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 cheezits
Stranger
Registered: 02/22/11
Posts: 11
Last seen: 8 years, 7 months
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 Documenting a new grow attempt! 
#18241289 - 05/10/13 01:29 AM (10 years, 11 months ago) |
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So I decided to start to document my new grow considering how it is a bit of a unique one. Not in the sense of new techniques or a special strain, but due to the location to which I am performing this in.
Judging how many other threads in which other people have managed to grown in the same area as much, it is quite few in number. And since I used to grow back in the States, I recently have been getting a hankering for growing again, but since everything is completely in a different language here, not to mention the various other cultural impedances for properly performing a grow, I was a bit reluctant to even begin. Presumably though the urge was too overwhelming so I decided to bite the bullet and dive right in. Attempting to familiarize myself again with the process, I reread The Mushroom Cultivator by John Stamets. (Great book, I recommend it to everyone as a good introduction for bulk grows). Now that I had gotten a good grasp on what was needed to be done, I began to purchase the required materials. (Also for all those reading wondering where I am at, I left some clues in what I just wrote. I am a bit paranoid so I don’t want to explicitly state where I am living.)
Back in the States, I had only performed the PF-Tek plus a basic “bulk grow”. In order words, I did the Pf-Tek and mixed those cakes with some coco coir. Oddly enough it turned out pretty well, however I imagined what it would be like to do a proper bulk grow to get some real gains. Not to mention my interest in using agar peaked when I spoke with a relative of mine. So after reading the book, I began to write down a list of what I would need (in English of course) and with the help of my lovely girlfriend went about translating everything and discussing where we could find each and every item. Shopping for the items took about a week to find almost everything and the items I was unable to find were ordered online. I pretty much had no trouble finding everything I needed except for more of the medical-like supplies (petri dishes, test tubes, disinfectant spray). Oddly enough, practically everything is here in one form or another. You just know what it needs to be called and where to find it, but apart from the names, the locations to where you can find it are typically the same. Things like tubs, jars, or pressure cookers can be found in hardware stores or stores similar to Walmart. If you are living here and are thinking of doing something, just send me a PM and I can point you in the right direction.
I ordered my syringes from [removed for secrecy] since I had good experiences with them before. Luckily everything passed through customs without any issues. It took about 10-14 days to arrive. You can imagine my nervousness as I waited on whether or not I would get in trouble or customs would stop it and I would never get a chance to grow. Of course this didn’t occur and I got my syringes. I ordered the 4 syringe grab bag special. You can order different strains. I did it just in case something went wrong three times, I would still have 1 more chance. I wanted to ensure I didn’t need to reorder anything ever again. (Planning to make my own prints, syringes, and slants.)
As soon as I got the syringes, they went straight into the fridge. The timing was quite right as I had a week of holiday to work on inoculating the agar plates. Following the recipes on shroomery, I mixed up a batch of agar and put them in some bottles from the local beer. It was at this time that I realized that my pressure cooker only went up to 10 psi and not the recommended 15 psi. I didn’t catch this as I was purchasing a pressure cooker since things are measured in kpa here and I had assumed they would all go to 15 psi. Any who, I placed my concoction in the pressure cooker and heat it up. Now I can't quite explain what happened between this time and when it exploded, but all I can tell you is that not only did the bottles blow up in the pressure cooker, the pressure cooker itself burst. It was an aluminum one so the sides were pushed out and the gasket was shot. Luckily it didn’t really explode sending shards out, so I was still safe, although a bit annoyed at losing my brand new pressure cooker. Luckily my gf had her own pressure cooker, and at the promise of buying her a brand new one if it too exploded, she let me use it. However hers only went to 60 kpa or 8 psi, so with some calculations, I increased the time to compensate for the lack psi. Luckily this time neither the pressure cooker nor the jars burst, so I was able to bring the pressure cooker to a room closed off from any ventilation.
I opened the PC and removed the jars full of agar from the PC to my home-made glove box. I did a wipe down of the agar-full jars with an alcohol-soaked cloth and the box itself. I carefully opened my bag of petri dishes along with opening the jar of agar. It was around this time that I began to realize that I had no idea how much agar I was supposed to pour. So in haste I ran to my computer and quickly googled “shroomery pouring agar”. I can’t quite remember which thread I had come across, but I read something along the lines of filling the entire dish of agar was recommended. So returned to my box and did so. After filling all the jars, I waited a bit, although not as long as I should since when I returned to the agar, it was still a tad warm and definitely not solid. Being the impatient man that I am, I yelled “fuck it” and began my inoculations. After sterilizing the syringe with an alcohol burner, I squirted about .5 to 1 cc of fluid within about 7 petri dishes. Once I had finished, I took out the empty agar jars, and the dirty rag I used to wipe down the box with and put away the glove box in the closet.
For the next 7 days I checked on the dishes, with no changes noted except for one dishes which had a nice little black spec. Of course that eventually ended up to be a contamination (penicillin I think) to which I promptly removed it from the glove box and disposed of it. After the 7th or so day and seeing no changes, I started to discuss this with my girlfriend who then told me that I had put too much agar in the dishes (Her major deals with medicine so she is aware of agar dishes). About a day later from that, I redid the process again; however I only filled about 5 dishes and varying the amount of agar I poured from about 1/8 to ¼. Really little amounts. After waiting quite a considerable amount of time to let the agar cool and solidify, I began to inoculate it. I reused the same syringe as before. I did the same process of heating the tip of the needle until it was red hot and then cooling it, by placing it in a petri dish. My first inoculation received nice purple splat of spore goop. I shook up my syringe again to redistribute the spores, and then inoculated the other dishes. After I finished, I noticed that the syringe cap had some spore goop in it. Since I had the previous failed attempt at filling agar dishes in the box still, I decided to do a little experiment. I scooped out the goop and placed some of it in 2 of the dishes from before. Since I was going to throw out those dishes anyways, I didn't care too much for sterility. So if something grows, then I would be lucky.
So far it has been 2 days, I checked the dishes with no real signs of growth although one dish seems to have a very slight cottony circle. It might very well be my eyes playing tricks on me, but we’ll find out in a couple of more days. My fingers are crossed.
Pictures will follow if this gains any interest. Although I’m not quite sure to what I should take pictures of.
Pictures are here
Edited by cheezits (05/10/13 08:13 AM)
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cronicr
Registered: 08/07/11
Posts: 61,436
Loc: Van Isle 
Last seen: 2 years, 2 months
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Re: Documenting a new grow attempt! [Re: cheezits]
#18241329 - 05/10/13 01:42 AM (10 years, 11 months ago) |
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Remove the vendors name, sorry thats as far as i got so far,be back in half an hour when im done
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   It doesn't matter what i think of you...all that matters is clean spawn I'm tired do me a favor
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fungitarian
oliver hart
Registered: 04/08/13
Posts: 890
Loc: the land of ooo
Last seen: 10 years, 6 months
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Re: Documenting a new grow attempt! [Re: cronicr]
#18241340 - 05/10/13 01:48 AM (10 years, 11 months ago) |
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add some pics 
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have a look at my grow.
"genius by day, junkie by night"
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illumi.naughty87
Old Uncle Nutty
Registered: 03/05/13
Posts: 296
Last seen: 5 years, 2 months
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Re: Documenting a new grow attempt! [Re: fungitarian]
#18241441 - 05/10/13 02:21 AM (10 years, 11 months ago) |
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Holy crap that was a lot to read. I am waiting for them pics bruddah.
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cheezits
Stranger
Registered: 02/22/11
Posts: 11
Last seen: 8 years, 7 months
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Edited the vendors name out and added a link for the pictures. Here is the link if anyone is too lazy to scroll up:
One of the pictures shows my attempt at trying to show a new growth. Its white and looks quite similar to mycelium. Oddly enough its on one of the petri dishes that I had fully poured. We'll see in the next couple of days to what it truly is. My fingers are crossed.
EDIT: Yea I realize now you can't see anything except a black spot in one of the pictures. That's not quite the spot I want you to focus on. Rather to where my finger is pointing, which of course isn't clear at all. And if you are wondering to what that black spot is, its spore goop.
Edited by cheezits (05/10/13 08:14 AM)
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fungitarian
oliver hart
Registered: 04/08/13
Posts: 890
Loc: the land of ooo
Last seen: 10 years, 6 months
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Re: Documenting a new grow attempt! [Re: cheezits]
#18242126 - 05/10/13 07:46 AM (10 years, 11 months ago) |
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Quote:
cheezits said:
Edited the vendors name out and added a link for the pictures. Here is the link if anyone is too lazy to scroll up: http://imgur.com/a/DYcqu
One of the pictures shows my attempt at trying to show a new growth. Its white and looks quite similar to mycelium. Oddly enough its on one of the petri dishes that I had fully poured. We'll see in the next couple of days to what it truly is. My fingers are crossed.
EDIT: Yea I realize now you can't see anything except a black spot in one of the pictures. That's not quite the spot I want you to focus on. Rather to where my finger is pointing, which of course isn't clear at all. And if you are wondering to what that black spot it, its spore goop.
upload your pics to the shroomery & throw em up on your thread. any off-site link can be a source to viruses and spyware, so people will be discouraged to click them.
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have a look at my grow.
"genius by day, junkie by night"
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