|
 Some of these posts are very old and might contain outdated information. You may wish to search for newer posts instead.
|
 Acai
Psychonaut
Registered: 04/18/07
Posts: 29
Loc: That happy little sand ba...
Last seen: 16 years, 29 days
|
 Questions about Bulk 
#7296210 - 08/15/07 12:22 AM (16 years, 8 months ago) |
|
|
hello all! i would like to try my hand at a bulk grow but i can't decide what substrate to go with. i don't know of anywhere around here to get straw and it seems like quite a hastle to prepare. i was looking at "poo with extras" (http://www.shroomery.org/9376/Poo-with-Extras) and am liking this recipe quite a lot because i have a huge bag of vermiculite and a few bricks of coco coir to use up before switching to peat, and it seems like a very nutritious substrate that will produce potent, beautiful flushes.
i would like to know anyones' educated opinion on this recipe. i am also quite curious to know what the uses of all these ingredients are and what else could work in their places.
on the note of oven bags... i had a bad experience with them leaking, and therefor not being sealed, even when doubled.. i was also wondering if you were to use oven bags, if you could get away with putting a thick piece of rolled poly-fill at the opening and wrapping the tie around it? should i spend the extra money on filter-patch bags from a vendor? i'd really rather not if i can reliably use oven bags.
can i use a "flavor injector" style syringe from a grocery store to inject a lot of LC?
thanks for your help!
|
Acai
Psychonaut
Registered: 04/18/07
Posts: 29
Loc: That happy little sand ba...
Last seen: 16 years, 29 days
|
Re: Questions about Bulk [Re: Acai]
#7305946 - 08/17/07 08:09 PM (16 years, 7 months ago) |
|
|
i should have no problem with oven bags if i put peroxide in the substrate, right? i know it retards growth, but by how much? what amount of H2O2 should i use in the water i hydrate the substate with?
|
 dysphoria
lost soul
Registered: 06/04/03
Posts: 1,651
|
Re: Questions about Bulk [Re: Acai]
#7305983 - 08/17/07 08:26 PM (16 years, 7 months ago) |
|
|
heya...to offer what help i can..
as for suitable substrates, id keep it simple for your first few bulk grows.
while that substrate recipe is good, it does have many variables that could potentially cause a problem.
this is not to say the substrate formula wouldnt work, i just feel you'd be best suited going for one of the following recipes:
cpoo mixed with verm.
cpoo mixed with straw (craft straw is acceptable, but just barely, see below).
hpoo straight.
hpoo and verm/straw as per above, but with less straw due to hpoo being more fibrous than cpoo.
coir/coffee. by coffee, i hear spent espresso grounds from coffee shops works well when mixed 50/50 or so with coir. the ph on the coffee, after being extracted is pretty neutral.
or any combination of the above that you have readily available.
the reason the poo with extras is less appealing is also due to sterilzation vs. pasteurization.
all of the above recipes, work with simple pasteurization at 150-170 for 1-2 hours. this can be done in water bath method, oven method, or live steam...to name a few. even chemical pasteurization if you lack ways to do the above.
the above will be much more resilient to contamination while the spawn colonizes it, this is due to beneficial bacteria left in the soil that isnt killed with temperatures below 180-190. when you sterilize, you just opened up the door for any old contamination to come in.
as for oven bags..they do work for bulk sub. bags, but not so well at grain spawn, due to lack of filter patch. imo, the money spent on 25-100 spawn bags will be well worth it. they're strong, they're filter-patched, and mushrooms love them, at all stages.
oven bags are just too fickle =(
flavor-injectors work just fine for injecting LC into bulk subs, but be aware that this isnt the preferred way to do this, due to the amount of LC needed for large amounts of subs. i wish i had an idea of how much LC is required for say, a medium to large sized bag of bulk sub, but i dont have that information. now for a 5+ lb bag of rye grains, to be colonized by oysters or other allies, it requires roughly 2 full 10cc syringes of fairly thick LC to colonize the bag within the suitable time...but i must stress this is grains, not bulk subs.
as for peroxide, i wouldnt use it unless its time to use it.
this chemical is mainly for cleaning and possible contamination problems (cobweb specifically).
beyond that, its not overly beneficial to use peroxide on the actual mycelium, unless the above is true, or maybe some agar/cloning type work.
mainly due to it being broken down at any hot temperatures, as well as being broken down in a matter of days if left stagnant in a bottle, or exposed to air/light/etc.
as for the question of how much it can tolerate....it can tolerate straight 3% hydrogen peroxide straight from the bottle, with recovery from the effects within 1-3 days, unless you manage to kill it with peroxide. =)
well...hope that shed some insight into ... something, maybe you or somebody bothered to read this whole long post. =)
--------------------
|
dysphoria
lost soul
Registered: 06/04/03
Posts: 1,651
|
Re: Questions about Bulk [Re: dysphoria]
#7305995 - 08/17/07 08:30 PM (16 years, 7 months ago) |
|
|
sorry, forgot to add the part about craft straw =)
craft straw, or straw which comes in small bales or wreaths at hobby lobby or other similar craft stores, can be used, as long as its free of major contaminations (black specks, molds, etc)...and its properly pasteurized.
its highly expensive, compared to what straw from a farm would cost, but hey, sometimes city folk have no options. this is true for me, as any feed store ive called has said "nope, no straw here, just bermuda and coastal grass"
its not the best straw in the world, but its worked for many oyster and other grows for myself.
id recommend a higher than normal spawn rate, to ensure colonization before contamination.
--------------------
|
Acai
Psychonaut
Registered: 04/18/07
Posts: 29
Loc: That happy little sand ba...
Last seen: 16 years, 29 days
|
Re: Questions about Bulk [Re: dysphoria]
#7307384 - 08/18/07 11:18 AM (16 years, 7 months ago) |
|
|
i agree that simplicity would be best at first. i'm thinking i could get h/poo from some stables near by. it'll probably be fresh, so i will need to figure out how to prepare it. i have a few bricks of coir and a giant bag of vermiculite, starbucks coffee grounds are only a couple blocks away. what are a couple things i could add to make it more than basic, but not too complex? i haven't found much information on bulk substrate ingredients.
i've been making garden compost from kitchen and yard scraps for a couple years, so i think i will try making some mushy compost while my bulk is colonizing/fruiting. but i have never heard of or seen "compost activators". i'm guessing this is organisms used for composting in a nice package. i'll check the garden stores. would it be a problem if grubs or worms got into the mushroom compost?
Edited by Acai (08/18/07 11:20 AM)
|
|
|
You cannot start new topics / You cannot reply to topics
HTML is disabled / BBCode is enabled
Moderator: Shroomism, george castanza, RogerRabbit, veggie, mushboy, fahtster, LogicaL Chaos, 13shrooms, Stipe-n Cap, Pastywhyte, bodhisatta, Tormato, Land Trout, A.k.a
789 topic views. 25 members, 163 guests and 46 web crawlers are browsing this forum.
[ Show Images Only | Sort by Score | Print Topic ] |
|
Threaded
Previous
Index
Next
Edit 
Reply 
Sandanista
