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Violinboy
Stranger
Registered: 04/15/20
Posts: 9
Last seen: 3 years, 3 months
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Reishi First Grow Questions 1
#26807022 - 07/06/20 01:35 PM (3 years, 6 months ago) |
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Hello!
I've been reading lots on how to grow Reishis, and am just about to start my first grow. I've gotten to the point of a bunch of petris fully colonized, as well as five (one quart) rye jars about to be fully colonized (in a day or two). I've ordered (and received) 100 large grow bags (holds ~5-6lbs substrate, 0.5 micron filter patch, 8″ X 5″ X 19″), and am planning to grow the Reishi in them.
My understanding up to this point is as follows:
I should use hardwood pellets supplemented at ~20% wheat bran, and some gypsum too. Mix it together (in the bags) and combine with boiling water (40% dry weight/60% water). Allow the bags to pasteurize, then mix in the spawn (one quart jar), seal the bags, and allow to sit for 2-3 months to fruit.
Here are my questions.
1: How much gypsum should I use, and can I use gardening gypsum? It's basically small grey rocks/powder of varying size. It doesn't completely dissolve in water, not sure if it's supposed to...
2: Can I pasteurize directly in the bags? I also have a pressure cooker so could seal the bags of substrate (with a heat sealer) then pressure cook them, but I'd have to open them back up anyway to add in the spawn before resealing? I could try to do that in my SAB but that seems pretty difficult. I'd also still need to pull it out to reseal it with my heat sealer.
3: After pasteurizing (or sterilizing) and cooling the substrate, I pour in the rye berries, seal immediately, and then gently mix it all around with my hands (from the outside of the sealed bag)? Will the speed (and aggressiveness) of the Reishi mycelium prevent any contaminants from taking hold or becoming a real problem?
4: For the 2-3 months of fruiting, what are the conditions? Does the humidity of the room that the bags are in matter? I get the impression that mid 60s to mid 80s for temperature will all work, but warmer = faster? I also know that light is important, but haven't quite figured out the ideal lighting conditions? Is sunlight or are bright light bulbs better? Is there a schedule (12 on, 12 off)?
I'm really excited to get these mushrooms growing, but would hate to mess up a whole whack of them from doing something stupid. Any answers for my questions will be greatly appreciated! I can't thank all of you enough for everything I've already learned reading on here, and hope that I can become a real part of this community over the coming months/years.
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Forrester
aspiring sociopath


Registered: 02/05/13
Posts: 9,351
Loc: Northeast USA
Last seen: 24 days, 18 hours
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Re: Reishi First Grow Questions [Re: Violinboy]
#26807075 - 07/06/20 02:02 PM (3 years, 6 months ago) |
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Firstly, don't use wheat bran if you're going to bucket-tek style faux-pasteurize them. Don't get me wrong I love this method, just leave out the wheat bran, if you're going to supplement you always need to properly sterilize.
1. Doesn't matter. Use a tablespoon, or forget it. Doesn't make a difference.
2. You should do like you said above and bucket-tek pasteurize in the bags. Don't sterilize, don't supplement with bran. No need to SAB spawn that way.
3. Mix however you want, I used to wear gloves and just use my hands inside the bags. Reishi is pretty vigorous.
4. Humidity is inside the bag, you really want over 70F but lower will work, and yes warmer is faster. Whatever light you can get is fine. Watch the antlers grow towards it, it's fun! Schedule doesn't matter. Experiment.
Have fun!
-------------------- Repugnant is a creature who would squander the ability to lift an eye to heaven, conscious of his fleeting time here. ------------------- Have some medicinal mushrooms and want to get the most out of them? Try this double extraction method.
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Violinboy
Stranger
Registered: 04/15/20
Posts: 9
Last seen: 3 years, 3 months
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Re: Reishi First Grow Questions [Re: Forrester]
#26812828 - 07/09/20 12:30 PM (3 years, 6 months ago) |
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Thanks so much for the info! I'll get the bags going today. For the future, if I did want to use wheat bran (and hence sterilize and use the SAB), what kind of benefit could I expect to see from the addition of wheat bran? Thanks again!
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Forrester
aspiring sociopath


Registered: 02/05/13
Posts: 9,351
Loc: Northeast USA
Last seen: 24 days, 18 hours
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Re: Reishi First Grow Questions [Re: Violinboy]
#26813079 - 07/09/20 02:33 PM (3 years, 6 months ago) |
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Quote:
Violinboy said: Thanks so much for the info! I'll get the bags going today. For the future, if I did want to use wheat bran (and hence sterilize and use the SAB), what kind of benefit could I expect to see from the addition of wheat bran? Thanks again!
Not enough to make it worth trying to spawn a bag inside a SAB 
Seriously though.
It would be better worth your time, and considering wood pellets cost basically nothing, to just do twice as many bags if you want more mushrooms. Or do a monotub, like this: (yields are as much as you'll need)

Or hell, grow 'em right in the bucket you "bucket-tek'd" the pellets in:
-------------------- Repugnant is a creature who would squander the ability to lift an eye to heaven, conscious of his fleeting time here. ------------------- Have some medicinal mushrooms and want to get the most out of them? Try this double extraction method.
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