knecimes13 said:

Update: 5L Shoebox - Day 11
(Strain: BHT | Ratio: 1:2 Spawn-to-Bulk)

So far, I haven't misted the tub at all. The lid has been kept shut since day one, except for opening it for about a minute just now to snap these photos.

Looking at it, the substrate surface seems a little dry to me. Do you guys think I should give it a light misting at this stage?

Also, should I start leaving the lid slightly cracked/diagonal to introduce FAE at this point? Or would simply flipping it upside down be a better option?

Open to any suggestions.

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jbgtaa said:

have you been shaking the jars? or just let them sit for 30 days?

the only things to do is spawn them. if you want to ensure that it's strong myceliums, shake the jar real hard and break everything up and let it consolidate for another week.

also, when you go to spawn the jars, smell them. if they smell like fresh mushrooms and nothing else, they're probably alright. everything's white, no yellows, etc. only weird thing is they do look very wispy and not strong but I haven't ever used popcorn so maybe that's just what it is.

I personally don't really mess around with LC even after a solid amount of great grows just because its too many contamination vectors for a guy like me. it can be done, its a good method, but a guy like me needs simplicity in things.

I just drop a small sample into the jar, polyfil hole, and leave it. shake at 30 percents colonization and maybe once more if its fast and strong

look at BODs teks my dude, things regarding agar and getting a lot of spawn are super simple and don't need a lot of extra stuff. agar, clean grain, clean cultures, don't add extra steps.

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jbgtaa said:

I would just let them sit for awhile longer and see if they whiten up, if not it could just be how the myc is. you'll only find out by spawning it

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jbgtaa said:

ya know you could buy a couple half gallon jars and try top fruiting them

idk I like keeping things small and testable before moving onto big jars and big tubs

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jbgtaa said:

was this just multispore? and how much spawn was it? sorry if you already said but if it's multispore and only 1 or so jars of spawn this is pretty normal. 1.5 inches for a substrate is really really thin for a shoebox. that's not much material at all. you get more mushrooms from more spawn and substrate.

if you go thru my gallery most of those tubs are 2 qt jars of spawn and 3 to 4 qt jars of coir substrate, it usually came out to about 3 inches tall but it's a lot more spawn.

your tube should have enough water in it from the beginning to get thru fruiting, that doesn't seem possible to me with a 1inch substrate.

up your spawn, use a fruit clone on t3 for your spawn

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knecimes13 said:

Thanks for the explanation. I think I’m hung up on the definition of a clone. If a tissue sample is genetically identical to the parent, isn't it already a 'single individual' by definition?


I understand that transfers are necessary to clean up contaminants (bacteria/mold) that might have hitched a ride on the tissue. But beyond cleaning, why keep transferring to T3? Are we just selecting for the fastest-growing sectors of the same genotype?

If the mycelium is already a single clone, does 'isolating to T3' imply that different parts of the same clone can express different growth rates or morphologies (like density or speed)? Essentially, is the goal of T3 to isolate the most vigorous sectors of the same genetic code, or am I fundamentally misunderstanding what 'clone' means in this context?

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