Identifying Proper Surface Moisture
When to Increase Fresh Air Exchange
IntroductionI'm noticing lately a lot of dry substrates in the cult, possibly do to the dry winter months.
A lot of substrates are drying out before pins have formed.
If you want a nice pinset you must have favourable surface conditions for pinning.
That means proper hydration and care.
Pourpose of this TEKTo have a reference for desired surface moisture and caring for your substate.
I'm also going to write a step-by-step guide on how I achieve my desired hydration and what I look for during the process.
Please note that you may need to adjust these settings to your environment but I encourage everyone to follow this TEK once through before making any changes.
What You'll NeedWhat I'm going to be using for demonstration:
I'm trying to give as much credit where it's due. If someone notices me using other methods please let me know so I can credit the user and link to this demonstration.Other things you'll need:
- Garbage bag (liner)
- Spray bottle
- Patience
The TEKFirst half of this will be examples of desirable surface conditions for pinning.
The second will be set up in the form of a grow log with notes along the way.
Surface Moisture:While your waiting for your pinset to fill out you want to see beads of moisture covering the entire surface of your substrate.
If/when your substrate starts to dry, give it a generous misting.
Mist from above your tub, letting the mist gently fall to the surface of your sub. It will bead up all on its own.
You want to avoid pooling of water on the surface!
These have very large beads of moisture created naturally by the heat of the mycelium. It is not absolutely nessisary to have such large beads of moisture on the surface but this is my personal preference.
Alcapone2k's substrate right before a light misting. Majority of the sub is covered in beads of moisture but the left side has evaporated and needs a little attention.
Casing your sub is an effective way to keep the surace hydrated. Notice that the myc popping up through the casing will still bead with moisture when properly hydrated.When to Increase Fresh Air Exchange:After your pinset has filled in you should increase FAE by opening up your poly or even cracking the lid!
A few days after I increased FAE. They were from a Multispore grow so I waited on a few stragglers before increasing FAE. A handful of mushrooms had already developed quite a bit by the time I got around to it.
It's easy for fruits that are packed this densely to keep up their own microclimate. After the pins matured even more, I popped the micropore tape right out of the top holes in this tub and even out of some of the bottom holes. There was still lots of condensation just above the caps. DemonstrationThis is how I achieve my desired surface moisture
without misting.
This method uses
low passive FAE while pinset is developing.
This will be a heavely detailed demonstration and will be updated with pictures as I go.
Here we go!
Preparing Bulk Substrate:I'm not going to get too in depth with this one. Everyone prepares their substrates differently.
I linked to
Bucket TEK earlier because that is the method I use to prepare my coir.
Mix up:
- 4.5 quarts of water
- 2 quarts vermiculite
- 1 brick coir (650g)
This should give you roughly 10 quarts substrate once all is said and done
Spawning to Bulk Substrate:FEB 6 2017The first thing I like to do is start all the clean preparations.
1. Tape monotub holes!!!!!!!!!
Very important. No we are not fruiting and spawning at the same time. I have seen too many dry tubs only to find that whoever spawned it fruited it at the same time.
You may see fruits a few days sooner that way but you risk drying out your substrate before it is ready.
I'm asking you to have some patients...
2. Line your monotub
I like to use a whole garbage bag and leave it intact.
Keep it closed and lay it in your tub, lining the bottom and sides.
The tape over the holes may come in handy here. You may be able to stick the liner to the tape in the holes or you could pin it to the sides with more tape. Whatever suits your fancy.
Now we can get messy
3. Mix spawn and substrate
Set aside 1-2 quarts of bulk substrate for later. 
Then dump all six jars containing 4.5 quarts of spawn into your bucket containing the remaining 9 quarts of bulk substrate.
This gives you a 1:2 spawn:sub ratio.
Mix really well with your hands making sure to get in the bottom corners of your bucket.
4. Spawn your monotub
Pour the contents of the bucket into your lined monotub. Smooth it out nice and flat but keep the substrate light and airy.
Then cover it with the remaining quart of bulk substrate.
5. Cut the liner
Take a pair of scissors and carefully cut the garbage bag along the edge of the substrate.
If you did everything right you should now have a double liner in your tub.
A double liner is useful because it creates a dry barrier between the liner and the tub.
One liner will stick to the sub as it shrinks while the other will stick to the condensation inside the monotub.
This eliminates the problem of one liner favouring both sides and creating air pockets.
Now we wait for the tub to colonize.
Feb 12 2017 6 days after spawn
Beads of water have started to form on the surface of the substrate where the myc has popped up. The beads will continue to form grow after I fruit the tub.
The sub is fully colonized under the 2 quarts of casing. You
could fruit now, but I'm still going to give it a couple more days before fruiting.
Fruiting your Monotub:Feb 14 20178 days after spawn
I finally decided to introduce fresh air exchange!
I usually like to wait until the mycelium completely colonizes the casing layer but I used 2 quarts for this tub so the casing is pretty thick.
8 days is long enough imo. I wouldn't wait longer than 10 anyway.
Water is beading up nicely where the myc is popping through.
I will be dialing in using Pastywhyte's default setup for his
Easy Micropore Dialed in Monos.
The only difference is that I apply the first layer on the bottom holes
vertically.
This makes it easier for me to remove layers of tape down the road.
Feb 19 201713 days after spawn
We have pins!!! I'm feeling good about this one!
Increasing Fresh Air Exchange:Feb 23 201717 days after spawn
Now that my pinset has filled in I want to increase FAE to encourage growth.
A dense pinset like this will help keep up a microclimate so my sub can handle a little more FAE without drying out.
I first start by removing the micropore tape from the top holes of my tub. Then I remove a layer from the bottom.
This should allow pleanty of FAE while still keeping RH inside the tub.
This set up makes it easy to peel off one layer of tape while leaving the rest undisturbed.If you want to take it to the next level you can crack the lid of the tub a bit. I have had success with this in the past but you'll have to keep a much closer eye on your tub.
When allowing more FAE it is important to always keep an eye on the moisture of your tub. Give your mushrooms a good mist if they start to get dry.
Harvest: Feb 26 201720 days after spawn
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Mind you, I only have 5 monotub grows.
