Hi everyone,
First and absolute foremost my sincerest gratitude to all those who have unwittingly guided my first thrilling forays into mushroom growing - that being most everyone who has submitted useful or intriguing information or ideas to this site. Its a frikking cornucopia and I love it! My gratitude is endless and ineffable.
Secondly, this is a chunky post, and the queries presented various and multifaceted, but the more information is offered the more one might hope to receive - so I hope anyone who hasn't the time or patience to read such posts doesn't get entangled in and frustrated by this one. I'm also conscious that many threads cover many of these topics - I've invested literally countless hours here in just the past few days! - but none I found dealt with the precise specificities of which I'm concerned.
Also, in advance - I'm aware of the humidity and FAE issues of the Penis Envy kit manifesting in the airborne (?) mycelium fluffing around the bases and stems of many of my fruits. I'm presently misting much more sparingly and fanning with much greater regularity. Previously, misting was heavy and twice a day (always on the bag walls), while fanning too was only twice a day. The kit was also sat directly on a heat pad that was seemingly far too hot for long periods. The p.e. kit took somewhere in the region of 14 days to start pinning - for the first week it was in a relatively unlit spot, receiving just a little indirect light. I wonder, might this have contributed to slow pinning? I now have both kits 12/12 under a 3000k bulb - with a 6500k en route in the post, in a room that is consistently about 1C above external temps, sat elevated by hummus pot lids on top of a heat pad. I cant yet measure the exact temperature of the chamber (also in the post) but the ambient temp of the room has been 19C (outdoors it has been 18C). I continue to keep the cakes on the heat pads so as to minimise heat variance after dark when the temp drops considerably.
Plan
So tonight I'll be building a SGFC by basically the standard, classic design (perlite, universal 1/4" holes covered w/micropore tape, etc) and intend to transfer two SupaGro grow kits (Penis Envy and Golden Teacher) into the SGFC.
Observations & Questions
Tomorrow will be three weeks since the P.E. kit was received and set up to grow - as advised - in the ventilated container bag provided, on a heat mat emitting a (supposedly) steady 24C. This first flush has produced a largely average pinset, almost exclusively on the sides, with many grotesque little beauties twisting in all directions in search of space to grow. Of those that have escaped the sides, growing upwards, a few are quite monstrous mutants, while a couple of others remain rather weedy, mutated imps. But in a fathers eyes... of course all are cherished.
1. Lighting & Side Pin Rotting
 
 
 
 
Some 4 days ago I wrapped the substrate box in tin foil in the hope it would encourage the mushrooms to grow upward toward the light source I had installed (a standard, warm-spectrum bulb). Presumably because the light produced was somewhere in the region of 3000k (miles away from emulating daylight), none of the mushrooms were taken to growing in its direction. In fact, several very healthy albeit-cramped ones trapped at the sides began to blue, others beginning to fully decompose within 24hrs of no light. Not all were affected as explicitly - but all did look pretty grumpy by the time I removed the foil and reintroduced them to the light. This is a pity, but of little concern as I understand the mycelium will almost certainly colonise its dying progeny. Eat thy children.
(Since then, the ones that were quite heavily degraded have continued to rapidly degrade further - with mycelium making attempts to indulge in its incestuous lunch - while others have more slowly trodden a line between bruising, growth and decomposition. A general rule has been that the larger ones have pushed on valiently, but with little success; while the smaller ones and the pins have died completely).
2. Veil Breakage & Psilocin/Psilocybin Production; Spores & Immaturity
At present, all of those mushrooms that have penetrated the surface bar a few smaller ones have long since veil-broken, yet only one has dropped any amount of spores. Is this not somewhat odd? Or, rather, what might it indicate? I read that it is common for side-pins or mutants to break their veil at an immature stage. Question 1. I wonder does anyone know if the correlation between the ceasing of psilocin/psilocybin production and veil-breakage is actually confirmed?
3. Mycelial 'Scab' & Blue-Black Discolouration
   
The kit upon arrival had a relatively hard, x-shaped patch of mycelium on the surface. (Question 2. Active mycelium can grow through 'scabbed' mycelium such as this, correct? Only I've otherwise seen no growth through this area, though the top has been pretty barren this first flush). At the very epicentre of this patch a blue/black area has formed over the last week. The colour has stayed pretty consistent. Based on the pictures, it looks as though a patch of mycelium began to grow through but died. Though I cant capture it with my camera, there are tiny bubble-shaped pockmarks on a few patches of this small area - presumably this would correlate in some way with the conclusion I've come to: Question 3. Is this patch of blue-black is just oxidation and thus little of concern?
4. Picking Healthy &/or Rotting Fruits
 Notice the albino-esque palid cap and light discolouration of stem
  See, on the other side of the cake, much heavier discolouration and degredation on both the large fruit and 3 smaller ones
My intention is to carefully remove the cake from the grow kit carton, pluck all the larger shrooms - leaving the smaller ones to grow further and the decomposing ones to be colonised by mycelium. I would, though, gladly receive advice on this - my presumption is that as the mycelium will work on colonising the degrading mushroom, Question 4. Is it possible that, once colonised, the area on top of the dead shroom might produce fruits? Or is it better for the health of the cake that decomposing fruits are removed?
Also: Question 4.1 Of these discoloured and rotting fruits, do any appear edible? (I'll upload better clarity pictures once picked)
5. Metabolites & Dunking
I also have quite considerable metabolite symptoms on the base of the cake. These SupaGro kits are advised to sit on top of a heat mat which stays (supposedly) at a stable 24C. Obviously they've been heavily overheating because the base of the cake is almost ubiquitously yellow-orange-tinged, with a few small spots of the metabolite waste juice, and upon picking up after a long time unattended, the base has often been pretty hot to the touch. I've taken steps to alleviate this issue in the meantime until the SGFC is ready. Question 5. When it comes to the second flush, when rinsing - prior to dunking for 12 hours - should I make any effort to actively clean the yellow-orange areas of the base (I'm thinking just water and a rub)? Or would something a little more chemically inclined be advisable? As far as I can see the base will remain the base in the F.C. so theres no need to try and make it a more hospital environment for growth/fruiting, right?
6. Second Flush & Vermiculite
Question 6 Once dunked for 12 hours, is there any reason not scatter the cakes with a layer of vermiculite? The blurb @ http://www.magic-mushrooms-shop.com/en/golden-teacher-cubensis-magic-mushroom-grow-kit.html says in regard of the substrate: "No layers of vermiculite on top and no perlite on the bottom." Question 6.1 Might someone decipher this for me, explaining its relevance to the question?
7. Transferring 2 SupaGro Grow Kits into a Single SGFC
The G.T. kit is a little under a week old, but when received the mycelium seemed a lot fresher, fluffier, and had colonised more consistently the top layer of the substrate. It is currently growing faster than the P.E. (no fruits at present, but what appear to be quite a number of pins - again, on the sides), but I put that largely down to the refined (lighting, humidity, temperature) conditions the first grow motivated me to research.
Question 7. I intended to put both cakes in the same SGFC - this ought my all accounts be of no problem, correct? My only slight concern is the blue-black patch on the P.E. kit. I'm confident its not contam, but it's obviously not worth risking two cakes when I could just build two SGFC and house them separately. Question 7.1 Is there any reason not to transfer them to separate SGFC's? (i.e. the relatively small ratio between size of the cake and the space of the chamber?) I'll be using 6.5L clear plastic tubs (http://www.wilko.com/plastic-storage/wilko-storage-box-with-lid-65l/invt/0202198) which could easily house both - and, naturally enough, my ideal preference would to minimise space and house together.
And that's that. For now. My most sincere gratitude for all wisdom - and lunacy - imparted in response to this message x
Also, a few pics for posterity:
Twisting, Tearing Stem

Fluffy almost cloud-like nodules at peak of stem

A view through the seething mass
 p.s. 575 mushrooms harvested wild; not a single psilocybin containing sausage: Invoked huge acceleration of research! Never a wasted day.
Edited by juicey (11/07/15 01:10 PM)
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