RoscoeReturns said:

So when are these ready to harvest? I confess I’ve never seen maitake before I decided to grow it. This is a 5lb block of bran supplemented HWFP. Inoculated 8 weeks ago. They went into the tent 2 weeks ago and have been growing out of the bag for about ten days.

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Kloakk said:

Are these oyster jars(2 weeks colonizing) ready for fruiting blocks?

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7Suns said:

Qts to lbs don’t equate lol it would need to be all measurements in weight or all in volume by you can’t really cross them without knowing the direct conversion rate for that specific material

I would aim for a 1:4 ratio to be on the safe side so if we’re basing it off the spawn that’s 4 qts hydrated hwfp mixed with 1 qt spawn, you might be able to run more on the lean side of things but I’d wait for other to chime in

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Phaethon said:

When I've done unsupplemented blocks, I've used one quart jar of spawn (about 1 lb) for a bit over 4 lb of hydrated wood pellets (at 60% water by weight). I will not claim it's the ideal ratio since I haven't tried others, but it does work with the oyster species I've tried.

Don't expect miracles - you'll probably get less than a pound of fresh mushrooms off the first flush, and usually a pretty small second flush. But at least you don't have to sterilize, and you can inoculate in open air which is also quite nice.

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For me to even get pins would be a miracle

And I am aware that I am playing it safe and it's not going to be a huge flush, I just wanted to dip my toe in the water with this first run.

As said above, I have 4 jars and could use 2 jars per bag if that would be better?

7Suns said:

Just work out the math so that you end up with a 1:4 ratio it doesn’t matter what unit of measurement you use as long as your ratio is 1:4

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Hmmm yeah, I am not sure if I could get one bag in 4 jars, but maybe? Don't know if it's possible to give advise by looking at pictures, but I'll give it a go, what do you think, 1 or 2 jars per bag?

RoscoeReturns said:

Just do one jar per bag for now. If it’s your first grow trying for optimum nutrition is really not important. They will grow from those bags if your culture is good and your conditions are good. If you feel the need to dial in for better efficiency later that’s fine, but for your first try I would rather 4 bags than two.

FWIW I used to run unsupplemented HWFP 1 pound of grain spawn to 5 pounds of substrate. They worked well.

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Sounds good, that way I could see if there’s any difference between the bags(used different water ratio) and have more bags if any fail. Thank you

RoscoeReturns said:

FWIW I used to run unsupplemented HWFP 1 pound of grain spawn to 5 pounds of substrate. They worked well.

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That’s a 1:5 ratio so it’s pretty on par with the 1:4

It’s not so much about optimal efficiency my only concern is if you use too much sawdust it won’t fully colonize or it will colonize too slow and risk contamination, oysters are pretty aggressive though so probably not a big issue

Kloakk maybe I’m not being very clear, a 1 to 4 ratio is easy to measure out, just use an empty jar of the same size as your colonized jars, use it as a “measuring scoop” and fill the jar with sawdust then empty that jar into an empty bag, repeat this 3 more times, this should equal 4 parts hwfp then empty 1 jar of spawn into the bag, seal and shake to redistribute the grain spawn …..it’s really that simple so it’s 1 part spawn added to 4 parts hwfp I think you might have assumed it was the other way around ??

But again I want to reiterate that this isn’t an end-all-be-all formula it’s just a simple formula that I recommend because I’m confident that it work well with plain unsuplemented hwfp and will give fast colonization but I don’t imagine it would be too much of a problem to go as far as 1:10 ratio or 1:20 with oysters. So just wing it and post your results I won’t keep beating a dead horse you’ll figure it out

Looking at your bags in comparison I’d actually say you only need half of a jar per bag to equal 1:4 ratio I’d say those bags hold 2 quarts but that’s just a guess from your pics

Also just want to point out that it looks like you have 2 different size jars???

7Suns said:

Kloakk maybe I’m not being very clear, a 1 to 4 ratio is easy to measure out, just use an empty jar of the same size as your colonized jars, use it as a “measuring scoop” and fill the jar with sawdust then empty that jar into an empty bag, repeat this 3 more times, this should equal 4 parts hwfp then empty 1 jar of spawn into the bag, seal and shake to redistribute the grain spawn …..it’s really that simple so it’s 1 part spawn added to 4 parts hwfp I think you might have assumed it was the other way around ??

But again I want to reiterate that this isn’t an end-all-be-all formula it’s just a simple formula that I recommend because I’m confident that it work well with plain unsuplemented hwfp and will give fast colonization but I don’t imagine it would be too much of a problem to go as far as 1:10 ratio or 1:20 with oysters. So just wing it and post your results I won’t keep beating a dead horse you’ll figure it out

Looking at your bags in comparison I’d actually say you only need half of a jar per bag to equal 1:4 ratio I’d say those bags hold 2 quarts but that’s just a guess from your pics

Also just want to point out that it looks like you have 2 different size jars???

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I get that and I would have used a 1:4 ratio if I knew then what I know now, but when I asked I had already pasteurized the hwfp But I really appreciate all the advice and help I can get so all of your replies is of value to me, thanks.

You are right, 2 of the jars is 1L and 2 is 0,75L, the amount of grain spawn is the same though, I'll update with pictures as it unfolds