Muffa said:

Hello, in some recipes for the casing I see one of the ingredients is pickling lime, which is calcium hydroxide (Ca(OH)₂), or calcium carbonate (CaCO₃).
From what I understand those are used to increase the pH of the casing to a pH of around 7.5/8.

I have found some "quicklime" which is calcium oxide (CaO) which says it's soluble in water 12%.

By doing a quick research I understood that when combined with water it becomes calcium hydroxide, have any of you ever used it?

Also do you adjust the pH of the substrate too?

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chewinggum said:

I recently got a sample of these free from a provider. I came here asking the basics first:

1) Does the substrate have to contain manure?
2) If yes, how much?
3) Is everything else the same in terms of cultivation (inoculation, transfer to monotub, etc)?

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Noah Keeper said:

Let’s say manure is the primary substrate, but many people are experimenting with other mixes as well, including pure hay. A lot of these experiments have shown promising results. This species is picky and requires different fruiting conditions compared to many others. Check the earlier discussion — there was a conversation about what type of fruiting chamber works well for them.
Also, check the link shared earlier; there is a ton of information there.

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PuffM4gicDr4gon said:

Have used liquid inoculant instead of liquid culture and it worked well. It all depends on how clean your original sample was.

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