Poopknife said:

What’s up doods, I got a question about how much to “ tamp down “ substrates for shoeboxes and monos. I’ve been messing around with different levels of compaction so to say and getting mixed results. I have a couple boxes where I tamped  down the edges more than the center of the sub and it seems like the pins like coming in heavier in those spots.

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I don't tamp the sub.

The result of that thread I started (linked above by 2024-12-11), and I read every post on it carefully, seemed to be "A lot of people do, but no one has a strong reason to do it other than there's a popular tek here that says to do it."

Also some indication of "If you do it, don't pack it super tight or it's counterproductive"

But some people DO pack it tight.

Pic VAT, 16 quart tubs of y'all know what, sub not packed

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Packerbacker12 said:

Anybody ever rock grains in the large 14a mycobags? They have the .5 micron filters. Do I need bags with .2 micron?

Anybody have weight ratios for no prep brown rice in this size bag?

Was looking all through yoshis no prep grain thread and it seems like his WBR ratio is for smaller bags but I'm not sure what size.

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alaskappalachian said:

Packerbacker12 said:

Anybody ever rock grains in the large 14a mycobags? They have the .5 micron filters. Do I need bags with .2 micron?

Anybody have weight ratios for no prep brown rice in this size bag?

Was looking all through yoshis no prep grain thread and it seems like his WBR ratio is for smaller bags but I'm not sure what size.

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I would personally only use the .5 bags for substrate I'm introducing grains into for fruiting.  I use them for edibles.  Everything else (when I actually use bags) is .2. 

Would strongly advise against no-prep WBR for bags. Clumpy sticky mass of shit.  Best to be able to rinse and (most importantly) dry the outside of the rice prior to sterilization even in jars or it shakes like a dog turd.  But in bags?  Just introduce to boiling water 12min, immediately remove, rinse, and dry on a towel/screen/puppy pad/whatever  before loading.  Just my 2 cents to save you some headaches.

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dinosaurs said:

newspaper ink is soy based and 100% safe.  if the choice of paper type weirds you out, use parchment paper. 

and yes, fan drying will work in a pinch for fruits the size and morphology of pans.  I have a jar of fan dried GHs here that are over a year old and still slap.

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Fauchinger said:

Is there a thread that helps with identifying contams on agar and explaining in detail what to look out for to tell apart healthy growth and suspicious activities?

I recently started doing agar and I have several plates that have some wispy af myc growing. In fact it looks so puffy across plates that it’s hard to differentiate from mold.
Also I have two plates that I streaked while aiming for maximum sterile technique, and can’t really tell if they‘re clean because there’s a „circle“ forming around the tiny freshly grown spot of myc.

Of course I could just post pics in the agar envy thread or here, but I‘d rather have a source that provides very detailed information and a lot of pics to try and educate myself.

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Scemilope said:

Fauchinger said:

Is there a thread that helps with identifying contams on agar and explaining in detail what to look out for to tell apart healthy growth and suspicious activities?

I recently started doing agar and I have several plates that have some wispy af myc growing. In fact it looks so puffy across plates that it’s hard to differentiate from mold.
Also I have two plates that I streaked while aiming for maximum sterile technique, and can’t really tell if they‘re clean because there’s a „circle“ forming around the tiny freshly grown spot of myc.

Of course I could just post pics in the agar envy thread or here, but I‘d rather have a source that provides very detailed information and a lot of pics to try and educate myself.

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Here's one, I know there are other good ones as well.

Agar Plates and Removing Hidden Contaminants. A Visual Notebook

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