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psychlover
Player of video games


Registered: 12/24/20
Posts: 7
Last seen: 6 months, 2 days
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My very first grow and general grow questions (at this point about fruiting/flushing B+).
#27106346 - 12/24/20 06:45 PM (3 years, 1 month ago) |
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Howdy everyone, this will be my first post to the shroomery forums!
So I'm new to growing, and have perused these forums extensively on information pertaining to growing mushrooms from each different stage of the process. The method I went with for my first time was to use bulk substrate in a 1934 - 54 Quart Gasket Box (Sterilite), a liquid spore syringe from Sporeworks, with Northspore hydrated and pasturized manure substrate & grainspawn.
I inoculated my grainspawn bag on 10/11/20, and then let the bag fully colonize until I spawned my monotub on 12/11/20. When I spawned my tub, I layered my substrate and grainspawn into a garbage bag (to prevent side pinning), and then gave substrate a 5-7 spray misting (including the sides and lid), then placed sterilized aluminum foil over the surface of the substrate to further allow for CO2 buildup (I made sure to close off my FAE holes and GE holes with electrical tape while the substrate colonized).
It has been almost 14 days since I spawned the tub, and the mycelium that has formed has a kind of mushy/wet look to it (I will include pictures). From looking on the forums, I have found that this could possibly be due to bacterial contamination, but I haven't seen significant signs associated with bacterial contam that are present.
So my questions are as follows: 1. If what I'm experiencing with this grow is bacterial contamination, could the mycelium potentially overtake the contamination? I have read that substrate with this type of contam could propagate mycelium slowly if not at all, but I'm just wondering if I just have to cut my losses and just pitch it.
2. Does the mycelium in the pictures I have provided stand out as contaminated? From inspection of it myself, again, the substrate just looks mushy/wet. From what I've read, another indicator of bacterial contam is pungent smell, but upon smelling inside the tub, it just smells like a damp mushroom. (I will provide video of the tub with better light at a later date)
3. Do I generally want to have cooler temperatures when I let my substrate colonize? When I initially spawned my tub and let the substrate colonize, I kept it in a quite warm place in my house (occasionally getting up to 85 degrees F), and was wondering if that could have an effect on the speed of colonization, or have an influence on contamination/moisture problems?
4. If my mycelium isn't contaminated, how much longer should I let this substrate colonize before putting my tub into fruiting conditions? Like I said in my initial rundown of my process, it has been about 14 days since I spawned my tub (pictures taken on the 13th day).


I will be updating this post with a video of my tub in better lighting conditions to hopefully get a better view of what's going on. To everyone on the shroomery forums, have a safe Christmas!
Edited by psychlover (01/13/21 09:33 PM)
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psychlover
Player of video games



Registered: 12/24/20
Posts: 7
Last seen: 6 months, 2 days
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Re: My first grow and question about contamination. (Does this look off) [Re: psychlover]
#27108616 - 12/26/20 10:10 AM (3 years, 1 month ago) |
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I honestly also don't know what those little discolored spots are...
My guess is metabolite, but wouldn't mind someone else's opinion!
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TheMagicConch
MC



Registered: 09/11/20
Posts: 841
Loc: Over here
Last seen: 3 months, 9 days
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Re: My first grow and question about contamination. (Does this look off) [Re: psychlover]
#27108832 - 12/26/20 11:58 AM (3 years, 1 month ago) |
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The yellowing is normal, just from humidity.
1. Usually people will get weird looking fruits but they're apparently still edible as long as you dry them with a dehydrator. Your sub doesn't really look contaminated to me though.
2. Introduce fruiting conditions and it might help with the mushiness. A lot of people just introduce fruiting conditions immediately after spawning to a tub and it's fine.
3. Keep temp between 68-75 which is a good balance to let the mycelium grow and keep away problems like bacteria that can happen at higher temperatures. But, at the 80-85 range mycelium will grow faster, but like I said it's also a better environment for bacteria to grow as well.
4. Just put it into fruiting now
Edited by TheMagicConch (12/31/20 01:57 PM)
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psychlover
Player of video games



Registered: 12/24/20
Posts: 7
Last seen: 6 months, 2 days
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Re: My first grow and question about contamination. (Does this look off) [Re: TheMagicConch]
#27110402 - 12/27/20 09:32 AM (3 years, 1 month ago) |
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Thank you very much for the input Sam...was getting kinda worried that I just needed to start back from square one 
As for putting it into fruiting conditions, I think I will wait another week to see if the substrate colonizes more. I want to get the most amount of fruits out of my flushes as possible!
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psychlover
Player of video games



Registered: 12/24/20
Posts: 7
Last seen: 6 months, 2 days
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Re: My first grow and question about contamination. (Does this look off) [Re: psychlover]
#27112398 - 12/28/20 02:03 PM (3 years, 1 month ago) |
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This coming Wednesday I will post a picture of my mycelium's growth. Upon checking up on it over the last couple of days, it seems like it definitely hasn't stalled, and is probably around 70-80% colonized the substrate at this point.
It also seems like the mushiness about it has started to disappear!
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psychlover
Player of video games



Registered: 12/24/20
Posts: 7
Last seen: 6 months, 2 days
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Re: My first grow and question about contamination. (Does this look off) [Re: psychlover]
#27116203 - 12/30/20 12:34 PM (3 years, 1 month ago) |
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Day 18 and the substrate is lookin like its done some heavy cardio, but not necessarily as mushy as it was! I will probably give it until Saturday or Sunday to fully colonize, then introduce my tub to fruiting conditions.

So I feel like this grow has taken a decently long time, as I first inoculated my grain-spawn bag on 10/11/20, and in about 3-4 days from now (12/30/20) it will finally go into fruiting conditions. I don't know what has made my B+ from the Sporeworks take so long, but I wanted to know if anyone else has experienced delays like this. From what I've read and watched online, B+ should be quite fast to both inoculate and colonize, so I'm not sure if I've just not gotten temperatures correct in certain stages, or if breaking up my grain-spawn bag too often possibly stalled colonization of the bag. In any case, any feedback/advice would be greatly appreciated for my future endeavors!
I will also post a screenshot of my fully colonized substrate when the time comes!
Edited by psychlover (12/31/20 10:24 AM)
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psychlover
Player of video games



Registered: 12/24/20
Posts: 7
Last seen: 6 months, 2 days
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Re: My first grow and general grow questions. [Re: psychlover]
#27138871 - 01/10/21 01:11 AM (3 years, 1 month ago) |
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1/10/21 (Day 7 of fruiting conditions) and I have a metric shit ton of baby pins! Honestly they unexpectedly just appeared almost over night (a day and 3 hours), and I'm tremendously glad that my substrate didn't stall or contam (actually the substrate fully colonized after put into fruiting).

My routine goes as follows: I wake up at 10-11am, and then take my tub out of its dark night time container (it has a small window for light to come in), then it stays out in my room with a lamp on until I go to bed. After that I will fan the tub for about 2 minutes with the lid. I go light on misting, as when I spawned the tub I believe I misted the substrate a little too much, thus causing excess moisture to accumulate, and basically making my mycelium look mushy.
I have been misting once a day, and fanning when I wake up, eat dinner, and before I go to bed.
It would also be nice to hear peoples thoughts on what that little side pocket of water is...I believe it was mushroom piss that just never soaked back into my block, and is instead just sitting in there. I'm thinking about soaking it up, but I'm not sure if it really would be detrimental if left alone.
If anyone else has any thoughts, tips, or insights into my process, please leave a comment and let me know. Thank you!
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psychlover
Player of video games



Registered: 12/24/20
Posts: 7
Last seen: 6 months, 2 days
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Re: My very first grow and general grow questions (at this point about fruiting/flushing B+). [Re: psychlover]
#27146733 - 01/13/21 10:06 PM (3 years, 1 month ago) |
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1/13/21 - Day 10 of fruiting and these has been a lot of growth in the tub! The substrate is almost completely covered in small pins, along with a few finger sized pins that have grown out.


So what I'm wondering now is why are my finger sized pins spindly? I have been misting more and more, losing my fear of over watering (as my mycelium visually doesn't look damp anymore and doesn't glisten like it used to), to about 3-4 times a day, making sure to spray the pins directly as well as the walls and lid of my tub. I only fan 3 times a day now for around a minute, as I have a lot of FAE, and keep the temperature around 80 degrees in my house.
I'm worried that I might be doing something wrong at this point, but I'm not quite sure what. Maybe I mist more, or maybe I don't need to fan at all as my tub has 3 micropore tape GE holes on each side, with 8-9 small FAE holes on the shorter and wider sides respectively. If anyone would like to chime in with any input/tips, that would be greatly appreciated, as I'm not quite sure what I'm doing as the title suggests
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