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Mushrooms, Mycology and Psychedelics > Mushroom Cultivation
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Some noob questions
    #3050944 -

I just started my first grow a few weeks ago. I followed the PF-Tek exactly. I pressure cooked my jars for 1.5 hours at 15 psi, and innoculated 9 jars with B+, koh sumoi, and ecuador. After 2 weeks The first batch had 2 jars with a decent amount of mycenium growth. I took the other cakes that showed nothing and started another batch, and did the same thing. This time I was sure to make sure no water could get in during PCing, so all of the jars kept the specified water amount except one. Today which is 3 and a half weeks from my first batch, and a little over a week for my second batch I have 4 cakes going total. All the jars started at only 1 spot.. even though I did 4 innoculations for each. I got the stuff for a tub in tub incubator today and have the water sitting at 88 degrees. I figure a little heat is lost through the tubs so the jars are probaly right around the 85 range. Is that right? Now for some questions. I didnt realize it until today, but the vermiculite I got is pretty small. I didnt think of it as causing a problem, but today I was reading on here that smaller grade vermiculite can be bad for the cakes. Should I switch to something a bit bigger? Also a few of my jars have dark spots on them. They have been there for a while, and havent changed size or color at all. Im not sure if it is contaminated, or if the bottom of the cake is jsut a little wetter. I may be paranoid since mycenium has started to grow over the spots on a few cakes. Is it normal for cakes to be a bit darker in spots? I know I jsut need to be patient, but Im hoping that the incubator will help get things going faster. I can probaly use my roomates digital camera if someone thinks I should take some pictures.

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Re: Some noob questions [Re: MittsWaQ]
    #3051022 -

pics will defintly help. other than the dark spots everything sounds good. it could maybe just be damp spots that have yet to colinize. i wouldnt worry about it too much yet. good luck with your grow.


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Re: Some noob questions [Re: MittsWaQ]
    #3051511 -

I got the stuff for a tub in tub incubator today and have the water sitting at 88 degrees. I figure a little heat is lost through the tubs so the jars are probaly right around the 85 range.


No, the jars will actually be a bit hotter than the water, which is why you should keep the water in the tub between 80 and 84 degrees.

As for the vermiculite, what brand is it? Does it say the grade on it? I noticed most pics for the TEKs are of really coarse verm, but medium verm did fine for me, and from what I know others. Supposedly there is coarse, medium, and fine verm, but I could only ever find (in a big city mind you) simple vermiculite, no grade specified. I later concluded it was just medium. My point is dont go out on a limb and think its fine or whatever if you havent even seen medium or coarse.

You say you got the stuff for the incubator today, 3 and a half weeks from when you inoculated. It shouldnt be any suprise then that they arent colonizing yet. The expectations of growth in say, 4 days, is estimating that you immediately put it into an incubator.

As for the dark spots, you need to include pics. You cant really give an honest opinion without visual confirmation.

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Re: Some noob questions [Re: MittsWaQ]
    #3051597 -

They should've started by now... even at room temp. Can the jars breathe, or is there tape over the holes?


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Fiddlesticks.


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Re: Some noob questions [Re: MittsWaQ]
    #3051709 -

What danma is saying is true, but I will tell you why. As the mycelium grows and increases the fungus itself generates heat as a byproduct of whatever metabolic process it goes through to consume the substrate. So your jars are going to be a few degrees warmer. That won't be the case at the moment of germination though.

Course grade vermiculite means that your substrate will probably be less airy, which means less oxygen for the mushrooms and probably a tighter packed substrate so it will take a while longer to colonize, that is the main thing about your grade of vermiculite.

If you also have tape on your holes then your jars are probably in need of having the tape removed as Cervantes pointed out.

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Re: Some noob questions [Re: utopianglory]
    #3053150 -

Thanks for the quick replies everyone. Before I looked on here I already turned the temp down a bit just to be safe. There is no tape over the holes. I took it off a few days after innoculating the jars. Since this is my first grow it was somewhat more for learning than anything. Thats why I waited to get the incubator. At first I figured I could get away without it, but I soon realized I couldnt. As far as the darker coloered spots Ill try and use my buddies digital camera when he gets back from class.

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Re: Some noob questions [Re: MittsWaQ]
    #3053205 -

i have never used an incubator, ever, and my jars colonize just fine. i just put them back in the box they came in and put them in a dark spot like my closet. sometimes when your incubate jars at 84-86 degrees you don't realize that the core temp inside the cakes could rise very rapidly and possibly even kill your mycelium. next time you make cakes use coarse verm. you want a really good recipe for your cakes? i ususally average about 10-13grams of dry shrooms per cake with the mix i use.


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let it be know, there is a fountain that was not made by the hands of men.

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Re: Some noob questions [Re: fungusflip]
    #3053531 -

fungusflip said:
i have never used an incubator, ever, and my jars colonize just fine. i just put them back in the box they came in and put them in a dark spot like my closet. sometimes when your incubate jars at 84-86 degrees you don't realize that the core temp inside the cakes could rise very rapidly and possibly even kill your mycelium. next time you make cakes use coarse verm. you want a really good recipe for your cakes? i ususally average about 10-13grams of dry shrooms per cake with the mix i use.

Thats was good for a laugh! :lol: :lol: :lol: sorry :frown: i'm bad, Core temp is 2 degrees higher than ambient air temp, when incubators are filled to capacity then core temps will go higher so adjust accordingly, I've had full incubators plenty of times and never even bothered to adjust the heat source bc the ambient temp never got out of the acceptable range. I agree ya don't need an incubator if you have some place that the temp stays in the mid 80's 24/7 bc thats what it takes for optimum growth (speed) :wink: GL

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