My first class with the golden teacher

RetiredMatthebrute · Mar 6, 2013

ok so i will be dumping my jars into thier fruiting chamber containers on sat (hopefully)

i have dosne a bunch of reading on casing and i kinda want to make sure i have my shit correct.

im going to dump the popcorn into some lasagna plans that have lids. after i do that im going to put them in a dark spot for a few days untill full colonization of the substrate has occured. after thi happens i will be casing...

heres my thoughts on this please correct me if im wrong.

i have some vermiculite and happy frog potting soil, i was going to use 1 cup of potting soil to every 5 cups of vermiculite, the potting soil is extremely nutrient rich....so if im using too much please let me know. i will pasturize at 160 for 1 hour and make sure my soil mix is at field moisture content. i will layer on about a 1 inch thick layer and then place in the dark for 1 week without looking at it. after this week is up i will probabally just begin fruiting...unless i see no colonization.....

do i seem to have this correct or is there something wrong in my idea of what i should be doing for my next step.....mycelium is colonizing in my jars extremely fast....each day i shake and come back to even more mycelium growth than the previous day. i dont think it will be much longer before full colonizatrion occurs.

canndo · Mar 6, 2013

RetiredMatthebrute said:
the way cando laid it out about spores in the enviorment.....the smallest exposure means risking contam....i want 0 contam..

You aren't getting zero. Spores in water tend to degrade, the degradation will spread. If you want to keep spores a long time you use sporeprints, folded in half and wrapped in aluminum foil, or you print into petri dish and wrap that up. I like to "cake" the spores into a dish to where I put prints on top of prints such that a single swipe of my spatula will puck up eough spores for a syringe.

canndo · Mar 6, 2013

RetiredMatthebrute said:
ok so i will be dumping my jars into thier fruiting chamber containers on sat (hopefully)

i have dosne a bunch of reading on casing and i kinda want to make sure i have my shit correct.

im going to dump the popcorn into some lasagna plans that have lids. after i do that im going to put them in a dark spot for a few days untill full colonization of the substrate has occured. after thi happens i will be casing...

heres my thoughts on this please correct me if im wrong.

i have some vermiculite and happy frog potting soil, i was going to use 1 cup of potting soil to every 5 cups of vermiculite, the potting soil is extremely nutrient rich....so if im using too much please let me know. i will pasturize at 160 for 1 hour and make sure my soil mix is at field moisture content. i will layer on about a 1 inch thick layer and then place in the dark for 1 week without looking at it. after this week is up i will probabally just begin fruiting...unless i see no colonization.....

do i seem to have this correct or is there something wrong in my idea of what i should be doing for my next step.....mycelium is colonizing in my jars extremely fast....each day i shake and come back to even more mycelium growth than the previous day. i dont think it will be much longer before full colonizatrion occurs.

That would be about it, the more level your substrate the more level you can make your casing, the more level your casing the more pins. Go a little longer than an hour..

I think you can stop shaking now.

RetiredMatthebrute · Mar 6, 2013

i probabally sound like a dumbass in most of my posts....i think i have a good "grasp" on the verry minute basics. But i realize im probabally wrong most of the time..have been reading all morning trying to figure out how im going to go about my next steps and still not sure if i have it right...i feel like i have a solid idea but i want to know for sure.

RetiredMatthebrute · Mar 6, 2013

canndo said:
That would be about it, the more level your substrate the more level you can make your casing, the more level your casing the more pins. Go a little longer than an hour..

I think you can stop shaking now.

i shook for the last time on tuesday, going to let them do thier thing. is it bad to be checking on them every day? i really have a hard time with leaving things alone so i want to check on them once daily to see if i have any contams or anything like that, also its exciting to see the new growth in the jars, i have been wanting to grow these for almost 2 years now and finally made the plunge....im just hoping everything i do is right or at least not so wrong i kill everything lol.

so levelness is a large factor in pinning then? that makes sense, so i want everything to be as even as possible so that the mycelium grows into the casing evenly...if i have areas that are higher than others it will take longer for the mycelium to grow to the top of the casing making other areas start to pin faster than high spots...do i pretty much have that understood correctly?

canndo · Mar 6, 2013

RetiredMatthebrute said:
i shook for the last time on tuesday, going to let them do thier thing. is it bad to be checking on them every day? i really have a hard time with leaving things alone so i want to check on them once daily to see if i have any contams or anything like that, also its exciting to see the new growth in the jars, i have been wanting to grow these for almost 2 years now and finally made the plunge....im just hoping everything i do is right or at least not so wrong i kill everything lol.

so levelness is a large factor in pinning then? that makes sense, so i want everything to be as even as possible so that the mycelium grows into the casing evenly...if i have areas that are higher than others it will take longer for the mycelium to grow to the top of the casing making other areas start to pin faster than high spots...do i pretty much have that understood correctly?

That's about it - and the looking in on them often is a symptom, just wait until they begin to fruit and grow so fast that you will notice a difference every 15 minutes. You might not leave the room.

RetiredMatthebrute · Mar 6, 2013

haha yeah man, maybe ill try my hand at a time lapse if i can get some kind of camera setup to take a pic every 20 min.

Thundercat · Mar 6, 2013

I can't tell you how many nights I spent sitting i my closet smoking bowls and just staring into my FCs. Once you have shrooms it can be even harder not to sit in there and watch them, I remember one night tripping I spent most of the night in the closet just chillin with them listening to music.

I'm not familiar with the popcorn technique really, but when I did my casings I mixed the colonized substrate 50/50 with moist course vermiculite which increased the volume by 200% and then I let that colonize a couple days before casing the top with another half inch or so of moist vermiculite. I havn't used the soil with it, but seems like it should be useful for the nutrients. I've read about adding crushed egg shells and used coffee grounds and gypsum to fortify the substrate, but I never messed with any of them. I can't imagine most of my flushes being any bigger with the strains that grew well for me. That being said I did not have good success with the burmas, and I've read the same from others. If I can suggest one strain that everyone should try its the Koh Somoui from thailand, thats whats in my avatar.

RetiredMatthebrute · Mar 6, 2013

yeah, im not sure how far im going to take this hobby to be honest...i may just cont with the golden teachers and call it a day. i may just do my one grow and be done with it all together....will see.

Thundercat · Mar 6, 2013

Just like everything there's a fair bit of work that goes into it all. People always think growing weed is a easy way to make money, or some huge money making thing. In my experience it takes an awful lot of time, work, and expense if you want to produce good weed, shrooms, or anything along those lines. I looked into brewing some moonshine at one point, and that is a hell of alot of work and time to get back roughly 12% of your investment as alcohol. As with all of these the end product typically is of higher value and money can be made, but its not the get rich quick that so many uninformed people think it is. Your not just gonna go do any of these things real quick to bank some cash.

RetiredMatthebrute · Mar 6, 2013

oh hell no man, i have been growing for almost 2 years now and i will finally have my first large scale crop being harvested in 2 more months...i do it as a hobby though not to make money. i sell a little here and there to return my investments so i can continue to grow at little to no cost to me.

the mushrooms are going to be for me and my friends this summer...making money wasnt evena thought i had on them.

polyarcturus · Mar 6, 2013

Thundercat said:
Just like everything there's a fair bit of work that goes into it all. People always think growing weed is a easy way to make money, or some huge money making thing. In my experience it takes an awful lot of time, work, and expense if you want to produce good weed, shrooms, or anything along those lines. I looked into brewing some moonshine at one point, and that is a hell of alot of work and time to get back roughly 12% of your investment as alcohol. As with all of these the end product typically is of higher value and money can be made, but its not the get rich quick that so many uninformed people think it is. Your not just gonna go do any of these things real quick to bank some cash.

shrooms is way more way proiftable. its just there is no market for large qtys, unless you sell to someone that wants to deal. and its riskier. but 1000x mor profitable.

polyarcturus · Mar 6, 2013

RetiredMatthebrute said:
oh hell no man, i have been growing for almost 2 years now and i will finally have my first large scale crop being harvested in 2 more months...i do it as a hobby though not to make money. i sell a little here and there to return my investments so i can continue to grow at little to no cost to me.

the mushrooms are going to be for me and my friends this summer...making money wasnt evena thought i had on them.

same here i dont even sell mine, maybe a little quart or something, but that really all the their good for you and your friends.

technical dan · Mar 6, 2013

Your jar pic was looking good matt. I have not seen anything in mine yet but my temps hang out in the 60s a good bit of the time so I just gotsta wait some more. That being said I do like having something to peek at while I wait.

RetiredMatthebrute · Mar 6, 2013

checked the jars today and they are really starting to take off!! the mycelium has grown little "fingers" that are reaching for new popcorn kernels everywhere. ill snap some more shots tomorow and post them up. all done shaking jars just waiting for full colonization and ill be starting my casing.

i do have like 2-3 jars that dont appear to have any growth in them.....kinda wierd but i bet they get something going soon (i hope) wosrt case scenario they take a bit longer and i can just do a grain to grain with them once i clean out the other jars.

i plan on getting the quart sized jars for the next batch as well because 1/2 pint jars using popcorn seems a bit retarded. in my defense i was planing on doing PF tek with BRF and not popcorn when i went out and bought my jars. been reading a ton on casing and i think im just going to go with 100% vermiculite for the casing, pasturized.

anyways...hope everyone is doing well on thier adventure, post pics up if you want i would be glad to see them!!

RetiredMatthebrute · Mar 6, 2013

technical dan said:
Your jar pic was looking good matt. I have not seen anything in mine yet but my temps hang out in the 60s a good bit of the time so I just gotsta wait some more. That being said I do like having something to peek at while I wait.

you should get them temps up somehow, it makes a considerable difference.

aCiDjEsUs · Mar 6, 2013

I put a lid on my plastic box, so now no light is hitting the jars, I couldn't find my red lights got to ask my wife where they are. I left the lid opened on one side of the tote for some air exchange, I also lowered the light and now it's sitting on a aquarium screen cover
plus I raised the tote of the ground.. temps are steady at 78.3F. Here are two pictures

technical dan · Mar 6, 2013

RetiredMatthebrute said:
you should get them temps up somehow, it makes a considerable difference.

Yep it would make it faster. I forgot to get a strofoam cooler at the store when I was there, I think that will help a bit esp. once I get some growth and the myc will generate a bit of heat. I dont really want to set an incubator up nor do I have a great space for it, but its doable and always an option. The temps are rising in my area and we can feel summer coming so at some point I'll have a nice ambient temp.

Several days ago I was keeping the jars on top of a corner of my grow cab and that bumped it up a couple (or too much if in the wrong spot) but I took them off and they are just chillin on a shelf right now.

I am also planning to up it to quarts after this run; I'll need a larger PC too.

Thundercat · Mar 7, 2013

Thats why I never did quarts, the larger PCs can be pricey, so I just ran a ton of pints.

RetiredMatthebrute · Mar 7, 2013

aCiDjEsUs said:
I put a lid on my plastic box, so now no light is hitting the jars, I couldn't find my red lights got to ask my wife where they are. I left the lid opened on one side of the tote for some air exchange, I also lowered the light and now it's sitting on a aquarium screen cover
plus I raised the tote of the ground.. temps are steady at 78.3F. Here are two picturesView attachment 2556912 View attachment 2556913

have you though about using a 26w CFL and spray painting it black? this will put off some heat but no light..
im willing to bet Acid with your change in temps you will start seeing growth by end of weekend if not sooner....I have a question though, when you knocked up the jars did you make sure to squirt the solution down the sides of the jars?

technical dan said:
Yep it would make it faster. I forgot to get a strofoam cooler at the store when I was there, I think that will help a bit esp. once I get some growth and the myc will generate a bit of heat. I dont really want to set an incubator up nor do I have a great space for it, but its doable and always an option. The temps are rising in my area and we can feel summer coming so at some point I'll have a nice ambient temp.

Several days ago I was keeping the jars on top of a corner of my grow cab and that bumped it up a couple (or too much if in the wrong spot) but I took them off and they are just chillin on a shelf right now.

I am also planning to up it to quarts after this run; I'll need a larger PC too.

have you though about using a 26w CFL and spray painting it black? this will put off some heat but no light..

if you get the styro cooler than just rig up the light in it somehow.....either way im sure you will get there in due time. Im the type of person who wants fast results...if i have to wait 2 weeks to see results i will but if theres something i can do to shorten that 2 weeks to 5 days i will go for it.

also as thundercat has mentioned you can always make a small incubator out of a couple of small totes and an aquarium heater...cheap and can be relativly small too so it will fit your space.

Thundercat said:
Thats why I never did quarts, the larger PCs can be pricey, so I just ran a ton of pints.

didnt really think about that, my PC may not fit quarts either so that may be a pipe dream.

either way looking good. will get there eventually

good vibes to everyone!!

My first class with the golden teacher

Well-Known Member

Well-Known Member

Well-Known Member

Well-Known Member

Well-Known Member

Well-Known Member

Well-Known Member

Well-Known Member

Well-Known Member

Well-Known Member

Well-Known Member

Well-Known Member

Well-Known Member

Active Member

Well-Known Member

Well-Known Member

Well-Known Member

Active Member

Well-Known Member

Well-Known Member