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Cension
Student



Registered: 01/25/10
Posts: 84
Last seen: 14 years, 26 days
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Things you had to learn the hard way
#12521804 - 05/07/10 11:38 AM (14 years, 8 months ago) |
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Shroomery is a pretty well-rounded place for mushroom growing information, but sometimes in all the haste and excitement new cultivators experience, critical information can wind up being overseen or slip through the cracks entirely.
This thread is for experienced cultivators, or at least those with a few grows under their belts, to chime in on the things that, despite all the research they may have done before they started, set them back in some way, shape or form.
These could be little, mundane things like:
If you don't dry you hands completely after washing, you will have a hell of a time putting on surgical gloves
-or-
Plastic mason jar lids shrink in the PC, so if you put your plastic grain jar lids on tightly before you sterilize, they will be impossible to open when you go to spawn
-or-
If you don't cap your alcohol lamp tightly, the alcohol inside will evaporate within a couple of days and you will have to refill it each time you need to sterilize an instrument.
Anyone have any others??
inb4 invert agar
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Breakfast Crew
Cheerios



Registered: 01/20/09
Posts: 1,985
Last seen: 13 years, 5 months
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Re: Things you had to learn the hard way [Re: Cension]
#12521820 - 05/07/10 11:42 AM (14 years, 8 months ago) |
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Duck tape is NOT the solution for everything.
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lozerfreek
Stranger



Registered: 04/27/09
Posts: 97
Last seen: 13 years, 3 months
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Re: Things you had to learn the hard way [Re: Breakfast Crew]
#12521887 - 05/07/10 12:00 PM (14 years, 8 months ago) |
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don't talk about fight club
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Nyawinge



Registered: 03/17/10
Posts: 254
Loc:
Last seen: 12 years, 2 months
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Re: Things you had to learn the hard way [Re: Breakfast Crew]
#12521893 - 05/07/10 12:01 PM (14 years, 8 months ago) |
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Plan on starting your sterilization process a full 24 hours before you inoculate- my first attempt got stymied because I rushed into it and didn't let the jars cool enough
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teknix
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π°π‘ πΌπ⨻


Registered: 09/16/08
Posts: 11,953
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Re: Things you had to learn the hard way [Re: Cension]
#12521911 - 05/07/10 12:05 PM (14 years, 8 months ago) |
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Agar agar builds up a lot of positive pressure in your jars, dont over fill it!
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Bom_Tombadil
ShRoOm GrOwEr & EaTeR

Registered: 05/12/09
Posts: 206
Last seen: 9 years, 5 months
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Re: Things you had to learn the hard way [Re: teknix]
#12521950 - 05/07/10 12:15 PM (14 years, 8 months ago) |
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remember to put a hole for air exchange in your rtv jar lids so you will not create a vacuum that suck out all of your spore solution into your LC jar
-------------------- "There is only one Lord of the Ring, only one who can bend it to his will. And he does not share power."
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dyskon
Bottom Dweller

Registered: 04/26/10
Posts: 122
Last seen: 14 years, 5 months
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Re: Things you had to learn the hard way [Re: Cension]
#12521962 - 05/07/10 12:19 PM (14 years, 8 months ago) |
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DO NOT. I repeat DO NOT light a lighter inside your (sealed) still air box after you just sprayed it down with 91% alcohol.
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bigcrackrock
Stranger


Registered: 02/26/10
Posts: 235
Last seen: 13 years, 7 months
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Re: Things you had to learn the hard way [Re: Nyawinge]
#12521970 - 05/07/10 12:20 PM (14 years, 8 months ago) |
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Using grains on anything bigger than a quart jar is risky business and not worth it.
Fruiting cakes made from pop corn. You can actually get a decent amount off of em but you usually rip off a couple kernels every time you pick one leaving the cakes badly bruised.
Not having the fan on high enough when oven drying. It burnt a lot of my caps in half but they still did the trick.
Putting off starting your grow because you don't have some kind of filter for your jars. As long as you have a sterile stash spot you shouldn't have a problem with just leaving your lids loose.
Using h2o2/h2o for misting.
I thought using coir as a casing layer was the reason I was getting overlay. Now I'm not sure because I have a cake that has a bunch of stalled white pins. If I pick em is there a chance new pins will come in healthy and not covered in mycelium? I've seen absolutely no growth in about 3-4 days from that cake.
I'm sure there's more. I tend to fuck up everything I do.
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teknix
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π°π‘ πΌπ⨻


Registered: 09/16/08
Posts: 11,953
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Re: Things you had to learn the hard way [Re: Cension]
#12521973 - 05/07/10 12:21 PM (14 years, 8 months ago) |
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The cake is a lie . . .
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13shrooms
Lightning Shaman



Registered: 01/01/09
Posts: 26,719
Loc: IN ETHERS TORSION FIELD
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Re: Things you had to learn the hard way [Re: Bom_Tombadil]
#12521978 - 05/07/10 12:22 PM (14 years, 8 months ago) |
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let iso alcohol completely dry after you wipe your work area down b4 spore printing or it turns your caps into mush and spores wont drop from a mushy cap.
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Click here ^ for the AMU forum
VVV AMUs Free Active/Edible/Exotic Spore Print or Syringe or Edible Culture Trade Thread VVV
"Man is the sex organ of the machine world" ~ Marshall McLuhan
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Breakfast Crew
Cheerios



Registered: 01/20/09
Posts: 1,985
Last seen: 13 years, 5 months
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Re: Things you had to learn the hard way [Re: bigcrackrock]
#12521988 - 05/07/10 12:24 PM (14 years, 8 months ago) |
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Don't believe everything you read.
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13shrooms
Lightning Shaman



Registered: 01/01/09
Posts: 26,719
Loc: IN ETHERS TORSION FIELD
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Re: Things you had to learn the hard way [Re: Breakfast Crew]
#12521994 - 05/07/10 12:26 PM (14 years, 8 months ago) |
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Quote:
Breakfast Crew said: Don't believe everything you read.
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A M U
Click here ^ for the AMU forum
VVV AMUs Free Active/Edible/Exotic Spore Print or Syringe or Edible Culture Trade Thread VVV
"Man is the sex organ of the machine world" ~ Marshall McLuhan
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Cension
Student



Registered: 01/25/10
Posts: 84
Last seen: 14 years, 26 days
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Re: Things you had to learn the hard way [Re: Nyawinge]
#12522028 - 05/07/10 12:34 PM (14 years, 8 months ago) |
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Quote:
Nyawinge said: Plan on starting your sterilization process a full 24 hours before you inoculate- my first attempt got stymied because I rushed into it and didn't let the jars cool enough
Yep, patience is the virtue.
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Fungal growth
Lootinint



Registered: 03/21/10
Posts: 3,641
Loc: under a rock in your yard
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Re: Things you had to learn the hard way [Re: Cension]
#12522267 - 05/07/10 01:26 PM (14 years, 8 months ago) |
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growing bulk opens you up to far more contamination risk than noccing up 12 pf jars for you and your friends. hypothetically speaking.
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geohoe
Mad Scientist

Registered: 01/26/10
Posts: 68
Loc: Outer Space
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Re: Things you had to learn the hard way [Re: dyskon]
#12522424 - 05/07/10 01:52 PM (14 years, 8 months ago) |
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Bic lighters and alcohol lamps take too long to heat the needle and are for chumps. Find a small butane torch for kitchen use (creme brule kits @ Bed, Bath, & Beyond)
Quote:
dyskon said: DO NOT. I repeat DO NOT light a lighter inside your (sealed) still air box after you just sprayed it down with 91% alcohol.
Two things can happen. One is that there is so much alcohol in the GB that is displaces O2 and your lighter won't light. The other is you loose your hair and eyebrows in a fireball.
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Shea25
Just some guy



Registered: 01/27/09
Posts: 7,772
Loc: Westcoast Canada
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Re: Things you had to learn the hard way [Re: geohoe]
#12522452 - 05/07/10 01:58 PM (14 years, 8 months ago) |
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A lighter is fine i find it only takes a few seconds for it to get red hot. Have never had a problem using them .
Also its always best to do your flame sterilization outside the glovebox always
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dyskon
Bottom Dweller


Registered: 04/26/10
Posts: 122
Last seen: 14 years, 5 months
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Re: Things you had to learn the hard way [Re: geohoe]
#12522471 - 05/07/10 02:01 PM (14 years, 8 months ago) |
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Well it wasn't completely sealed. I should have put closed. The 1.5inch pvc vent on the side was open and some of it went out through there. The plexy top did come up and the heat/flame kind of went out the sides of it and it fell back down. I *almost* lost my eyebrows but just singed my shirt
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Dr.scifi
Stranger


Registered: 03/09/10
Posts: 40
Last seen: 10 years, 6 months
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Re: Things you had to learn the hard way [Re: Fungal growth]
#12522475 - 05/07/10 02:02 PM (14 years, 8 months ago) |
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1.The first time you do something follow the directions exactly you can change it the second time. That may sound redundant but if I could only get my wife to do that i would be the happiest man ever.
2.Don't wipe your needle down with alcohol after flame sterilizing to cool it faster this is unnecessary and not sterile. If you are going to be weighting weeks what is a few seconds.
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afrosheen
9Lives the cat



Registered: 03/06/10
Posts: 1,878
Last seen: 3 years, 3 months
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Re: Things you had to learn the hard way [Re: Dr.scifi]
#12522719 - 05/07/10 02:51 PM (14 years, 8 months ago) |
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Don't cheap out and substitute isopropyl alcohol for denatured alcohol. Denatured (90%) alcohol does the same job, but doubles as a fuel for your homemade alcohol lamp. Isopropyl will cause sooty needles; denatured will not.
Invest in a decent tube of silicon sealant. The kind with the pointy applicator tip is probably best for most jobs. Larger openings will cause you trouble with precision when applying it.
Don't bother with damprid or other desiccants. Get a food dehydrator. Fast, efficient, and you can do alot at once.
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colemantallent
Back after ten years!



Registered: 01/01/10
Posts: 199
Loc:
Last seen: 4 days, 2 hours
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Re: Things you had to learn the hard way [Re: Cension]
#12522737 - 05/07/10 02:56 PM (14 years, 8 months ago) |
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Do not open your contaminated jars inside your house. You may never see good contamination rates again.
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