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Cake drying out? - any advice is welcome [fruiting in SGFC]
    #25747830 -

Hi Ladies and Fellas,

Any advice for my second time trying this. I bought the cake as I don't have the time or means at the moment for the whole process. I switched to the SGFC in hopes it would get me a better yield.

So far I am not sure if everything is done right. I get to misting and fanning about 2-3 times a day (I cannot do it more often in the coming week but after that I will make sure to mist 3 times at least and fan more often)

According to my shitty hygrometer its hardly above 60% humidity right above the perlite. It's been about a week now and this is what it looks like.
The temperature is always near 22° C as I use a heating mat.

As I mentioned, any advice or hint is welcome!

All the best
pl

EDIT: change of title







Edited by platanoloco (01/20/19 01:51 AM)

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Re: Just checking in - any advice is welcome [fruiting in SGFC] [Re: platanoloco]
    #25755084 -

Hi again,

since my last upload I feel like my cake is drying out? (looking at the cracks on the side)

What's the best way to proceed? The SGFC doesn't seem to provide the right humidity.


Edited by platanoloco (01/20/19 01:30 AM)

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Re: Just checking in - any advice is welcome [fruiting in SGFC] [Re: platanoloco]
    #25755181 -

I think more information could help determine the cause:

How many inches of perlite are in that SGFC?

Where do you mist?

Was the cake hydrated (dunked) before placing in chamber? Looks like it's been rolled in verm at some point

Has it been re-dunked?

How long has it been sitting in the SGFC?

What are your temps without the heating mat?

Edited by NorthstarFistin (01/20/19 03:55 AM)

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Re: Just checking in - any advice is welcome [fruiting in SGFC] [Re: NorthstarFistin]
    #25755405 -

Yea sure, sorry for the lack of info. Minds all over the place lately.

So I have it in my living room in a darker corner (no direct sunlight, if there were any at all :wink: ). Room temps are about 19-21°C. The perlite is about 12 cm high (~4.8 inches). I mist the box from a distance a few times and then fan for at least a minute. This is happening twice a day until Tuesday. Afterwards I will mist three times and fan more often

I got the cake from a company, so I would guess it was dunked. It seemed pretty moist.

I washed of the verm and re-dunked today as I hadn't noticed the cracks at the beginning. I am guessing it has been drying out. There was no sign of pins either. I will roll it properly in verm afterwards. I think it wasn't properly rolled as you usually let the growkits sit in the box, put it in a plastic bag with openings to vent and just spray each day.

I put it in the SGFC almost two weeks ago.

Hope this gives a better idea.

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Re: Cake drying out? - any advice is welcome [fruiting in SGFC] [Re: platanoloco]
    #25755532 -

plug some holes.  I would tape over all the holes and remove the tape a few pieces at a time until you drop to 95% humidity...and then maybe add a couple pieces of tape back on.


--------------------
“I became insane, with long intervals of horrible sanity.” ― Edgar Allan Poe

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Re: Cake drying out? - any advice is welcome [fruiting in SGFC] [Re: pickle jar pete]
    #25755620 -

Re-dunking it was a good decision. That would have been my first suggestion. I was also having similar dryness, bruising problems with my cakes. I would keep it dunked for 24 hours. It's good practice to dunk after each flush, which I noticed you had one flush from the cake already.

Also, I would lose the heating pad. If your room is atleast 65 deg farenheit, you should be fine. From what I've read, your SGFC shouldn't be warmer than the room's temperature. I think that affects the airflow that the SGFC is designed to accommodate. Especially with the way that wraps around the bottom holes. I hope someone else can confirm this for me.

Your perlite depth is good. Make sure that stays hydrated and doesn't dry out.

Continue to mist and get the vermiculite layer on the cake nice and moist and glistening.

I can't get over the size of that cake. It's like literally a birthday cake lol.

If the above fails and you suspect its your SGFC not holding humidity, then go with pickle jar pete's suggestion of plugging up holes.

Edited by NorthstarFistin (01/20/19 09:41 AM)

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Re: Cake drying out? - any advice is welcome [fruiting in SGFC] [Re: NorthstarFistin]
    #25756660 -

Hey man, thanks!

I might get rid of the mat then.
I actually haven't flushed this one before but yea, the dunk should do it some good, I feel. I'll try to take care of it better then and hopefully see some heads soon.

There is no good way to tell if it looses moisture but the feel of the weight, right?
I need to get a feel for this.

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Re: Cake drying out? - any advice is welcome [fruiting in SGFC] [Re: platanoloco]
    #25757096 -

You can tell by the look. you'll get to know the look of a healthy cake after a few cycles.  I like to have a little FAE reaching, lets me know the cake still wants to thrive and conquer. 


I would ask the company how long you dunk a cake that big. I'm guessing 48 hrs at 63'F

Does it have any myc growth?


It is likely the cake covers too much surface area and thus evaporates quicker than a traditional sgfc set up can compensate for. 

What could help with a cake this big:

Make a large tinfoil tray (2 inches past cake on all sides); with about 1/2 inch side walls.  Level off tray with wet verm and place cake on top of verm.  Put a nice 1/2 inch layer of wet verm on top of cake (keep verm saturated but not soaked).  There should be some growth around the top or bottom layer of verm within a few days.

If you get plenty of fruits growing out the sides you can try brushing the verm away from the top middle; leaving a wide verm border.


--------------------
“I became insane, with long intervals of horrible sanity.” ― Edgar Allan Poe

Edited by pickle jar pete (01/20/19 07:45 PM)

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Re: Cake drying out? - any advice is welcome [fruiting in SGFC] [Re: pickle jar pete]
    #25757854 -

Great input. I dunked it for 24 hours, as I just read your post. But I guess it should be ok, since the inner parts shouldn't have lost as much water.
It should be fully grown with the mycelium. That's how they are sold.

I will definitely get the verm game going for this one. Before it was hardly covered and the sides were almost without any as it came in a box and is supposed to stay there if one follows the growkit rules.

A big thank you!

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Re: Cake drying out? - any advice is welcome [fruiting in SGFC] [Re: platanoloco]
    #25775955 -

So , still no luck I thought. I made an aluminium tray as pete said and put the cake on some moist verm. Some more on top. I even added some wax paper to ensure a better microclimate. I still felt like the sides were drying out (some slight blue bruising on the corners) so just now I was like. Ok, I'll dunk it one more time and then put it in the plastic bag that came with the cake (it has some openings for air).

after about 10 minutes I turned over the container in which I put it in and guess what... I saw pins! I immediately took it out, gently put verm on the sides and put it back in the sgfc.
They are a little blue and I was wondering if this could be the start of something good. As I said, I have the feeling that the climate in my sgfc is not right and i have to spray vigourosly to make sure it has enough moisture to stop drying out.

PS: the pins grew on the top or bottom. the places that had enough verm to stay moist. The sides i am still worried about, I will upload some pics right now for comparison.



Edited by platanoloco (01/29/19 04:29 AM)

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Re: Cake drying out? - any advice is welcome [fruiting in SGFC] [Re: platanoloco]
    #25775958 -






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Re: Cake drying out? - any advice is welcome [fruiting in SGFC] [Re: platanoloco]
    #25775997 -

Not following directions is whats wrong. That's not a sgfc. A sgfc has holes in the bottom and Is elevated at least 6 inches so the bottom holes can also work.

There's no heating pad attached to a sgfc because a sgfc doesn't work with a heating pad.

Sgfc tek calls for PF Cakes not a gigantic cake that covers all the perlite.

If you make it up as you go you'll get the same results people did 20-30-40 years ago when they were trying to invent these methods and tried what you're doing already and decided it didn't work


--------------------
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My Q&A thread. Ask me questions here rather than in Private Message
Bod's chat thread

5g a day keeps the 5g away

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Re: Cake drying out? - any advice is welcome [fruiting in SGFC] [Re: bodhisatta]
    #25776019 -

Oh yea, I got rid of the heating pad and it is usually elevated when I don't take pictures. The pictures from the initial post are not up to date. It has holes in it every 5cm of about 7mm on all sides. Some on the sides are taped off but definately still has good airflow as excess water on the walls (if there is any) for example doesn't stay for too long.

The gigantic cake is due to availability. I did not make it.

PS: there is a lot of misinformation out there. I so far have misted very often but not enough. this might be the main reason. in any case: is a reset dunk recommended or should i keep going.

Edited by platanoloco (01/29/19 05:46 AM)

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Re: Cake drying out? - any advice is welcome [fruiting in SGFC] [Re: platanoloco]
    #25776106 -

Fanning a cake in a SGFC is outdated and unnecessary. A properly built SGFC gets enough
FAE (FRESH AIR EXCHANGE) thru it’s design. Fanning for a minute multiple times a day is exacerbating your drying problems.

A 12 hour light cycle is recommended throughout the mushrooms entire life cycle.

Make sure your perilite stays wet. The top layer tends to dry out almost forming a crust. I occasionally gently break it up with my fingers. This breaks up the dried out top layer and let’s you know how moist it is. 

You said you have holes on all sides but just to make sure, does that include the top and bottom?

After I changed my fruiting chamber from a kits BS setup to a SGFC I read on here how outdateded they are but I have had great success with mine. My cakes went from drying out and starving of fae to rebounding into some solid little producers.

I hope things turn around for you, this is a great hobby with an even greater reward. Don’t give up!

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Re: Cake drying out? - any advice is welcome [fruiting in SGFC] [Re: Leon Sabanna]
    #25776159 -

appreciate the kind words!

holes are on all 6 sides. I will adjust my moisture and fresh air control. i acutally missed the point about the "glistening" when I read about the SGFC and had hugely underestimated the amount of water that I have to mist with.

I hope the pins that have come out don't just die off. i should've read properly at the beginning but i was in such a stressful time that i could only do half assed and now it is showing.

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Re: Cake drying out? - any advice is welcome [fruiting in SGFC] [Re: platanoloco]
    #25797768 -

A little update, just to "end" it on a good note and show you helpful people out there that patience with me was worth it (for me :wink: )
Thanks again for that!

So, as you can see there are a lot of hotspots on the cake. Many on different stages of growth.

One has the veil broken and I am thinking about cutting it after sleeping in like 8 hours. That should be fine right?
The rest I will just pick when ready kind of individually.
Hope that gets me the most out of it.

Lots of shroomies coming from the sides.




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