PlantMatter
Member
It's been about 7-8 days after inoculation of 4oz jars. I've only seen mycelium grow on about 2 of the jars about the size of a dime in one spot.
Is this normal not to see much now?
Is this normal not to see much now?
Mushrooms?
- Thread starter PlantMatter
- Start date
FreeRangeZombie
Active Member
Personally I have grown approx 6 Differnt varietys of mushrooms for aprox 13 years now .and I beleive the PF tek is the best place to learn as if u have cantamination you can just throw out that jar. Plus you can rotate stock very easy .. here are some tips for explosive fruits.1 Let the mycelium totally eat everything before you fruit them(I wait a couple days after I see all whitein the jars before I remove them.2 fruit them on a bed of moist vercumlite for larger/more fruits. 3.the second u see green/blue mold remove/throw away jars(very rarely is it the mycilum showing the blue). 4.after inculation it could take up to 1 -maybe 2 weeks before you start to see signs of growth as they will start out as fuzzy white balls that will join over time.5.if you smell rotting then most likely its bad.
FreeRangeZombie made some very valid points. My own advice would be to go get some pop corn. Maybe around 2 pounds. And do the easy popcorn tek. Just google it. The only alteration that I would make to the tek is to use a the lowest possible simmer that you can get on your stove. This way your pcorn will absorb the utmost amount of water. Basically your corn will double in size. What starts off as 16oz of dry corn will end up as about 32oz of post simmered corn. You will not be disappointed. You can shake up the jars. And the longest it should take to fully colonize your jars is two weeks, max. Your pf tek jars can litterally take months. I just used some old pf jars to colonize corn jars. These jars were inoculated back in march. March damn it. It took long as hell for them to colonize. By the time they were ready. I had already be munch on one that I had grown from pcorn. Once these old pf jars were good. I put them in the fridge to hibernate until I was ready (thanks testtime). Don't wait, just get some popcorn. Trust.
FreeRangeZombie
Active Member
I never did corn though but I have grown mushrooms on cardboard before there was even a tek for it.. I have approx 500.00 mixed prints in storage that this thread made me think of. I have made own recipes build on experimental mediumsand beleive it or not most the time it worked. But before i talk about how easy it is I will tell you how I got to rusty point of being easy for me.
.. Ok back when I started I must have spent a good 100.00 in sprore syringes on mess ups that either got contaminated or never made it to fruit because of either lack of moisture or too much moisture.. Once you find out what keeps them happy you will have more than you know what to do with beleive me on this.Then one kind of mushroom species will lead to the next. I think its funner growing them than eating them.Haha I once planted a certian mushroom strain behind my house that yeilded garbage bags full of mushrooms every season of the highest quality and beleive it or not 10 years later its still fruiting here and there. So if u really want them try try try and you will succeed
.. Ok back when I started I must have spent a good 100.00 in sprore syringes on mess ups that either got contaminated or never made it to fruit because of either lack of moisture or too much moisture.. Once you find out what keeps them happy you will have more than you know what to do with beleive me on this.Then one kind of mushroom species will lead to the next. I think its funner growing them than eating them.Haha I once planted a certian mushroom strain behind my house that yeilded garbage bags full of mushrooms every season of the highest quality and beleive it or not 10 years later its still fruiting here and there. So if u really want them try try try and you will succeed
canndo
Well-Known Member
I don't want to alienate you sir. I don't want to pull any sort of "well I know more than you" thing here but I am constantly concerned that new mushroom folks believe that pf tek is the best place to start. With one caveat - that PF tek is the absolute best if you can't get your hands on a pressure cooker, PF tek has growers be divorced from the way the mushroom actually grows, it is artificial and actually works in spite of, rather than because of - in other words, the mushroom is so persistant that it will grow anyway. PF tek is not encouraging the growth of the organism. Some of the readers here are probably sick of my preaching. PF tek was invented by a very shrewd guy who found that this method was the very best way for him to sell spore syringes and now, many years later (the poor genious died just a short while ago), it is still presumed that PF is the best for new comers.
Seriously, any raw grain method is as good for new people. Having to wait while the mycelium inches along in a semisolid blend of flour and vermiculite is a poor way to introduce someone to the power of this organism. Furthermore, that waiting diminishes the capability of the mycelium to be orchestrated. Some portions of the substrate are long overdue to fruit while others are still new. Rather than get a full flush from the entire mass of mycelium, the grower has to wait for the mushroom to take it's sweet time and finally push out a few fruit.
DA sprout there below is a convert to corn and he knows what he is talking about - please, to those who are new, seriously consider another way first - there is no such thing as bulk vs pf, there is only small bulk and larger bulk. There is only fruiting off of spawn (which is really what all of the grain methods are) and spawning a more massive substrate like horse manure or straw.
I don't mean to contradict you, I just don't like seeing people going astray with PF.
canndo
Well-Known Member
Until you see the "skin" of just a few of the kernels split, but if you don't, if you don't cook it as long everything will still work, you just won't get that third or fourth or fifth flush - because the water in the corn has been used up.
FreeRangeZombie
Active Member
As I don't go them anymore and times change there may be an easier way. I was just tring to help the lad out. You also do not need a pressure cooker for the original PF tek to work as I am pissed I ever spent 300.00 on this American made dust collecter .. You can now have the Mic canndo - peace
canndo
Well-Known Member
That was the original point of the tek, that no one had to purchase a pressure cooker. Actually, pf was fairly late in the game as the original methods were rolled out I believe in the mid to early 70's. I started my work with them in 1974 I think, just as Stamets got into the game
lBiG lBeAR
Member
If you really want to grow heaps of fungus listen to Zombie, he/she knows what they are talking about. Dont need a pressure cooker. Building your own fruiting chamber is a must. Keep your room super-CLEAN! Don't be afraid of yellow mycelium "piss" look it up
spores101 is legit
spores101 is legit
Skuxx
Well-Known Member
http://www.shroomery.org/forums/showflat.php/Cat/0/Number/4576865
I know there are better methods, but this is super easy, and I'm not that smart... but never once had a contam problem, and it never took more than a month from start to finish. Basically made a living off this method for a while.
I'd get a bunch of quart jars.
Bunch.
Really, as much as you can envision or afford.
I'd drill 2 holes in the lid.
One hole a bit bigger.
I'd get filter disks and cut them to place over the bigger hole.
I'd use RTV silicone gasket maker to glue the filter in and fill the other hole for an injection port.
I'd order 4 needles, 2 with fast growing known producers (Golden Teacher and Equador), and 2 for play (Penis Envy and Katsoh, but this is a random choice).
I'd get a bunch of rye and some gypsum.
I'd get some light karo and bee pollen.
I'd reserve 8 jars for LC.
I'd break some glass and put it in each LC jar.
I'd follow the Karo LC formula, with a bit of bee pollen.
I would only fill my jars 1/2 way for swirling without hitting the top.
I'd PC the LC jars for 30 minutes. Too long and it will caramelize.
I'd cold rinse the rye for a bit.
I'd boil a LOT of water, toss a pot of coffee in, along with some gypsum, and then boil the rye (at least 10 lbs for 20 jars) for about 10 minutes.
I'd cover and let sit for 4 hours.
I'd rinse the rye.
I'd fill each remaining quart jar with rye 2/3s, along with a teaspoon of gypsum.
I'd prep as many jars as possible with the rye.
I'd PC the rye for 90 minutes.
I'd let the rye cool.
I'd do a sterile unload and shake to loosen the kernels.
I'd do a sterile prep of my glove area, get all the bottles and needles ready, and load it all and oust the shit out of it.
I'd inject 2 LC jars for each needle, and at least 4 rye jars, flaming the needle between each injection. When injecting the rye, let it run down the side of the bottle for more rye exposure and better visual examination area.
I wold use as little as possible to make it stretch.
I'd wait for a bit of myc to show before shaking any jar or swirling the LCs.
It might take 3 hours or 2 weeks (f'ing brazil took 2 months) to show ANY start of growth.
2 day of healthy growth (must see white rhizo all over the place) I'd shake again.
2 day of healthy growth (must see white rhizo all over the place) I'd shake again.
At this point it will go full coverage in a few days.
If any of the jars showed exceptional growth (or even better, early pins), I'd inject sterile water into it, shake it up (or poke/shred the pin if the needle can get to it), suck it back and, and use it to inoculate several LC jars to save the genetics).
I'd use the 60/40 verm/coir/gypsum (pasturised, NOT sterilized) tech for laying out in a substrate, usually at a 1-1 of substrate to spawn. I could go 3-1, but I'm impatient.
I'd use a light layer of 60/40 on the bottom, then it all mixed together, then a light layer of 60/40 on the top. This can be in an opaque tray of pretty much any size.
I'd then put a layer of crumpled holey wax paper soaked with h2o2 on top. I'd then cover it with some type of vapor barrier (plastic wrap), with a few holes punched in it.
I'd put it in a thick black plastic bag for light block, but I would not seal it.
I'd them place that on a shelf and ignore it for a week.
At this point those LC cultures should be ready for use.
I'd repeat the process, prepping grain jars and setting up for next steps.
I'd always have a few LC jars in the fridge, and long with spawn jars that I'm not ready to use. If I need 4 jars for a tub, then when each "finishes" it goes into the fridge until the others catch up.
I'd open in a week an see total coverage, and if not, put it back for a few more days.
I'd then do the 50/50 verm/peat/lime casing tek (pasturised, NOT sterilized) and place it back in the bag. Depending on height of casing and myc grow rate, it might hit the top in a couple for days or a couple of weeks. If it hits unevenly, patch with bits of casing material to let the rest catch up. When it is fully showing (but not so much it looks like it is getting overgrown), I'd hit it with some bright light and then put it back in the bag, this time sealing the bag for max moisture (this is just for a day to give the knots some extra water).
I'd then place in my fruiting chamber.
Once I got a few good caps from any of the trays, I'd paint it with betadine, harvest it, pop it in sterile environment, and pull a center for cloning.
I'd start LCs with each clone and use them for the next rye cycle (when ready).
After doing that a few times, I'd pretend to know what I was doing.
PlantMatter
Member
So it's normal to only see a small bit of mycelium to be growing on only 2 jars out of the 5 so far?
Is it safe to say that the ones not showing signs of mycelium yet aren't duds as of now?
Is there a fast way to grow mushrooms besides the PF Tek, and not have to use a pressure cooker?
I figure I should also add that the Strain is Golden Teachers, and temperature has been kept at room temperature (70°F) And 80°F max.
Skuxx
Well-Known Member
the temperature shouldn't fluctuate that much. Try to keep them slightly above 80 degrees this is what I find works best. Mine usually took 2 weeks at the most to fully colonize.
You should get the PF tek down before trying other methods. Continue reading everything on shroomery.org
PlantMatter
Member
What alternative would you suggest?
canndo
Well-Known Member
Start with cased spawn. Use popcorn as your substrate.