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 ack
Stranger in the night
Registered: 08/10/08
Posts: 69
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 Beginner's grow log - got pins and wet weight 
#8753962 - 08/10/08 03:14 PM (3 years, 9 months ago) |
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Hi,
I've been reading the forums for some time, and have decided to take a chance at some growing. The thing is, I inoculated some pk-tek jars and a rye bag 3 weeks ago, and the colonization is going too slow (around 10-30% depending on the jar, some 20% in the bag).
My question is, should I give up on this or just wait some more? Space is limited and I wouldn't want to wait on these cakes for no fruits.
Some images to help you reach a conclusion:
To help the colonization of the spawn bag I just massaged the rye to distribute the already growing mycelium, have I just killed my chances with that bag too?
Thanks! Ill try and keep a log of their growth in this post, just in case anyone is interested.
Edited by ack (09/12/08 12:14 AM)
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 hoodbran
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Re: First time grower - first time poster [Re: ack]
#8753979 - 08/10/08 03:18 PM (3 years, 9 months ago) |
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Welcome to The Shroomery! after reading i'd like to offer some advice for you, massaging the bag's contents is fine, it helps to colonize faster, now for a question to you, what is under the foil? lids with holes and tape? if so remove the foil, they need gas exchange or it will be slow... Also did you only inoculate one hole? is there any growth on the other side of the jars? ideally you need two lots of growth or more to form together, creating dikaryotic (sp?) mycelium however it will still grow likely not to produce fruits me thinks just wait it's a pain i know...
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Not all drugs are good, Some are great.
Edited by TerryTibbs (08/10/08 03:26 PM)
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rba
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Re: First time grower - first time poster [Re: ack]
#8754000 - 08/10/08 03:21 PM (3 years, 9 months ago) |
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I've never done rye bags, so I wont comment on them.
The PF-Tek jars look fine. My first time with PF Tek the inoculation times took about 3 weeks longer than the Tek said they would. Just be patient. Some things I tried were A) turning the jars upside down for a couple days and B) If you have a protective dry layer of vermiculite on top of those jars, you may want to consider removing the foil.
I made a similar post on this forum and found out that a lot of people around here don't even use the foil for PF Tek. Might help with the air exchange to remove it.
I wouldn't suggest getting rid of those jars because they look healthy. Just be patient and you will get fruits from them eventually.
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ack
Stranger in the night
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Re: First time grower - first time poster [Re: rba]
#8756801 - 08/11/08 02:27 AM (3 years, 9 months ago) |
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Thanks for your answers, I'll try and follow your advice, turning some of the jars upside down and removing the foil from the others.
The jars are covered in foil, punctured in four places from inoculation.
I'll see if I can get some pics from the bag in the evening.
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ack
Stranger in the night
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Re: First time grower - first time poster [Re: ack]
#8762508 - 08/12/08 10:57 AM (3 years, 9 months ago) |
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Couldn't deliver as promised, but here they are now, more pics, I believe following your advice has helped a lot, coupled with moving the jars to another room (they sat still for 3 weeks covered with a blanket in a closed room, and maybe that made gas exchange worse?).
My first 5 jars, all together now:
A close up of Numero Uno, the first jar I inoculated, which was showing the best progress before and I'm leaving as is (no turning or lifting foil):
And the bag, shown from the front up and down sides:
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R10tGuNn3r
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Re: First time grower - first time poster [Re: ack]
#8762550 - 08/12/08 11:03 AM (3 years, 9 months ago) |
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looks awesome! congrats on your first grow! mine didn't work out as well i'm waiting for some new spores.
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The mushroom is my shepherd; I shall not want. He maketh me to lie down in green pastures: he leadeth me beside the still waters. He restoreth my soul: he leadeth me in the paths of righteousness for his name's sake. Yea, though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil: for thou art with me.
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ack
Stranger in the night
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Re: First time grower - first time poster [Re: R10tGuNn3r]
#8762661 - 08/12/08 11:25 AM (3 years, 9 months ago) |
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Thanks for the kind words! You know, I'm kind of worried because I thought I would have completely colonized cakes/bag by now (4 weeks since inoculation) but they are making progress, and I guess that's good enough.
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hoodbran
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Re: First time grower - first time poster [Re: ack]
#8766819 - 08/13/08 06:55 AM (3 years, 9 months ago) |
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mmm ideally dude you need lids under the foil, the foil just stops water getting in from PC'ing throught the holes in the lids. Try to tuck it back on there... it's susceptible to illness, is that dry verm on the top? if not definately put the foil back on... are they kerr/ball jars? it's too late to lid them now unless you sterilize the lids and quickly put it on, it's risky i was fortunate changing lids half way through colonization and got no contams, it depends on your house, it's age, how sterile you keep the air, they look good! next time when you do jars, get lids, punch small holes in for the needle, tape them with micropore, fill your jars, add dry verm layer, put lids on, cover with foil and PC, take the foil off let cool inoculate thats it.
EDIT: Jar Numbero Uno, if it's fully colonized, and some do before the others, wait another day or two (friday) and fruit it!
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Not all drugs are good, Some are great.
Edited by TerryTibbs (08/13/08 07:06 AM)
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chiz
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Re: First time grower - first time poster [Re: hoodbran]
#8767448 - 08/13/08 10:00 AM (3 years, 9 months ago) |
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ack is do you have a filter patch on your grain bag there?
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ack
Stranger in the night
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Re: First time grower - first time poster [Re: hoodbran]
#8771583 - 08/13/08 11:27 PM (3 years, 9 months ago) |
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They are just drinking glasses, no kind of lid available. I thought the dry vermiculite layer was supposed to hold the contaminants?
As for Numero Uno, it's got a line, about 3/4 an inch, that's still not colonized, I'll try and get a pic of all of them, but I'm guessing, that at their current rate of growth it will be at least a week until I can fruit any of them, that is, if I don't get contams.
And chiz, yeah, it does have a filter patch, it's just not shown in the pic. It was given to me by a friend, properly sterilized, in order to convince me to buy a PC and stepping over PF-Tek. I think I'll try and case that one with a 50/50 layer. Any special consideration for the peat moss I should take into account? I have some remaining from re-potting some plants, but I don't know if it being fertilized would cause problems.
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veda_sticks
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Re: First time grower - first time poster [Re: ack]
#8772076 - 08/14/08 04:13 AM (3 years, 9 months ago) |
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ahhh... the good old drinking glass method. Works wonders for me :-). Its fine to take off the 2nd layer of foil to expose the inoculation holes in the first layer of foil. With the dry verm layer you could even remove both foil (as the dry verm layer is there to catch contamination, acts like a filter but personally i always leave the foil on just incase).
Great job, do you know what temperature that your growing them in, could be low temp thats making them slow.
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Roger Rabbit and Road Kill cultivation videos Starting out-This site will answer a lot of questions, great pf tek video guide
Agar's Grain LC Tek
Lipas Deli cup Agar Tek
Cakes suck for pins - click me do it right
Spice - 
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hoodbran
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Re: First time grower - first time poster [Re: ack]
#8772122 - 08/14/08 04:39 AM (3 years, 9 months ago) |
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Yes the dry verm will help protect them, try not to make wind gusting movements near them and you'll be good! - regards the 3/4 inch line, ***** is it possible it's the dry verm layer? if it is that will not colonize, you chuck that layer out when you birth the cakes, only the BRF and verm mix will colonize if it's reached the dry verm layer, it's ready ***** 
I did the same 1st grow as you, PF Tek cakes and a bag of rye grain, i cased the mycobag to a layer of coir on the bottom, then the colonized rye then straight verm, here's a pic of the tub today:
I put in a few shrooms i'm drying right now for comparison..
I'm not sure about peat moss, my intention is to show you rye spawned to coir cased with verm.
^^^ Dont make the mistake i did and not fill your tub enough, you'll see mycelium growing up the stems, it's not bad, just wierd... I have to manually FAE it...
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Not all drugs are good, Some are great.
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veda_sticks
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Re: First time grower - first time poster [Re: hoodbran]
#8772187 - 08/14/08 05:30 AM (3 years, 9 months ago) |
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ah, hoodbran has hit on something i missed.
The top part of your glass wont colinise, the part thats dry verm. If thats the part you are talking about which is not colinised then your substrate is fully colinised. Wait 5-7 days to be extra sure, dunk n roll and birth.
--------------------
Roger Rabbit and Road Kill cultivation videos Starting out-This site will answer a lot of questions, great pf tek video guide
Agar's Grain LC Tek
Lipas Deli cup Agar Tek
Cakes suck for pins - click me do it right
Spice -
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ack
Stranger in the night
Registered: 08/10/08
Posts: 69
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Re: First time grower - first time poster [Re: veda_sticks]
#8772207 - 08/14/08 05:50 AM (3 years, 9 months ago) |
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The line in that first cake runs all across it, It's not the same as the dry vermiculite (I believe I can even see a difference in color with the dry verm in all but one of the cakes, it might have gotten wet while steaming). I'll try and get a picture of that side of the cake, then I'll let them sit there for a week before checking them out again, if not, they're going to drive me crazy :P.
As for temps, they've been between 70/82 during their whole colonization, just room temp, no special heating applied, maybe they are a tad on the cold side and that's why they are taking so long?
Cheers, and thanks once more for your help!
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ack
Stranger in the night
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Re: First time grower - first time poster [Re: ack]
#8772537 - 08/14/08 09:01 AM (3 years, 9 months ago) |
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As promised, more exciting colonization pics:
Numero Uno and it's not colonized zone:
Some nice rhizomorphic growth on the second jar:
Battle of the mycelium on jar three:
And the great losers, jars four and five, with barely no growth, and some damp areas down below that don't look nice at all:
 
They do have a couple (or just one in number five's case) dime sized mycelium spots, but they don't seem to be growing much.
Hope you enjoyed them, any comments or suggestions welcome 
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UncleMike
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Re: First time grower - first time poster [Re: ack]
#8772586 - 08/14/08 09:19 AM (3 years, 9 months ago) |
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Against popular belief do not ever turn your jars upside down. The dry vermiculite layer is your filter and there is a possibility of contamination laying on the top layer so when you turn your jar upside down you risk contaminating your substrate by the shifting of the dry vermiculite. By looking at the photos, it looks like you may have a moisture isssue with your substrate. I see mushroom piss, the yellow stuff which indicates that the mycelium is under some stress. If you have too much water content then the total colonization of the jar is going to be slower. I do not have much advice except to next time invest in some 1/2 pint wide mouth mason jars and to make sure to follow the pf tek word for word and do not take any short cuts. Mix just enough substrate for one jar at a time.
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Live each day like it will be your last, tomorrow my never come.
SporeSmart
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ack
Stranger in the night
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Posts: 69
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Re: First time grower - first time poster [Re: UncleMike]
#8772746 - 08/14/08 10:06 AM (3 years, 9 months ago) |
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Maybe the water content of some of the jars got messed up during steaming, that could explain why some jars are going "pretty good" while others are completely retarded, having prepared all the substrate at once.
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hoodbran
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Re: First time grower - first time poster [Re: ack]
#8772759 - 08/14/08 10:11 AM (3 years, 9 months ago) |
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Quote:
ack said:
As promised, more exciting colonization pics:
Numero Uno and it's not colonized zone:
I see...
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c1dh3d
The elephant is BACK
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Re: First time grower - first time poster [Re: ack]
#8772762 - 08/14/08 10:11 AM (3 years, 9 months ago) |
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I've - NEVER - birthed a fully colonized jars, and got whopping flushes off them. I've had 1/4 of the outside of the cake visibly covered at best - and 2-3 ounces dry weight after single flushes.
Being impatient, can at times, kick ass. Or majorily backfire. A fun coin flip it is 
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hoodbran
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Re: First time grower - first time poster [Re: c1dh3d]
#8776360 - 08/15/08 03:31 AM (3 years, 9 months ago) |
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Quote:
c1dh3d said:
I've - NEVER - birthed a fully colonized jars, and got whopping flushes off them. I've had 1/4 of the outside of the cake visibly covered at best - and 2-3 ounces dry weight after single flushes.
Being impatient, can at times, kick ass. Or majorily backfire. A fun coin flip it is
That would be interesting if you have any pics... what do you do with the uncolonized part? wash it off or keep it??
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Not all drugs are good, Some are great.
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