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LadyandtheTiger
Stranger
Registered: 06/02/04
Posts: 5
Last seen: 1 year, 5 months
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To dunk or not to dunk...
#3129468 - 09/13/04 12:37 PM (20 years, 4 months ago) |
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I am just coming into the second flush of my first grow. I had to make my own spore syringes, and while I followed a combination of teks everything seems to have worked great.
I used the mushmush.nl tek primarily, but included both the top and bottom layer of vermiculite and a vermiculite core using round polyprop takeway containers.
I also incorperated the cellotape covers, which seal the innoculation holes. I am lucky to live in a country where sterile syringes are easily availible in pharmacy's, and also found the "Basic Dressing Pack" which is a cheap ($1-$3) wound care product availible at most drugstores, surgical sterile equip, complete with sterile field to work on.
BRF's were incubated inside the fruiting chamber, but were placed inside a cardboard box which sat on a plant heating pad. It took a nearly a week for me to get the setup to a stable 70 deg in the chamber and 77deg inside the box. But 4 days after the correct temp was achieved first signs of growth appeared.
3 weeks later I turned out the first 5 cakes (a few days early in hindsight, as no pins were visible). 2 cakes we removed some of the bottom (now the top of the birthed cake) layer of vermiculite, and 2 we left the layer. The 5th cake was crumbled and cased using vermiculite as a bottom layer and a 50/50 mix of peat moss and vermiculite as top layer. Neither of which were sterilzed, and it was only covered with foil for two days.
The remaining cakes have been turned out over the subsequent 2 weeks. Suprisingly enough the 2 smallest containers I used colonised the slowest!
Now here's my question...
My cakes were never dunked. They seem to like the vermiculite layers left intact, and I have had very nice growth through this quite tight layer. I got a first flush of about 20-25 med size shrooms per cake, and have cleaned up all the aborts and gnarlies. The second flush seems to be nicely coming in and looks like I'll get 10-15 shrooms per cake. I'm planning to crumble and case the cakes once they start to look tired (hence the practice casing).
I mist them once a day with 1-30 hydrogen peroxide and water, and while the humidity of my unit holds at about 94% The air exchange is quite good as the CO2 seems to seep out the bottom of the Chamber.
The casing is doing ok (see photo) but definitely a bit of overlay and about 35 good looking pins.
Because although the cakes pinned fine with the 7deg drop after removal from the incubator, I finally had to put the casing in the fridge for a few hours, which has done the trick.
Doh so back to the question, should I dunk my cakes? has anyone tried misting them with a bit of african violet plant food? I could also inject into the core to rehydrate, but if they are okay I don't want to water log them.
I have had a little bit of bluing on the cakes after harvest, but that has tended to recolonize and return to white quite quickly.
So not bad for a first timer...
lol I was going to put some pictures here but the battery is dead.
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Magash
Da Bud Guru


Registered: 07/25/02
Posts: 5,876
Loc: Near Hilo
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I like to dunk and shock at the same time Then I take the cake and roll it in dry verm (sticks better). Then I spray the verm until moist without washig it off the cake. seems to work
There not plants don't use plant food.
-------------------- All creatures tremble when faced with violence. All creatures fear death, all love life. If we can only see ourselves in others, then how could we possibly hurt another creature?
Join us at the Growery!
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LadyandtheTiger
Stranger
Registered: 06/02/04
Posts: 5
Last seen: 1 year, 5 months
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Re: To dunk or not to dunk... [Re: Magash]
#3134279 - 09/14/04 12:35 PM (20 years, 4 months ago) |
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Thanks for the reply... I think I might case after the next flush The plant food thing was a suggestion from my local hydroponic's guy, he said they used it growing edibles commercially.
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