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OfflineBlue Sky
East TN Shrooms
Male


Registered: 07/20/08
Posts: 12
Loc: Tennessee Flag
Last seen: 12 years, 1 month
Small Mushrooms and Inconsistent Pinning - Options?
    #17314468 - 12/01/12 12:07 PM (12 years, 1 month ago)

Hello All,

I'm looking for some options on what will get me the best results.

I am attempting to fruit 10 half pint BRF cakes grown using the PF Tek. I let all cakes go to maturation, all were bright, earthy in scent, and had a healthy appearance. I followed the recommendations in the PF Tek to a tee, allowing them to soak overnight, and cased them with vermiculite that was treated in the oven for 30 mins at 350. I'm using the shotgun terrarium with a mixture of 85% pearlite 15% vermiculite (because I had that on hand). The cakes are sitting on aluminum foil and I water them at least four times a day with a mister. I also have a fluorescent desk lamp in the top of the terrarium to provide the correct light.

The chamber is moist, I keep the light on most of the day, I mist as often as they appear dry, 3-4 daily. I take the lid off to inspect the cakes and usually waft the air out of the chamber expecting this to be sufficient to remove excess CO2. The temp is also about 72.5, but ranges from 70-74.

My problem is that the cakes are only producing very small mushrooms. They range from .5 inches to 1.5 inches in length. Two of the cakes that got a hearty dose of inoculate started to pin in the jars and when I removed them, the mushrooms grew to what I consider fair size, about 3-4 inches long.

I had aspirations of doing a spore print on these shrooms, but some of the pins are shooting up early in the day and opening their caps well before I return in the evening. I'd like to get some size on these puppies! Even though I haven't noticed spores anywhere in the chamber, on the mushrooms I've picked, or in the drying box, I assume since their caps were opened fully they must have released spores?

I have two cakes that have 20+ pins on them, another 5 cakes have 1-3 pins on them, and 3 cakes have shown no signs of pinning. They have been in the fruiting chamber for nearly two weeks.

Should I continue letting these mushrooms develop or should I put the cakes back into a water suspension for 24 hours?

Is there anything that could be causing this small sizes? The pH of my water is on the high size of the suggested range (pH of 8-8.1 is what my water reads because it's excessively hard). I switched to distilled water in my mister.

Do you think my cakes are still not getting enough water? Should I make an entry portal in the cake for water to enter, or is the osmosis though the mycelium enough on the outside surface?


I would really like to get some size out of these mushrooms before the cakes have run their course.

Also, I got the spores from ralphsters, and the variety is Cambodian.


I know a picture is worth a thousand words, so I'll try to find a digital camera and show y'all exactly.

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OfflineBlue Sky
East TN Shrooms
Male


Registered: 07/20/08
Posts: 12
Loc: Tennessee Flag
Last seen: 12 years, 1 month
Re: Small Mushrooms and Inconsistent Pinning - Options? [Re: Blue Sky]
    #17315752 - 12/01/12 04:24 PM (12 years, 1 month ago)

Does anyone have any input? I feel like this is a common enough problem but no specific threads provided remedy. I'm trying to increase watering without making them sit in a pool of it. And after it lags I'm going to put it into a water bath for 24 hours.

If this isn't a good suggestion let me know please.

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OfflinePussyFart
Retired Cultivation Extrodinaire
Male


Registered: 04/08/12
Posts: 22,502
Loc: Orbiting Earth
Last seen: 7 months, 28 days
Trusted Cultivator
Re: Small Mushrooms and Inconsistent Pinning - Options? [Re: Blue Sky]
    #17315797 - 12/01/12 04:34 PM (12 years, 1 month ago)

:rules:  4.  Do not bump your own thread for at least 24 hours.  It's not fair to the other posters to have your thread constantly bumped to the top.  Violators will have their thread deleted.

Small mushrooms could either be from genetics or improper moisture content. Its hard to pinpoint which one sometimes.

Pics might help.

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Offlinebigbigbilly
Stranger
Registered: 07/05/12
Posts: 127
Last seen: 10 months, 24 days
Re: Small Mushrooms and Inconsistent Pinning - Options? [Re: PussyFart]
    #17315852 - 12/01/12 04:43 PM (12 years, 1 month ago)

I've read adding gypsum too the substrate can boost your fruiting body size. inconsistent pinning could be from improper FAE. how many/how big are your holes in the terrarium?

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OfflinePussyFart
Retired Cultivation Extrodinaire
Male


Registered: 04/08/12
Posts: 22,502
Loc: Orbiting Earth
Last seen: 7 months, 28 days
Trusted Cultivator
Re: Small Mushrooms and Inconsistent Pinning - Options? [Re: bigbigbilly]
    #17315880 - 12/01/12 04:47 PM (12 years, 1 month ago)

Quote:

bigbigbilly said:
I've read adding gypsum too the substrate can boost your fruiting body size. inconsistent pinning could be from improper FAE. how many/how big are your holes in the terrarium?



LOL, when dealing with multispore it usually always points to genetics, or moisture content, isolate monocultures on agar to get more even pinsets, potency, size, etc.

And yes gypsum adds calcium and sulfur, the mycellium love it and it boosts performance.

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OfflineBlue Sky
East TN Shrooms
Male


Registered: 07/20/08
Posts: 12
Loc: Tennessee Flag
Last seen: 12 years, 1 month
Re: Small Mushrooms and Inconsistent Pinning - Options? [Re: PussyFart]
    #17316274 - 12/01/12 05:55 PM (12 years, 1 month ago)

Quote:

Notahacker420 said:
Quote:

bigbigbilly said:
I've read adding gypsum too the substrate can boost your fruiting body size. inconsistent pinning could be from improper FAE. how many/how big are your holes in the terrarium?



LOL, when dealing with multispore it usually always points to genetics, or moisture content, isolate monocultures on agar to get more even pinsets, potency, size, etc.

And yes gypsum adds calcium and sulfur, the mycellium love it and it boosts performance.




About 20-30 per side, and they about 1/16 in, in diameter.

Edited by Blue Sky (12/01/12 05:57 PM)

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OfflinePussyFart
Retired Cultivation Extrodinaire
Male


Registered: 04/08/12
Posts: 22,502
Loc: Orbiting Earth
Last seen: 7 months, 28 days
Trusted Cultivator
Re: Small Mushrooms and Inconsistent Pinning - Options? [Re: Blue Sky]
    #17316310 - 12/01/12 06:02 PM (12 years, 1 month ago)

Quote:

Blue Sky said:
Quote:

Notahacker420 said:
Quote:

bigbigbilly said:
I've read adding gypsum too the substrate can boost your fruiting body size. inconsistent pinning could be from improper FAE. how many/how big are your holes in the terrarium?



LOL, when dealing with multispore it usually always points to genetics, or moisture content, isolate monocultures on agar to get more even pinsets, potency, size, etc.

And yes gypsum adds calcium and sulfur, the mycellium love it and it boosts performance.




About 20-30 per side, and they about 1/16 in, in diameter.



If you were trying to build a shotgun fruiting chamber then u messes up.

A SGFC(Shotgun Fruiting Chamber) should have 1/4"(6mm) holes spaced 2" apart on all 6 sides in a grid pattern(top and bottom), and have 4-5" of moist perlite.

Vermiculite is not a substitute for perlite.

http://www.mushroomvideos.com/Terrarium-Tek

Edited by PussyFart (12/01/12 06:03 PM)

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OfflineBlue Sky
East TN Shrooms
Male


Registered: 07/20/08
Posts: 12
Loc: Tennessee Flag
Last seen: 12 years, 1 month
Re: Small Mushrooms and Inconsistent Pinning - Options? [Re: PussyFart]
    #17320424 - 12/02/12 12:32 PM (12 years, 1 month ago)

Quote:

Notahacker420 said:
Quote:

Blue Sky said:
Quote:

Notahacker420 said:
Quote:

bigbigbilly said:
I've read adding gypsum too the substrate can boost your fruiting body size. inconsistent pinning could be from improper FAE. how many/how big are your holes in the terrarium?



LOL, when dealing with multispore it usually always points to genetics, or moisture content, isolate monocultures on agar to get more even pinsets, potency, size, etc.

And yes gypsum adds calcium and sulfur, the mycellium love it and it boosts performance.




About 20-30 per side, and they about 1/16 in, in diameter.



If you were trying to build a shotgun fruiting chamber then u messes up.

A SGFC(Shotgun Fruiting Chamber) should have 1/4"(6mm) holes spaced 2" apart on all 6 sides in a grid pattern(top and bottom), and have 4-5" of moist perlite.

Vermiculite is not a substitute for perlite.

http://www.mushroomvideos.com/Terrarium-Tek




Well I have remedied the hole situation. And as far as having vermiculite in the mix, why does it matter if there is 15% vermiculite? I still have 6 inches of it in the chamber, and both of them are used for water retention. It's a small amount overall and was only used because some of it was already mixed for potting soil.

Thanks for the info, I think it was a gas exchange problem as well, but I plan on re-dunking them to start the second flush as soon as the remainders on this flush stop.

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OfflineBlue Sky
East TN Shrooms
Male


Registered: 07/20/08
Posts: 12
Loc: Tennessee Flag
Last seen: 12 years, 1 month
Re: Small Mushrooms and Inconsistent Pinning - Options? [Re: PussyFart]
    #17327825 - 12/03/12 04:50 PM (12 years, 1 month ago)

Quote:

Notahacker420 said:
Quote:

Blue Sky said:
Quote:

Notahacker420 said:
Quote:

bigbigbilly said:
I've read adding gypsum too the substrate can boost your fruiting body size. inconsistent pinning could be from improper FAE. how many/how big are your holes in the terrarium?



LOL, when dealing with multispore it usually always points to genetics, or moisture content, isolate monocultures on agar to get more even pinsets, potency, size, etc.

And yes gypsum adds calcium and sulfur, the mycellium love it and it boosts performance.




About 20-30 per side, and they about 1/16 in, in diameter.



If you were trying to build a shotgun fruiting chamber then u messes up.

A SGFC(Shotgun Fruiting Chamber) should have 1/4"(6mm) holes spaced 2" apart on all 6 sides in a grid pattern(top and bottom), and have 4-5" of moist perlite.

Vermiculite is not a substitute for perlite.

http://www.mushroomvideos.com/Terrarium-Tek




What is the disadvantage to not drilling holes in the underside?

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InvisibleFrankHorrigan
The Inquisition
Male


Registered: 01/04/11
Posts: 10,573
Trusted Cultivator
Re: Small Mushrooms and Inconsistent Pinning - Options? [Re: Blue Sky]
    #17327837 - 12/03/12 04:51 PM (12 years, 1 month ago)

Quote:

Blue Sky said:
What is the disadvantage to not drilling holes in the underside?




It doesn't work right anymore :lol:
It disrupts the natural airflow that keeps the chamber humidified and filled with fresh-ish air.


--------------------

Yes, you can bump my old threads with a question.
Here is how I get things done.
You should take a look. :hehehe:


Frank's tips and tricks. Updated on 3/21/14
AMU- Get an answer here -AMU

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OfflinePussyFart
Retired Cultivation Extrodinaire
Male


Registered: 04/08/12
Posts: 22,502
Loc: Orbiting Earth
Last seen: 7 months, 28 days
Trusted Cultivator
Re: Small Mushrooms and Inconsistent Pinning - Options? [Re: Blue Sky]
    #17327931 - 12/03/12 05:08 PM (12 years, 1 month ago)

Quote:

Blue Sky said:
What is the disadvantage to not drilling holes in the underside?



Your RH will drop.

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Invisible36fuckin5
Alchemycologist


Registered: 08/11/03
Posts: 12,097
Loc: Diving into Mystical Territori...
Trusted Cultivator
OG Cultivator
Re: Small Mushrooms and Inconsistent Pinning - Options? [Re: Blue Sky]
    #17328132 - 12/03/12 05:42 PM (12 years, 1 month ago)

Quote:

Blue Sky
Well I have remedied the hole situation. And as far as having vermiculite in the mix, why does it matter if there is 15% vermiculite? I still have 6 inches of it in the chamber, and both of them are used for water retention. It's a small amount overall and was only used because some of it was already mixed for potting soil.




There are a few reasons why verm in your perlite is bad. One, it can contam and ruin your whole project. Perlite won't grow anything by itself. Two, it holds onto moisture much better than perlite. So not enough is escaping into the air. Verm actually absorbs water. Perlite just kind of holds onto it till it evaps. Last, the verm is clogging up the airflow for the perlite, making it less effective.


--------------------
Pat The Bunny said:
A punk rock song won't ever change the world, but I can tell you about a couple that changed me.

bodhisatta said:
i recommend common sense and figuring it out.

These are the TEKs I use. They're all as cheap and easy as possible, just like your mom.

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