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liamtheloser
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Registered: 06/07/06
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Re: Socraticd's experiments - a.k.a, a newbie's grow log [Re: socraticd]
#19135361 - 11/14/13 09:34 AM (10 years, 3 months ago) |
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Yes. I had to get a replacement from the spore Depot, the first pearl syringe they sent me was really a trichoderma syringe.
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deadmandave
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Re: Socraticd's experiments - a.k.a, a newbie's grow log [Re: socraticd]
#19135538 - 11/14/13 10:14 AM (10 years, 3 months ago) |
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Quote:
socraticd said: Oh, and liam, my agar recipe is 3% -
600ml water 18g malt extract 10g agar
that is a lot of malt extract. I use 10 grams of ME when doing 1000ml of water + 20g agar. Like most aspects of mycology, when you have a less nutritious substrate (in this case agar) you are less likely to experience contams.
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socraticd
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Re: Socraticd's experiments - a.k.a, a newbie's grow log [Re: deadmandave]
#19136015 - 11/14/13 12:32 PM (10 years, 3 months ago) |
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Hmm, interesting, dave. I was under the impression that3% was a pretty standard number.
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socraticd
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Re: Socraticd's experiments - a.k.a, a newbie's grow log [Re: socraticd]
#19205222 - 11/29/13 03:09 PM (10 years, 2 months ago) |
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Alrighty. A couple updates as I keep plugging away.
Current projects of the moment are trying to get a handle on master slants, and my first Reishi grow in minitubs on sawdust.
Apparently shaking the grains immediately after inoculating inoculating with an agar wedge makes a HUGE difference. The one on the left was shaken immediately after inoculation, the one on the right wasn't. Results speak fo themselves as this was about 7 days after wedge inoculation:

I shook up the two that I had not shaken directly after taking this picture.
Two days later the ones I shook up originally had consolidated even more and essentially looked like jars of cotton.

I was planning on going with a 3:1 or so spawn ratio of spawn to unsupplemented sawdust into two mini tubs. Turns out I rehydrated too many fuel pellets into sawdust, and ended up with 3 tubs at more like a 4 or 5 to 1 ratio.
Three 6qt tubs with the standard lids on, spawn mixed in, ready to colonize in my closet.

Closeup of one of the tubs right after spawning
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socraticd
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Re: Socraticd's experiments - a.k.a, a newbie's grow log [Re: socraticd]
#19205427 - 11/29/13 03:58 PM (10 years, 2 months ago) |
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Also, I'm trying a slightly different approach with my master culture slants. The first try, I had excessive amounts of condensation in them once they had cooled.
The technique I followed was to PC them in a jar standing up, then once the PC had depressurized but not cooled enough to solidify the agar, move them out of the PC to the slanted surface to cool.
There was enough condensation in these that it was able to pool into a small pool of water at the bottom of the slant if it was held upright.
So my solution is to open the PC when it's depressurized but still hot, remove the upright slants, and set them on an angled surface STILL IN THE PC to cool gradually in hopes that this will prevent the temperature differentials that cause the condensation in the first place.
Here are the two slant containers I'm testing with. I prefer the amber colored ones since I can get my exacto into them, but I'm going to order one of the "Paul Stamets Favorite Scalpel" scalpels whcih supposedly are narrow enough to get in and out of the 20x150mm culture tubes. The mouth on them for the screw top is just so narrow...
Testing the angle of the extra PC plate angled up on 3 jar lid rings
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Jeff
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Re: Socraticd's experiments - a.k.a, a newbie's grow log [Re: socraticd]
#19205478 - 11/29/13 04:11 PM (10 years, 2 months ago) |
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Looks like you licked the condensation issue. As a side note though, if it were me I would use about twice the agar. It will help out long term, not only for easy access when you try to pull a sample with a scalpel but also moisture retention for extended storage.
-------------------- Myco-tek
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socraticd
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Re: Socraticd's experiments - a.k.a, a newbie's grow log [Re: Jeff]
#19205552 - 11/29/13 04:37 PM (10 years, 2 months ago) |
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o, that picture is just a test with water to see if I had the angle right.I'll take a couple of pictures of the results when I get home.ultimately, the amber vials seemed to be fine, but the culture tubes still had a decent amount of condensation.
Definitely getting closer, though. Still curious how others prep their slants and avoid the bulk of the condensate.
I'll definitely use more in the culture tubes next time though. Good points.
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socraticd
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Re: Socraticd's experiments - a.k.a, a newbie's grow log [Re: socraticd]
#19216975 - 12/02/13 12:09 PM (10 years, 2 months ago) |
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Quick update. Made 6 unsupplemented sawdust bags over the weekend for my fully colonized quarts of King Oyster, Enoki, and Reishi
Bags are 5 cups fuel pellets "pasteurized" Lipa-style with 5.5 cups 170deg water and allowed to hydrate and cool for the bulk of the day. 1 qt spawn to 1 bag. Not sure what ratio this is, exactly, as I haven't measured out the hydrated volume of sawdust in this configuration. 1:4 maybe, if i had to guess?
One enoki and one King Oyster bag done, with one more of each to go

And I had two more Reishi quarts to spawn out, which at this point were rock hard jars of mycelium which could only be broken up and scraped out with the serving fork in the picture. The fork was hosed down with 70% iso, along with my hands and the jar lid and rim before spawning into the sawdust bag in open air. Based on how aggressive all three of these cultures seemed to be, and given that it's unsupplemented sawdust, I'm not TERRIBLY worried about contams, but I guess we'll see what I can get away with, with these three species.

The three reishi mini-tubs have all colonized to what looked like 100% in a little under a week. About 5 days. Incredible! I'll post a couple pictures of those tonight.
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Forrester
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Re: Socraticd's experiments - a.k.a, a newbie's grow log [Re: socraticd]
#19219801 - 12/02/13 10:17 PM (10 years, 2 months ago) |
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Looking good! So why the 170 degree water instead of boiling, shooting for closer to 'true' pasteurization? Just curious.
Have you experimented with that pellet:water ratio before?
-------------------- 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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socraticd
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Re: Socraticd's experiments - a.k.a, a newbie's grow log [Re: Forrester]
#19219951 - 12/02/13 10:42 PM (10 years, 2 months ago) |
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Yeah I did some experiments a.) with the pellet/water ratio got me right to field capacity with these pellets, and b.) that when I dump in the water at 170, it quickly ends up at 160 or just below and slowly cools to 140, finally reaching 90 after a couple hours. I put the bags in a bucket as I do them, so they all retain the heat as long as possible, which I theorize is getting me closer to a legit pasteurization than just dumping in boiling water. Though still WAY more hands off than Frank's method.
That said, once work eases up a bit and i can go snag a couple remote-probe thermometers, I'm going to give frank's true pasteurization method a shot. I also want to try some supplemented sawdust bags out, which means sterilizing, so well see where I end up long term. Just doing a lot of experimenting for now.
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Forrester
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Re: Socraticd's experiments - a.k.a, a newbie's grow log [Re: socraticd]
#19220098 - 12/02/13 11:20 PM (10 years, 2 months ago) |
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Eh, give true pasteurization a shot if you need it. I haven't yet found it necessary for wood pellets. When they're not supplemented, contams just aren't really interested. I use boiling water and have forgotten about some leftovers, left them for over a month in a bucket, and nothing grew on them in that time 
Just starting to experiment with sterilization myself. Doing some trials now with grain on top of pellet sawdust, injected via LC through the bag. We'll see how it goes, it's all in good fun
-------------------- 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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socraticd
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Re: Socraticd's experiments - a.k.a, a newbie's grow log [Re: Forrester]
#19220953 - 12/03/13 07:36 AM (10 years, 2 months ago) |
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Yeah that's the way I'm looking at it. I'm not afraid to mess things up since I'm learning and the stuff I do that does t work teaches me as much if not more than the stuff that DID work.
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socraticd
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Re: Socraticd's experiments - a.k.a, a newbie's grow log [Re: socraticd]
#19235562 - 12/06/13 08:54 AM (10 years, 2 months ago) |
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A little more from a coupe nights ago. Poured a fresh sleeve of petris on Monday or Tuesday night and The following night I did a bunch of transfers.
Lions Mane and Nameko from LC syringe, Turkey Tail wedges from Jeff on to plates, blue oyster from LC syringe, enoki and king oyster transfer to expand out to a few more plates. I probably don't need 3 plates on hand for everything I'm culturing, but I figure it's cheap and easy insurance for my immature techniques at everything. 16 plates in all.

I also put two small wedges of reishi on to the new attempted master slants. There is a LITTLE condensation in them, but I'll give it a go, regardless. I'm still not sure how to prepare these without any condensation as RR says I should be able to...
The reishi minitubs colonized FAST. This is what they looked like about 5 days after spawning. 2qt grain spawn to 8 or 9 qt unsupplemented sawdust:


And, a couple shots of my south american dart frog tank. 35G hex with a custom LED light fixture, filled with bromiliads, african violet, orchids, and a small colony of these guys:


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liamtheloser
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Re: Socraticd's experiments - a.k.a, a newbie's grow log [Re: socraticd]
#19235649 - 12/06/13 09:29 AM (10 years, 2 months ago) |
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Your enoki plate looks like trich, is that just a trick of the light or something?
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socraticd
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Re: Socraticd's experiments - a.k.a, a newbie's grow log [Re: liamtheloser]
#19236152 - 12/06/13 11:43 AM (10 years, 2 months ago) |
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no, it's blue agar i mixed up for some reason. I think my idea was to be able to see the mycelium better, but didn't even think about the fact that contams would be harder to spot..
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liamtheloser
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Re: Socraticd's experiments - a.k.a, a newbie's grow log [Re: socraticd]
#19236228 - 12/06/13 11:57 AM (10 years, 2 months ago) |
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Oh god, yeah that would give me mini heart attacks every time I looked at my cultures haha. I use nutritional yeast in my agar recipes, which turns the agar a poopy yellow sometimes, but it shows contams well.
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Forrester
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Re: Socraticd's experiments - a.k.a, a newbie's grow log [Re: liamtheloser]
#19238435 - 12/06/13 08:58 PM (10 years, 2 months ago) |
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That's a pretty nice sized mini-tub, I think you're gonna have a lot of reishi! You gonna take the lid off and flip another tub upside down on the top or just let 'em run into the lid?
-------------------- 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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Jeff
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Re: Socraticd's experiments - a.k.a, a newbie's grow log [Re: socraticd]
#19238459 - 12/06/13 09:04 PM (10 years, 2 months ago) |
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Quote:
socraticd said: no, it's blue agar i mixed up for some reason. I think my idea was to be able to see the mycelium better, but didn't even think about the fact that contams would be harder to spot..
i died my agar once. I probably won't ever do it again. Blue is what I did and it stained my grain green. Actually was annoying as hell and hard to see if there was contam present. Like I said, probably won't do it again.
-------------------- Myco-tek
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Aleon
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Re: Socraticd's experiments - a.k.a, a newbie's grow log [Re: Jeff]
#19239603 - 12/07/13 05:42 AM (10 years, 2 months ago) |
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I use activated carbon to "color" my plates black , and to (supposedly) detoxify the culture. Makes mycelium stand out well and contams are still easily spotted. I've been doing it this way for years now. I don't add activated carbon when im making slants; other than that I always make agar with it.
-------------------- Mushroom medicines available at: www.swordandshieldwellness.com
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socraticd
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Re: Socraticd's experiments - a.k.a, a newbie's grow log [Re: Aleon]
#19879956 - 04/21/14 08:07 PM (9 years, 9 months ago) |
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It's been awhile, folks!
I've been on and off while other projects have been taking more of my time. Havent't dropped off the map, though, and have constantly had a few projects going all the time.
Lets see...
Built a greenhouse and humidity bucket for fruiting:
greenhouse:

inward blowing fan to provide FAE and move the humidified air from the ultrasonic that will live inside the bucket:

PLENTY of silicone!

finished product at work, humidifying some turkey tail
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