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Silverwing
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Fruiting stalled due to low ambient temps while I was away
#28123815 - 01/04/23 03:09 AM (2 years, 13 days ago) |
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Hey guys, I'm back on the forum with my first bulk attempt! 
It was going great - the tubs (and a bag :P) were just starting to fruit, but I had to leave for a 7-day vacation. While I was away, the temperatures in the flat without the heating on dropped to 11C/51F (that's what the the thermostat showed when I came back), and unquestionably the cold is what slowed them down/stalled them.
26th of December

4th of January

With the heat back on, what is the best course of action here? Do I pick these fruits and dunk, or do I just leave them be for a bit more to develop on their own?
-------------------- {insert funny pun}
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schpat
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Re: Fruiting stalled due to low ambient temps while I was away [Re: Silverwing]
#28123819 - 01/04/23 03:26 AM (2 years, 13 days ago) |
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They look fine, let them ride.
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Silverwing
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Re: Fruiting stalled due to low ambient temps while I was away [Re: schpat]
#28124201 - 01/04/23 11:15 AM (2 years, 13 days ago) |
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When the optimal thing to do is to do nothing, isn't that the dream 😄
It might just be me, but the tubs already seem livelier after less than half a day of fruiting temps. Especially the one that seemed to be lagging behind.
Will post the update pics when they're ready for harvest:)
-------------------- {insert funny pun}
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Prolific Koi
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Re: Fruiting stalled due to low ambient temps while I was away [Re: Silverwing]
#28124213 - 01/04/23 11:25 AM (2 years, 13 days ago) |
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Please do, on my first grow rn with pe from bag. Good work!
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Prolific Koi
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Re: Fruiting stalled due to low ambient temps while I was away [Re: Prolific Koi]
#28124219 - 01/04/23 11:26 AM (2 years, 13 days ago) |
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Sorry for double post… but just curious as to how you triggered fruiting? Did you leave bag sealed with filter patch as only source of FAE or did you cut slits… orrrr whole top off then clip?
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Silverwing
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Re: Fruiting stalled due to low ambient temps while I was away [Re: Prolific Koi]
#28124599 - 01/04/23 04:24 PM (2 years, 13 days ago) |
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Once my grain spawn finished colonizing/consolidating in its own little bag, I crumbled it, opened, and mixed with the substrate into the larger grow bag seen on the photo. It's basically a tall bag with a filter patch that already came with the top off. After mixing (and tamping down, etc.), I simply folded the top of the bag over, and to hold it together from unfolding pinched it along the bend with two little metal clips on both sides slightly off-center.
 (two on the right side are missing - somehow got lost along the way )
I followed the SFF Shoebox tek, where after spawning to bulk into the shoebox you're supposed to just leave it be with the lid unlatched, gently resting on the top. I figured that using a bag, my jerry-rigged method would be the equivalent - providing FAE, but restricting it enough to avoid excessive evaporation. And, as per the tek (which is based on bod's unmodified monotub tek), there is no differentiation between colonizing conditions after spawning to bulk and fruiting conditions - after spawning, you just leave it be for 3-4 weeks (which is how much it seems to take for substrate colonization, knotting, pinset formation and finally fruiting to occur).
Hopefully this made sense 
P.S. In case you're wondering, the only reason I used a bag is because I ended up with more spawn/substrate mix than I had shoeboxes for (I used 5L SAMLA boxes from IKEA), and just happened to have these grow bags lying around that I never intended to use. It's not a great solution, because the corners at the bottom of the bag are stuck together in such a way that it's not a flat surface, but with some scissor-snipping I figured it was good enough.
-------------------- {insert funny pun}
Edited by Silverwing (01/04/23 04:26 PM)
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Prolific Koi
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Re: Fruiting stalled due to low ambient temps while I was away [Re: Silverwing]
#28125129 - 01/04/23 10:43 PM (2 years, 12 days ago) |
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Good to know, thanks for the response! Helpful.
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Silverwing
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Re: Fruiting stalled due to low ambient temps while I was away [Re: Prolific Koi]
#28125424 - 01/05/23 08:17 AM (2 years, 12 days ago) |
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Upd. Unfortunaty, both tubs are contaminated. The one that was doing worse is pretty bad, but there are still fruits that I could pick - is that a good idea?

The second one, I can see a bit of green on a little part of the substrate where some water pooled up. This one is still doing better, and I see veils starting to develop on some of the shrooms. Is this one also a goner?

The spawn bag is fine
-------------------- {insert funny pun}
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Silverwing
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Re: Fruiting stalled due to low ambient temps while I was away [Re: Silverwing]
#28125449 - 01/05/23 08:44 AM (2 years, 12 days ago) |
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Sucks, but the important thing is to learn from your mistakes. I think three things could have played a role here:
1.) Homemade substrate. For the spawn bag, I actually used pre-sterilized substrate I had ordered. For both tubs I used homemade coir/verm sub - hydrated the coir in a pot, and added verm to get it to field capacity. Although, I think it might have been a bit too wet still, because I saw a lot of condensation on lower substrate levels after spawning, and I know the lower level of the substrate should be drier, and the "top coat" (as per the Tek I followed) should get a nice soak for the fruiting conditions. I know coir sub doesn't require proper pasteurization, and the pre-sterilized substrate was definitely way drier than mine, so - conclusion 1: coir should be under field capacity and feel pretty dry. Surface of the substrate should have more moisture than the whole substrate as a whole
2.) During colonization of the tubs/bag, at one point I thought they were too dry on the top level of the substrate with suboptimal fruiting conditions (no beads on the surface) so despite the lower levels of the sub looking wet enough (the bag was dry all the way through though, by comparison, but I didn't add the top coir layer there), I opened and misted both the tubs and the bag to hell. The bag is doing alright, but it was definitely the driest of the three, by far. Probably because pre-sterilized sub I bought was just dry enough under field capacity like it should be, and not a bit too wet to begin with. Conclusion 2: After the act, I learned that opening the colonizing substrate to mist (at least as part of the Tek I followed), is a really bad idea and mostly will just lead to contamination. Regardless of whether surface conditions were already good enough or not, shouldn't have touched them. Who knows, maybe by doing that I just introduced enough moisture and foreign spores/bacteria for it to fail.
3.) The temperature situation. But it's unlikely to be the deciding factor, because the spawn bag is doing well, so I don't think it played a major role.
Furthermore, looking at the bag now - while it looks quite dry, the fruits also have fuzzy feet which is indicative of too little FAE. So, if you consider that tubs had more FAE and even then have more moisture in them right now, it's clear that the moisture content in my homemade sub was waaaay off. Should have been drier, and I shouldn't have misted.
-------------------- {insert funny pun}
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Silverwing
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Re: Fruiting stalled due to low ambient temps while I was away [Re: Silverwing]
#28125478 - 01/05/23 09:11 AM (2 years, 12 days ago) |
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Picked whatever I could from the dead tub. I do remember thinking that it was lagging behind throughout the whole colonization process, so it may have been contamination from the beginning too, possibly. 50g wet

The other tub is doing much better in comparison, the fruits are still developing nicely, but I see clear contam in one corner. I guess it is just a matter of time for this one. I will leave it overnight and pick the shrooms tomorrow
-------------------- {insert funny pun}
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FlawdaKraka
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Re: Fruiting stalled due to low ambient temps while I was away [Re: Silverwing]
#28125486 - 01/05/23 09:19 AM (2 years, 12 days ago) |
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Contam almost always comes from your spawn, whether it was bacterial or had uncolonized grains. 99.99% chance didn't come from the substrate.
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Prolific Koi
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Re: Fruiting stalled due to low ambient temps while I was away [Re: FlawdaKraka]
#28125579 - 01/05/23 10:39 AM (2 years, 12 days ago) |
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Looks like it could have been an early spawn issue or when you transferred? Lot of variables here lol. I’d still eat those bad boys at least you got some fruits man. I’ll keep you updated on mine. Learning from this as well thanks man.
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Silverwing
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Re: Fruiting stalled due to low ambient temps while I was away [Re: FlawdaKraka]
#28126824 - 01/06/23 02:59 AM (2 years, 11 days ago) |
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Quote:
FlawdaKraka said: Contam almost always comes from your spawn, whether it was bacterial or had uncolonized grains. 99.99% chance didn't come from the substrate.
Since I don't own a PC, for my first bulk grow attempt I went with a pre-sterilized rye spawn. This went into both of the tubs - the one that flopped and the one that is doing well. Now, I did notice just one or two grains logged in a fold on the bottom of the spawn bag that were not covered by mycelium - I tried pushing them up at some point but couldn't, so these few individual grains were uncolonized (since I crumbled and mixed the spawn very well, which otherwise looked 100% healthy, I thought it would just colonize after spawning and wouldn't be an issue). Could something as small as this really be the problem?
-------------------- {insert funny pun}
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Silverwing
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Re: Fruiting stalled due to low ambient temps while I was away [Re: Silverwing]
#28126826 - 01/06/23 03:07 AM (2 years, 11 days ago) |
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Some updates.
The contammed bit on the second tub seems not to have spread during the last 12-24h, and the fruits are developing nicely, so regardless I'm rolling with it for now.
And, the bag seems really dry to me, I think it requires some misting. I will also be fanning it twice a day as a fuzzy feet remedy
-------------------- {insert funny pun}
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phenyl
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Re: Fruiting stalled due to low ambient temps while I was away [Re: Silverwing]
#28126852 - 01/06/23 04:33 AM (2 years, 11 days ago) |
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Quote:
Silverwing said:
And, the bag seems really dry to me, I think it requires some misting. I will also be fanning it twice a day as a fuzzy feet remedy
Fuzzy feet is mostly genetic and misting-fanning will create a cycle of excessive drying and excessive moisture. Lots of work for more problems, hence why only beginners getting their information from 20 year old shroomery threads and other beginners on reddit do it.
-------------------- The fool who persists in his folly will become wise.
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Silverwing
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Re: Fruiting stalled due to low ambient temps while I was away [Re: phenyl]
#28126860 - 01/06/23 04:52 AM (2 years, 11 days ago) |
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Fuzzy feet aside, the substrate could still be dried out. Any pointers to tell whether misting is needed?
-------------------- {insert funny pun}
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Screwup
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Re: Fruiting stalled due to low ambient temps while I was away [Re: Silverwing]
#28126882 - 01/06/23 05:53 AM (2 years, 11 days ago) |
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Quote:
Silverwing said: Fuzzy feet aside, the substrate could still be dried out. Any pointers to tell whether misting is needed?
Micro droplets of water on the surface? No -> mist Yes -> don’t mist
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Prolific Koi
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Re: Fruiting stalled due to low ambient temps while I was away [Re: phenyl]
#28127154 - 01/06/23 10:50 AM (2 years, 11 days ago) |
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Oh for sure. Thats it for sure.
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Silverwing
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Re: Fruiting stalled due to low ambient temps while I was away [Re: Prolific Koi]
#28129211 - 01/07/23 12:13 PM (2 years, 10 days ago) |
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Picked the fruits from the bag and the tub.
Bag - 150g wet. Misted after picking, this one is looking good! What I've noticed is the fruits here tended to cluster, so a big fully grown shroom had smaller ones joined to it. Misted, should get some more growth!


Tub - 130g wet
 Was careful with this one, because due to contam - and this is something I've noticed in the other tub, too - some shrooms while seeming fine outwardly were just rotten inside (quite obvious when you pinch it to pick). I think those I picked are fine, but that's something I'll keep in mind for this batch.
 I don't think this tub will do anything else, and if it does - even though some of the fruits I picked sprouted just in the last few days, I have reservations as per the quality. There are a lot of smaller ones left, but I noticed some of them had this white in the caps, so I've been reluctant to pick them. Any idea if that's some other foreign mold, or something else?

Edit: looking close up at the last photo, that does look pretty bad haha. Not picking those, and will check the ones drying to throw away any dubious-looking ones
-------------------- {insert funny pun}
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Prolific Koi
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Re: Fruiting stalled due to low ambient temps while I was away [Re: Silverwing]
#28129213 - 01/07/23 12:15 PM (2 years, 10 days ago) |
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WOWZA! Wow those fruits lookin perrrty good there! Congrats! Beautiful.
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Silverwing
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Re: Fruiting stalled due to low ambient temps while I was away [Re: Prolific Koi]
#28682816 - 03/01/24 04:21 PM (10 months, 11 days ago) |
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Heyooo sorry for disappearing and no further updates, my life took quite a dive at the time - but we're back on track now
Looking at the pics the grow looked better than I remembered lol. But what happened was, everything got contam'd, and while I did get some fruits still, I haven't managed a proper trip from any of those. It's really weird. I've taken as much as 5g at a time, and didn't even get close to how far 2-3g took me before.
First I thought it might be some weird interaction with cannabis, since I'd get the urge to take shrooms only after smoking (I started doing mushrooms before I ever really smoked weed so it was a new thing lol), but even taking these by themselves it just wasn't hitting. I wonder if it's just a random genetic thing, or the fruits born out of a battle with contam somehow lost in potency - and they do seem much less physically impressive than my first grow.
Anyhow, I have a bit left I might microdose with, but it's been a while since my last proper trip and I'm doing a new grow just now. PF-Tek 1/2 pinto-cakes shredded into shoeboxes and an empty pretzel bucket. The coir sub is being colonized as we speak
-------------------- {insert funny pun}
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