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CurlyWurly
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9 weeks - cakes only half colonized at best
#27768117 - 05/08/22 03:07 AM (2 years, 8 months ago) |
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Second time growing here - my first attempt went well enough for me so I've done exactly the same thing again but seem to be having trouble with my cakes.
It's been 9 weeks and my cakes are only half colonized at best and some only seem to have a minimal amount of myc in them. All jars were prepared in the same way and got the same amount of spores added to them so not sure what's going on. Pictures below of my best jar (Note: the tin foil on my jars is the lid - I don't use the normal lids they come with as find tin foil easier to work with)
I removed the micropore tape from the holes 3 weeks ago after looking up older threads on here to find suggestions and I've flipped them upside down a couple of times as well. I've maybe noticed slightly more growth since then but not much, is there anything else I've missed that could speed up growth? They're in a warm cupboard with my water heater right now an temp is around 73f to 80f depending on time of day.
Nothing looks obviously contaminated to me in any of them the uncolonized substrate still just looks like the verm mixture. All jars went in the PC, have a dry verm layer and I prepared them in a SAB so I think I'd be pretty unlucky if all 7 have become contaminated.
At what point do I just give up and start again? I'm not in a rush for them so happy to wait but I don't know if the mycelium will start to die at some point as time goes on.
 Good side of the cake that looks well colonized
 Some myc can be seen but not a lot - mostly just the verm mixture.
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Mychunt4206911
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Re: 9 weeks - cakes only half colonized at best [Re: CurlyWurly]
#27768145 - 05/08/22 04:18 AM (2 years, 8 months ago) |
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Take the foil off and let them breathe
-------------------- Dont put all your eggs in the cart before your horse is hatched
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CurlyWurly
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Re: 9 weeks - cakes only half colonized at best [Re: Mychunt4206911]
#27768154 - 05/08/22 04:43 AM (2 years, 8 months ago) |
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Quote:
Mychunt4206911 said: Take the foil off and let them breathe
If I take the foil off that will leave just the dry verm layer exposed, is that enough to avoid contamination at this point?
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DERRAYLD
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Re: 9 weeks - cakes only half colonized at best [Re: CurlyWurly]
#27768159 - 05/08/22 04:52 AM (2 years, 8 months ago) |
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Do they have lids?
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CurlyWurly
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Re: 9 weeks - cakes only half colonized at best [Re: DERRAYLD]
#27768162 - 05/08/22 05:00 AM (2 years, 8 months ago) |
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Quote:
DERRAYLD said: Do they have lids?
No, just the tin foil covering them. I don't use the lids they come with as I find it easier to just inject directly through the tin foil.
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The Tao
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Re: 9 weeks - cakes only half colonized at best [Re: CurlyWurly]
#27768198 - 05/08/22 06:41 AM (2 years, 8 months ago) |
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What did you inoculate with and how many inoculation points per jar? You put tape over the holes after inoculation? What’s easier about using foil instead of lids? Can you cut back the foil close to the jar threads so we can see what’s going on at the top? That’s pretty wispy growth for 9 weeks.
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CurlyWurly
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Re: 9 weeks - cakes only half colonized at best [Re: The Tao]
#27768212 - 05/08/22 07:01 AM (2 years, 8 months ago) |
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Quote:
The Tao said: What did you inoculate with and how many inoculation points per jar? You put tape over the holes after inoculation? What’s easier about using foil instead of lids? Can you cut back the foil close to the jar threads so we can see what’s going on at the top? That’s pretty wispy growth for 9 weeks.
Inoculation was with some spore syringes I got online. One syringe contained exactly the same spores as my previous grow and another one was from a new supplier - the ones from the new supplier are actually my better jars so don't think there's anything wrong with the spores.
Each jar had around 0.5ml put in 4 inoculation points so 2ml total. I put tape over it at first to reduce the chance of contamination in the early stages of growth. When the jars looked like they had a good bunch of mycelium growth that seemed to be stalling I remembered older threads on here suggesting to remove tape to help gas exchange so I took the tape off - this was about 3 weeks ago now.
The book I've been using recommended using foil instead of the lids - easier to poke a hole in for inoculation without making modifications to the lid. As I did this for my first grow and it worked I just did it again.
Here's the tin foil pulled off at the best side. Now that I'm looking at it my dry verm layer looks pretty thick compared to other pics I've seen - have I put too much in and that's causing the slow growth?

Here's a photo of the bottom of the jar just fyi too - the weird blueish white looking thing away from the mycelium is just a reflection from my window not contam.
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Mychunt4206911
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Re: 9 weeks - cakes only half colonized at best [Re: CurlyWurly]
#27768224 - 05/08/22 07:13 AM (2 years, 8 months ago) |
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Shit i didn’t fully read and thought there was a lid under there. My advice is useless. I’m too stoned  I had some cakes that didn’t finish colonising I literally threw into the garden a few weeks ago and pulled fruit off them today. I’m in the right climate for cubes though. Your jars look a lot like mine and I made my vermiculite filter layer the same size as yours and didn’t have problems
-------------------- Dont put all your eggs in the cart before your horse is hatched
Edited by Mychunt4206911 (05/08/22 07:17 AM)
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The Tao
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Re: 9 weeks - cakes only half colonized at best [Re: CurlyWurly] 1
#27768228 - 05/08/22 07:15 AM (2 years, 8 months ago) |
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Standard needle is 1 1/2 inches long. I think you inoculated the dry vermiculite layer. Hold the syringe against the outside of the jar and see how far down the needle goes.
Edited by The Tao (05/08/22 07:22 AM)
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CurlyWurly
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Re: 9 weeks - cakes only half colonized at best [Re: The Tao]
#27768262 - 05/08/22 07:59 AM (2 years, 8 months ago) |
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Quote:
The Tao said: Standard needle is 1 1/2 inches long. I think you inoculated the dry vermiculite layer. Hold the syringe against the outside of the jar and see how far down the needle goes.
I don't have any of the syringes left that I was using or needles but I always make sure I can see the needle through the glass below the dry layer before inoculating so I'm 100% sure nothing went into the dry layer at the time.
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The Tao
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Re: 9 weeks - cakes only half colonized at best [Re: CurlyWurly]
#27768272 - 05/08/22 08:10 AM (2 years, 8 months ago) |
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You discard your needles and syringes? Why, they can be reused multiple times. Hold a ruler up to the jar. Standard needles are 1 1/2 inches long. These are 1/2 pint wide mouth jars. 2 1/2 inches deep so my needle goes to the middle of the BRF.
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CurlyWurly
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Re: 9 weeks - cakes only half colonized at best [Re: The Tao]
#27768287 - 05/08/22 08:25 AM (2 years, 8 months ago) |
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Quote:
The Tao said: You discard your needles and syringes? Why, they can be reused multiple times. Hold a ruler up to the jar. Standard needles are 1 1/2 inches long. These are 1/2 pint wide mouth jars. 2 1/2 inches deep so my needle goes to the middle of the BRF.

I pretty much exclusively buy my spore syringes online due to not having the space or time to prepare my own at home so I don't want a bunch of used ones hanging around for now.
I've double checked and my dry layer is exactly 1.5 inches so it's possible that some of it got into there but with having the tin foil as a lid I am able to push the needle a bit further in until I'm sure it's in the right place.
In most of the cakes I can still see the disturbed bit of verm mixture where the needle entered which isn't in the dry layer. I can't see me managing to inoculate the dry layer on every one of my cakes unless I was really unlucky so I'm not sure if something else is going on. Surely the fact that I have some myc growth means my needle went in far enough?
ps. thanks so much for taking the time to reply to me and help me troubleshoot.
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The Tao
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Re: 9 weeks - cakes only half colonized at best [Re: CurlyWurly]
#27768467 - 05/08/22 10:42 AM (2 years, 8 months ago) |
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Your inoculation point is where the dry vermiculite layer meets the BRF. The mycelium has to grow down as well as in. It can’t easily grow up because of the dry vermiculite but you can see that it is trying. Mine is in the middle of the BRF. Grows in a circular pattern as well as inward. I also inoculate the center of my jars. When the outside is fully consolidated I can trust the center is as well barring contamination. I usually get mushrooms in 5 weeks from BRF.
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CurlyWurly
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Re: 9 weeks - cakes only half colonized at best [Re: The Tao]
#27768555 - 05/08/22 11:29 AM (2 years, 8 months ago) |
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Quote:
The Tao said: Your inoculation point is where the dry vermiculite layer meets the BRF. The mycelium has to grow down as well as in. It can’t easily grow up because of the dry vermiculite but you can see that it is trying. Mine is in the middle of the BRF. Grows in a circular pattern as well as inward. I also inoculate the center of my jars. When the outside is fully consolidated I can trust the center is as well barring contamination. I usually get mushrooms in 5 weeks from BRF.
Is there any way I'll get anything from these if that's the case?
Would getting another syringe and making sure I inoculate further down help? Or will that disrupt the conditions in the cake too much with the extra moisture?
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The Tao
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Re: 9 weeks - cakes only half colonized at best [Re: CurlyWurly]
#27768570 - 05/08/22 11:38 AM (2 years, 8 months ago) |
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9 weeks is a long time for BRF and your jars are looking dry. You can put them on a shelf and wait and see. You might get something. I’d start another grow while you wait. Consider picking up some wide mouth 1/2 pint jars and put some holes in the lids unless your resources are tight. I don’t know what book you’re referencing but it doesn’t sound current. Don’t inoculate the jars a second time. They’re dry.
Edited by The Tao (05/08/22 11:45 AM)
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