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RandomFX
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Registered: 12/02/13
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Some confirmation on growing oyster Mushies first time.
#19225249 - 12/04/13 03:37 AM (10 years, 1 month ago) |
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Hello, everyone, this is my first post, though I've spent the last few days viewing many other posts regarding this, since I am a newb I am unsure of myself, so would like some confirmation perhaps.
First some background: I have purchased mycelium on plugs for golden and regular oyster mushrooms.
I have taken 2 cups vermiculite, mixed and added 1 cup water and then 1 c Brown rice flour I made myself from brown rice and my coffee grinder, put it in half pint glass canning jars, then topped the top 1/2 inch with more vermiculite and with the lid upside down and steamed it for 90 minutes in a canning pot, let it cool then added 2 plugs of mycelium each (that I pushed down into the VBRF mixture against the glass so I could see progress) and recapped it and left it alone without opening it in a dark area in the basement. The mycelium spread nice thick and white, no black spots or anything.
I then took 1/2 cup 3% hydrogen peroxide added 4-1/2 cup water to it, put it in a non reactive large bowl, and cut regular wheat straw, 1-3" long, and submerged it into the hydrogen peroxide (I will be trying wood ash next I think.) along with a few small strips of cardboard I separated in hot water and let it sit for a bit. I drained the peroxide into a 1 gallon ziplock (To hopefully sterilize the baggy also), dumped the ziplock and drained the liquid out of the straw, and packed the straw into the ziplock bag fairly tight but didn't cram it. I then took one of the half pint VBRF mycelium jars (that had the mycelium growing in it), washed my hand with anti bacterial soap, and smacked it out into my hand and it came out a solid mass, white all the way through, and broke it up into 4-5 pieces putting different pieces in different parts of the ziplock bag with the straw. I then sucked a lot of the air out of the ziplock and sealed it, and put it in a dark place that is about 80F and that is where I am currently as of this post.
Ok,I have a few things I'd just like reassurances on: 1) does everything sound ok so far? 2)I am presuming this is what is called the mycelium run stage? 3)I am presuming I do not open this bag or do anything with it, I just leave it alone. no air exchange, nothing. correct? I seen someone post oysters need a lot of "FAE" am I to assume they mean Fresh Air Exchange" or something? Is that at this stage, or later when it starts fruiting? 4)When the bag is completely white (or does it have to be completely?) we move onto the next stage, the pinning stage? (I am expecting this to be 10-15 days) 5)when the bag is completely white, I poke Holes in the bag, put it inside another clear bag (or plastic storage bin), set it where it is 68-70F and mist with regular water. not peroxide mixture inside the clear bag/plastic storage bin two times daily and exchange air in the chamber? 6)pinning is expected to take another 5-10 days, and then mushroom growth? 7) Am I supposed to put the bag inside a fridge or in freezing cold water before I poke holes in it or anything else, or is this done just with shitaki/etc? (or not done at all)
I am obviously starting out real small at first, but is it too small? should I go with something larger like a plastic bread bag first, or a 2 gallon ziplock? Did I make a mistake going with hydrogen peroxide, instead of wood ash or hydrated lime? (I do have hydrated lime, but I looked and magnesium content is like 26 seen people mention shouldn't be higher than 2 or so, so didn't want to try it. I do have a fireplace though, so wood ash shouldn't be a problem, but right now I just want to see some results.
Also, another question, I have a lot of these mycelium plugs....can I save them? like store them in the fridge or something? I understand spores can surely be stored for years correctly...but not sure about mycelium. Someone in the forum mentioned storing their's for months in the fridge, is this the vermiculite/Brown rice flour mixture, or should I just store the plugs covered with mycelium? Thank you all in advance for helping.
Edited by RandomFX (12/04/13 10:43 AM)
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bakenast
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Re: Some confirmation on growing oyster Mushies first time. [Re: RandomFX]
#19225430 - 12/04/13 06:10 AM (10 years, 1 month ago) |
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So you put the plug on top of the dry verm layer in the pf jar? plugs sold online arent usually clean and have contams on them and are made for outdoor use.
Oysters are really fool proof the cheapest way is to mix your colonized pf jars with shredded pasterised straw in bags or buckets,
LC of oyster can last over a year..
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RandomFX
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Re: Some confirmation on growing oyster Mushies first time. [Re: bakenast]
#19226058 - 12/04/13 10:37 AM (10 years, 1 month ago) |
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Sorry for the lack of clarity, no I didn't put it on top of the dry verm layer, I actually put the plug pushed down inside against the glass, into it. I am a newb, but the mycelium appeared to of grown great, and looked good, was thick and white, like the mold on a good wheel of brie, and looked like it did on the plugs. What does PF stand for? I get when you say PF jar, you must mean the vermiculite and BRF (Brown Rice Flour) and LC you must mean the plugs, just do not know specifically what it means. The plugs are not considered Liquid Culture right?
Even though, plugs are meant for outdoor use, and getting them in a ziplock bag sent through the mail for uber cheap, probably isn't exactly scientifically controlled, is it a big mistake to use them as I am? I do understand though you get what you pay for, and your end result is equal to the professionalism and work you put into it, I just do not know the particulars yet.
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blindingleaf
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Re: Some confirmation on growing oyster Mushies first time. [Re: RandomFX]
#19226078 - 12/04/13 10:45 AM (10 years, 1 month ago) |
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hey bakenast...I have an LC of blue oyster arriving today or tomorrow. I was planning on knocking up a wbs jar then going to straw in a bucket. I have 2 bags of dried wheat straw. after pasteurizing, do I need to pack it into the bucket like RR packs into his straw logs, or is the bucket less compressed? are there any other sub materials needed besides straw?
-------------------- A few thoughts on cultivation MICROBIAL HUSBANDRY!!!! The whole is greater than the sum of its parts
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RandomFX
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Re: Some confirmation on growing oyster Mushies first time. [Re: blindingleaf]
#19230923 - 12/05/13 12:05 PM (10 years, 1 month ago) |
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So no confirmation on any of this from anyone? Or anyone telling me, I am doing this incorrectly at least? There are many good techniques mentioned, but on a lot of them they are not precise enough for me to be really confident I am understanding perfectly clear, is all. I know no one here owes me anything, so anyway they help is a luxury, I just want to be successful and do things correctly instead of going through simple stuff everyone else already knows, but I do not. I am reading and doing my homework, even if it seems I am not, but for instance I read a post here like this one: http://www.shroomery.org/forums/showflat.php/Cat/0/Number/14075772
and the person says they use peroxide also, and they mention "Next, I cinched the bags closed as tight as I could trying not to create any air spaces in the bag (though there inevitably were air spaces towards the tops of the bags) and tied them off with some rope. Lastly I punched holes all over the bags for drainage and air flow and hung them up in a shady spot in the woods near my cabin."
and it sounds like they are immediately putting holes in the bag as soon as they add their mycelium to the straw, but they do not mention hole size, do they cover the holes with spore tape, if this is only ok because they took it outdoors, or because it is sort of maybe a little protected by the peroxide, or is this particular to the elm oyster. I ended up cutting some holes in my bag here and covered the holes with spore tape. (My niece works at a hospital I have like 20 rolls of the stuff, wide thin you name it.) once again any help is appreciated. thanks.
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Forrester
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Re: Some confirmation on growing oyster Mushies first time. [Re: RandomFX]
#19234460 - 12/05/13 11:13 PM (10 years, 1 month ago) |
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Quote:
RandomFX said: So no confirmation on any of this from anyone? Or anyone telling me, I am doing this incorrectly at least? There are many good techniques mentioned, but on a lot of them they are not precise enough for me to be really confident I am understanding perfectly clear, is all. I know no one here owes me anything, so anyway they help is a luxury, I just want to be successful and do things correctly instead of going through simple stuff everyone else already knows, but I do not. I am reading and doing my homework, even if it seems I am not, but for instance I read a post here like this one: http://www.shroomery.org/forums/showflat.php/Cat/0/Number/14075772
and the person says they use peroxide also, and they mention "Next, I cinched the bags closed as tight as I could trying not to create any air spaces in the bag (though there inevitably were air spaces towards the tops of the bags) and tied them off with some rope. Lastly I punched holes all over the bags for drainage and air flow and hung them up in a shady spot in the woods near my cabin."
and it sounds like they are immediately putting holes in the bag as soon as they add their mycelium to the straw, but they do not mention hole size, do they cover the holes with spore tape, if this is only ok because they took it outdoors, or because it is sort of maybe a little protected by the peroxide, or is this particular to the elm oyster. I ended up cutting some holes in my bag here and covered the holes with spore tape. (My niece works at a hospital I have like 20 rolls of the stuff, wide thin you name it.) once again any help is appreciated. thanks.
Sorry dude it's the long post, people don't wanna read so much TEXT!! 
Just messin' with ya. I read it, so I'll do my best.
To start with your most recent question, you should poke your holes right at spawning. What you do is cut little x's with a knife, small is good. This allows it to breathe a little, and the fruits will grow out of the x's. Don't wait until it's colonized to cut x's, do it now. It can't colonize if it can't breathe at all. It's ok to cut x's without filtration of air because oyster mycelium is tough and should colonize the straw before any contamination has a chance to take hold. Now that's if you properly pasteurized... What you did was soak in hydrogen peroxide? I've never heard of this as a pasteurization technique, but who knows, maybe it works? Like I said, oysters are tough and can fight off most contamination, so it may work (it could be a proven technique for all I know, just haven't heard of it). People these days usually use heat pasteurization or lime (ph pasteurization), or wood ash. Anyway it's too late now to change that so just cut your x's and let us know how colonization is coming along. After that you don't have to do anything but wait for it to fruit!
The reason it's ok to cut holes right at spawning is because oyster mycelium is fast and tough. You already exposed the whole thing to who knows what spores when you open air spawned. Believe it or not, you did NOT sterilize your bag by dumping some watered down hydrogen peroxide in there. But for an oyster grow (and many other un-supplemented grows) that's not a worry, open air spawning works just fine.
-------------------- 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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RandomFX
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Re: Some confirmation on growing oyster Mushies first time. [Re: Forrester]
#19234811 - 12/06/13 01:21 AM (10 years, 1 month ago) |
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thanks a tremendous amount. I know sometimes newb's ask super silly things that are just way obvious to others already in the know, and it probably gets tiring having newbs on a forum, but this answer alone helps obviously SO much. I will cut the holes immediately. I am guessing for such a small bag/block maybe only a 1/4" x's? Do I mist it now, or wait? and do I mist the bag from the outside or open it up and mist inside it?
And I think a lot of people do not mention the hydrogen peroxide because people here are probably serious growers and maybe professional/large scale, and to use a 1/10 ratio of hydrogen peroxide isn't cost effective perhaps. Just a guess on my part...or maybe they know what they are doing and it doesn't work.but right now at meijers by me, quarts of hydrogen peroxide are .88 and if you buy one, you get the next for 50% so I bought all they had for $20.
Edited by RandomFX (12/06/13 01:47 AM)
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Forrester
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Re: Some confirmation on growing oyster Mushies first time. [Re: RandomFX]
#19235397 - 12/06/13 07:22 AM (10 years, 1 month ago) |
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No questions are silly, and I don't get tired of answering them at all! I had to ask many of the same questions when I started, which wasn't even that long ago 
Yeah 1/4" should be fine! You can mist whenever you think of it, but don't open the bag to do so.
-------------------- 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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thiotimoline
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Re: Some confirmation on growing oyster Mushies first time. [Re: Forrester]
#19236715 - 12/06/13 01:55 PM (10 years, 1 month ago) |
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The fresh air (low CO_2 content) from opening the bag is a signal for it to start fruiting, and you don't want that until colonization is complete, which is why misting should be done from the outside only at this point.
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RandomFX
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Re: Some confirmation on growing oyster Mushies first time. [Re: thiotimoline]
#19240782 - 12/07/13 12:50 PM (10 years, 1 month ago) |
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Forrester, I was roaming around the forum here and found this, and remembered that you haven't heard of the technique to use peroxide, here is some info about it, do not know how legit it is, or is not, but here it is in any case:
http://www.shroomery.org/11355/Growing-Mushrooms-the-Easy-Way
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Forrester
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Re: Some confirmation on growing oyster Mushies first time. [Re: RandomFX]
#19240811 - 12/07/13 12:57 PM (10 years, 1 month ago) |
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Cool, guess it does work then eh? Had never heard of it. Don't see a lot of people using that method these days. Interested to see your results!
-------------------- 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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RandomFX
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Re: Some confirmation on growing oyster Mushies first time. [Re: Forrester]
#19263242 - 12/11/13 10:23 PM (10 years, 1 month ago) |
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ya supposedly. but I think it actually slows mycelium growth at first, or appears to, to me at least. That coupled with extra cost that may not be as efficient...well, we will see. I am a newb so surely like many other newbs, I am checking things like every few hours expecting to see huge growth and mushrooms automatically sprout within a few minutes....This waiting is killing me. found out what the PF stood for in the PF tek though and a few other things. Billy' McPherson/aka Psylocybe Fanaticus, first submitted and had it printed evidently in 1991, it is the technique of using the brown rice flour and vermiculite in 1/2 pint canning jars, I was using without even knowing what it was. Evidently Mr. McPherson went into a comma on 11-11-11, and died. I was/am so new, I didn't even know what a 'tek' was though it didn't take me long to figure it out. I'll surely stay around and give updates, with pictures periodically.
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