Churpee Choozle said:

If you follow the tek to a T, you have a dry verm barrier that functions as your filter. The mp tape is an extra. Not advising against it, but it's like the extra lock on a door, if the door's locked, it's locked, but for an extra sense of safety you can turn that extra key too.

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The Ferryman said:

Just had a skim of the og pf tek and it actually calls for masking tape to be put over the inoculation holes before sterilisation and replaced after inoculation. Never bothered with it myself, the dry verm works just fine on its own. It's worth remembering the tek is over 30 years old and there are better ways to do some of it.

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toadking said:

QQ- On my last bigger grow I used a 1:4 Coir to Spawn ratio, it worked but due to the sub being too thin I was constantly having to mist. I plan to do another in the same tub with 1 1/2 bricks coir as opposed to 1 and already have my grain colonizing but it is insanely hard to break a brick of coir so how should I prep it or if I make 2 what should I do with the leftover?

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Or, you could use one of those new-fangled things called a saw to cut the brick in half.

tryptkaloids said:

A cake is basically an aio jar. Grain flour replaces whole grains and verm replaces coir.

Some people spawn cakes but ive never bothered

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The Ferryman said:

It really just depends on which path you would like to take. If you want to spawn to bulk then go with grains. If you want to do cakes then pf tek is the move. However since you seem to be struggling with agar work I would suggest you get a couple of pf tek grows under your belt to begin with. Totally up to you which way you go though.

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Quote:

the_chosen_one PF Tek will have far less learned nuances if you follow the original Tek as close as you can and you are starting with a clean spore source. If I can ask, what is your spore source? Print or syringe?

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ladynightshade said:

The Ferryman said:

It really just depends on which path you would like to take. If you want to spawn to bulk then go with grains. If you want to do cakes then pf tek is the move. However since you seem to be struggling with agar work I would suggest you get a couple of pf tek grows under your belt to begin with. Totally up to you which way you go though.

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Yeah I think youre right. PF is probably the best way for me to begin and at least build some confidence with growing after all the hits I've had recently. Plus I have all the ingredients and tools already for a PF grow since I had prepared for that months ago, I just need to actually implement the practice.

Quote:

the_chosen_one PF Tek will have far less learned nuances if you follow the original Tek as close as you can and you are starting with a clean spore source. If I can ask, what is your spore source? Print or syringe?

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I have a cambodian syringe I was going to use and I also have some golden teachers in a spore print but Im not entirely sure how to transfer spore prints using PF tek. It looks like PF tek is syringe only.

I was thinking for my next spore purchase I'd use a liquid culture.

Edit: Mostly I just have a massive desire to really succeed at this. I'm learning tons of ways to NOT grow mushrooms, but I am looking forward to my first successful fruits.

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ladynightshade said:

tryptkaloids said:

A cake is basically an aio jar. Grain flour replaces whole grains and verm replaces coir.

Some people spawn cakes but ive never bothered

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So would it be easier then to avoid PF tek and then just do grain, PC, inoculate, wait, then substrate of grain+coir rather then BRF or is PF Tek still an optimum start for beginner growers?

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