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nothing14
bluetounge
Registered: 04/30/00
Posts: 34
Loc: United States
Last seen: 5 years, 8 months
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Questions about High Mountain Compost, going on vacation!
#2152383 - 12/02/03 04:17 PM (20 years, 3 months ago) |
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Here's my situation; I'm leaving for home in 3 weeks for Christmas and I just today got 20lbs of High Mountain Compost. I have a few week and a half old cakes in a poor man's pod. I want some shrooms to bring home to friends for the holidays. I'm wondering if this is a plausable thing to do:
Crumble some cakes to spawn 10 lbs of compost, separated into 3 or 4 aluminum trays/small rubbermaid bins, and put them into the PMP to colonize and then fruit. Then once I harvest the first flush, put all the trays into the fridge for the 2 weeks I'm gone.
Is that doable? Is there anything that wouldn't work? Here are some questions I have:
1. With what do I crumble the cakes? My hands? How small should the pieces be? 2. After I mix in the cakes with the compost, do I cover the tray with plastic wrap and poke holes in it or something like that? 3. Would 1 cake per 3 lbs or so be enough spawn? 4. Can the trays survive in the fridge for 2 weeks and will they be okay for further flushes? How would I store them in the fridge, would I cover them in plastic wrap? 5. Is it worth it to do this or should I wait 5 weeks, and secondly will the compost be good unused for that long?
Any help is appreciated. If this turns out to be a good plan I'll do a log with pictures for those of you that want to see what high mountain compost can do. Hopefully it'll be my first time using compost successfully! Thanks!
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ExtravagantDream
Beacon in theDarkness
Registered: 10/24/02
Posts: 1,271
Loc: Somewhere in the Local Su...
Last seen: 16 years, 9 months
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Re: Questions about High Mountain Compost, going on vacation! [Re: nothing14]
#2152625 - 12/02/03 05:31 PM (20 years, 3 months ago) |
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I personally would not flush and then put them in the fridge for two+ weeks. I'm sure it is doable but I would not expect the world.
If I was in your situation I would probably use a pretty low spawn ratio and do the transfer right before I leave. That way you would come back to a nice, ready to use compost bag of mycelium.
To answer some of your questions;
You can crumble cakes with your hands, cleaning them before is well advised.
Crush them into as small a piece as possible, the more small pieces the more inoculation points for the compost. However, the more you handle it the longer it takes to recover and the more susceptible it is to contamination in that period. You may consider substituting with a cheese grater.
I would suggest reading about bulk substrates in the FAQ .
As far as I can recall, yes put plastic right onto the compost with small holes. Depending on what exactly you plan on doing, you may want to not use holes or just have it in a bag first to colonize.
Spawn ratio that you want to use really depends on how fast you want it finished. If I recall correctly 1:10 (Colonized:Uncolonized) would be the fastest. Anything more than that is a waste. I think you can go as low as 1:100 without any severe risk of contamination.
As for putting stuff in the fridge. Always make sure it is tightly sealed. Plastic wrap, rubber bands, bags, what ever you want to use.
Is the compost moist? Pre-pasturized?
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nothing14
bluetounge
Registered: 04/30/00
Posts: 34
Loc: United States
Last seen: 5 years, 8 months
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Re: Questions about High Mountain Compost, going on vacation! [Re: ExtravagantDream]
#2152704 - 12/02/03 06:07 PM (20 years, 3 months ago) |
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yeah it's moist/pre-pasteurized
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nothing14
bluetounge
Registered: 04/30/00
Posts: 34
Loc: United States
Last seen: 5 years, 8 months
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Re: Questions about High Mountain Compost, going on vacation! [Re: nothing14]
#2152710 - 12/02/03 06:09 PM (20 years, 3 months ago) |
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so I guess I should wait? I want to get the most I can out of this stuff. It cost me a penny!
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Mixomatosis
great ape
Registered: 10/28/03
Posts: 1,306
Loc: cipherland
Last seen: 11 years, 2 months
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Re: Questions about High Mountain Compost, going on vacation! [Re: nothing14]
#2152773 - 12/02/03 06:38 PM (20 years, 3 months ago) |
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I'd wait, cause it is expensive stuff
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nothing14
bluetounge
Registered: 04/30/00
Posts: 34
Loc: United States
Last seen: 5 years, 8 months
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Re: Questions about High Mountain Compost, going on vacation! [Re: ExtravagantDream]
#2155570 - 12/03/03 02:31 PM (20 years, 3 months ago) |
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Quote:
ExtravagantDream said: I personally would not flush and then put them in the fridge for two+ weeks. I'm sure it is doable but I would not expect the world.
If I was in your situation I would probably use a pretty low spawn ratio and do the transfer right before I leave. That way you would come back to a nice, ready to use compost bag of mycelium.
Yeah I think I'll do that, that sounds like the best thing to do.
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