The dark heads could be aborts. Many strains pin darkly, and then lighten as they grow. If they have dark heads and aren't getting any bigger, they are aborts. Regardless of color, if they stop growing, they are aborts.

Washing your hands first is as clean as you need to be. Once you see fruits, you should be pretty safe from contamination. If it's gonna set in, it will be due to excess humidity and infrequent air exchanges.

I recomend picking the entire flush at the same time. This limits the amount of damage to the casing layer which will maximize future flushes. Some may disagree on this point, but I would recomend it.

Depends how many flushes you get as to how long it will fruit. Being a first for you I'd guess three flushes. That should be about four weeks or so, depending on recovery time between flushes. After about 6 flushes if you get that far without contamination, it's usually best to start again due to diminishing yield with each flush.

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-From a registered Mad Scientist

"From a certain point of view"
-Jedi Master Obiwan Kenobi (also a Mad Scientist tm)

VisitThe Donkey!-just behave

The first flush lasts as long as new pins begin to form. This is the tricky part, getting all the pins to pretty much form at the same time. Some suggest putting more casing material on top of any spots that seem to be outpacing the rest. Another option is deep scratching with a clean fork to evenly distribute the growth.

I have read that letting shrooms grow after they break their veil is counter-productive. The belief is that they are pretty much finished producing their psychoactive materials after that time. Any further growth will mostly be vegetative matter and water only. In other words, you will have a greater mass but overall, the mushroom will be less potent.

Picking the shrooms is as easy as grasping by the base and giving a slight twist. Cover the exposed spots of mycelium with casing material when you are done and wait for the next flush.

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-snarf