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Mushrooms, Mycology and Psychedelics > Mushroom Cultivation
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Need criticism and feedback
    #22316573 -

Okay so this is my first time at attempting to grow mushrooms and I need some help and feedback on a lot of things.

1st batch
So I made around 7 jars with a BRF tek. Since this is my first time I screwed up a lot but I've been learning but I believe I didnt put enough water in this batch , something around 30-50ml I believe while the vermiculite was 1/2 cup and the BRF at 1/4 cup.


Preparation: I used silicon for the inoculation holes , one per jar ( I started using two after this) and then I made an air hole and practically clogged it accidentally using cotton balls as my filter, which is why I think all my jars  are stalled. I dont have a pressure cooker so I boiled them for 30 minutes.

        My first mistake was using actual brown rice and trying to blend it, some pieces did not blend well and at the time I just didn't think it'd cause me nay problems. But As weeks went by I started to notice the few grains of rice swelled up and would later be the cause of a few of the jars getting contaminated with a yellowy mold thing. One jar had it very bad and the yellow turned into like an orange color and almost no mycelium grew. Only 3 don't show any signs of contam so far, one jar was almost done colonizing when the top started growing these red dot looking things so I pulled out most of the mature mycelium and threw away the red stuff.

Heres a few pictures of the one I'm trying to salvage ( if thats even possible) Also its supposed to be one cake but it broke up when I tried birthing it.

http://i.imgur.com/ONYZcSL.jpg
http://i.imgur.com/jcG8V8k.jpg
http://i.imgur.com/fH6np6G.jpg
http://i.imgur.com/Gwrl7S0.jpg
http://i.imgur.com/baVcJcq.jpg
http://i.imgur.com/7hWMwZf.jpg
I think theres possible contam on the left side on this one.


I didn't dunk this cake when I birthed it because I wasn't aware I was supposed to I just thought I had to maintain 100% humidity and make sure they were very wet. But these pictures are a day after the cake's birth and I'm not seeing any pins and there isn't a lot of matured mycelium.

I just replaced the air filters with micropore tape in hopes of helping the surviving jars grow and mature , its been about a month now , they're almost done but I believe their progress was stalled due to lack of oxygen , please correct me if i am wrong.

2nd batch
I used the quarter pint jars for this batch , two inoculation points , micro pore tape for the air holes , 2:1:1 exact ratio of BRf , I used actual BRF this time. I spent 80 minutes boiling these for sterilization to make sure they didnt contam this time. during inoculation I didnt heat up the needle but I covered it with paper tower soaked in alcohol whenever the syringe was exposed. I'll update on how these jars turned out :laugh:

So yeah any constructive criticism , feedback even some light flaming is appreciated. Still learning and I'm willing to learn more :laugh:

http://i.imgur.com/BkJJJs0.jpg
This is one of the jars that doesnt have any contamination ( that I'm aware of) that has been stalled pretty badly, this is from the first batch. i replaced the filter in hope of having it colonizing again.

Heres another pic , upclose
http://i.imgur.com/LDhQrnx.jpg


And heres basically all that I have inside the incubator
http://i.imgur.com/wkF9Yuf.jpg

Thanks for reading and let me know what you think :laugh:


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New to growing shrooms, be nais pls

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Re: Need criticism and feedback [Re: japj15]
    #22316590 -

here's what you asked for:


criticism:  you fucking suck!  you suck at everything! go home!
feedback: not bad for a noob.  it seems like you are about 90% on track.  but there are quite a few things you did wrong...  go back and read a few more PF teks and i'm sure you find out where to improve.

but more importantly, i think your problem lies in the fruiting stage, not the colonization stage.  post a pic of your fruiting chamber. it appears as if you are trying to fruit in the open air :confused:  did you build a SGFC? 

(i dont see any contams btw)


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(Yes, the egg is real)

How to post pics

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Re: Need criticism and feedback [Re: FriedEgg]
    #22316598 -

or i'll just tell you... take those cakes out of that bowl of wet verm before they contaminate.  put them in a properly built SGFC (shotgun fruiting chamber).


--------------------

(Yes, the egg is real)

How to post pics

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Re: Need criticism and feedback [Re: FriedEgg]
    #22317070 -

See my only problem with continuously reading more teks is that they all contain minor changes on how they do things and what not, it gets to a point where sometimes a tek will tell me to do something and then a different tek straight up tells you never to do what the other tek told you to do. Don't get me wrong , I learn something new everytime but my problem is I'm not simply trying to copy someone's tek ( Especially when I have very limited resources). I'm trying to understand mycology and that implies fucking up and learning what to do and not to do. I don't need a SGFC ( although I'd fucking love to have one ), what I need are the ideal conditions to produce shrooms and the right measures to avoid contamination. But thank you though :laugh: , and no its not in open air its inside a fish tank thats sealed off with a flap thing i made out of cardboard covered in wax paper. So far moisture stays in and the fish tank is big enough to maintain good oxygen levels until the flap is lifted (which is about twice a day o-0) Should I make some sort of filter or just leave some holes in it? I can't be moisturizing them too much because everything is kept a friends house who I'm doing this for ( he paid for most of it so he's getting most of our yields but I'm treating this as a free learning experience :laugh:) But what should I do about the wet verm?(I'm thinking I should fruit them ontop of some wax paper or tinfoil ) Also should I use perlite for my incubator or verm? Also do you mind mentioning a few more things that I did wrong in order to prevent fucking up in my next batch? I personally think the 2nd batch is going to work ALOT  better than the first one, the first one was rushed and I'm sure I didn't sterilize properly.


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New to growing shrooms, be nais pls

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Re: Need criticism and feedback [Re: japj15]
    #22317246 -

japj15 said:
Preparation: I used silicon for the inoculation holes , one per jar ( I started using two after this) and then I made an air hole and practically clogged it accidentally using cotton balls as my filter, which is why I think all my jars  are stalled. I dont have a pressure cooker so I boiled them for 30 minutes.


You steam sterilize them, not boil them, and we do this for 90 minutes, not 30...

japj15 said:
        My first mistake was using actual brown rice and trying to blend it, some pieces did not blend well and at the time I just didn't think it'd cause me nay problems. But As weeks went by I started to notice the few grains of rice swelled up and would later be the cause of a few of the jars getting contaminated with a yellowy mold thing.


Don't blame your sub par sterilization techniques on rice...it's not fair.


--------------------
                 
THIS HOBBY IS NOT FOR THE IMPATIENT! PLEASE BE PATIENT, DON'T BE A PATIENT!
A Tale of 10 Isolates, GT Cluster Clone Monotubs, RR's Let's Grow Mushrooms DVD,
SGFC(Shotgun Fruiting Chamber), Monotub Tek, Damion5050's Coir Tek, TL's Tek List, Frank's Tek List,
EvilMushroom666's Pasteurization Tek, How It Should & Shouldn't Look - NEW CULTIVATORS GUIDE
*** *** AFGHAN KUSH GROW LOG *** ***

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Re: Need criticism and feedback [Re: PussyFart]
    #22317579 -

Also fish tanks and flaps sounds like fail


--------------------
Everything you need in one spot.

My Q&A thread. Ask me questions here rather than in Private Message
Bod's chat thread

5g a day keeps the 5g away

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Re: Need criticism and feedback [Re: bodhisatta]
    #22317618 -

At this point, since you aren't looking to follow a tek, I would just crumble the cakes into a pan and case them with vermiculite... You don't have a fruiting chamber, so a casing layer will become your best friend.


--------------------
Like all great travellers, I have seen more than I remember, and remember more than I have seen.

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Re: Need criticism and feedback [Re: Sksoul]
    #22317754 -

Sksoul said:
At this point, since you aren't looking to follow a tek, I would just crumble the cakes into a pan and case them with vermiculite... You don't have a fruiting chamber, so a casing layer will become your best friend.


I've been following the pf tek for the most part , especially with the 2nd batch , and I might create a fruiting chamber for these upcoming cakes. But I like the idea of a casing layer for the fish tank


--------------------
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New to growing shrooms, be nais pls

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Re: Need criticism and feedback [Re: bodhisatta]
    #22317830 -

bodhisatta said:
Also fish tanks and flaps sounds like fail



I plan on buying an actual lid for it but that and the flap was the best I could do when I was trying to salvage that one cake. But the point of getting a fish tank was to create a fancy c02 exhaust and have some sort of humidifier , something like this would be ideal, http://www.shroomery.org/9789/Teh-Fire-and-4get-Bubbleh-Humidifier

Do you agree or are fish tanks just cursed? I can always just place a plastic lid with enough holes ontop to create a sub-par SGFC but I want to go a step further and just create something with an automated humidifier/ air exchange. Idk from what I've read about shrooms this should provide ideal conditions, I might just even try both.


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New to growing shrooms, be nais pls

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Re: Need criticism and feedback [Re: japj15]
    #22317853 -

For 1 cake just put it in a PMP in a 2 liter bottle or something. Fish tanks are for fish lol and other reptiles of course but not mushrooms. If you want automated then move up and do bulk in a monotub...about as automated as they come. Other than that, a SGFC is your best option and I know it's fun to feel like a mad scientist making all these cool contraptions but a plastic box with holes and perlite is all you need.


--------------------
"The earth is a very small stage, in a vast cosmic arena.
Our posturing’s, our imagined self-importance, the delusion that
we have some privileged position in the universe, are challenged.
To me, it underscores our responsibility to deal more kindly with one
another, and to preserve, and cherish, the only home, we've ever known."

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Re: Need criticism and feedback [Re: japj15]
    #22317906 -

japj15 said:
Sksoul said:
At this point, since you aren't looking to follow a tek, I would just crumble the cakes into a pan and case them with vermiculite... You don't have a fruiting chamber, so a casing layer will become your best friend.


I've been following the pf tek for the most part , especially with the 2nd batch , and I might create a fruiting chamber for these upcoming cakes. But I like the idea of a casing layer for the fish tank


Right there is the likely problem. It will really help to follow the TEK to a "T". Once you get a few successful grows under your belt then experiment. Besides, it will help you to have a reference to what a grow is supposed to do and what things should look like...:thumbup:


--------------------
"They who can give up essential liberty, to obtain a little temporary safety, deserve neither liberty nor safety." - Benjamin Franklin

Lets Grow Mushrooms Videos
PastyWhyte's Easy Agar TEK
Agar's Liquid Inoculant TEK

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Re: Need criticism and feedback [Re: wowimflabbergasted]
    #22317935 -

Oh god that write up :lmafo:

I'm on my phone so I can't post it but did anyone actually scroll to the bottom of that link to see the "result"? OP if that's all your looking to get from your cakes you don't need a fancy fishtank bubbler setup.. Just throw them in a trash can and check on em in a week before you take out the garbage. You should see the same result. That whole post should be renamed to "the resilance of cubes".


--------------------
:headbang3: Pastywhyte's Easy Writeups :headbang3: My Favorite Grow Logs :headbang3:
:headbang3: Avoiding the dreaded facepalm in cultivation :headbang3: The worst threads all have the same subjects :headbang3:
:headbang3: Q & A.M.U. :headbang3:

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Re: Need criticism and feedback [Re: Pastywhyte]
    #22318677 -

So I've decided to just keep using the fish tank for what ive been using it up to this point which is just keeping all my jars and spores inside and I'm going with a PMP for the cake I birthed. Once the other jars are ready I'm going to make an SGFC and house it inside the fish tank. Why would I do this? Well I thought I could add a layer of water (not to much ) to the fish tank and then drop the SGFC inside , thus water will hydrate the bottom layer of verm ( or perlite), but only to the point where theres always water around and I dont have to hydrate it as much. Also I'll take off the flap once I add the SGFC in order to get air exchange. So I drew something up to illustrate my idea

Also I didn't design this because I'm lazy, I just cant be around to hydrate them 24/7 but I think by doing this the fruiting chamber will always have high levels of moisture. Tell me what you think about this , but before we start flaming poor old me  tell me why this would be a bad idea. All the feedback up to this point has been pretty helpful and I appreciate it all :laugh:  so thank you.
I will be adding more pictures later tonight to see wether or not the cakes have begun fruiting.


--------------------
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------

New to growing shrooms, be nais pls

Edited by japj15 (10/01/15 11:31 AM)

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Re: Need criticism and feedback [Re: japj15]
    #22318833 -

Why do you think you need to be around 24/7 to run a SGFC? You can leave it for days at a time if you needed to.


--------------------
:headbang3: Pastywhyte's Easy Writeups :headbang3: My Favorite Grow Logs :headbang3:
:headbang3: Avoiding the dreaded facepalm in cultivation :headbang3: The worst threads all have the same subjects :headbang3:
:headbang3: Q & A.M.U. :headbang3:

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Re: Need criticism and feedback [Re: Pastywhyte]
    #22318858 -

Rather than point out all the problems with your design let me ask you a simple question.  Be honest.  Do you think you are familiar enough with this organism to be able to design an automated chamber for it to thrive in? The fact that you need to ask for opinions on it suggests to me that you are not.

Again I'm not trying to be mean but, be honest with yourself.


--------------------
:headbang3: Pastywhyte's Easy Writeups :headbang3: My Favorite Grow Logs :headbang3:
:headbang3: Avoiding the dreaded facepalm in cultivation :headbang3: The worst threads all have the same subjects :headbang3:
:headbang3: Q & A.M.U. :headbang3:

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Re: Need criticism and feedback [Re: Pastywhyte]
    #22318934 -

:whathesaid:

there are very smart people that have made this hobby their discipline for decades.  they know what's best.  i'm not saying don't innovate.... just take baby steps.  we all want the same thing (for you to stick with this hobby).  the quickest way to become disinterested is to immediately fail right off the bat.


--------------------

(Yes, the egg is real)

How to post pics

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Re: Need criticism and feedback [Re: japj15]
    #22318945 -

japj15 said:
So I've decided to just keep using the fish tank for what ive been using it up to this point which is just keeping all my jars and spores inside and I'm going with a PMP for the cake I birthed. Once the other jars are ready I'm going to make an SGFC and house it inside the fish tank. Why would I do this? Well I thought I could add a layer of water (not to much ) to the fish tank and then drop the SGFC inside , thus water will hydrate the bottom layer of verm ( or perlite), but only to the point where theres always water around and I dont have to hydrate it as much. Also I'll take off the flap once I add the SGFC in order to get air exchange. So I drew something up to illustrate my idea

Also I didn't design this because I'm lazy, I just cant be around to hydrate them 24/7 but I think by doing this the fruiting chamber will always have high levels of moisture. Tell me what you think about this , but before we start flaming poor old me  tell me why this would be a bad idea. All the feedback up to this point has been pretty helpful and I appreciate it all :laugh:  so thank you.
I will be adding more pictures later tonight to see wether or not the cakes have begun fruiting.


You are definitely doing things the hard way.  PF Tek is not the easiest way to grow mushrooms to begin with, as its key attraction is you can do it without a pressure cooker, which is not very smart to begin with ... but if you are going to do the PF Tek method, then a simple and inexpensive SGFC is the way to go and following the directions carefully.  I found growing with PP5 jars and rye grass seed to be MUCH easier and more forgiving with a lot fewer steps and no need for birthing steps ... fruiting chambers ... concern about humidity, dunking, rolling ... etc.

All you need is spores, Rye grass seed (very cheap), a few ziplock loc-tite quart or pint jars, a pressure cooker, a misting bottle and a small amount of vermiculite ... and that's it ...


--------------------
“Order is needed by the ignorant but it takes a genius to master chaos.”
― Einstein


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Re: Need criticism and feedback [Re: KauaiOrca]
    #22318955 -

KauaiOrca said:
PF Tek is not the easiest way to grow mushrooms to begin with, as its key attraction is you can do it without a pressure cooker, which is not very smart to begin with ...


Except it's worked for millions of jars.....so yea, there's that.

What's not smart is investing in a PC when a stock pot works just as well...for pf tek.


--------------------
                 
THIS HOBBY IS NOT FOR THE IMPATIENT! PLEASE BE PATIENT, DON'T BE A PATIENT!
A Tale of 10 Isolates, GT Cluster Clone Monotubs, RR's Let's Grow Mushrooms DVD,
SGFC(Shotgun Fruiting Chamber), Monotub Tek, Damion5050's Coir Tek, TL's Tek List, Frank's Tek List,
EvilMushroom666's Pasteurization Tek, How It Should & Shouldn't Look - NEW CULTIVATORS GUIDE
*** *** AFGHAN KUSH GROW LOG *** ***

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Re: Need criticism and feedback [Re: PussyFart]
    #22319006 -

PussyFart said:
What's not smart is investing in a PC when a stock pot works just as well...for pf tek.


For the  money you likely spend on making proper lids, SAB, fruiting chamber, perlite, mason jars ... you could probably pick up a cheap pressure cooker that will up your odds of success and open up easier cultivation possibilities for you.  Nothing wrong with PF Tek, it's just not the easiest way for beginners to grow and yes, it will work and has worked for many, many people.  Not trying to be a jerk, just being honest ... of all the cultivation methods I've tried, I found PF Tek to be the most difficult and multiple steps intensive.


--------------------
“Order is needed by the ignorant but it takes a genius to master chaos.”
― Einstein


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Re: Need criticism and feedback [Re: KauaiOrca]
    #22319025 -

KauaiOrca said:
PussyFart said:
What's not smart is investing in a PC when a stock pot works just as well...for pf tek.


For the  money you likely spend on making proper lids, SAB, fruiting chamber, perlite, mason jars ... you could probably pick up a cheap pressure cooker that will up your odds of success and open up easier cultivation possibilities for you.


But you would still need to buy jars, SAB, and fruiting chamber(s).... so what's your point? Save money on perlite?

But then again, now you need bulk substrate material, or casing layer material at the very least, so you save nothing really....

KauaiOrca said:
Nothing wrong with PF Tek, it's just not the easiest way for beginners to grow and yes, it will work and has worked for many, many people.  Not trying to be a jerk, just being honest ... of all the cultivation methods I've tried, I found PF Tek to be the most difficult and multiple steps intensive.


Difficult how?

Inoculate and wait....birth, dunk, roll, mist.......done.


--------------------
                 
THIS HOBBY IS NOT FOR THE IMPATIENT! PLEASE BE PATIENT, DON'T BE A PATIENT!
A Tale of 10 Isolates, GT Cluster Clone Monotubs, RR's Let's Grow Mushrooms DVD,
SGFC(Shotgun Fruiting Chamber), Monotub Tek, Damion5050's Coir Tek, TL's Tek List, Frank's Tek List,
EvilMushroom666's Pasteurization Tek, How It Should & Shouldn't Look - NEW CULTIVATORS GUIDE
*** *** AFGHAN KUSH GROW LOG *** ***

Extras: Filter Print Post Top
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Shop: Unfolding Nature Unfolding Nature: Being in the Implicate Order   MagicBag.co All-In-One Bags That Don't Suck   Original Sensible Seeds Autoflowering Cannabis Seeds   Myyco.com Isolated Cubensis Liquid Culture For Sale   Sporeworks.EU Spores for European Microscopy   North Spore Bulk Substrate   Mushroom-Hut Liquid Cultures

Mushrooms, Mycology and Psychedelics > Mushroom Cultivation
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