Hello everybody! Updates and new pics will keep on coming. Hosting pics off site at the moment just out of laziness, maybe if I get a few minutes of motivation I'll transfer some on here. Any and All comments welcome!
Introduction:
This is my first ever attempt at growing any variety of shrooms. After countless hours of lurking on the boards here and reading everything I could and taking many notes, I finally felt ready to try my hand at growing my own batch. I choose to go with the PF style BRF cakes on many recommendations from the trusted cultivators, along with the knowledge that I am in no hurry, and will play it safe early on.
Subjective Notes on Materials:
-Spore Syringes were ordered from a non-shroomery vendor. 3 total, 1 PF-Original strain, 1 Amazon strain, 1 Lipa Yai strain. I am dubious as to the genetic origins listed, but maybe I will compare fruits with known phenotypes after.
-2 dozen 1/2pint jars Bernardin Brand (I think it's a Canadian thing. I would recommend staying away from these jars. As has been noted they have a slight hour glass shape which makes getting colonized cakes tricky at times) were purchased at local Home Depot.
-Brown Rice Flour was purchased pre-ground at a local bulk barn.
-Vermiculite was purchased at local Canadian Tire and had a mixture of both coarse and fine particles in it.
-Perlite was purchased at local Canadian Tire and had mostly coarse particles in it.
-Shotgun FC was made using 18Gallon Rubbermaid Roughneck bin and 1/4 inch holes.
-Minitub was made using 10gallon Rubbermaid Roughneck bin and medium soup can size (ASDF#### will measure this later) holes (6 total, 2 on sides 1 on ends)
Methodology:Beginning through Inoculation
PF-Tek was followed according to http://www.shroomery.org/10256/PF-Tek-v2
-No major deviations from Tek.
-Minor subjective choices included the application of micropore tape on each of the holes before/during steam bath, and after puncture for inoculation.
-Slightly less water was used during the mixing of BRF+Verm likely due to coarse nature of vermiculite.
-12 jars were knocked up with a multi-spore solution of each strain (12 Amazon, 12 PF). 6 jars of each strain were knocked up with the lids right side up. 6 jars of each strain were knocked up with the lids upside down. (Making a lovely 2x2 chart to compare rates of colonization)
Having everything cleaned up and organized is the key to a sterile procedure.
Placed the jars into the water bath and boiled as per PF-Tek instructions, leaving aluminum foil on as they cooled down.
Results:Post Inoculation through Birthday
Date of Inoculation: September 12th
-all 24 cakes knocked up and placed out of the way.
Date of Full Colonization: October 10th
-18 Cakes at 100%, 6 cakes at ~95%.
-No noticeable difference in rates between lids right side up or upside down.
-The area at the top of each jar that is uncolonized is the dry vermiculite barrier, and even then some of the jars are sending out feelers into that area.
Date of Dunking: October 17th
-All 24 cakes out of jars and into buckets (12 per bucket, separated by strain.) Weighted down with plate and weight on top.
Date of Birthing: October 18th (A total of 5 weeks post-knock)
-15 cakes (7 Amazon, 8 PF) birthed into Shotgun FC
-9 cakes (5 Amazon, 4 PF) crumbled in plastic baggies (one baggy per strain).
The sticky note is just a diagram of what cakes are what strain.
-----Crumbled cakes were spawned into minitub to a CCV substrate.
Recipe was
- 1/2 brick coir (I had a double sized brick, so I only used 1/4 brick)
- 2 cups vermiculite
- 2 cups freshly used espresso grinds (courtesy of local Starbucks, only 8 hours old)
- 1.25 cups crushed oyster shells (I planned on splitting it 50/50 with gypsum but misplaced it and was halfway through pasteurizing before I realized it. Went all oyster shell instead)
Layered minitub as follows:
Top of Tub
End holes
Side holes
CCV
Crumbled cake
CCV
Crumbled cake
small bit of CCV to cover bottom
Bottom of Tub
-Didn't take a picture of the finished casing due to sterility concerns, but there should be ample pics for reference of what it looked like.
-----Minitub was placed in black garbage bag and placed aside to colonize.
-Shotgun FC was placed on a regiment of ~12hours light/~12hours dark. Lighting source was Ottlite 20W Natural light spectrum (Very blue, cooler than the regular CFL)check ott-lite.com under plant growth.
Results 2: Post Birth - not yet completed
Saturday October 24th
Checked minitub, looking good, not fully colonized yet but coming along very well with lots of rhyzo myc sprouting up. Snapped a quick pic for viewing pleasure and closed it up to check back in another 3-4 days.
Tuesday October 25th
Minitub was 95-100% complete, introduced to fruiting conditions today. Placed under and off to the side of a window, ~3feet off the ground. Some metabolites causing some yellowish discoloration in one small section. Also noted alot of condensation on the inner sides and glistening water on myc (visible as shiny spots in pics, no those aren't all knots  ).
Also noting some of what appears to be either myc growth or really strange knots/pins. Clarification from someone more experienced would be nice  .
October 28th
-Took some advice after last update and put some moist verm ontop of each cake, as my verm layer from the dunk'n'roll barely covered anything and may have led to dehydration (and thus the mysterious bluing from before).
-Moved the shotgun FC to join the minitub near the window for some natural sunlight after nearly 2 weeks of pinless cakes using CFL in a closet. They must have enjoyed the light or the increase in FAE being out of the closet because I was fanning before bed and noticed some pins finally starting to appear, as well as the bluing starting to diminish.
-Nice to see things moving back to where they ought to be.
November 2nd
-Lots of fruits on the cakes starting to grow up. A few of them are in clusters, will definitely note to clone some of those out...
- 3/4 cakes not showing much of anything still. More bluing but no knotting or pinning developing.
-Minitub has lots of knotting occuring all over (mainly near sides, remind me to use garbage bag next time, if the sides pin too much).
-Single pin poking up maybe 5-10mm up, but no other pins visible.
Tuesday, November 3rd
-Harvested 2 cakes because their 'flushes' had most of the shrooms starting to break their veils. Printing 4 of the caps, nothing worth cloning. ALl of them were on the medium to small size range. 3/4 other cakes will probably be harvested tomorrow.
-Minitub is starting to pin like mad. One or two pins are starting to shoot ahead of the rest, we'll see if they are worth cloning when the time comes.
Wednesday, November 4th
-Harvest 2 more cakes. Likely another 2 ready to go tomorrow or later this evening. Getting decent yields atm, a little on the small side in terms of weights and fruit sizes, but ok for a multispore inoculation. I'm holding up for larger fruits on second flushes and from the minitub.
-Minitub continues to develop more and more pins. Also noting ALOT of side pinning, even some growing off the container it self. Definitely going to use the garbage bag method next time.
Pictures and updates still coming. Keep checking back for more.
Edited by Lucienis (11/07/09 07:45 PM)
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