ok, i'll be nice, but in the future you will find that most of your proceedural questions can be answered by using the search facility. if after you have searched you still need info you will find most of us verry willing to help.
also, if you haven't already, you should take a look here, it has a lot of good info.
1.) a fruiting tray is just that, a water tight tray in wich you can put colonized susbstrate to facilitate fruiting of the mushrooms. it should be made out or a sturdy material like aluminum or plastic and large enough to acomedate your substrate (plus one half to two inches inches for a casing layer if desired, or if required by the species). i like to use aluminum bread pans, disposable plastic casserole dished (gladware, they are cheap) and uncle ben's rice bowls(for single pint casings). these are all redily available at any grocery/department store for low cost.
2.) the required size of tray will depend on how much colonized substrate you intend to use per tray and whether you intend to spawn to a bulk substrate (if you don't know what spawning or bulk substrates are you are better off no trying it yet). the rice bowls i used ( have shit loads of them cause they are good for a quick lunch) will acomedate 1 pint of colonized grain plus a 1/2 inch casing layer, this is good for a small, quick and easy casing and doesn't require spawning.
fore the gladware trays (approx 8*8*3 in.) i usualy used half pint of colonized grain spawned to 2 pints of bulk (pasturised horse manure works great) with a 2/3 inch casing layer. you could easily just use 2 and 1/2 pints colonized substrate for this sized container.
3.) this is realy quite simple.
a.) be sure you have a clean area to work and make sure the air is reasonably clean (liberal use of spray disinfectant like lysol half an hour before working works alright) and that there are no drafts in the room. wash your hands with antibacterial soap, i use surgical antimicrobial scrub but this isn't realy nessacary (taking a shower before hand helps) wash your trays and any inplement that will touch the substrate and the working surface (table/counter/whatever). be sure to have all materials you will use in the working area before you begin
b.) without opening the bags squeeze them from different angles many times to break up the block into small clumps. open the seal on the bags but keep it folded over when not filling trays.
c.) fill trays one by one, folding the bag opening over each time while you level the surface (latex gloves can be used as added precaution, but again, not nessecary) leaving a little extra room in the top of the tray (leave a little more room if you are going to case). cover each tray after filling (foil/cling rap or similar) and set aside (note: some like to perforate the covering to allow for minimal gass exchange, but again, not nessecary), proceed likewise with each tray untill all are filled and set aside.
d.) if you are going to use a casing layer you will now prepare then apply the casing to each tray under similar clean conditions as you used when filling the trays.
e.) put each covered tray in incubation conditions untill the myceliu start to re-knit themselves (not nessecary unless spawning, but as long as you don't let them sit too long it can't hurt, when spawning to a bulk substrate this is called spawn running). if casing you will want to check progress occasionaly to ensure that the casing layer is colonizing evenly, if not, apply more casing material over the colonized areas to let the rest catch up (this is calles patching). don't let the casing layer overcolonise, this can lead to overlay.
f.) once recolonised, you trays are ready to be put under fruiting conditions. you will need to water them via a spray bottle of sterile water occasionaly (you can find info on watering casings by using the search feature). given proper humidity, temperature and reasonable cleanliness, you will soon notice pin-heads develop, these will continue to develop into mature fruit bodies (i assume you know what to do with these...).
4.) well in short, nothing. if you choose, you can, optionaly, a use a small amount of colonized substrate mixed with a sterilized or pasturized bulk substrate (most bulk substrates like straw, cow manure, horse manure, compost, etc will be pasturized, not sterilized). if you choose to do this you must spawn run to insure that this bulk substrate is colonized before you try to fruit. a typical bulk to spawn ratio is 5/1 but you can use as little as 10/1 if you are confident in your cleanliness and ability to maintain propper incubation conditions as it will take longer to colonize during the spawn run and will thus be more prone to contamination, drying out, overlay, etc.
5.) myco bags do not smell much untill they are opend for fruiting or filling, after wich there is a minimal degree of odor.
the smell of the mycelium is distinct and pleasant. with cubensis it is similar somewhat to store bought button mushrooms but only a little. the smell isn't strong. you will just barely notice it in the room untill you open the closet.
as far as any compost you use, the smell will vary, but in general the smell will be like a rich, wet, potting soil. again, not too strong. but some, like those containing pig or chicken manure may smell much stronger than those containing, or concisting solely of horse manure or straw, for obvious reasons.
as far as your selection of vender and strain, i must recomend Eq, B+ and Cambos. because of anti spam regulations, i will not recomend one vender over another but i will say that the one you mentioned in your post has proven reliable IME.
PS: i appoligize if this was hard to follow, or if i left anything out, i'm dead tired and didn't intend to spend this much time writing to begin with.
good luck.
--------------------
Attn PWN hunters: If you should come across a bluing Psilocybe matching P. pellicolusa please smell it.
If you detect a scent reminiscent of Anethole (anise) please preserve a specimen or two for study and please PM me.
Edited by concretefeet (02/01/03 07:15 PM)
|
Threaded
Previous
Index
Next
Some of these posts are very old and might contain outdated information. You may wish to search for newer posts instead.
DannyBoy 
Edit 
Reply 
1 2 all )
Anonymous
multifractal
SixCee