drop coin on a metal on metal sealing pressure cooker, like an All American. Otherwise, just pickup a cheap rubber sealing PC or steam it in a big pot and skip the pressure cooker all together.
Why is grain better in your opinion?
I choose my route for two reasons, cost effectiveness and ease of growing. The only reason I would use grains and that sort of thing is if I was bulk growing and wanted to make money doing it.
canndo
Well-Known Member
I am aware that pf can go without a cooker or with one but what I was saying is that the OP claims that he can afford 120 bucks. Pure grain is not just for bulk grows (rye is my favorite, it is forgiving water wise, it is easily available and it colonizes very rapidly).
I have been watching as people tout the PF method as the easiest and I just don't concur. The method I have posted does not involve terrariums, fanning, birthing, waiting for mycelium to creep through rice flower concoctions, soaking pearlite, injection holes, tyvek or any of the other PF tek proceedures and it happens to yield more. I simply don't understand why people take to it except perhaps because that is what they know.
canndo
Well-Known Member
You probably don't need a heater at all - how cool does your area get?
during the day isnt a problem but its at night when im not home gets around 60F
So where is this method you speak of, I'd like to look into it.
Now the red only takes less than an hour of total effort by the time it's all said than done, so those aren't much of a factor imo.
Now the blue, I have jars that at 3 weeks are almost 100%, figure give them another 7-10 days to consolidate and they will be ready to birth, which takes what, a couple seconds to bang out a cake and walla, it's "birthed". How much quicker is the grains, because most jars seem to be ready at the 4-6 week mark if you are doing it in optimum environments. Do the grains have to consolidate the jars in the same manner before they are ready to fruit?
I have thought buying the big bags would be pretty slick, but inoculating 9 jars took me less than 30 minutes of actual hands on and that included mixing it all up, punching holes in the lids, etc, the rest is just waiting.
Plus I was trying to leave some of that 120 in his pocket, no need to spend it just because the budget allows for it.
mojoganjaman
Well-Known Member
I'd like to see this tek as well!!!!So where is this method you speak of, I'd like to look into it.
Now the red only takes less than an hour of total effort by the time it's all said than done, so those aren't much of a factor imo.
Now the blue, I have jars that at 3 weeks are almost 100%, figure give them another 7-10 days to consolidate and they will be ready to birth, which takes what, a couple seconds to bang out a cake and walla, it's "birthed". How much quicker is the grains, because most jars seem to be ready at the 4-6 week mark if you are doing it in optimum environments. Do the grains have to consolidate the jars in the same manner before they are ready to fruit?
I have thought buying the big bags would be pretty slick, but inoculating 9 jars took me less than 30 minutes of actual hands on and that included mixing it all up, punching holes in the lids, etc, the rest is just waiting. A more automated FC would be nice, but for me it's a couple weeks of daily hands on in trade for a year or two of frying balls.
Plus I was trying to leave some of that 120 in his pocket, no need to spend it just because the budget allows for it.
canndo
Well-Known Member
I never posted it as a tek.So where is this method you speak of, I'd like to look into it.
Now the red only takes less than an hour of total effort by the time it's all said than done, so those aren't much of a factor imo.
Now the blue, I have jars that at 3 weeks are almost 100%, figure give them another 7-10 days to consolidate and they will be ready to birth, which takes what, a couple seconds to bang out a cake and walla, it's "birthed". How much quicker is the grains, because most jars seem to be ready at the 4-6 week mark if you are doing it in optimum environments. Do the grains have to consolidate the jars in the same manner before they are ready to fruit?
I have thought buying the big bags would be pretty slick, but inoculating 9 jars took me less than 30 minutes of actual hands on and that included mixing it all up, punching holes in the lids, etc, the rest is just waiting. A more automated FC would be nice, but for me it's a couple weeks of daily hands on in trade for a year or two of frying balls.
Plus I was trying to leave some of that 120 in his pocket, no need to spend it just because the budget allows for it.
use quart jars. Put your grain in a pot and cover about an inch higher than the grain, cook until the water is gone or just a few of the kernels have burst. You can actually do this in the jars but it takes a bit more finesse.
Fill the jars no more than half full, flip the tops and put them in your pressure cooker, 45 minutes at 15 lbs (leave the tops only slightly loose)
Let them cool, then tighten the lids and shake them.
after they are cool, put them in your glove box or in a still room, on a clean table in a freshly sprayed room.
loosen the lids so you can slip them slightly open
quickly but carefully squirt a cc or two into each jar, and tighten the lid again
after you are done, shake each jar.
In 3 to 5 days you will see growth, wait a day after you see any growth at all and then shake the jars again
after you see growth again, wait a day and do it again (shake the jar swirling it around as you do)
you can let them rest until you see lots of growth, usually all kernels will be growing, when you see this you will notice that the growth is grey rather than white, this is because the mycelium is running out of oxygen, wait a day or so more and then give it a little air by opening the jar for a moment or two.
when you are confident that all grains are colonized, remove the lid and put a zip lock baggie over the top - so that the corners of the zip lock are open to the air.
wait a day or so and then put sterilized casing 50/50 coir/vermiculite brought to field moisture on the top of the colonized kernels, about 1/2 to 3/4 inch when slightly compacted with a sterile spoon.
replace the baggie and wait, you will see the mycelium run up the casing.
When it runs to just short of the surface spray lightly once or twice a day.
If you are in severe light wrap in foil or just put the jars back into their box as is.
At optimum temperature (82) you will likely have full colonization in 10 to 12 days,LC is even quicker, I've seen it finishe in as little as 5 days the casing run will be about a week and you should see pins shortly after that.
No fuss, no birthing, no lights, no humidity (each jar retains its own humidity tent) no fanning (there is adequate air exchange through the sides of the baggie) no terrariums, no bins, everything is contained in each jar.
The caviot is that you MUST dispose of any contamination immediately and your temperature must not go above 82 ever. Yield from a single jar is between 1/4 and 3/4 oz dry depending on how many flushes you get. You can pressure cook 7 jars at a time, two times will let you do a full case of jars which should get you a minimum of 3 oz dry.
mojoganjaman
Well-Known Member
I'd never do this....but if it works for you I say rock on!!!!!
I just found a tek for the fruiting chamber, called chronick tek, it uses 1 quart mason jars for each cake as a fruiting chamber. It's maintenance free, no fanning or misting. Hot damn, I'm going to be able to do all this with less than 60 minutes of working time when it's all said and done.
You can keep your grain
You can keep your grain