cloudsaregathering said:

yeah i almost bought one of those things once, then just decided room temp was great except in winter

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Lostkeys said:

In my experience Matt tends to get angry when I heat him.

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Lostkeys said:

The problem with incubation is that most newbies including myself lack the knowledge and experience to find the "sweet spot" when incubating.  IMO this is the reason people say not to incubate, as too much heat WILL cook the mycellium/spores.

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There are MANY more problems with heating than finding a 'sweet spot'. Normally people just take my word for it when I post from experience, but here are a few more reasons why not to heat:

If you have your (any container of myc) enclosed, for example using a TiT incubator, you run the risk of stale air which promotes growth of mold. Most specifically cobweb.
When you warm a jar up to 80*F from say 70*F, you allow bacterium to grow about 500% faster, while only allowing the mycelium to grow a small amount faster, say 10%. Thus you are promoting contaminates more than you are the mycelium.

Now if you really screw up, you can definitely harm the mycelium with too much heat, dry it out with too much heat, or catch something on fire in your home.

Furthermore, I've had dozens of jars fully colonize in 10 days at 72*F. I've had this with both quart jars with rye grain and half pints of PF mixture. It's quite dependent on your moisture levels and proper inoculation technique, such as hitting all four sides of the jar with spores.

Ps, this is not meant to be condescending or me claiming to be an expert. It's just info I've learned from firsthand experience and reading the forums.

Lostkeys said:

In all seriousness it really depends on who you ask... Around the forums people tend to frown upon using incubators for most if not all steps in growing.  If you hang around chat for a bit, many of the cultivators there will tell you they always incubate jars.

The problem with incubation is that most newbies including myself lack the knowledge and experience to find the "sweet spot" when incubating.  IMO this is the reason people say not to incubate, as too much heat WILL cook the mycellium/spores.

I've had some people tell me they can fully colonize jars of WBS in 10 days with the proper use of an incubator.  Personally the extra time spent waiting for colonization is alright so long as I'm not killing my jars from using too much heat.

In other words, room temperature will work just fine, tho it may take a bit longer.

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Scott said:

cool i got 77 room temp at the mo so im just gonna leave it for now. but that does look like a nice cheap way of heating. 5 watt bulbs didnt no they even existed. ill have to look for one when the temp gets lower. or culd try and use a 40w bulb and the thermostat unless you think that will be to agressive.

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