Lithop said:

I thrive among jank & compromise.

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Quote:

I confess I do own an infrared thermometer

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bought one, don't use it

Tri said:

Oh also I’m about to go IN on all the transfers and whatnot I’ve been putting off for days and days

Wish me luck folks, also keep an eye out in the next few days I’m doing a swaaaab giveaway it’ll be fuuuUUUUUuuun

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Good Luck



Im in the same boat, gonna save all the contammd plates I have

GenesisCorrupted said:

It didn't take me long it was mostly just placement. The first one I thought had even better placement than the second one but I didn't wanna move it to put the second one in. The first one is underneath a cherry laurel tree which provides a lot of shade without losing very many leaves. It gives a lot of cover for the backend.
The second pond I wanted nearby the first pond for just every reason. With both of them it was really just digging a hole that's all the real prep work it really took. I already knew what I wanted.
I still have room and could get really crazy with it and try and have some sort of double bubble waterfall set up at some point. But I'm quite satisfied with the way it is. At least for now.

Had I known then what I do now things would be a little different but not very. I would've just had less problems.

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Belintaf said:

I confess I'm going through a rather weird moment in the context of growing.

Some of you already know I came back to this against all odds, during a tough time financially and right in the middle of a hellish summer. So, now that the heatwaves are gone, I'm pulling through the financial slump, and life stops feeling like such a total bitch.

And naturally — the question pops up again — should I invest in some proper equipment now?

A part of me (the common sense side) tells me to do it — however, the other side tells me to force myself to keep going with minimal means — because true solutions arise out of necessity.

I already made up my mind with the SAB — despite having a huge box, I stuck with the candle triangle method. Not a single agar plate got contaminated with mold. The LIs prepared in jars with broken glass turned out great. Out of nearly 100 cakes, only two ended up catching Trich on their third and fourth flushes.

The only issue that started showing up after ~40 cakes — and growing exponentially — is bacterial contamination during colonization. Always the exact same bacterium. Nothing major, the mycelium covers it up and keeps pumping out its 3 flushes without a hitch — as if it weren't even there. I'm not sure if it's Bacillus or Pseudomonas.

And of course — now is the time to say — fuck it — and buy a pressure cooker, but... I get the feeling that if I do, I'll never really figure out how to deal with this weird bacterial buildup. And coming off first 40+ cakes with a 100% success rate — it pisses me off big time.

I read studies on Bacillus behavior on glass surfaces and a whole load of other shit — and I think the glass jars are to blame, because whenever contamination shows up, it's stuck right against the glass. When breaking apart the substrate — the center is in great shape.

Now I'll try soaking the jars in a 10% bleach solution, and if the issue goes away — I'll carry on as before. If not — I'll order a PC and fuck it. But yeah, I'm picking a fight with my own ego here.

On the other hand — if I jump to grain — what am I gonna do with all this? I already have full jars that I feel bad leaving sitting around losing potency. So here I am with this dilemma...

I feel weird, honestly. Weird with myself. Sorry for rambling so much, but I felt the urge to share it.

Have a great day, everyone!

Hugs

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Depends on who you want to be. I know for a fact that you could choose to not invest in a PC and carve out the niche for yourself as the success who doesn't use a PC like CakeWonder.

In fact, that would probably give you the space to figure out this out of the blue contam problem since you would be determined to figure it out due to your countless successes in the past

I would say that we all grow but we also have the ability to grow in the direction that we choose

All it takes is to choose which way you will take in this proverbial fork in the road

You got this Sharkey

langten69 said:

Depends on who you want to be.

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When I grow up, I want to be a cat — like Churp.

fontinalis666 said:

I think maybe you're just experiencing the other side of the coin with using less than ideal methods now. Sure things can line up and the universe can throw you some wins, but that doesn't negate the possibility for things to go wrong with said methods

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Eeeexact! But...

I want to know with pinpoint precision what's failing, fix it, and then maybe I'll get a PC.

Belintaf said:

fontinalis666 said:

I think maybe you're just experiencing the other side of the coin with using less than ideal methods now. Sure things can line up and the universe can throw you some wins, but that doesn't negate the possibility for things to go wrong with said methods

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Eeeexact! But...

I want to know with pinpoint precision what's failing, fix it, and then maybe I'll get a PC.

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bloodssonnew said:

Lwk I'm fighting my back and neck when I'm doing transfers and losing the right causing me to be sloppy with transfers...

Losing battle n kinda infuriating my spines this fucked though eh that life not like medicals gonna do shit about it till I'm bedridden then they can prescribe me shit to kill me with slowly

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Time to rock this setup

bloodssonnew said:

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Turning air into leaves... it's pure magic!