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 LevvyB
Woodsman
Registered: 01/01/15
Posts: 5
Loc: Alabama
Last seen: 7 years, 8 months
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 First time bag cultivation 
#23487857 - 07/28/16 11:40 PM (7 years, 8 months ago) |
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I obtained three different year-old oyster mushroom grain blocks (Pohu, Blue Dolphin, and Polar White), pasteurized some local hay straw in a big pot, only simmering each load of straw for about 15 minutes after bringing to a boil and covering. I then cooled, inoculated with crumbles from the block, and rolled the straw into what in retrospect was probably too small of a bundle and stuffed them into plastic grocery bags (don't laugh) and hung them on a line between some trees with a shade cloth beside to block direct sun. They were misted every few days, depending on weather, which was extremely hot and dry for Alabama.
In retrospect, I probably cut the bags too heavily and the slight opening in the top of the bag where they were tied to the line made the outside of the straw layers dry out, but there is definite mycelial growth and a few of the bags had some small fruitings, but the straw was just too dry and some bags have a real problem with moisture collection in the bottoms which aren't being remedied by cutting there. Also, I think that the plastic grocery bags don't allow enough the substrate to be packed tightly enough to colonize easily. Maybe it would if I would have slammed them full, idk, that's why I'm here. I just tried to wing it with what I had and here I am.
I was thinking about tearing open the bags and repacking them into more suitable material, depending on how the bag looks inside, likely consolidating the good looking specimens and discarding the bad. Also considering just using the healthy specimens to inoculate a new batch of straw and do a better job of making the bags. I understand that that increases the risk of contams but I really want to try and pull a harvest out of these guys.
What kind of cheap, efficient bag should I use? If I'm pasteurizing the straw and then transferring to bags for an outdoor grow, do I really need an autoclavable bag? How stupid was it to use plastic grocery bags? Would it have worked had I been less sloppy?
I don't have a pic of the whole set-up but I can get one if it'll help. I've got a couple close-ups of a couple bags, I'll attach some more when I can.
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All this worldly wisdom was once the unamiable heresy of some wise man.
-Henry David Thoreau
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tump
ban the undead
Registered: 03/17/16
Posts: 2,383
Last seen: 7 years, 1 month
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 Re: First time bag cultivation [Re: LevvyB]
#23488005 - 07/29/16 01:12 AM (7 years, 8 months ago) |
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No bread bags work well
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 weetsie
unlicensed tub surgeon
Registered: 05/08/11
Posts: 572
Loc: United Kingdom 
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Re: First time bag cultivation [Re: tump]
#23488023 - 07/29/16 01:28 AM (7 years, 8 months ago) |
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Don't use hay, it's a horrible substrate, it can work but mostly it just goes slimey and contaminates.
You want your straw chopped up finely, <1" ideally and you want it packed down quite well, you don't need autoclaveable spawn bags but grocery bags arnt really thick enough, you need something that you can compress the straw in.
I wouldn't slit the bags until you are fruiting them, poke air holes but just enough so it can breath, you don't want to have to mist it while it's colonising to stop it drying out.
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Active grow logs: Oysters on Straw Pellets
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filthyknees
no coincidence
Registered: 03/08/13
Posts: 6,283
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Re: First time bag cultivation [Re: weetsie]
#23488547 - 07/29/16 08:17 AM (7 years, 8 months ago) |
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Why are you using year old spawn? Thats a terrible idea
What temps did you heat the stuff to and how long was it there? Im skeptical that boiling it for 15 minutes did what you wanted it to.
Did you read any teks?
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But if you're in a hurry, and really got to go
If you're in a hurry, might have to find out slow
That it's one thing to try and another to fly
You get there quicker just a step at a time
It's one thing to bark, another to bite
The show ain't over till you pack up at night
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Inocuole
Scalpel of Evil's Bane
Registered: 11/21/11
Posts: 24,867
Loc: ★
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Re: First time bag cultivation [Re: filthyknees]
#23488681 - 07/29/16 09:20 AM (7 years, 8 months ago) |
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Have you read.. anything at all, for that matter?
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LevvyB
Woodsman
Registered: 01/01/15
Posts: 5
Loc: Alabama
Last seen: 7 years, 8 months
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Re: First time bag cultivation [Re: Inocuole]
#23489322 - 07/29/16 01:35 PM (7 years, 8 months ago) |
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Thanks guys!
Yeah, like I said, I was just kind of winging it, so no, I hadn't really read up much on bag grows but I'm pretty familiar with jar teks (also, I live out in the boonies and have to run to town to catch the inter-nets.). I had a friend who had helped out with a bag grow at a local farm and I was largely relying on his experience, cutting the bags immediately was probably one of our biggest mistakes. I knew that hay wasn't the best substrate but it was just next door and I though that we could make it work . . . aaand we definitely could have pasteurized for a little longer.
I know that year old spawn is a bad idea but they were big blocks and obviously still kickin' to some degree (and there is definite clean, white colonization in most of the bags, just not where it's dried out or mushy- cutting the straw would have probably made that line easier to walk).
One reason that we used the bread bags is that we had way too much innoculant- three massive grain blocks and we just wanted to use them before they were wasted. We ended up with about 30 bags and I definitely don't have that many bread bags lying around.
Any suggestions for bag materials for that kind of quantity?
Sorry to noob it up in here so hard, I'm mostly a mycoforager!
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All this worldly wisdom was once the unamiable heresy of some wise man.
-Henry David Thoreau
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filthyknees
no coincidence
Registered: 03/08/13
Posts: 6,283
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Re: First time bag cultivation [Re: LevvyB]
#23490342 - 07/29/16 08:21 PM (7 years, 8 months ago) |
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Youll find your answer in the gourmet section, loads of good grow logs there, pictorials that show every step.
If you click 'search our forums' in the top right of this page then to the left select the gourmet section,
then on the right type the term (like oyster bags, or oyster grow log) in,
check the box thats says trusted cultivators and the box that says one thread per result.
Then youll have like 10 years+ worth of stuff people discribing what youre attempting 
Ps this forum is for psychedelics
--------------------
But if you're in a hurry, and really got to go
If you're in a hurry, might have to find out slow
That it's one thing to try and another to fly
You get there quicker just a step at a time
It's one thing to bark, another to bite
The show ain't over till you pack up at night
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