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Doctor_Inoc
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Shiitake Blocks, Blobs!
#14578273 - 06/08/11 04:32 AM (12 years, 7 months ago) |
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Here goes a few Shiitake blocks that have been colonizing for a few weeks.

I want to be the best Shittake grower that I can be. So, your comments, questions, and/or criticizes are appreciated and welcome. Thanks.
Updated, 8-24

Update; 9-1-11
Rinsed blocks in the sink. Didn't collect and save the run-off water.

While I was busting my Shiitake block strike cherry, I split the first block.
By the time I was to striking the last block, I was striking these blocks like a resident pro..

Fruiting chamber #1
Fruiting Chamber #2

Went for the long haul and shocked the blocks in the fridge for a full 72 hours after a few more days of the blocks in the bags.
Both fruiting chambers are placed on the edges of five gallon buckets so that air can enter through the holes on the bottom of the fruiting chamber, under their own window sill, each with the aid of their own 30 watt, artificial, compact fluorescent light in the 6500 spectrum range set on a timer to come on every 12 hours, and go off for 12.


Update; 9-5
What is the direct effect of the over supplementation of Shiitake blocks? Mutant blobs!


Hey! I'm just happy to have taken this specie all the way through to fruition. Learned a lot! Just one remaining question. Are these ok to consume?
Edited by Doctor_Inoc (09/05/11 10:09 PM)
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FractalXplora
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Hi Doc,
1st off as you already probably know at least 3 months in the bag is necessary.
Look at the difference between these two blocks, one was left only a month in bag and the other for 3 months.
Both were cold shocked and slapped about! Strain is 75.
 
I'll leave you to guess which is which!
Some other good tips from the resident shiitake rabbitI will pass on!
1.after unbagging,give a rinse off and cold shock around 40F for a couple of days.
2, Then proceed to slap the blocks on all sides as hard as you can without them exploding and breaking.
3. Fruit at 50F - 60F, for shiitake 75 anyways.
What strain and substrate are you using, looks like starw and sawdust?
Good luck and post your results
Fractal.
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Edited by FractalXplora (06/08/11 04:42 AM)
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Doctor_Inoc
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Quote:
What strain and substrate are you using, looks like starw and sawdust?
Correct.
Strain, unknown.
Substrate, approx. 25/75 wheat straw/oak sawdust, supplemented with roughly 5% gypsum, and rice bran.
Thanks for the advise.
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RogerRabbit
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You might also want to change to the T filters rather than the M filters on those bags. I've been running tests on both, but for now, the T filters are outperforming the M, although substrates in bags with the M filters like yours colonize faster.
So far, I'm finding with the T filters, I can begin fruiting after 60 days, and get similar performance to the M filters after three to four months in the bags. More tests are under way, but that's the preliminary finding. Straw also helps with many strains, as does shredded bark, which you'll find at nurseries in cities sold as 'beauty bark'. Fortunately, I get all the bark I need when I split firewood every year. I just run it through the shredder and add it at in roughly the same amount as straw.
Growing shiitake is as much art as science, so experiment with various changes with each batch, and keep accurate notes so you can learn what works and doesn't work in your unique environmental situation. RR
-------------------- Download Let's Grow Mushrooms semper in excretia sumus solim profundum variat "I've never had a failed experiment. I've only discovered 10,000 methods which do not work." Thomas Edison
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FractalXplora
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Type 3T-High efficiency 0.2 microns is that what you use RR?
Will these stop me having shiitake fruiting in the bag?
I have mixed batch of spawn bags from a trade so I'm not sure whats what!
looking at these;
http://www.annforfungi.co.uk/shop/equipment/10-spawn-bags-3t/prod_51.html
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RogerRabbit
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If you're using Unicorn bags, 3T is what you want. The 3T bags won't completely stop invitro fruiting, but will help. Premature fruiting shiitake is usually caused by excess colonization temperature, over incubation beyond 4 months, or making the substrate too wet. RR
-------------------- Download Let's Grow Mushrooms semper in excretia sumus solim profundum variat "I've never had a failed experiment. I've only discovered 10,000 methods which do not work." Thomas Edison
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Doctor_Inoc
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A full tutorial on how to grow Shiitakes in 4 posts or less. PRICELESS!
Furthermore, each bag was inoculated with 2 cups of colonized grain spawn.
Making the substrate too wet is concern of mine in the back of my mind.
Do you think these particular substrates are too wet??
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curry
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They're not too wet (I don't see extra water standing in bags). Even if they were on the wet side, they'd still fruit just fine.
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FractalXplora
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Re: Shiitake Blocks. [Re: curry]
#14589316 - 06/10/11 07:54 AM (12 years, 7 months ago) |
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Quote:
If you're using Unicorn bags, 3T is what you want. The 3T bags won't completely stop invitro fruiting, but will help. Premature fruiting shiitake is usually caused by excess colonization temperature, over incubation beyond 4 months, or making the substrate too wet. RR
Magic Roger, as usual golden advice for us budding shiitake growers!
Whats your ideal room temp RR for incubation you try to keep it at 60F yes?
Sorry Doc hope Im not hijacking ya thread!
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Doctor_Inoc
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Quote:
Sorry Doc hope Im not hijacking ya thread
Not at all sir. All input is gold, IMO. Your questions are teaching me so, KEEP EM' COMIN'! Thank you Fractal for your advise.
Thanks for you opinion of the moisture content of my bags, curry. That makes me feel better. No, there is no standing or pooling water. These bags just seemingly have lots of condensation, then what I'm used to (cube. grain bags) and they'v been colonizing at a steady 69-71F.
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kotter


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Online (http://www.bonanza.com/booths/CSRSCIENCE) under the product details for Unicorn bags is this comment:
"keep in moisture, allow for fresh air exchange, and to keep contaminants out, they have a 3T-High efficiency 0.2 microns filter patch 1-5/8 square inches in size. They are reusable, being able to not only withstand but stay soft and easy to seal after heat treatment in an autoclave for six hours at 262°F (125°C)."
Does anyone really reuse spawn bags? It seems like it would waste a lot of time and be asking for problems.
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RogerRabbit
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Re: Shiitake Blocks. [Re: kotter]
#14594894 - 06/11/11 08:10 AM (12 years, 7 months ago) |
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I believe that's a quote from Unicorns' website. I've re-used them, but I take exception to the 'soft and easy to seal' part. After sterilizing mushroom substrates in my 55 gallon drum sterilizer at 1 psi for 8 hours, they're still pretty much re-usable, but after 90 to 120 minutes at 20 psi in my AA-75X, they're stiff and brittle. They survive fine, but I sure wouldn't want to go another cycle. The cost of a tiny pinhole in the bag is a wasted batch of several pounds of grains, plus the time involved to prepare, sterilize, inoculate and incubate.
We save our used bags for straw logs, which we colonize with oyster mycelium and then fruit outdoors during the summer months. I'm too allergic to oyster spores to grow them indoors, so the used bags give us a free alternative for outdoor growing, since we poke holes in the bags during straw colonization anyway. RR
-------------------- Download Let's Grow Mushrooms semper in excretia sumus solim profundum variat "I've never had a failed experiment. I've only discovered 10,000 methods which do not work." Thomas Edison
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kotter


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Thanks for clarification RR and also for the tip on a good way to reuse them.
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loucal
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RR have you tried yet using your spent shiitake substrate for oysters or as an addition to the straw for the oysters? I know last september you said you had not tried this yet, but was hoping you would have some new information. In chapter 22 (i think its 22) of GGMM Paul says something about oysters growing very well on just spent shiitake substrate. I know you use the blocks to remediate parts of your property as per your website, but you have so much every day... I think he also grows a third species on this next spent substrate, a secondary decomposer.
Sorry about the allergy, I remember reading about it in a past thread and I assumed that was why you didn't try this, but if you are growing them outdoors maybe you tried it. They say it can develop slowly so I'm hoping for the best myself. Maybe there is some sort of mask that can be invented that covers the whole face.
If its a shortage of manpower... I have a really small tent, you wouldn't even notice I was there Seriously, I know there would be lots of people raising their hands to apprentice there, and then there is always wwoof. Oysters, coprinus, wine caps and more all from the byproduct of your organic business. Your warm season would be even more awesome than it already is.
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RogerRabbit
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Re: Shiitake Blocks. [Re: loucal]
#14611329 - 06/14/11 10:46 AM (12 years, 7 months ago) |
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I haven't tried reusing the shiitake substrates for oysters yet. We just have too much going on this summer, but it's on the list. But. . .I'm getting ready to take my dog on a 15 mile hike on the Kettle Crest trail today, as conditioning for doing the whole 40 miles(over two days) later this summer. I can see from my house that most of the snow is off the ridge except at the summits, so I'll be leaving my snowshoes home today for the first time. I need a break from all the mushroom work. RR
-------------------- Download Let's Grow Mushrooms semper in excretia sumus solim profundum variat "I've never had a failed experiment. I've only discovered 10,000 methods which do not work." Thomas Edison
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lipa

Registered: 07/24/07
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This is a picture of oysters fruiting from 1 spent shiitake block. It fruited 4 times. Works good with compost mushrooms too if you mix it in with some straw.

Lipa
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Doctor_Inoc
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Re: Shiitake Blocks. [Re: lipa]
#14848672 - 07/30/11 01:15 PM (12 years, 6 months ago) |
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Hey guys, been a while since I read through this thread. Soooo much GREAT info in this thread. Thanks to all the participating posters of this thread.
I'd like to know more about using spent Shiitake blocks to fruit oysters off of. That kicks ass, lipa, loucal, and Roger. How do you guys go about that?
All 8 of my blocks are reaching full consolidation (about 90%) in about their third month from being inoculated, colonizing at 67F.. They're all brown and fuzzy.
A little concerned that they may be over supplemented. I used cubensis ratios to supplement the sawdust (2% by volume of dry sawdust of rice bran and gypsum, also, each bag was inoculated with a half quart of fully colonized grain spawn).
I have misplaced my camera but, I'll update with pics. as soon as I get a camera, AGAIN.
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Doctor_Inoc
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Do these look to you like they're ready to birth?
To birth, I plan on cold shocking the blocks inside of the bags, inside of a freezer for 2 days. Which, according to a cheap meat thermometer, is holding at 38F. Fruiting chamber to be used; 2 shotgun fruiting chambers. Does this sound right to you? After the 2 day cold shock, come time to strike, would I leave the blocks inside of the bags for the striking?
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EvilMushroom666
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To me those blocks look ready to birth. How long has it been since inoculation?
Iv played around with cold shocking in a refrigerator, and what I have been doing is placing the blocks inside with temps around 38-43F leave them for 12-16 hours, take out for 8-12 hours, and then place back in for another round. With my next blocks I am going to try three cycles in and out of the refrigerator and see if that makes any difference.
As you have seen from my previous grows SGFC's will fruit shiitake blocks fine.
When I am spanking my bags I personally do it while the block is still inside the bag, then slide the block out, wash off all the metabolites with running water and then place into fruiting.
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RogerRabbit
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I combine the slapping with rinsing. This helps get more of the stuff off. On another note, when you rinse off the blocks, collect and save the brown water that washes off. It's a great plant food and contains plant growth hormones. It will double the size and health of plants and flowers in your garden. RR
-------------------- Download Let's Grow Mushrooms semper in excretia sumus solim profundum variat "I've never had a failed experiment. I've only discovered 10,000 methods which do not work." Thomas Edison
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lipa

Registered: 07/24/07
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Quote:
RogerRabbit said: On another note, when you rinse off the blocks, collect and save the brown water that washes off. It's a great plant food and contains plant growth hormones. It will double the size and health of plants and flowers in your garden. RR
Do you have a reference for this?
Lipa
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EvilMushroom666
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I will have to give it a try your way next time RR. I am also very interested in saving the metabolite water now...I have a nice sized organic garden and I am always looking for better ways to give my food what it needs in a natural way. As always thanks for the tips.
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RogerRabbit
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Re: Shiitake Blocks. [Re: lipa]
#14974270 - 08/24/11 11:55 PM (12 years, 5 months ago) |
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Quote:
lipa said:
Quote:
RogerRabbit said: On another note, when you rinse off the blocks, collect and save the brown water that washes off. It's a great plant food and contains plant growth hormones. It will double the size and health of plants and flowers in your garden. RR
Do you have a reference for this?
Lipa
Yes, my own work.
It's a previously undiscovered property to the best of my knowledge. RR
-------------------- Download Let's Grow Mushrooms semper in excretia sumus solim profundum variat "I've never had a failed experiment. I've only discovered 10,000 methods which do not work." Thomas Edison
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Aleon
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Re: Shiitake Blocks. [Re: lipa]
#14975498 - 08/25/11 09:27 AM (12 years, 5 months ago) |
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Quote:
lipa said:
Quote:
RogerRabbit said: On another note, when you rinse off the blocks, collect and save the brown water that washes off. It's a great plant food and contains plant growth hormones. It will double the size and health of plants and flowers in your garden. RR
Do you have a reference for this?
Lipa
I beleive it. That stuff looks and smells like it would help boost organic reactions needed to feed plants in an organic based medium. I am interesting in trying this out too.
-------------------- Mushroom medicines available at: www.swordandshieldwellness.com
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Doctor_Inoc
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Quote:
EvilMushroom666 said: To me those blocks look ready to birth. How long has it been since inoculation?
Iv played around with cold shocking in a refrigerator, and what I have been doing is placing the blocks inside with temps around 38-43F leave them for 12-16 hours, take out for 8-12 hours, and then place back in for another round. With my next blocks I am going to try three cycles in and out of the refrigerator and see if that makes any difference.
As you have seen from my previous grows SGFC's will fruit shiitake blocks fine.
The original post took place a little over 2 and a half months ago as I state the bags were inoculated 2 weeks prior to making the post so, it's safe to say about three months, give or take a week. Forgot to label these bags and am mainly keeping track of their inoculation date as per the dates that are displayed in the post we make.
Interesting take on staging out the shock cycle. Let us know how that works out for you.
RR, that's a good tid-bit about fertilizing plants with collected and saved Shiitake substrate run-off or bath water. Don't have any plants going, at the moment so it looks like at the very least, I'll be shocking inside of the bags and, slapping and rinsing the blocks, after the shock.
You should have/pay someone bottle that stuff up for you, RR. Slap a sticker with your face on the bottle and sell it as a fine, organic fertilizer as I understand you've recently become certified by the state of Washington as an "organic" Shiitake farmer.
Edited by Doctor_Inoc (08/25/11 11:26 AM)
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RogerRabbit
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I'm planning to. We're still figuring out how much to use and how often. One thing to keep in mind is to always water the plants well, and then wait overnight before using the substance. Don't use it on plants in dry soil. RR
-------------------- Download Let's Grow Mushrooms semper in excretia sumus solim profundum variat "I've never had a failed experiment. I've only discovered 10,000 methods which do not work." Thomas Edison
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Doctor_Inoc
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Quote:
RogerRabbit said: I'm planning to. We're still figuring out how much to use and how often. One thing to keep in mind is to always water the plants well, and then wait overnight before using the substance. Don't use it on plants in dry soil. RR

Yup, you want those roots to open their "capillaries" (I believe is the word) from soil that's dried out by intorducing them to plain water first, before hitting them with nutes.. If you ignore to hit the roots with water first, the nutes. COULD burn the roots and cause them to lock up, locking out any water and/or nutrient uptake.
In my experience, organic fertilizers don't cause roots to burn. Which is another reason, in a long list of reasons, why organic gardening is the way to go.
If you could find the general N-P-K of the Shiitake run-off water then you would know how much to use and how often. Correct me if I'm wrong but, I think there are meters out there that read the N-P-K of nutrient solutions. At the very least, I remember of such devices that will read the PPM's of nutrient solutions. Unlike chemical fertilizers, organic fertilizers are never precise about the numbers they have.
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Aleon
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I doubt the shiitake waters value is in its NPK lol! It might have some, but its probably more about natural hormones, vitamins, and metabolites that speed organic reactions, just a guess though. Also, organic gardening is not always the way to go, on a side note. I beleive hydroponically grown produce can be far superior to organically grown, or visa versa. Depends on the cultivator, conditions, strains, purity of nutrients; pretty much an infinite number of factors. etc. (yall should know this its the same with fungi ) Organic can burn roots, just not as easily. Ever overdone guano? It will burn plants like a mofo. Dont buy into organic is better, thats what the marketers want to to think, so you buy more of it. While i do normally prefer organic, and will most likely look into certification of my mushrooms, i hold both growing systems with equal regards. I grow plants in hydro, and in organic systems for personal consumption. I like to have a salad with hydro and organic lettuce in the same bowl; it can only diversify the nutrients you receive! Normally circumstances make one better than the other. If you live in a desert, i bet hydro produce will be much higher quality than soil grown, lol. Each consumer needs to take in more than just few flash words, like organic or sustainable, and think about what is the best for themselves and the environment, because it is to each his own.
Fun topic!
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RogerRabbit
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Re: Shiitake Blocks. [Re: Aleon]
#14981242 - 08/26/11 10:14 AM (12 years, 5 months ago) |
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Quote:
Dont buy into organic is better, thats what the marketers want to to think, so you buy more of it.
Not so at all.
The organic standard requires us to PROVE every year at our annual inspection that we're improving the health and vitality of the soil. To consider only the short-term volume or quality of product that can be produced with hydroponics and/or chemicals, while ignoring the long-term damage caused by the salts produced is short sighted.
We have tens of thousands of farmers in America who have so terribly polluted their own farmlands with toxic salts from chemical fertilizers that nothing will grow on it, and now the rest of us are paying taxes to hand those same irresponsible farmers welfare payments, disguised as 'conservation reserve' where they're paid not to farm the land they ruined themselves. That's a win for the chemical industry and irresponsible, lazy farming techniques, but a lose for all the rest of us. RR
-------------------- Download Let's Grow Mushrooms semper in excretia sumus solim profundum variat "I've never had a failed experiment. I've only discovered 10,000 methods which do not work." Thomas Edison
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Doctor_Inoc
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Quote:
I doubt the shiitake waters value is in its NPK
Without (N)nitrogen, (P)phosphorus, (K)potassium, and all the other trace elements, how would the Shiitake run-off water even be beneficial to plants?
Quote:
Ever overdone guano?
No, I haven't. I was talking about an organic nutrient, soluble in water, and administered by hand, such as fish emulsion.
Quote:
RogerRabbit said:
Quote:
Dont buy into organic is better, thats what the marketers want to to think, so you buy more of it.
Not so at all.
The organic standard requires us to PROVE every year at our annual inspection that we're improving the health and vitality of the soil. To consider only the short-term volume or quality of product that can be produced with hydroponics and/or chemicals, while ignoring the long-term damage caused by the salts produced is short sighted.
We have tens of thousands of farmers in America who have so terribly polluted their own farmlands with toxic salts from chemical fertilizers that nothing will grow on it, and now the rest of us are paying taxes to hand those same irresponsible farmers welfare payments, disguised as 'conservation reserve' where they're paid not to farm the land they ruined themselves. That's a win for the chemical industry and irresponsible, lazy farming techniques, but a lose for all the rest of us. RR
What do you think of them apples, Aleon?
Quote:
RogerRabbit said:

RR,
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Aleon
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Good points RR.
In short, I was merely trying to say that guns dont kill people, people do. The gun in itself is inanimate, as is hydroponics or organics. Also, Hydroponics is not short sighted by any means. It is an age-old technique that does not require manufactured chemicals by any means. Ever heard of the hanging gardens of babylon, or the aztec chinampas? They were all eco-friendly hydroponics systems used to feed people. I have also been experimenting with hydro bamboo and spider plants in my FC along side the mushrooms(to use CO2 and produce O2). They sit in rocks and use only h20 to grow(sometimes i add a little omri listed kelp for a boost). How is this bad for the environment? It may be hard(it is for me), but try not to get hung up on the word hydro, or organic. That is just one part in the process. How the cultivator harvests his/her inputs from the environment and how he/she manages the waste stream created is a major factor in how "eco-friendly" the product is. The association of the word hydroponics with chemicals is another time where one word does not tell the whole story, just as in the association of the word organic with healthy (i think of... OG certified soda pop, OG certified candy bars, OG certified spray on pancakes in a can.)
I did/do not mean to upset. I just want to state my opinion, see others opinions and have a healthy chat about the concept.
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Doctor_Inoc
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Re: Shiitake Blocks. [Re: Aleon]
#15013725 - 09/01/11 07:16 PM (12 years, 4 months ago) |
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Rinsed blocks in the sink. Didn't collect and save the run-off water.

While I was busting my Shiitake block strike cherry, I split the first block.
By the time I was to striking the last block, I was striking these blocks like a resident pro..

Fruiting chamber #1
Fruiting Chamber #2

Went for the long haul and shocked the blocks in the fridge for a full 72 hours after a few more days of the blocks in the bags.
Both fruiting chambers are placed on the edges of five gallon buckets so that air can enter through the holes on the bottom of the fruiting chamber, under their own window sill, each with the aid of their own 30 watt, artificial, compact fluorescent light in the 6500 spectrum range set on a timer to come on every 12 hours, and go off for 12.


Do Shiitake mushrooms absorb light from their sides like cubensis mushrooms do? If so, was going to change the light placement so the light is delivered to the sides of fruit bodies.
Edited by Doctor_Inoc (09/01/11 08:05 PM)
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RogerRabbit
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I'd just put three per terrarium to make sure the fruits have room. RR
-------------------- Download Let's Grow Mushrooms semper in excretia sumus solim profundum variat "I've never had a failed experiment. I've only discovered 10,000 methods which do not work." Thomas Edison
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EvilMushroom666
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Cannot wait to see the results!
I birthed three blocks today after a 72 hour cold shock and the third block got slit in half and some of it crumbled. I placed the top half back on, rinsed it off and perhaps I will get a few fruits off it 
Its heartbreaking to see a block that has been colonizing and browning for 2-3 months crumble, crack or split in half.
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RogerRabbit
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It won't hurt. I often toss spent blocks 30 feet into the garden area so they'll break apart on landing. They also often fruit from those crumbs left over. I've seen large shiitake form on chunks of a block half the size of a brf cake. RR
-------------------- Download Let's Grow Mushrooms semper in excretia sumus solim profundum variat "I've never had a failed experiment. I've only discovered 10,000 methods which do not work." Thomas Edison
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Doctor_Inoc
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Quote:
RogerRabbit said: I'd just put three per terrarium to make sure the fruits have room. RR
Have 2 extra, pre-constructed storage totes but no perlite. It'll be tomorrow evening until I'm able to grab some more perlite, then I can build that extra terrarium, RR. Hope these blocks can wait until then.

EvilMushroom666, hello. I wasn't bothered too much. My heart sunk when that block split, then I quickly realized how many cubensis substrates I'v seen become split, recolonize at the split, and fruit quite nicely.
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Doctor_Inoc
Vintage Hand
Registered: 04/30/11
Posts: 646
Loc:
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What is the direct effect of the over supplementation of Shiitake blocks? Mutant blobs!


Hey! I'm just happy to have taken this specie all the way through to fruition. Learned a lot! Just one remaining question. Are these ok to consume?
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EvilMushroom666
Heretic




Registered: 11/18/09
Posts: 10,289
Loc: Canada
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I have eaten and dried my fare share of mutant shiitake fruits. As long as they are not rotting or mushy they should be fine to consume.
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Doctor_Inoc
Vintage Hand
Registered: 04/30/11
Posts: 646
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Fruiting chamber 1;

Fruiting chamber 2;

Here they are after the separation (this is current).
Fruiting chamber 1;
Fruiting chamber 2;
Fruiting chamber 3;


DI
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RogerRabbit
Bans for Pleasure



Registered: 03/26/03
Posts: 42,214
Loc: Seattle
Last seen: 11 months, 4 days
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Quote:
Doctor_Inoc said:
Have 2 extra, pre-constructed storage totes but no perlite. It'll be tomorrow evening until I'm able to grab some more perlite, then I can build that extra terrarium, RR. Hope these blocks can wait until then.
You really don't need perlite with shiitake. You don't want a high humidity like with cubes. Find something to lift and hold the blocks so they're not on the bottom. RR
-------------------- Download Let's Grow Mushrooms semper in excretia sumus solim profundum variat "I've never had a failed experiment. I've only discovered 10,000 methods which do not work." Thomas Edison
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lipa

Registered: 07/24/07
Posts: 2,684
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Even that dishpan in the above picture will work. I drape a piece of wax paper over the top and secure it with a couple of clothes pins leaving it loose and airy. I open it once and a while and mist the inside. Works great.
Lipa
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Powfuu
Stranger

Registered: 12/18/19
Posts: 147
Last seen: 3 months, 22 days
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Quote:
FractalXplora said: Hi Doc,
1st off as you already probably know at least 3 months in the bag is necessary.
Look at the difference between these two blocks, one was left only a month in bag and the other for 3 months.
Both were cold shocked and slapped about! Strain is 75.
 
I'll leave you to guess which is which!
Some other good tips from the resident shiitake rabbitI will pass on!
1.after unbagging,give a rinse off and cold shock around 40F for a couple of days.
2, Then proceed to slap the blocks on all sides as hard as you can without them exploding and breaking.
3. Fruit at 50F - 60F, for shiitake 75 anyways.
What strain and substrate are you using, looks like starw and sawdust?
Good luck and post your results
Fractal.
Quick question for this thread! I am a first time shiitake grower, but about every video I have watched on the cold shocking process and that, I see they put the block still in the bag into the fridge to cold shock. After reading this thread, I see that I am supposed to remove the bag first, rinse off, and then just put the block into cold shock with no bag? Just want to clarify this for myself!!
Also, in a tutorial I watched, he cold shocked in the bag, and then put the whole thing in the grow, still in bag for a day or two, then he removed the bag. Is there any benefit to that??
Excited to grow shiitake!! I have 2 bags going, 1 is just about completely brown, the other one is a bit behind and just now turning brown. They've been going a month in a half, going to do my best to hold them off for 3 months total! The one that's all brown's testing my patients, but all part of the game and the learn.
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Forrester
aspiring sociopath


Registered: 02/05/13
Posts: 9,351
Loc: Northeast USA
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Re: Shiitake Blocks. [Re: Powfuu]
#26939376 - 09/16/20 04:19 PM (3 years, 4 months ago) |
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Quote:
Powfuu said: Also, in a tutorial I watched, he cold shocked in the bag, and then put the whole thing in the grow, still in bag for a day or two, then he removed the bag. Is there any benefit to that??
I would do this. It's always preferable (to me) to wait until there's pins to strip the bag. Otherwise you're drying it out prematurely while no mushrooms are growing.
-------------------- Repugnant is a creature who would squander the ability to lift an eye to heaven, conscious of his fleeting time here. ------------------- Have some medicinal mushrooms and want to get the most out of them? Try this double extraction method.
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Powfuu
Stranger

Registered: 12/18/19
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Last seen: 3 months, 22 days
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Re: Shiitake Blocks. [Re: Forrester]
#26941979 - 09/18/20 08:29 AM (3 years, 4 months ago) |
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Thanks for that clarification. 👍🏼 I'll keep them in the bag during the cold shock, and after a full day atleast in the grow, I will then remove the bag and rinse them.
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