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Marty Mycfly
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Registered: 12/16/13
Posts: 976
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Hardwood pellets vs. softwood pellets comparison 1
#23417292 - 07/06/16 03:16 PM (7 years, 6 months ago) |
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First off, I do not condone using softwood pellets! I bought a bag of them a few years ago and never used them, I ran out of hardwood pellets a few days ago and ended up with a bunch of extra spawn that needed to be used, so I said what the hell.
All of these bags were spawned with Amycel 3015 grey oysters.
I mixed up 20 lb's of softwood pellets and supplemented with wheat bran 40% (8 lb's of bran). I made 11 bags from that, 6 5 lb. bags, and 5 8 lb. bags. They all were sterilized and inoculated 2 days ago on July 4th.

At the same time I made a batch with the rest of my hardwood pellets supplemented at 20% with wheat bran.

They seem to be colonizing at about the same speed, the softwood may be running a tad bit faster.
 Anyways this is just a test and I dont expect shit out of the softwood, but it will be interesting to see. Any of you have any success stories with softwood pellets? I dont think I have ever heard any.
Edited by Marty Mycfly (07/06/16 03:18 PM)
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Ferather
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Re: Hardwood pellets vs. softwood pellets comparison [Re: Marty Mycfly] 1
#23417412 - 07/06/16 03:46 PM (7 years, 6 months ago) |
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Great work!
Softwood breaks down faster AFAIK, if equal weight then it should be better. If its really old it performs better, I've grown on old pine before.
If you have to, soak and strain the softwood. Removes some of the inhibitory resin.
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Paresthesia
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Re: Hardwood pellets vs. softwood pellets comparison [Re: Ferather] 1
#23417717 - 07/06/16 05:11 PM (7 years, 6 months ago) |
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I used pine pellet cat litter as a growing substrate for oysters (blue, white elm, even a P. nebrodensis block) and had success but I never really payed attention to yields. At the time hardwood pellets were pretty hard to find locally. I'm going to start growing again soon so I'm curious to see how the two compare. From what I understand pine is less dense than hardwoods, so it should colonize faster...
-------------------- "We shall not cease from exploration, and the end of all our exploring will be to arrive where we started and know the place for the first time." - T. S. Eliot
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chefjrd
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Re: Hardwood pellets vs. softwood pellets comparison [Re: Paresthesia] 1
#23417852 - 07/06/16 05:51 PM (7 years, 6 months ago) |
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Awesome! Thanks for posting and experimenting. I'm looking forward to seeing how well they do because I can get softwood pellets all day but hardwood isn't easy to find here.
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Marty Mycfly
Time Traveler


Registered: 12/16/13
Posts: 976
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Re: Hardwood pellets vs. softwood pellets comparison [Re: chefjrd] 1
#23417891 - 07/06/16 06:04 PM (7 years, 6 months ago) |
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Quote:
chefjrd said: Awesome! Thanks for posting and experimenting. I'm looking forward to seeing how well they do because I can get softwood pellets all day but hardwood isn't easy to find here.
Same here, I can get softwood pellets all day as well, and cheap, the ace by me sells 40 lb bags for 3.99 trying to get rid of them, but hardwood pellets are scarce and I have bought out any local source, usually when Im in this predicament I buy Traeger Oak pellets for bbq's, I can get those here all year around but they are 15 bucks a bag! I did break down and order some hardwood pellets on Amazon though yesterday and they will be here next week.
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Marty Mycfly
Time Traveler


Registered: 12/16/13
Posts: 976
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Re: Hardwood pellets vs. softwood pellets comparison [Re: Ferather] 1
#23417906 - 07/06/16 06:08 PM (7 years, 6 months ago) |
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Quote:
Ferather said: Great work!
Softwood breaks down faster AFAIK, if equal weight then it should be better. If its really old it performs better, I've grown on old pine before.
If you have to, soak and strain the softwood. Removes some of the inhibitory resin.
I read RR saying he uses mostly aged pine, he thinks too the aging is the trick. I dont know if this is pine though, the analysis on the bag just said softwood.
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Ferather
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Re: Hardwood pellets vs. softwood pellets comparison [Re: Marty Mycfly] 1
#23419256 - 07/07/16 05:53 AM (7 years, 6 months ago) |
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It won't matter if it is'nt pine, smell it you will soon know. Aged wood breaks down faster, fresh is too bonded.
Just soak-n-strain if you have to.
"Good BE on pine" - RR
Pine casing:
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poponon
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Re: Hardwood pellets vs. softwood pellets comparison [Re: Ferather] 1
#23419365 - 07/07/16 07:08 AM (7 years, 6 months ago) |
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interested in seeing the results! softwood so easy to come by around here
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Paresthesia
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Re: Hardwood pellets vs. softwood pellets comparison [Re: poponon] 1
#23424231 - 07/08/16 05:11 PM (7 years, 6 months ago) |
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I got decent enough elm oyster fruitings off of pine kitty litter, I recall the Rush Wayne manual saying the aromatic compounds are removed when the sawdust is heated and pressed?
-------------------- "We shall not cease from exploration, and the end of all our exploring will be to arrive where we started and know the place for the first time." - T. S. Eliot
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Ferather
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Re: Hardwood pellets vs. softwood pellets comparison [Re: Paresthesia] 1
#23425686 - 07/09/16 05:18 AM (7 years, 6 months ago) |
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Quote:
Paresthesia said: I got decent enough elm oyster fruitings off of pine kitty litter, I recall the Rush Wayne manual saying the aromatic compounds are removed when the sawdust is heated and pressed?
Some of it, but sadly not the case. Age, heat, light, straining (rain). Warm soak-n-strain is easiest to remove large amounts.
The waste water will smell and be amber.
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Marty Mycfly
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Registered: 12/16/13
Posts: 976
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Re: Hardwood pellets vs. softwood pellets comparison [Re: Ferather] 1
#23428075 - 07/09/16 11:49 PM (7 years, 6 months ago) |
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Hey guys, here is an update on the softwood vs. hardwood pellets. The softwood pellet bags are running great! Faster than the hardwood right now, but I have a dilemma! My hardwood bags were made waaaay too wet! Thats why they are colonizing slower and look a little funky. I dont how I made that batch so wet, but if any thing happens to those bags it's definitely the moisture because the softwood bags look great and was from the same bag of spawn.
Here are some pictures of the softwood running great on the 5 and 8 lb. bags 5 days after inoculation, some of the bags are 100%


They look pretty good, but here is the hardwood bags looking funky




What do you guys think about the hardwood bags, are they screwed? Oh and my lab just keeps getting hotter and hotter, maybe that combined with too much water affected those bags?
Edited by Marty Mycfly (07/10/16 12:50 AM)
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Gr0wer
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Re: Hardwood pellets vs. softwood pellets comparison [Re: Marty Mycfly] 1
#23428998 - 07/10/16 10:57 AM (7 years, 6 months ago) |
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They look fine. Worry when you have uncolonized parts, green mold or puddles of water at the bottom.
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Ferather
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Re: Hardwood pellets vs. softwood pellets comparison [Re: Marty Mycfly] 1
#23429012 - 07/10/16 11:05 AM (7 years, 6 months ago) |
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Hmmm, when I add Golden oyster direct to water I get waste passing to the water. Sometimes when you mist metabolites appear, same mechanic I believe.
Could be cells bursting but then, rain and liquid cultures. Smell it, see if it smells bad I guess.
They don't seem bad.
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MorePies
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Re: Hardwood pellets vs. softwood pellets comparison [Re: Ferather] 1
#23429317 - 07/10/16 01:13 PM (7 years, 6 months ago) |
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Looking good Marty, thanks for documenting your trial. How much spawn did you use to get such fast colonization?
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Marty Mycfly
Time Traveler


Registered: 12/16/13
Posts: 976
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Re: Hardwood pellets vs. softwood pellets comparison [Re: MorePies] 1
#23429463 - 07/10/16 02:16 PM (7 years, 6 months ago) |
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Quote:
MorePies said: Looking good Marty, thanks for documenting your trial. How much spawn did you use to get such fast colonization?
Thanks dude! For spawn, I used a bag roughly 14 lb.s to inoculate 24 bags, 5 8 lb bags and the rest 5 lb. bags. The spawn was rye berries, which I usually only use for masters, I like millet for going to sub because of all of the inoculation points, but the rye seems to be doing a great job. I like working with rye a hell of a lot better anyways, I can make rye grain perfect, I cant say the same about any other grain.
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Marty Mycfly
Time Traveler


Registered: 12/16/13
Posts: 976
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Re: Hardwood pellets vs. softwood pellets comparison [Re: Ferather] 1
#23429474 - 07/10/16 02:19 PM (7 years, 6 months ago) |
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Quote:
Ferather said: Hmmm, when I add Golden oyster direct to water I get waste passing to the water. Sometimes when you mist metabolites appear, same mechanic I believe.
Could be cells bursting but then, rain and liquid cultures. Smell it, see if it smells bad I guess.
They don't seem bad.
I was hoping it's just a little waste, also I dont know if this makes any sense, but maybe the two different woods give different looks to the mycelium?
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Marty Mycfly
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Registered: 12/16/13
Posts: 976
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Re: Hardwood pellets vs. softwood pellets comparison [Re: Gr0wer] 1
#23429486 - 07/10/16 02:21 PM (7 years, 6 months ago) |
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Quote:
Gr0wer said: They look fine. Worry when you have uncolonized parts, green mold or puddles of water at the bottom.
Thanks man, I'm thinking now the colorization is just different because of the different woods. Do you ever notice the same mycelium looking different on different subs?
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Gr0wer
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Re: Hardwood pellets vs. softwood pellets comparison [Re: Marty Mycfly] 1
#23429538 - 07/10/16 02:44 PM (7 years, 6 months ago) |
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Absolutely
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Marty Mycfly
Time Traveler


Registered: 12/16/13
Posts: 976
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Re: Hardwood pellets vs. softwood pellets comparison [Re: Gr0wer] 1
#23429555 - 07/10/16 02:50 PM (7 years, 6 months ago) |
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Good to know, first time I have had different subs and same strain at the same time.
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MorePies
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Re: Hardwood pellets vs. softwood pellets comparison [Re: Marty Mycfly] 1
#23430639 - 07/10/16 09:56 PM (7 years, 6 months ago) |
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Quote:
Marty Mycfly said:
Quote:
Thanks dude! For spawn, I used a bag roughly 14 lb.s to inoculate 24 bags, 5 8 lb bags and the rest 5 lb. bags. The spawn was rye berries, which I usually only use for masters, I like millet for going to sub because of all of the inoculation points, but the rye seems to be doing a great job. I like working with rye a hell of a lot better anyways, I can make rye grain perfect, I cant say the same about any other grain.
Cool, so just upwards of 10 percent. I haven't tried rye yet and I don't know that I will. There is a feed store near enough that has 50 lbs of oats for 9$. The stuff is so forgiving. Keep an eye out for them if you havent tried already.
They also have milo but the last bag I picked up from them is filthy. It has Grain weevils, stems, rocks, corn, not sure what I'm going to do with it. It's too bag because inoculation points are sexy points and oats aren't that kind of sexy.
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