Scemilope said:

Some MS Apollo (albino cube) cakes soaked and cased in mounds of coir/verm. The water tub has air stones and a fogger.
I have a good feeling about this batch.

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neuroshaman said:

This has been a very helpful read through. I'm on my first grow ever and just put my first 5 bluey Vuitton cakes into the water tub yesterday after a 24 hour dunk. I let them consolidate for 8 days after the half pint jars were fully colonized

The cakes were rolled in dry verm (not coir) before being put into the water tub. I am leaving the tub lid just lightly cracked for FAE although I know there are many conflicting opinions on FAE.


I have a 12/12 light cycle going and gave the cakes a light mist from above the open tub around the 12 and 24 hour mark (not sure if this was overkill so early on). It is winter and dry so I was a little concerned about the cakes drying out but am also cognizant that maybe I should just leave it the fuck alone for a bit here now.

Slightly blurry pic of of the cakes from above the water tub:



Obviously there is no one size fits all but anything in particular you all think I should keep in mind over this next day or 2?

I have 7 GT cakes that will be ready to birth later this week so I'm trying to learn as much as I can from any mistakes I make this first go around.

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Sounds like you're on the right track. If your cakes went through a 24-hour dunk and haven't fruited yet..

they should be good and hydrated.. I wouldn't worry about misting.

Wait till the mycelium starts to colonize more of the cake and gets nice and fluffy.. then you can start giving some fine Mist as needed.

You'll be able to see whether it's got a bunch of small little droplets on it or not at that point.

And if it doesn't then you'll want to go ahead and give it some.

neuroshaman said:

This has been a very helpful read through. I'm on my first grow ever and just put my first 5 bluey Vuitton cakes into the water tub yesterday after a 24 hour dunk. I let them consolidate for 8 days after the half pint jars were fully colonized

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It's good practice. I also wait about a week after full colonization before taking the cakes out of the jars.

Quote:

The cakes were rolled in dry verm (not coir) before being put into the water tub. I am leaving the tub lid just lightly cracked for FAE although I know there are many conflicting opinions on FAE.

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FAE once/twice a day is simply good practice and maybe even a bit of a ritual to check that everything is okay For my experience, verm is good for rolling. I do the same.

Quote:

I have a 12/12 light cycle going and gave the cakes a light mist from above the open tub around the 12 and 24 hour mark (not sure if this was overkill so early on). It is winter and dry so I was a little concerned about the cakes drying out but am also cognizant that maybe I should just leave it the fuck alone for a bit here now.

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With misting it is often the case that you don't need to do it at all, although it is good to have a mister to use when needed: at the beginning, if any parts of the substrate are dry (in this case, the vermiculite is dry, so you can spray a little at the beginning), and when you see that there is no or very little condensation on the walls of the container or box (for me, this is a sign that there is poor condensation and you can help a little). Once a day is enough. And observe - if you see that there is already a lot of condensation on the walls, or that the cakes are simply moist enough, then spraying does not make much sense. And once it starts pinning, only spray the walls, not the cakes.

Quote:

I have 7 GT cakes that will be ready to birth later this week so I'm trying to learn as much as I can from any mistakes I make this first go around.

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Good practice

flapping_bird said:

Hey neuro - I like that tray that's in your water tub...did you buy that separate or as a set with the tub. Gotta keep my eye out for one like that. Perfect! Good luck with your grow!

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It's actually the bottom of a vegetable crisper that I found in a drawer that I never use but it is serving well for my grow

Here are two pics from this morning. I think I see some initial pins on top coming through? Or at the very least some individual clumps of myc on top of the cakes that weren't visible when I checked ~18 hours ago. Also doesn't look like too much condensation in the tub. Think a little mist would be good at this stage?




Thanks so much to everyone for your feedback! I'm excited but also trying not to overthink it

flapping_bird said:

oh - and for misting, if you don't have an ultrafine mist spray bottle, those are a good thing to purchase. About $6; the mist is gentle enough to not blow chunks of verm off your cakes. So if you have a "regular" old-style spray bottle, just try to mist indirectly/gently so you're not hitting it with too powerful a blast of water. Think gentle fog in a forest vs firehose.

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flapping_bird said:

oh - and for misting, if you don't have an ultrafine mist spray bottle, those are a good thing to purchase. About $6; the mist is gentle enough to not blow chunks of verm off your cakes. So if you have a "regular" old-style spray bottle, just try to mist indirectly/gently so you're not hitting it with too powerful a blast of water. Think gentle fog in a forest vs firehose.

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I use these barber bottles instead of the common ones you see. 



The barber bottles is the short one with black top.    And is ultra fine mist as well.

And my experience they seem to be made better.. Meaning the pump mechanism doesn't fail and break on you As quick.

I've had some of those bottles only last like a week before they break. But these little Barber bottles have already lasted more than a month without any issues.

flapping_bird said:

If you're near a walmart, they've always got 'em in stock.

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