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AphexTwin
Noob


Registered: 08/04/13
Posts: 24
Loc: Kansas
Last seen: 10 years, 2 months
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My first grow, observations, and results
#18881717 - 09/23/13 06:39 PM (10 years, 4 months ago) |
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So this may end up being a rather long post, but I thought it might be a good read for noobs such as myself and I'd be happy to take tips and recommendations from the seasoned veterans on here as well. You guys have all been most helpful, and I attribute a lot of my first grow success to the knowledge shared on here So here we go:
I ordered a grow kit from a well known vendor (I know, I know - huge noob move); but I did this with the rationale that I wanted to see everything I would need this first time around and I would make improvements on it as I saw fit as I gained some experience. It's kind of like building your own computer - the first time around you buy one already put together, educate yourself, and the next go around you buy the components and do it yourself. So I started out with a 56 quart Sterlite tub, a hydroton humidifier, aquarium air pump, and 20 pre-sterilized 1/2 pint jars with substrate already in them.
I used the oven method to inoculate my jars (I've heard people bashing this as reckless, others say it's fantastic if done properly; feedback would be appreciated) - I sprayed Lysol in my oven, and used Lysol spray and Lysol wipes to clean my entire kitchen area where I would be inoculating. With the oven at about 250F, I had the door open and used the heat radiating/rising from the oven to carry away any possible contaminants while I inoculated all 20 jars.
After that was done, I put all the jars into my Sterlite tub and put them in my closet and tried to forget about them for a few weeks . By the first week of September about half my jars were fully colonized so I birthed and then dunked them overnight in a tub of distilled water and used some ceramic dinner plates to hold them underwater (those things are way more buoyant than I thought!) I should note that I did not have a single jar fail to colonize or any contamination at all in any jars) The following evening, I used about a half gallon of distilled water and a couple capfuls of hydrogen peroxide mixed with my Perlite to get my substrate going. I put the cakes in there on canning lids and had the air pump/humidifier and heating pad on a timer with 1 hour on, 1 hour off around the clock, and was maintaining 78-79F with 98% humidity.
As the other half of my jars got closer to full colonization I realized that this tub was probably not going to be big enough - I was kind of paranoid about growing the cakes too close together in the fear that the mushrooms would stop growing if they ran into another cake.. I don't know if that is a valid concern or not, maybe someone can provide me some insight with that. So I took a trip to my friendly Home Depot and bought a 106 quart Sterlite tub with a clear lid, and a clamp light fixture. Then I went to PetSmart and bought a 7lb bag of Hydroton/clay balls to make another humidifier, another air pump rated for a 40gal aquarium, and some additional airline hose. Then a final stop at Walmart to get 1 quart Ball canning jars, some Polyfill stuffing, and a 6500K daylight spectrum LED bulb for my light. The clamp light attaches perfectly to the clothing racks in my closet, and I simply turn it on when I get home from work and turn it off before I got to bed so that they get 6-8 hours of light each evening.
I drilled a total of 7 holes in one side of the tub for air flow/gas exchange, and on the opposite side I drilled a hole in the front of the tub and another in the back of the tub for my 2 air pumps/humidifiers. Using a 1 quart jar, I filled it about 1/2 full with hydroton/clay balls that I had washed in a strainer, stuffed the remaining half with Polyfill and drilled 2 holes in the lid for the air hose and connection to my new tub.
I transferred my already fruiting cakes into the new tub, as well as placed the other half in there that I just took out of the dunk tank. Using the 2 air pumps/humidifiers and the heating pad on the 1 hour on/1 hour off timing I'm still maintaining about 75-77F and 98% humidity in the chamber. I just harvested from 4 cakes tonight and had 4oz wet that are currently in my dehydrator set at the lowest setting (95F - it's the Nesco/American Harvest one I've heard great things about on here). There are another 6-7 cakes that will probably be ready to harvest in the next day or two, and they have a lot of mushies on them, so I pretty excited. I'm going to post some pics below of my setup and the results of this first harvest - I would immensely appreciate any feedback/kudos/recommendations from the veterans on here, and hopefully this will help at least one person who is completely new to this like I was. Thanks!


This pic is of my new setup on Saturday night after getting all the cakes placed:

These are the cakes tonight (9/23) after harvesting the first batch as you can see above:
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myplague240


Registered: 03/17/13
Posts: 127
Last seen: 10 years, 2 months
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Re: My first grow, observations, and results [Re: AphexTwin]
#18881826 - 09/23/13 07:09 PM (10 years, 4 months ago) |
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Looks very nice, good job.
You should try rolling the cakes in verm if you can. Also, the cakes can be pretty close to one another, or even stacked up. They will just grow around which ever way they can.
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AphexTwin
Noob


Registered: 08/04/13
Posts: 24
Loc: Kansas
Last seen: 10 years, 2 months
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Re: My first grow, observations, and results [Re: myplague240]
#18881884 - 09/23/13 07:22 PM (10 years, 4 months ago) |
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Thanks man, I appreciate it! I couldn't find any vermiculite in my area in small quantities, so I just dunked them this time around. I was able to pick up a 40 cubic foot bag of Perlite from a local greenhouse for $17, and that will last me a very long time - the damn bag stands about 4 1/2 feet high lol
I had read that when you birth your cakes, try to save the excess vermiculite from the tops of the jars when you take the cakes out to roll them in post-dunking, and I did that but it didn't amount to very much at all after I birthed them all so I didn't keep it around.
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Pastywhyte
Say hello to my little friend



Registered: 09/15/12
Posts: 37,810
Loc: Canada
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Re: My first grow, observations, and results [Re: AphexTwin]
#18881896 - 09/23/13 07:24 PM (10 years, 4 months ago) |
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Quote:
AphexTwin said: I had read that when you birth your cakes, try to save the excess vermiculite from the tops of the jars when you take the cakes out to roll them in post-dunking
I wouldn't. Better to just use some fresh verm. Also the oven tek is bunk, spend $25-$40 at the hardware store and build a decent SAB. Shit even a cardboard box, with saran on the top is better than the oven tek.
Edited by Pastywhyte (09/23/13 07:32 PM)
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myplague240


Registered: 03/17/13
Posts: 127
Last seen: 10 years, 2 months
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Re: My first grow, observations, and results [Re: Pastywhyte]
#18881975 - 09/23/13 07:43 PM (10 years, 4 months ago) |
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AphexTwin
Noob


Registered: 08/04/13
Posts: 24
Loc: Kansas
Last seen: 10 years, 2 months
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Re: My first grow, observations, and results [Re: myplague240]
#18882099 - 09/23/13 08:10 PM (10 years, 4 months ago) |
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I guess I don't understand why the oven tek is so bad? The logic seems sound to me - the hot rising air from the oven would lift away any contaminants as you're inoculating..as long as the oven is cleaned beforehand I don't see what's so bad about it... maybe it's staring me in the face and I just don't see it lol
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Pastywhyte
Say hello to my little friend



Registered: 09/15/12
Posts: 37,810
Loc: Canada
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Re: My first grow, observations, and results [Re: AphexTwin]
#18882147 - 09/23/13 08:20 PM (10 years, 4 months ago) |
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To be honest, as long as you flame your syringe properly, you can inoculate brf cakes in open air and probably get away with it. An SAB would be an (very good) added precaution, that's all. I built mine very quick because I started with grains after my first 12 cakes.
The reason the oven tek does not work is because there are some many contams in the air, and it will just suck them right past your work. Think about it this way; a cubic foot of air has about 500,000 contams floating in it. Cracking the oven while its got hot air blowing currents all around, carrying a billion contams with it, is not gonna work for any real clean work.
If you don't believe me, then get a plate of agar and crack it for a second inside the oven. See what grows on it
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AphexTwin
Noob


Registered: 08/04/13
Posts: 24
Loc: Kansas
Last seen: 10 years, 2 months
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Re: My first grow, observations, and results [Re: Pastywhyte]
#18885925 - 09/24/13 05:25 PM (10 years, 4 months ago) |
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Hey all - I have a couple of questions I'm hoping I can get a quick response to. 1.) What would cause the veils to drop so fast? I checked on them this morning before work, and they were all just about to that "perfect" point of harvesting; but by the time I got home this evening, the veils on a lot of them had already completely opened.
2.) Some of the caps have dark rings on them, or have turned very dark altogether - is this just bruising? Or should I throw them out? Good god, the very last thing I would ever want is someone getting hospital-level sick from my mushies.
I know of the cakes is very dark in the pic, but that's not contamination - it's bruising because I'm a dumbass and it slipped as I was lifting it out and hit the lid of my tub. Apparently these are SUPER delicate, much more than I thought since one or two of the other cakes I apparently touched too roughly.
The most important thing to my now is the dark ringed caps/all dark caps - I don't want to have anyone eating a potentially bad fruit. Can you guys help me out? Am I being paranoid?





On a somewhat more positive note, I have 5 full trays of mushies drying in my dehydrator right now, so at least there is that
Edited by AphexTwin (09/24/13 05:27 PM)
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Ultron
alchemist programmer




Registered: 08/04/13
Posts: 751
Loc: inner sanctum of the cosm...
Last seen: 3 months, 3 days
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Re: My first grow, observations, and results [Re: AphexTwin]
#18885950 - 09/24/13 05:33 PM (10 years, 4 months ago) |
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looks nice how big is your fruiting chamber? i was thinking on getting a bigger one
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Mush4Brains
LOOL HACKED!!!

Registered: 07/31/13
Posts: 4,419
Last seen: 9 years, 2 months
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Re: My first grow, observations, and results [Re: Ultron]
#18885959 - 09/24/13 05:36 PM (10 years, 4 months ago) |
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Those are spores on the caps. I don't know how it works but when the mushrooms drop spores they can end up on the caps. There is some sort of physics behind it.
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AphexTwin
Noob


Registered: 08/04/13
Posts: 24
Loc: Kansas
Last seen: 10 years, 2 months
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Re: My first grow, observations, and results [Re: Ultron]
#18885963 - 09/24/13 05:37 PM (10 years, 4 months ago) |
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Quote:
jonathan9301 said: looks nice how big is your fruiting chamber? i was thinking on getting a bigger one
It's a 106 quart Sterlite tub with a clear lid - found them at Home Depot and I had looked everywhere locally for clear lids
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AphexTwin
Noob


Registered: 08/04/13
Posts: 24
Loc: Kansas
Last seen: 10 years, 2 months
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Re: My first grow, observations, and results [Re: AphexTwin]
#18885974 - 09/24/13 05:39 PM (10 years, 4 months ago) |
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Quote:
AphexTwin said:
Quote:
jonathan9301 said: looks nice how big is your fruiting chamber? i was thinking on getting a bigger one
It's a 106 quart Sterlite tub with a clear lid - found them at Home Depot and I had looked everywhere locally for clear lids
Thank you Jonathan - much appreciated! I knew the spores would be dark, but if anywhere I was expecting them to drop onto and darken the Perlite. Makes me feel much better that they aren't bad 
Any ideas on why the veils would drop and break so fast? They were all well-closed this morning and then BAM, tonight a lot of them were open. And is the severe bruising normal when you make a bonehead move like I did?
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Ultron
alchemist programmer




Registered: 08/04/13
Posts: 751
Loc: inner sanctum of the cosm...
Last seen: 3 months, 3 days
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Re: My first grow, observations, and results [Re: AphexTwin]
#18885996 - 09/24/13 05:43 PM (10 years, 4 months ago) |
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sweet it looks like its working good for you i might go buy one or two of these . Im still pretty new so i wouldn't know :/
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AphexTwin
Noob


Registered: 08/04/13
Posts: 24
Loc: Kansas
Last seen: 10 years, 2 months
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Re: My first grow, observations, and results [Re: Mush4Brains]
#18886009 - 09/24/13 05:46 PM (10 years, 4 months ago) |
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Quote:
Mush4Brains said: Those are spores on the caps. I don't know how it works but when the mushrooms drop spores they can end up on the caps. There is some sort of physics behind it.
Crap - I meant to say thanks Mush regarding the spores and the darkness on the caps Sorry
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