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cne9999
Stranger Danger
Registered: 07/15/09
Posts: 463
Loc: The Sol system
Last seen: 9 years, 4 months
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Very Heavy Ammonia Smell in Casing mix after sterilization.
#11043447 - 09/11/09 10:47 PM (14 years, 6 months ago) |
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Very Heavy Ammonia Smell in Casing mix after sterilization.
AFOAF has some problems. He searched the posts and didn’t find anything quite like this. Here’s the scoop then the question he poses…
He mixed the following: 16 cups vermiculite 16 cups peat moss 5 cups Bone Meal 1.2 cups of hydrated lime 16 cups of distilled water
Close to but not exactly the mix found in the updated 50/50 casing recipe on this site. To see the difference here is the mix posted on this site: 15 1/2 cups vermiculite 15 1/2 cups peat moss 4 1/2 cups crushed oyster shell 1.2 cups of hydrated lime 15 cups of distilled water
All ingredients were horticultural grade purchased at Ace Hardware garden center and similar places. He knows the bone meal isn’t exactly right but it was all that was available (end of season here). It does help with the PH but not as fast as the crushed oyster shell. He also knows it is a good source of calcium but how bad or good it is for casing he isn’t sure. It may or may not be the source of this problem.
He chose to sterilize rather then pasteurize because his last pasteurization using the same batch of verm and peat let Inky Caps through and they inhabited a small corner of his FC on every flush. In a double pillow case (one inside the other) at 15-17PSI for just over 60 minutes supported up out of the PC water itself, the PC is an AA925. Sterilization is mentioned in the casing tek (50-50-Casing-Tek) on this site too.
All the other procedures were followed as closely as possible. After sterilization a VERY strong ammonia smell was noticed in the mix. No, a VERY, VERY strong ammonia smell. The mix smelled pretty normal prior to sterilization. The verm was pretty much devoid of odor the peat was peaty, the hydrated lime was well, hydrated lime.
Any ideas? Any suggestions? I am hoping a trusted cultivator or very experienced person has some suggestion for him. Should he dump the mix and start over? Is there a way to fix the mix? And continue on? He has several (more then 20 1 pint jars of rye) bursting at the brim and ready to pop. He doesn’t want to loose them to contam for sitting too long.
Any suggestions would be gratefully appreciated.
CNE
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Brennus
Student of Life
Registered: 05/31/08
Posts: 3,297
Loc: SE United States
Last seen: 6 years, 29 days
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Re: Very Heavy Ammonia Smell in Casing mix after sterilization. [Re: cne9999]
#11053142 - 09/13/09 05:52 PM (14 years, 6 months ago) |
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Bone Meal doesn't really belong in a casing mix. You don't want a nutritionally dense casing layer.
Sterilizing bulk substrates and casing layers will often result in disaster. Pink and black molds, along with trich, will outpace your mushroom mycelium in a heartbeat on a sterilized casing layer.
The ammonia smell is probably some sort of bacteria that's worked it's way in. Maybe it'll work, maybe it won't. I don't have a lot of experience with casing layers - I either use wax paper or nothing at all.
If you haven't added your casing layer yet, I would chuck out your mix.
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cne9999
Stranger Danger
Registered: 07/15/09
Posts: 463
Loc: The Sol system
Last seen: 9 years, 4 months
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Re: Very Heavy Ammonia Smell in Casing mix after sterilization. [Re: Brennus]
#11055859 - 09/14/09 01:24 AM (14 years, 6 months ago) |
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Most of this makes sense except:
Quote:
The ammonia smell is probably some sort of bacteria that's worked it's way in.
The amonia smell was right out of the PC. You could smell it even before opening the PC.
This I don't understand.
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Brennus
Student of Life
Registered: 05/31/08
Posts: 3,297
Loc: SE United States
Last seen: 6 years, 29 days
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Re: Very Heavy Ammonia Smell in Casing mix after sterilization. [Re: cne9999]
#11056416 - 09/14/09 07:48 AM (14 years, 6 months ago) |
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Quote:
cne9999 said: Most of this makes sense except:
Quote:
The ammonia smell is probably some sort of bacteria that's worked it's way in.
The amonia smell was right out of the PC. You could smell it even before opening the PC.
This I don't understand.
Maybe it was the peat moss.
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cne9999
Stranger Danger
Registered: 07/15/09
Posts: 463
Loc: The Sol system
Last seen: 9 years, 4 months
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Re: Very Heavy Ammonia Smell in Casing mix after sterilization. [Re: Brennus]
#11062319 - 09/15/09 04:23 AM (14 years, 6 months ago) |
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I don't know. Ciould be. I was low on my supplies so I was hoping to salvage it. But it was not to be so I used it as fertilizer, for the neighbor with the noisy dogs' lawn and garden.
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cne9999
Stranger Danger
Registered: 07/15/09
Posts: 463
Loc: The Sol system
Last seen: 9 years, 4 months
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Re: Very Heavy Ammonia Smell in Casing mix after sterilization. [Re: cne9999]
#11062321 - 09/15/09 04:24 AM (14 years, 6 months ago) |
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I ended up casing with some potting soil from Ace and vermiculite. The myc is already spreading througout.
Oh well...
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