Introduction and new project outline :) - Mushroom Cultivation

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Cension
Student

Registered: 01/25/10
Posts: 84
Last seen: 13 years, 3 months

Introduction and new project outline :)

#11898693 - 01/25/10 02:30 PM (14 years, 2 months ago)

This is my first post here and I wanted to begin by saying hello to everyone in the community! :smile:

Let me preface this also by saying that I am representing a overseas friend who does not have the luxury of steady internet access, so I will be acting as his surrogate in these forums.

Now, I myself am not a complete newbie to cultivation, but we both are fairly inexperienced in some of the newer techniques involving bulk substrates & casing procedures. Although I've not been an active member of these forums in the past, I have lurked here for many years and have spent countless hours reading & researching the topics and discussions in these forums. With that, I consider myself to have a good general knowledge of basic cultivation. My friend knows this, and has therefore asked for my assistance in his own quest for knowledge.

The following post outlines the current (low-budget) project from beginning to current day. Forgive me if it is a bit long-winded, but I am just trying to be as thorough as possible. My sincere thanks to anyone who sees it all the way through.

That being said-

The choice was made to begin with a general PF tek to get a feel for the new environment in regards to atmosphere, accessibility and limitations before venturing into the realm of bulk substrates and casings.

A PF cake mix was prepared using the materials available which were fine grade vermiculite, blender-ground brown rice and distilled water. The fine grade of the verm was a concern, but after reading several posts on the subject, it was determined that this variety was acceptable. To counter the fine verm, the brown rice flour was left slightly chunky (similar to the grade of the verm) as suggested.

Ten 1/2 pint jars were prepared using no additional filter except the top layer of verm, quad-punched lids affixed, foil covered, and sterilized in the PC. There was no washcloth or elevating rack used, so the bottom layer of jars rested directly on the floor of the PC.

After 24 hours, on the winter solstice day of December 21st, the jars were inoculated inside a custom Sterilite still-air box, half PF half B+. There was some issue with clogging of the needle which we figured was due to the fine grade of the verm, so some of the jars got an even 1cc of spore solution while others received almost an entire cc into a single hole due to over-pressing the plunger when clearing the clogged needle. The jars were then placed directly into a TiT incubator which maintains an even 85°F.

The cakes that were over-injected with solution due to clogging obviously began to colonize quicker, and after a week, three out of ten of the jars did not show any signs of mycelium growth whatsoever.

At around the 18 day mark, two of the B+ and one of the PF jars still showed no signs of germination and were discarded. The remaining three B+ jars appeared to be about 98% colonized at that point, while the other four PF strain jars remained at varying degrees of colonization.

At the 24 day mark, the B+ jars remained nearly entirely colonized except for a very slight indication of the verm showing through. The colonization of the other four PF jars seemed to have either slowed down dramatically or had halted entirely. In #1 and #2 of the four PF jars, the strong mycelial growth halted abruptly- #1 halfway colonized, #2 65% colonized. Jar #3 was at that point 75% colonized with the mycelium halting abruptly on one side and tapering off on the other. Jar #4 was 85% colonized with mycelium continuing to creep around the jar, albeit at a very decreased rate.

It was also noted that the substrate in all 7 of the remaining jars shrank into a slight hourglass shape, and condensation had collected on the walls of the jars. There was also a very slight brown discoloration of the myc in the PF strain jars right around the middle where the cakes had become concave. This slight browning did not look like any type of contamination discussed here, so they remained in the incubator. Also observed on PF jar #2 was two brown blobs forming which looked very much like premature pin heads smooshing up against the side of the glass. After determining that this was most likely the case, it was also left to further incubate.

At day 32 of incubation, and at 7 days after the B+ jars appeared fully colonized (except for the slight poking through of a bit of verm), the three jars were removed from the opaque incubator and placed in a clear, sanitized Sterilite bin at fruiting temperature of 75°F and exposed to a 6/18 light/darkness cycle. Of the remaining four PF jars, #1 and #2 did not show any sign of further colonization, #3 seemed to show a very slight indication of further colonization, and #4 appeared to be about fully colonized despite the center of the cake being sunken in.

This brings us to day 35, today. Here is the plan:

The three B+ jars will be experimented with. Two cakes will be birthed today and dunked in the fridge over night in filtered, H2O2 treated water, while the third will remain in the jar over night. Tomorrow, of the two dunked cakes, one will be double-end cased, and the other rolled. The third cake will simply be birthed, and all three will be placed in a shotgun terrarium with an ambient temp of 75°F and exposed to a 12/12 light cycle. They will be misted and fanned 2-3 times a day or as deemed necessary.

As for the remaining four PF jars, this is what the plan is for them and where the most feedback is sought:

While it seems likely that bacteria may be the culprit in halting the colonization of these cakes, we cannot be 100% sure of that. They may just be dehydrated or perhaps some other unknown factor exists. Since the mycelium that has colonized seems strong and uncontaminated, it has been decided that more experimentation is in order. All four cakes will be removed from the jars and the uncolonized portions of each carefully cut away with a sterile knife. What remains will be dunked in the fridge overnight in H2O2-treated H2O. After 18 hours, they will be placed into plastic ziploc baggies and crumbled to the size of cheerios. The crumbled cakes will then be combined, separated into two batches, and each will be cased into a 8x8x12 microwavable container using a 50/50 peat/verm mix. They will be incubated and then allowed to fruit in the same plastic containers, which are tall enough to accommodate the fruit. They will sit alongside the shotgun terrarium and be exposed to the same heating/lighting conditions.

So there you have it, the first part of the current project in it's entirety (the other part of the project will be outlined in a separate post). Thanks again to anyone who has had the patience to read this entire outline! My friend and I greatly appreciate any feedback that is offered by the community, and look forward to sharing with you what transpires!

On a side note, there was a few cc's of spore solution left in the PF & B+ syringes, and also in a syringe of Cambodian which was used in a different project, so it was decided that they would be used to create liquid cultures using the Super Easy Karo Tek . The three containers were inoculated last night and are resting comfortably in the incubator. Results to follow.

Cheers!

Extras:

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