mushiequ333n said:

First time doing this, inoculated a sterile substrate tub with spores (injected) and here’s where I’m at. Any help or advice welcome, I’ve noticed some primordia before full colonisation. I currently store it in the cardboard box it came in to keep it in mostly dark conditions (box lid is open to allow FAE) and the tub has HEPA strips on the lid. The substrate is  Organic Wheat Grain, Coffee, Coir, Lime, Gypsum. My room temp fluctuates between 18-24c as I have a heater I switch on for several hours when I’m at home. The last bits of substrate are yet to colonise but I have a lot of condensation and concerned about contamination. Is this salvageable?

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Oh I'm gonna be honest, yeet that into the sun.  Your recipe almost ensures contamination, and the fact it is trying to fruit well before full colonization supports that.

Read the hitchhiker's guide like beefy said, you got a lot to learn

Headass said:

What an awesome write up, now will the newbs read it???
Inquiring minds want to know 😜

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I've never used AIOs and I'm reading it. Never stop learning here..

Best take away for me:

BeefSupremeJr said:

Look, surface conditioning isn't something that can be readily taught and received. Its a concept that is absorbed through experience. Its not a schedule. Its not a regimen. Its not a do this or do that. Its a balancing act and I'm trying to get you to step away from the purgatory of following blind advice like "POKE HOLES" "CRACK THE LID" "FLIP THE LID" "REMOVE TAPE" "PUT MORE TAPE".  Forget these things. Learn to balance FAE with Surface moisture as a concept and you will begin to intuitively know what to do.  All of these things listed above might be viable, but whatever you do, do it slowly.

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mushiequ333n said:

Update:

I decided to dunk, with the signs that it wants to fruit & not wanting to risk contamination while it was still doing well. It smelt earthy and mushroomy when I opened it up, no odd smells or weird colours so that’s a plus. The tiny uncolonised part came off very easily, some vermiculite crumbled off but for the most part it’s ok. Hoping I have rescued this

(I am reading the guide/signature this evening along with the Hitchhikers guide !! Will be taking notes) ☺️

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Nikto said:

Thanks so much for this thread, Beef!

I had 2 bags that were colonized but not doing much more. So, with your advice here, I broke them up. I mixed 2/3 of each block using your coir substrate and casing method and the remaining 1/3 of each I rolled in coir.

I did these on Sunday, so two days in. I put them in a monotub for ease, but do have the lids if needed/recommended.

Things look to be moving along nicely, but this is my first grow. I'm misting the coir a couple of times a day (this pic was right before misting) and also spraying the inside of the lid. Humidity is in the 70s per the meter. Not using the humidifier currently.

How does it look to experienced eyes? How moist should I keep the surface of the coir? Thanks!

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BeefSupremeJr said:

Honestly? My initial assessment of experiencing the org as a noob didn't go well.  Sorry but what the fuck? I'll be writing about this in the HHG3.

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Jumping the shark a little here but as someone who just spent months indexing this site and participating on discord, just shouting out a big thanks Beef.  I'm a smart dude but it's really easy to start wrong (or maybe it was meander without proper purpose) here.  Thankfully lots of your info got me out of analysis paralysis and into growing (and now rescuing) at least something.  One item you may want to add to the HHG3 is general expectations on timing and quantities and building a continuous cycle.  Like from Start-To-FirstTrip.  I wish I would have known it was going to be a few months.  Probably would have helped me w/how eager and anxious I was. 

I'm now in a position where I've harvested a little and can afford the time for a more proper approach while I fix the boat as it sails down the AIO bag sea of grief.  On an upside, the bags taught me and produced more than the pftek purchased kits.  Those I might just thank them for their efforts and give up to the garden gods. 

I wouldn't start this way again but I think AIO bags should comes w/a special note about climate.  I started over winter and it's nosebleed dry here.  Waiting forever for "proper colonization" before opening meant they dried out and matted down hard.  The one I opened aggressively early did the best.  I've now got some pretty icky bag shaped bricks that I've been trying to rescue in a SGFC but think I'll give the wash n' coir a go to extend what I've got.

I saw a comment about a new wiki somewhere but not sure if that's going to take off.  That'd be a much better platform for keeping things central and up to date and allow some comment and authoring controls.

My favorite posts have the pictures of what good and bad looks like with some explanations of what might be the cause.  Would love to see more troubleshooting and rescue posts about surface conditions and after fruiting pictures of poor AHB? / conditions.  Like what to do with a 4# brick of aborts and why is there so much myc fuzz growing up my stems.

Anyways the tl;dr is thank you.  And if you want any more pics of AIOs gone wrong let me know!