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 Majordoobage
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Registered: 05/31/12
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 My 1st PF Tek Grow. 5 mexi jars + hpoo tray, 1 tex jar, and 1 PR jar. (Update: Bittersweet success) 
#16371515 - 06/12/12 05:23 PM (11 months, 6 days ago) |
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What's up shroomery! My first grow is underway thanks to all the wonderful info on this site.
I purchased a mexi-cube syringe and puerto rico syringe from a reputable online dealer a few weeks ago. When the package arrived, I found the dealer also included a texas syringe as well (thanks for the freebie!). Why Mexi-cube and PR? I decided on Mexi-cube because that's basically ground zero for the introduction of shrooms to America. I wanted to try and replicate the effects Wasson had upon his seminal experience with teonanacatl. I also decided on PR because I have ties to the island, so it's sentimental.
After careful research, I decided to go basic and do PF tek using BRF cakes (with gypsum added). I followed the standard tek and knocked up 8 half pint jars with mexi-cube spores (depositing about 1cc per jar divided into 4 inoculation points), and did 1 jar with texas spores and another with puerto rican spores just for shits and giggles. I inoculated on 06/08/12 @ 10pm. I tried to adhere to sterile technique using flame sterilization with a glove box. I've read that PRs are particularly bad on cakes, so that will be an interesting experiment.
******6/12/12******
So about 4 days have gone by and I'm starting to see some growth! My texas jar has by far the most agressive myc growth out of the bunch:
I'm starting to see little pinpoint myc growth in about half the mex jars:
And still no signs of growth in the PR jar, which is strange because everyone talks about how aggressive PR mycelium is... Oh well, i'll give it a little more time to see what's crackin'
I'll continue updating this grow as it progresses. I can't wait to birth these bad boys. I seriously hope the shroom gods are on my side, as I'm leaving town at the end of july and won't be back for 2 months. Fingers crossed I don't experience any delays. I'm planning on getting at least one or two flushes per cake by then end of July. 
PS If anyone has any experience with growing or consuming these shrooms, I'd love to hear from ya!
******6/15/12******
A week has gone by since innoc and everything seems to be chugging along pretty smoothly.
Texas mycelium is still tearing through the cake at record speed!
The mexi-cubes are coming along as well. All 8 jars are showing growth!
... And sadly my one PR jar is still not showing any signs of life. We'll give it another week and see what it wants to do.
That's it for now. Just playing the waiting game. Again, if anyone has any experience cultivating or consuming these species, please let me know! Thanks 
******6/19/12******
What's up Shroomery?! 11 days since injection and the fungi in these jars are spreading there mycelium like anal warts at a Dave Matthews concert 
Mexi's are coming along pretty nicely. Probably about 50% colonized in half the jars and about 25% colonized in the other half.
Texas is still going strong! Maybe about 75% colonized.
And Puerto Rico is still MIA. I'm thinking about pronouncing this one soon.
I need some expert advice: Can I inject more spores into the Puerto Rico BRF cake 12 days after sterilization? I know there's an inherent risk in sticking the needle through the dry verm, but this cake is a crapshoot anyway so really what's the risk? I'm really wondering if there's enough moisture left in the cake to support healthy fungal growth.
Anyway I'm devising the ultimate way to store these mushrooms once dried, so stay tuned!
******6/27/12******
It's been about a week since my last post, so I think an update is in order 
The cakes are progressing nicely! About half the cakes are 95-100% colonized while a few are 75% and a couple are at about 50%.
I decided to "re-penetrate" my PR jar and inoculated another cc of spore solution into the cake on 06/20 and I'm glad to report growth is occuring in 2 out of 4 innoc points! Problem is I don't know if this cake will be ready to birth by the end of July, so i might end up tossing it.
Some more good news: I figured out the case of the mysterious orange contams!!! CH Hell astutely pointed out that it looked like rust forming around metal shards. He was absolutely right. I opened the one 1/2 pint jar that I never touched during the initial innoc yesterday, and lo and behold there was small metal pieces at the bottom of the jar.  I guess I never cleaned out my jars good enough and some residual metal shards remained. Oh well, I doubt a little rust will adversely affect any growth.
One final note: I plan on crumbling 3 cakes and mixing it with some hpoo, verm, and gypsum per RR's instructions in a 9x13 baking dish. If I use about 2 quarts of sub, it works out to a ratio of about 1:2.5 (i used the substrate calculator which is fan-fuckin-tastic!).
Some questions:
1. Anyone know of adverse affects from crumbling cakes of different strains together in one pan?
2. I've read that you shouldn't use disposable aluminum pans because the fungus will eat through it, does this also apply to thick metal pans?
3. I still haven't made up my mind about casing (whether to do it or what materials to use), all suggestions are welcome.
4. I've also read about people crumbling cakes by hand, in a food processor, and smashing it in a ziplock bag. Are any of these methods preferred or outdated?
Thanks again Shroomery for all the help! Stay black!
******7/6/12******
Hello friends! Hope everyone is doing well on this very hot Saturday morning.
We're approaching the one month mark on this little grow here. Out of the 10 original cakes:
-3 mexi BRF cakes have been crumbled (ziplock bag) to Hpoo/verm/gypsum on 07/01
-5 mexi BRF cakes are 100% colonized, consolidating in their jars
-1 texas BRF cake had consolidated for over a week, started pinning in the jar, then dunked, rolled, and put into my SGFC 48 hours ago
-I have been misting and fanning approx 3x/day
-1 puerto rico BRF cake colonized about 30%, probably going to be chucked outside soon
Here's the Texas cake hanging out in the SGFC. It's been 2 days, and still no signs of pins. I'm going to start misting less. I think misting 3x/day is excessive and causing the cake to be too damp. Any thoughts?
Here's the tray with Hpoo sub. The poo was pasteurized in jars after bringing to field capacity, and the internal temperature reached 178F for about 10 mins  I took the jars out of the water and allowed them to cool to about 170 for an hour then completely cooled for 8 hours. here it is after 6 days:
After checking my sub today, I noticed a few little pools of water sitting on top of the spreading myc (circled in red). I used a piece of toilet paper to absorb most of it. Here's a close-up shot:
I just noticed that my SGFC isn't large enough to house 6 cakes and a 9x13 pan, so I need to figure out another type of fruiting chamber for my tray. I'm courting the idea of fruiting in open air with occasional misting. Hit me up with your suggestions! Thanks
******7/15/12******
How's it hanging Shroomery? I think this grow is royally screwed 
Everything was going fine up until the fruiting stage. Inside my SGFC is 5 mexi jars and my Hpoo tray. They've been fruiting for over a week and absolutely no signs of growth. I've been misting and fanning about 3x per day. Temps stable between 72-77 degrees. Keeping humidity high has been a battle, even with 4.5" of perlite. I've had to rehydrate my perlite (which was bone dry after 7 days) and constantly add water to keep rH between 90-100.
My 1 Texas jar had a questionable growth on it, so it was crumbled and thrown outside. The PR jar was about 70% colonized, and that was crumbled and thrown outside with the Texas cake.
I know it could take time to see pins, but time is the only thing i ain't got. I'm leaving town for 2 months at the end of July. I highly doubt anything substantial will grow within the next two week. It's sad to come to terms with the fact that this grow has resulted in failure. All the time and effort... all for naught.
Sorry for the emo rant. I'll take this as a learning experience and hopefully apply it to my next grow. I'm kind up upset because I followed the PF Tek to the T without great results. Oh well, maybe I'll try a monotub next time.
I'm gonna go cut my wrists now 
******7/26/12******
Rejoice Shroomery! For the mushroom gods have bestowed fungus unto me! But lo what a sense of humor the mushroom gods have...
Here's the situation: I've been battling low humidity problems since birthing. It took me practically 2 weeks before figuring out a way to boost my humidity to mid 90's AND keep it there. I blame the rubbermaid bin I used. The lid does not attach very well so I'm sure my humidity was leaking like crazy. In order to fix my SGFC, I had to basically plug up all my holes on the bottom and sides, and I draped a wet towel over the top. This was enough to keep my rH around 95. I also set my cakes and hpoo tray on a wire rack suspended millimeters above the perlite by mason jar lids.
About 5 days after making the changes, there was still no growth present on my cakes or my hpoo tray. I noticed a chunk of poo fell off the cake and into the perlite. After carefully examining this poo, I noticed 6 small pins on the poo chunk! I got really excited and depressed thinking that those pins were the only ones I'd get to see for this whole grow... This is when I thought "Well obviously the pins formed because the rH was highest in the perlite. I wonder if any pins formed underneath the tray which is millimeters above the perlite?"
My suspicions were confirmed! This is what I found upon flipping my tray on 07/24/!
Here's a picture of my tray today, 07/26:
So I'm leaving town for 2 months this Saturday, meaning this grow is terminating in 2 days. Wanna know what really chaps my ass? This:
See all the little white spots around the tray? Given another few days, this would've developed a beautiful pinset! 
I'm so bummed that I need to throw in the towel right before the climax. This is the mushroom growing equivalent of blue balls.
Oh well, at least it wasn't a complete failure (besides the cakes not doing anything). Hopefully I'll attempt another grow in the near future and retool my strategy a bit. You guys think I'll be able to achieve any psychedelic effects off of what has grown so far? I sure hope so... Thanks for all the info fellas.
Edited by Majordoobage (07/26/12 10:38 PM)
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 FrankHorrigan
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Registered: 01/05/11
Posts: 5,260
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 Re: My 1st PF Tek Grow! 8x Mexi-cubes, 1x Texas, 1x PR [Re: Majordoobage]
#16371564 - 06/12/12 05:32 PM (11 months, 6 days ago) |
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Looking good. My PR took quite a while to germinate as well, don't fret.
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Majordoobage
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Re: My 1st PF Tek Grow! 8x Mexi-cubes, 1x Texas, 1x PR [Re: FrankHorrigan]
#16371605 - 06/12/12 05:40 PM (11 months, 6 days ago) |
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Quote:
FrankHorrigan said:
Looking good. My PR took quite a while to germinate as well, don't fret.
Thanks for the response! I'll give each jar about two weeks before speculating about problems.
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FrankHorrigan
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Re: My 1st PF Tek Grow! 8x Mexi-cubes, 1x Texas, 1x PR [Re: Majordoobage]
#16371633 - 06/12/12 05:47 PM (11 months, 6 days ago) |
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It should only be a couple more days. But if you don't see growth in two weeks, yeah, there's a problem 
PR's and all cubes do fine on cakes, the only one that will give you less fruit is PE.
Good luck!
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Dunk your grains before spawning to bulk, share your results!
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Here is how I get things done.
You should take a look.
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Majordoobage
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Updated my post with pics. Any suggestions/criticisms are welcome.
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FrankHorrigan
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That texas is going fast as fuck
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DocShroom
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Looking good man.
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Majordoobage
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Re: Update 06/19/12 [Re: DocShroom]
#16405726 - 06/19/12 10:08 PM (10 months, 29 days ago) |
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Updated this bitch with pics!
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Majordoobage
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I know this is against shroomery policy, and I apologize for bumping my thread, but I forgot to add this in the update:
I need some expert advice: Can I inject more spore solution into the Puerto Rico BRF cake 12 days after sterilization? I know there's an inherent risk in sticking the needle through the dry verm barrier, but this cake is a crapshoot anyway so what's the risk? I'm really wondering if there's enough moisture left in the cake to support healthy fungal growth. Thanks for the replies.
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reinfect
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Quote:
Majordoobage said:
I know this is against shroomery policy, and I apologize for bumping my thread, but I forgot to add this in the update:
I need some expert advice: Can I inject more spore solution into the Puerto Rico BRF cake 12 days after sterilization? I know there's an inherent risk in sticking the needle through the dry verm barrier, but this cake is a crapshoot anyway so what's the risk? I'm really wondering if there's enough moisture left in the cake to support healthy fungal growth. Thanks for the replies.
Next time just update your last post
I wouldn't say that re-inoculating is a good idea. You're not only risking contamination,
but the jar has also dried a pretty decent
amount after two weeks. But, if it's a crapshoot you're looking for
then have yourself a crapshoot.
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Crypts
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Re: Update 06/19/12 [Re: reinfect]
#16407563 - 06/20/12 06:23 AM (10 months, 29 days ago) |
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Agreed. If everyone went 100% by the books, there wouldn't be any advances in any of these teks out there. Crapshoots are the key to new teks! lol...
but if you are going to penetrate the verm layer, I would mark that one as a do not use one. and plant that in the backyard LOVE the idea that these will grow anywhere. when times are right they will surprise you later!
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Unknown-Strain
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Re: Update 06/19/12 [Re: Crypts]
#16407678 - 06/20/12 08:03 AM (10 months, 29 days ago) |
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NICE!
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Majordoobage
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Thanks for the responses fellas! I think I'm gonna re-"penetrate" (what an awesome word  ). I like the idea of burying in the backyard with some poo. This is the only jar that didn't colonize; what kind of learning experience would my 1st grow be without any hiccups?!
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Majordoobage
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HALP HALP HALP!!!!!!
Does this look like mold or a contam? This is on my texas cake:
Man I'm kind of worried. I've spotted a number of these dark ball on the bottom and sides of 2 jars, and they're sporting an orange hue (especially on the bottom). My temps have been really hot lately (79-84) due to my shitty AC. Should I be concerned?
Edited by Majordoobage (06/20/12 12:59 PM)
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Crypts
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its def contaminated with something. but the rule of thumb how I understand is, mark it as contaminated, wait and see if the myce can beat it out of recources. and then be over cautious if you plan on fruiting it, i.e. keep away from non contam ones. good luck!
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Majordoobage
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Re: Update 06/19/12 [Re: Crypts]
#16423395 - 06/23/12 01:28 AM (10 months, 26 days ago) |
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Alright so its been a couple days, and I've only noticed these growths in 2 of my 10 jars. They appear to be concentrated on the bottom of the jars in clusters, and there also appears to be excess water droplets in these jars as well.
my Texas jar:
and one of my mexi-cube jars:
Any comments are much appreciated!
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mtlmike90
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Looks like you might have a bacterial contamination going on there.
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mrmojoshroomin
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Re: Update 06/19/12 [Re: mtlmike90]
#16423525 - 06/23/12 02:00 AM (10 months, 26 days ago) |
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I could be wrong but it looks like they are pinning early which means they are probably contaminated.
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Majordoobage
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Re: Update 06/19/12 [Re: mtlmike90]
#16423528 - 06/23/12 02:02 AM (10 months, 26 days ago) |
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Quote:
mtlmike90 said:
Looks like you might have a bacterial contamination going on there.
Is there any use in salvaging these cakes? Can I birth them and consume the resulting shrooms without adverse health effects?
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mrmojoshroomin
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I'd wait untill a TC chimes in and gives there expert opinion before i would chalk anything
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