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Mushrooms, Mycology and Psychedelics > Mushroom Cultivation
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Casing recipe help needed...
    #1075700 -

I have purchased a bag of hydrated lime for mixing with peat for casing.

Question #1

Does anyone have a set of guidelines for the ratio of peatmoss to hydrated lime so that the resulting pH is suitable for growing (6.8-7.2)...just so I know where to start when I go to mix things up the first time. I've seen recipes online and even in Stamets' book, but none made with hydrated lime in particular. The FAQ's online said 2/3 of the amount of limestone flour that would normally be used... still seems like too much. Anyone with the actual numbers?


Question #2

I know I must eventually purchase a pH meter... but until then, what exact type of litmus paper do I ask for in order to fine tune the pH of the casing? I know there's dozens to choose from...

Also, Stamets says the low pH of peat makes sterilizing/pasteurizing it unecessary. It seems like he knows what he's talking about... so why do I see so much info online on boiling and microwaving peat before casing with it? The cheapie kit I just finished (total success) came with dry peat in a bag with instructions to add water, soak overnight, then apply by crumbling over straw layer. No mention of any sterilizing. I used it (without sterilizing) and picked 3 flushes with no contams. .. I did notice some greyish flour in the bag with the peat. Obviously the calcium buffering agent. But it sure as hell wasn't a ratio anything close to what Stamets quotes. The volume of peat included in my kit was about the same size as a standard sized brick... maybe a bit bigger. And the amount of grey flour added to the bag looked like about a handful, say 1/4 cup. A far cry from the 4:1 ratio in the book. Seems the more I read.. the less I know for sure.

By the way, after my cheapie kit was done it's third flush... it produced no more...even after more than a week of humid 12/12 on/off light... so I moistened the casing with a trigger bottle , garbage bagged the entire box and tossed it out the back door into the snow for 24 hrs. Brought it back into the warm humid atmoshere in my growroom....and now, a couple days later, I see tiny white dots on the casing and brand new spider webby mycelium all over the top too. I feel like one of those ER doctors with the funky electro paddles..... CLEAR!!!! bzzzzzz......bzzzzzz......we've got a pulse!

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Re: Casing recipe help needed... [Re: zoomzoom]
    #1075735 -

Your thread was fun to read - regarding exact amounts, I honestly dont know, I've never adjusted my peat. But perhaps the ratio's are different from the books and
what you saw in your kit due to using a different strength buffering agent?

I would recommend doing some sort of sterilization on your casing layer - I recently opened my bag of peat from walmart and the entire thing was colonized by a funky lime green mold.




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I am a reasonable person.

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Re: Casing recipe help needed... [Re: zoomzoom]
    #1076146 -

i follow the hawk's 50/50+ exactly but without the oyster shell (didn't notice it in the recipe until yesterday) and with a little less hydrated lime than is suggested. i have great results.

you can get away with using no lime at all (50/50 tek). i think the main problem to avoid is putting in too much lime. i add lime but a little less than called for just to help prevent contams vs. using none at all. imho, i wouldn't worry too much about the actual pH of my casings except to make sure it's not too high due to too much hydrated lime.


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Shopping for your head? Visit HeadShopFinder.com or find Online Head Shops.

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Re: Casing recipe help needed... [Re: zoomzoom]
    #1076365 -


You can find ph meters at remarkable discounts on ebay quite often. I sometimes see the pro ph/moisture meters (like this) on there for a third of their retail price. Cheaper versions can be had for $7 at certain gardening stores, nurseries, and chain stores (e.g. Rite-Aid). While this may be overkill if you follow existing recipes (50/50, 50/50+, etc), such perfectionism matched with experience will allow you to get the absolute most out of your cultivation experiments.

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Re: Casing recipe help needed... [Re: bowling-name]
    #1076674 -

Just use a pinch of the lime. Too much and you won't see fruits. I never use any ph tester (not saying it's a bad idea) and things seems to work out just fine. The biggest deal with casings is to make sure you get out all those damn little sticks in the peat since that is where your contams are going to come from. I find the oyster shells really help. The whole microclimate thing is key and oyster shells do a great job of helping w/that. They also help with PH.....


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Support bacteria - they're the only culture some people have.

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Re: Casing recipe help needed... [Re: zoomzoom]
    #1076834 -

Test your mix before usuing . Hydrated lime can very easily swing the ph the opposite way ... to alkaline . A little goes a long way , be carefull .
4 to 1, is 4 parts peat to one part lime .
Good Luck


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Any information I give is not intended to aide you in the production of potentialy illegal substances !None of my exp comes from growing illegal varities , so take it as you will .
So with that said here is our mission statement .

Then the priest fell into a trance or swoon,& said unto the Queen of heaven ; Write unto us the ordeals; write unto us the rituals; write unto us the law !

Edited by tripndicular (11/22/02 12:26 PM)

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Re: Casing recipe help needed... [Re: tripndicular]
    #1076873 -

hawk's 50/50+ recommends a mix that is about 30 to 1 (15 1/2 cups verm, 15 1/2 cups peat, 1 1/2 cups hydrated lime) or around 15 to 1 peat to lime. i'd be careful using anything like 4 to 1.


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Shopping for your head? Visit HeadShopFinder.com or find Online Head Shops.

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Re: Casing recipe help needed... [Re: Bilge]
    #1077064 -

In fact, hawke just made a change and called for horticultural hydrated lime instead of just plain hydrated lime. But that's neither here nor there.


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Re-Defeat Bush in '04

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