PitcherCrab's LAGM 2021
Cubensis: Texas Orange Cap & Texas White Cap1/3/2021I wanna play! I just got Texas Orange Cap and Texas White Cap I'd like to do. Streaked both to MEA today. I may add Melmac, but I'm still waiting on the spores.
1/6/2021Update, I just plated some Melmac and PE, because why not. I've never grown PE and figured it was about time. Also I just got some germination on a plate of TOC, but it was one that I had swabbed 12/7/20, so not technically in 2021.
1/7/2021I’ve got some germination on my TWC now and the TOC is growing nicely. Also looks like a spore LC I have also germinated. I recently moved everything I was trying to germinate from my cold ass garage to my warm loft space... seems to have done the trick!
1/10/2021Whelp my the TOC plate I swabbed 1/3/21 has gone completely bacterial. However I have an older plate from 12/7/20 that's taking off. It wasn't germinating because I had it in my freezing cold garage, but once I moved it to a warmer place it started right up. I moved it right around the 3rd of January so for the sake of following the LAGM2021 rules I'm going to say that it was started in 2021. I also started an LC around that same time from spore (yes I know you're not supposed to do that because of print contamination and all that), which has also been taking off. Both the TOC plate and LC are just a tiny bit ahead of my TWC, which is also doing nicely. And some photos...
1/12/2021Just made 3 transfers each of TWC and TOC. Moving right along!
1/15/2021Small update, here are my T1 TOC and TWC chugging along.
1/17/2021Transfer to T2! Whoo-hoo, moving along here.
T1 plates:
T2 transfers:
1/19/2021I'm really liking how this T2 TWC is coming along. Nice and fast for 2 days of growth. The TOC is a little behind but also doing well. I decided not to include it in this update because there was too much condensation on the plate to get a good shot. Perhaps I'll have better luck tomorrow.
One more update, the TOC LC I started with spore was contaminated with spiderweb mold, I found out after putting some to grain. That'll be the last time I do that!
1/20/2021Here are some better shots of my TWC and TOC T2’s from today. Looks like one of the sectors on the TWC has some bacteria, but the other ones look great. I expect its time to take a T3 either tomorrow or the next day.
1/21/2021This morning I made my T3's. Saw a little bacteria on one of the TWC sectors on T2, so I'm hoping this will get me where I need to be with some clean cultures I can take to grain.
1/26/2021I made a few more transfers today. My TWC and TOC T2 plates are looking really good so I decided to make a few more transfers from them.
TWC & TOC T2's:
I had already made T3 transfers, but for whatever reason they weren't giving me the kind of growth I was after. I made a T4 of the TWC because there was some good growth one of the sections of my T3 plate, but I didn't bother with the TOC because nothing was looking that good to me. I think the new transfers I got from the T2's should more than make up for it.
TWC & TOC T3's, not too much to work with here:
I also have a few plates of exotics I'm excited about I thought I'd throw in here for kicks. Here are an Atl#7, P. tamp. Pollock and P. subtropicalis looking good. I'm excited to get these guys onto grain after a couple more transfers.
1/29/2021I finally have some really good looking mycelium to work with for both the TOC and TWC. I'll be transferring one more time then it's to grain!
Here are the plates I'm liking:
2/4/2021Well, my last transfers didn't grow out as nicely as I would've liked. Looks like taking them from the soft MEYA to the hard MEA did something a little wonky. They were growing beautiful and rhizomorphic and now they are a fluff bomb again. I was going to take them to grain from these plates but now I'm having second thoughts. What do you guys think?
TOC T3 & T4:
TWC T3 & T4:
My tamps on the other hand seem to love the new MEA plates. Here are some ATL#7 and Pollock:
And these Ps. natalensis I just got is crazzzy aggressive. I swabbed them on 1/27 and got a T1 on 2/2 and they already look like this:
I'd love to get some feedback on my TOC and TWC. What do you guys think? More transfers or am I alright heading to grain. Cultures are looking clean so that's all good, just not sure about the growth I'm seeing on the MEA plates.
2/12/2021It happened! I finally got my plates to a place where I felt good to put them to grain. Yesterday I inoculated 3 quarts each of the TOC and TWC. Looks like they're already starting to jump into the grain so I've got a good feeling about this. If all goes well, I think I'll turn these into a few shoeboxes to go for a clone and perhaps expand into some 5lb bags for good measure.
One thing... I'm not a huge fan of these Ziploc Twist N Lock containers for grain. The lids just don't feel that secure in terms of keeping contams out... but hey its what I had on hand and I've been having a terrible time locating mason jars locally. The day after I made these I was able to pick up a few flats of quarts so my next round will definitely be in glass.
Here are a few photos:
3/23/2021So its been a while since I've updated this. Things took quite a bit longer to colonize than I was expecting and then I got suuuuper busy. Anyway, I spawned x2 TOC and x2 TWC shoeboxes today. I'm also expanding some more of my T4a cultures into 5lb mycobags which I will use for monos if they colonize without issue.
Here is a pic of my freshly spawned shoeboxes:
4/21/2021Big update! My two shoeboxes of TOC fruited and the TWC is right behind them. The first flush yielded 2oz dry from 2 myco quarts of grain (one per shoebox). Second flush is coming in right now. Not the best pin set, but I'm quite happy as its been a while since I've grown cubes. I'm excited to get everything more dialed in as the weather warms up here. I've taken 3 clones form the TOC and plan on taking the same from the TWC. Also have some 5lb bags of grain going of both that will go into monos soon.
TOC:
4/11/21
4/13/21
4/14/21
4/15/21
4/16/21
4/19/21
Second Flush Starting to knot up:
4/21/21
One of the shoeboxes starting to show some nice second flush pins:
TWC:
4/19/21
4/21/21
4/24/2021My MS TWC finished their first flush nicely. I had to go out of town yesterday and wasn’t able to harvest them when I normally would’ve so they made a bit of a mess. Wet weight of each bin was 464g for #1 and 420g for #2. I took prints and x3 clones which I will be testing in bottles before running in some monos.
Also my MS TOC’s second flush is coming in.
4/26/2021My TOCs pulled together a nice looking second flush. Not as plentiful as I would’ve liked, but I didn’t soak after the first flush. I did bottom water, but I think it was too little too late. Going to see about a 3rd flush.
4/27/2021I just harvested my TOC second flush, got 390g wet from 2 shoeboxes. Both were 1qt spawn to 2qt CV.
5/10/2021I’ve got my final update from my shoeboxes ready to go! I pulled a total of 3 flushes from the TOC and 2 flushes from the TWC. I’ve also got 2 TOC monos I made 9 days ago which are already pinning. Without further ado here are some photos:
5/6/21
TWC second flush, I lost one of the shoeboxes after the first flush to trich, so there is only one here. I was fruiting them in a mono, but ended up needing it for something else so I double tubbed them. Seems like they got a bit too much humidity/heat towards the end there and started to get all droopy.
5/8/21
TOC third flush, a day before harvest. I let these guys go a little longer as I wanted to get some prints. There are two shoeboxes here, the one with the smaller flush ended up having some pretty nasty trich on one side by the time I harvested.
Shoebox 1:
Shoebox 2:
5/9/21
Here are the pre-harvest photos of the TOC. Only took pictures of the better looking box.
Shoebox 1:
5/30/2021Here is a photo dump from the last 20 days or so. I have a couple monos of my LAGM2021 TOC that are just finishing up their second flush. Came out quite nicely if I do say so myself! I pulled 10oz dry total on the first flush from both monos. I also have 1 mono of TWC which is lagging for some reason. Hopefully I'll get pins soon.
First Flush:
Second Flush:
6/10/2021Third flush of my final tub before I toss it. Thanks for the fun times everyone!