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Ramblin Man
Here Now
Registered: 09/18/13
Posts: 20
Last seen: 10 years, 2 months
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Help Needed!
#18859051 - 09/18/13 04:31 PM (10 years, 4 months ago) |
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Hey y'all,
I've got a cake sitting in my FC, but it's not showing any signs of growth. Here's what's happened so far:
8/15 Inoculated tall style 1/2 pint jar 9/5 Fully colonized 9/13 Took out cake and dunked for 24 hours. Rolled it in some verm I ground up in a coffee grinder. 9/14 Put it in my shotgun fc this morning. 9/16 Got a hygrometer/thermometer from a cigar shop. 9/18 4 After four days of fruiting - now - nothing doing on the cake - no white fuzz, or anything.
I've been misting and fanning 2-3 times a day with a pump-style lizard mister. I spray it up in the air for 4-5 seconds and let the mist fall. Then I spray down the perlite a bit. Humidity reading after the mist and fan is >95% (don't know how much greater bc it's off the scale). When I came back today after 9 hrs it was down to 90%, but I usually am able to mist before it gets that low. Also, when I come back the verm on the cake is always still completely wet. It's getting natural light from a couple of windows (sun also passes over the fc for a few minutes every day). Temps have been 70's in the day, going down to 60-65 at night. (except one cold day where it didn't get past 65). It's been pretty humid outside ~50% maybe on average.
Anyway, I'd appreciate any advice you experienced shroomers might have. I am trying to follow the BRF Tek.
Thanks!
-------------------- If the doors of perception were cleansed every thing would appear to man as it is, Infinite. For man has closed himself up, till he sees all things thro' narrow chinks of his cavern.
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Mush4Brains
LOOL HACKED!!!

Registered: 07/31/13
Posts: 4,419
Last seen: 9 years, 2 months
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It sounds like you aren't getting enough evaporation off of your cakes if you're coming back after multiple hours and your verm is still wet. Try putting the SGFC next to a cracked window.
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dusttodust


Registered: 11/26/12
Posts: 491
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if you made proper shotgun fc than you dont have to worry about humidity and you dont even need hygrometer. be patient, i think everything is ok.
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cgsjames
I eat dumbbells



Registered: 05/18/13
Posts: 178
Last seen: 12 days, 1 hour
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Is the mycelium starting to grow onto your rolled vermiculite casting layer?
-------------------- What you eat don't make me shit and who you fuck don't make me come.
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growmore
up it goes


Registered: 01/02/03
Posts: 804
Loc: Cow field
Last seen: 1 year, 6 months
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Re: Help Needed! [Re: cgsjames]
#18859501 - 09/18/13 05:57 PM (10 years, 4 months ago) |
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Sounds like noob inpatients. Lol you should be ok just give it some time.
-------------------- check my journal for my trade list You see what you want to see not what it makes you see. I see said the blind man to the deaf women .
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Doc_D
Indifferent


Registered: 11/13/12
Posts: 350
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Quote:
Ramblin Man said: Hey y'all,
I've got a cake sitting in my FC, but it's not showing any signs of growth. Here's what's happened so far:
[...]
It won't work if it's not elevated, get four jars under the corners.
(I'm assuming you drilled holes in the bottom of course).
-------------------- A high-powered mutant of some kind never even considered for mass production. Too weird to live, and too rare to die.
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cgsjames
I eat dumbbells



Registered: 05/18/13
Posts: 178
Last seen: 12 days, 1 hour
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Re: Help Needed! [Re: growmore]
#18859643 - 09/18/13 06:30 PM (10 years, 4 months ago) |
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Quote:
growmore said: Sounds like noob inpatients. Lol you should be ok just give it some time.
I was trying to find out if he was using adequate light.
-------------------- What you eat don't make me shit and who you fuck don't make me come.
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Ramblin Man
Here Now
Registered: 09/18/13
Posts: 20
Last seen: 10 years, 2 months
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Re: Help Needed! [Re: cgsjames]
#18860515 - 09/18/13 09:38 PM (10 years, 4 months ago) |
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Thanks for the help, much appreciated.
The FC is elevated - you can't see it in the picture but there are two 1.5" wooden pieces underneath and there are holes on the bottom too!
I can't see any mycelium growth around the verm. Maybe it's happening underneath the verm layer.
I could try putting the FC on the dresser close the window tomorrow, and cracking the window to get more light and air flow. Maybe see if the cake dries off faster. Looks like high temp is going to be 75 tomorrow.
-------------------- If the doors of perception were cleansed every thing would appear to man as it is, Infinite. For man has closed himself up, till he sees all things thro' narrow chinks of his cavern.
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Ramblin Man
Here Now
Registered: 09/18/13
Posts: 20
Last seen: 10 years, 2 months
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Hey can I ask something else:
One of my jars has been consolidating for 5 days and it's starting to get some white dots and streaks on the side of the jar - pinning?. This jar is a different strain (PE) and looks a lot thicker than my first one. Should I birth it because of the dots, or keep waiting ?
-------------------- If the doors of perception were cleansed every thing would appear to man as it is, Infinite. For man has closed himself up, till he sees all things thro' narrow chinks of his cavern.
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Mush4Brains
LOOL HACKED!!!

Registered: 07/31/13
Posts: 4,419
Last seen: 9 years, 2 months
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You could probably birth, dunk, and roll.
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Hofmann1943
explorer



Registered: 03/05/09
Posts: 409
Loc: Forest
Last seen: 3 years, 9 months
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maybe he is lonely  It look kind of sad.
Just kidding be patient.
-------------------- By Albert Hofmann : Been cautious man, I though I would start with a smallest, smallest quantity. Namely I started with 0.25mg.....and my intention was to increase dosage to see if something will happened. That very small dosage, the first dose of my experiments i planed, was very very strong.
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Ramblin Man
Here Now
Registered: 09/18/13
Posts: 20
Last seen: 10 years, 2 months
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FINE .....
-------------------- If the doors of perception were cleansed every thing would appear to man as it is, Infinite. For man has closed himself up, till he sees all things thro' narrow chinks of his cavern.
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Ramblin Man
Here Now
Registered: 09/18/13
Posts: 20
Last seen: 10 years, 2 months
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Okay - 5 days later... or day 10 of fruiting...
My cake still looks like this:

But after some more reading I decided to change out my shite Home Depot Therma-Rock medium grade perlite today for some kick-ass Mother Earth #4 coarse grade perlite from a hydroponics store - (which happens to be right down the road from me, it turns out). Wicked cool store actually - so much cool stuff (that's a hint about where I live right there).
Anyway, I am kind of convinced that I have not been getting good FAE due to soggy cheap perlite which doesn't let the air through. This is suggested by a couple of threads if you do search for "coarse grade perlite". One indication is water not evaporating off the walls of the SGFC after a few hours <-- happening to me.
RR says a couple of times you can spray your cakes directly and get them wet in a proper SGFC because the water should evaporate in half an hour, thus not damaging the shrooms.
So will see if this helps. BTW if my cake doesn't fruit in another week or so.........
can I eat it ? would I just want to eat the outside layer ? Any idea what kind of quantity the dose from a 1/2 pint cake is ?
Edit: Sorry for asking such an over-asked question: answer here: http://www.shroomery.org/forums/showflat.php/Number/12361289/fpart/1/vc/1
Shite Home Depot Therma-Rock perlite:

New Mother Earth perlite #4:

Here is the cake plus two new wide-mouth half-pint cakes that have been sitting there for 3 days (and aren't doing much so far). They are all sitting on the brand new kick-ass perlite.

Oh yeah: I have a $20 digital hygrometer from a "famous" cigar shop downtown - it feels pretty accurate to me, and was right on the money when I calibrated it using the saturated-salt calibration. Anyway, the point of this isn't to provoke someone to say that digital or all hygrometers are crap (but bombs away...), it's to say that I think misting the hygrometer directly gets water inside and throws it off until it dries out. Someone else noticed this in another thread too. So it's better to pull it out for the misting and then put it back (and then smash it to bits because digital sucks )
Any other comments/advice anyone has, feel free. I'm still trying to get this process down and make it work.
-------------------- If the doors of perception were cleansed every thing would appear to man as it is, Infinite. For man has closed himself up, till he sees all things thro' narrow chinks of his cavern.
Edited by Ramblin Man (09/24/13 09:53 PM)
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Hofmann1943
explorer



Registered: 03/05/09
Posts: 409
Loc: Forest
Last seen: 3 years, 9 months
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what strain are you using and why you grind verm? I think maybe verm lose its capability to hold water for long time if it is grinded. Any way brf cakes never do much good for me. I am a fan of bulk cases. All mu cakes started pinning 20th to 30th day of pining. I remember what i did.
I cut the coca-cola 2L bottle in half put some wet verm in it then put my cake in it and fill it with some more wet verm. Vermiculite must be in thick layer all over the cake or it will constantly be dry. on your pictures you don't have thick layer of verm. Then I placed the cola bottle outside of chamber and in 2 days mushrooms start to grow. i just put some more water on vermiculite when it starts to dry.
OR
you can put some mist maker on a timer use 16 programs and mist it automaticly every 11/2 hour.
-------------------- By Albert Hofmann : Been cautious man, I though I would start with a smallest, smallest quantity. Namely I started with 0.25mg.....and my intention was to increase dosage to see if something will happened. That very small dosage, the first dose of my experiments i planed, was very very strong.
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Sockadin



Registered: 01/03/10
Posts: 7,244
Last seen: 2 months, 21 days
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This is not unheard of. Most of the time the cakes will fruit when they are good and ready to fruit. You can increase the chances by trying to give them the best environment and conditions.
It looks like your doing it all correct, just stop messing with them. Are you misting and fanning a couple times a day? The misting and fanning will increase the evaporation off of the cake which will induce pinning. I am not a fan of the lizard mister. I prefer the good old squirt bottle and I always spray my cakes directly to initiate pinning.
Go get this from lowes, will help you with proper air flow.
http://www.lowes.com/pd_328959-80752-142430B-DS_0__?productId=3468765&Ntt=metal+shelving+units&pl=1¤tURL=%3FNtt%3Dmetal%2Bshelving%2Bunits&facetInfo=
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Ramblin Man
Here Now
Registered: 09/18/13
Posts: 20
Last seen: 10 years, 2 months
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Re: Help Needed! [Re: Sockadin]
#18891466 - 09/25/13 10:03 PM (10 years, 4 months ago) |
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Hey thanks for the ideas. Yeah I'm misting and fanning 3-4 times a day. Sometimes I just fan. Since switching the perlite, the RH has been very high - never seen less than 95% if my meter is correct. I've been misting the cakes more as RR suggests and hoping there's enough FAE now to evaporate them.
Grinding the verm came from someone's suggestion on making finer very because it was better to roll with. If I can't get my SGFC to fruit I will definitely be trying some kind of spawning to bulk, or maybe sticking a cake in a soda bottle or bag...
That shelf is too big for my space but yeah I can see how that would really help airflow. Got me thinking on how I can improvise something smaller to elevate the thing.
-------------------- If the doors of perception were cleansed every thing would appear to man as it is, Infinite. For man has closed himself up, till he sees all things thro' narrow chinks of his cavern.
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Hofmann1943
explorer



Registered: 03/05/09
Posts: 409
Loc: Forest
Last seen: 3 years, 9 months
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you could put your FC on top of 4 jars.
-------------------- By Albert Hofmann : Been cautious man, I though I would start with a smallest, smallest quantity. Namely I started with 0.25mg.....and my intention was to increase dosage to see if something will happened. That very small dosage, the first dose of my experiments i planed, was very very strong.
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redflackal
Archduke of Marijuanaville
Registered: 09/19/12
Posts: 54
Last seen: 4 years, 2 months
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I think either 1 of 2 things is happening:
(1. The cakes are simply getting ready to fruit, which can take some time. If you are misting and fanning them at least twice a day they are getting all they need, just keep it up. It will fruit.
(2. You're using shitty culture to inoculate with. This isn't your fault, it also happened to me when I first started. This is why it's important to find a reputable vendor and to stick with them, as there are more than a few places out there that will happily sell you syringes full of shitty stock that will colonize a little bit but then wither and die when its time to fruit. Expecting stuff like that to produce is like expecting an 80 year old woman to get pregnant.
Getting a quality culture to work with is SO worth the extra money you'll pay. In my opinion it is a crucial yet often overlooked element in magic mycology, everyone's worried about FAE and humidity failing to realize that if you just get a kick-ass culture it almost takes care of itself
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Ramblin Man
Here Now
Registered: 09/18/13
Posts: 20
Last seen: 10 years, 2 months
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Very interesting. Someone also asked about the strain earlier, it's PE and it is from a reputable vendor, but I think I read somewhere that PE is harder to grow than some other strains.
I had the FC suspended over the gap between a dresser and another table for a day or two and then came up with this new setup today. Also added a lamp with a high K fluorescent bulb this morning. I've been using indirect natural light from a skylight but I notice that the light from the lamp is a lot brighter than the skylight. I know because I can SEE the texture on my cakes a lot better now, and after I mist I can tell if they are glistening in the light. This has inspired me to mist a little more heavily so they glisten and then hope for some evaporation. Recalibrated my hygrometer and it was still w/in 2%, so humidity may be pegged >95% like it says.
-------------------- If the doors of perception were cleansed every thing would appear to man as it is, Infinite. For man has closed himself up, till he sees all things thro' narrow chinks of his cavern.
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Zeparthian
Young Mycologist


Registered: 10/01/12
Posts: 223
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I have only done this once (BRF cakes), but your perlite looks HUGE man. I had extremely small perlite chunks compared to what that looks like.
Also the tek i followed for my SGFC mentions to cut holes in all sides besides the top.
If it's a proven tek that works than go for it 
Check out the perlite:
-------------------- Having troubles? RR's here to help! Let's Grow Mushrooms - RR Watch, absorb, and put that information to use! With a little help, miracles do happen
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