Dear NewbieShroomer,
Much respect for your efforts. I will do my very best to maintain respect throughout this critique, and I warn you now that this will be somewhat critical. (But after all, you invited people for their feedback--not necessarily only their "positive" feedback. I'll try to stay away from the character assasination and name calling stuff, however.)
First of all, when writing anything, one needs to consider one's audience. While some may believe that an "informal" or even "irreverent" writing style would be easier for a "newbie" to connect with, I tend to disagree. However, as I'm not a newbie, I can only try to remember where I was at 7 years ago when I first encountered the PF TEK and got into mycology in a big way.
You've responded to some that you wanted to liven things up a bit--that "other teks are boring". I don't know about the other "newbies" out there, but when I was one, I was looking for well organized, concisely written info that was based on real-life experience.
Frankly, your writing style (for me, and perhaps others) is a total turn off. You seem like you're more interested in being thought of as "cute" or "clever" than giving good info that will help a newbie. Obviously, there are some out there who like this approach--but for me it just doesn't work.
And while some out there have written "Why fuck with this guy? He's not hurting anyone. If he wants to go around peddling some "TEK" that is possibly not a TEK, why get in his face and call him names?" On some level I can get with this sentiment. We live in a moderately free society and you are certainly free to write a so-called "Materials Tek" and have people praise AND/OR criticize you for doing so.
However, the fact that you've yet to grow mushrooms for real raises serious doubts about whether what you've written is coming from a strong place of knowledge based on personal experience. Sure, one can gather info and summarize it...even re-package in a way that you think is more "interesting". Basically, I really couldn't see much value of your tek for anyone, except as fodder for debate and unfortunately, ad hominem attacks.
You've argued that this is a "Materials Tek" and not a cultivation tek, and therefore the fact that you've yet to produce a single fruitbody for all those jars you've got going really doesn't matter.
I would argue that it does matter--and here's why: different cultivation techniques require different materials. It makes no sense to put all sorts of money into a lot of your "must have" items because they are not necessary in many shroom-growing setups. Basically, it is my contention that the required materials for any given approach should be listed in Tek's devoted to these approaches.
You could write a "Tek" that would help people get the basics, especially for those living out in the sticks where some of the supplies may be hard to find--but then you would want to include specific companies who sold by mail order and the like...and by golly, this info is already on The Shroomery! But you could possibly produce a better version.
Instead, while you claim to confine yourself to "materials" you actually end up promoting certain methods over others in terms of cultivation and sterilization techniques, and this is where your lack of experience, combined with a know-it-all writing style, fucks your credibility up big time.
Perhaps if you re-organized this work and removed ALL the cutsie "NewbieShroomer got da BOMB info for ya baby!" stuff, as has been suggested by some, maybe it could be of some use. But as it exists today it's more of an ego-fulfilling vanity project than anything else--and you're certainly getting a lot of attention for it.
To give you some sense of why I think this "tek" has bad info in it, I will go through and note a few items (certainly not all) that are problematic for me. I realize that some of this will be highly opinionated and some other experienced growers out there may disagree with me.
My first objection is to the idea that one should buy everything "up front" so that one has it "just in case". As the process from preparing a chosen substrate to harvest can be a month or more, I think it makes more sense for the newbie to work in "stages". For example, while the mycelium (be it in jars, oven bags, spawn bags, casserole dishes, whatever) is going through its colonization period, the newbie can be researching things like humidification, casing, etc. And as there will be a few weeks in which to do that, one can take advantage of moments of opportunity (like when your neighbor is tossing their fish tank or whatever) and get stuff for free. Plus, even when purchasing items, for people on a budget spreading their outlay of cash across several weeks will be easier to do.
The next thing I have a problem with is the bombastic statement that one's spore source is the most important consideration when entering mycology. It is certainly AN important choice, but is it really "easily the most important" one? Without an explicit recommendation of a particular vendor and a specific strain, most "newbies" will be ill-equipped to make this decision.
And investing in multiple syringes from multiple vendors is NOT essential. I wouldn't even recommend it. Why spend $60 when you don't have to? I have personally used PF for years with no complaints. I put a $20 in the mail and within a week and a half I get two spore syringes in the mail. And with a single syringe and mycelial culture techniques (where one first grows out mycelium on agar, grain, honey-water, etc. and then uses a liquid suspension of mycelial cells to do the actual substrate innoculation) one can grow a lot of shrooms over an extended period of time without having to buy new syringes. Not everyone's going to want to do this--it requires more sterile technique than using spore syringes directly, but its the way I do it.
Oh yeah, I don't know where you're from, but for me "60 bills" is $6,000 and not $60, and even the latter is too much to spend on spores for a newbie. This is one example of many instances of linguistic imprecision that shouldn't be tolerated in any "tek" for newbies.
Your "things to remember about spores" recommendations are almost useless. First all, you should have used the word "spore print" for most of the references and there basic principles of sterility would cover all those concerns. And since when has there been a "popular belief" that one can snort spores to get high? I assume you're been "funny" there--but it turns out that you are just being disinformative when you make jokes like that.
And your little anecdote about a jar sucking up almost an entire syringe only advertises your inexperience...it is almost as if you are bragging about it. Later in the tek you make a statement about it not mattering if canning jar lids are one way versus another. Well...if the seal is against the glass, you are more likely to get the vacuum you described than if the lid is inverted. So the orientation of the lid DOES matter.
Your rationale for going out the gate LARGE--by doing 24 jars instead of 4 or 8, because then even with "massive contams" you will still have some good jars, is highly suspect. No one should get so cavalier about sterility to operate on such an assumption. If you are getting "massive" contams, no matter what the approach, you are wasting a lot of time and energy unnecessarily. I might support the "mass quantities" approach if one can support it with money, space, and time resources--simply because it's fun to have a rich bounty with which one can be super generous with friends.
(Oh yeah...this reminds me of something else that turned me off about your "tek". In intro you discuss doing huge quantities and >dealing< as a possible goal of those using your "tek". First of all, shrooms do not have the high profit margin as some other drugs do, so one has to produce a shitload in order to make any money at it. And such bulk producing techniques are well beyond reach of the average "newbie". Secondly, there are some who view mushrooms as too sacred to become a commercial product. I don't quite agree with this--after all, where are people who don't yet know how to grow shrooms but who want to commune with them without accidentally dosing on an amanita they found in the woods by mistake...going to get their shrooms, if not from someone else? I would just suggest that coupling shroom growing with drug dealing is not going to increase your supporter base.)
Scalpels are cool, but an exacto knife, a small one, works fine. I used exacto knives for years--my main complaint with them is that the blades will corrode with repeated sterilization--but exacto blades are cheap.
Tongs? Never used them. I could see where they might be useful, particularly with "boiling pot of water" sterilization, but I wouldn't consider them essential. I personally use a pressure cooker (PC) and I always let what's inside cool to room temperature before opening. When I transfer things to my glove box (not needed but really handy and HIGHLY RECOMMENDED) I use gloved hands sprayed with bleach...but I've often done the transfer bare-handed without spraying without getting any contams. No tongs required.
Aluminum foil (not tin) is certainly a useful item for many aspects of shroom cultivation. But if you are in the microwave sterilization camp, you may not need it at all...ever. But yes, for most folks this will be a "must have".
Alcohol? Sure, you can use it, but again, it's not essential, unless you're using an alcohol lamp, or are using "open air" techniques and want something to sterilize one's one skin (bleach is too harsh). I never have had much use for alcohol; for flame sterilization I've gotten buy using a butane lighter.
Hydrogen peroxide is become more and more useful in shroom production. However, why would you waste any in a PC when the heat of the process is far MORE effective in killing potential contams than it is? That's like using the pill to avoid pregnancy, and then "pulling out" just to be even more safe. Maybe you have research that supports this, but I see it as more "bad information" that will ultimately confuse a newbie rather than help her.
Alcohol wipes? I never use them--so why would I need a big box of them? In my case even a small box would "last forever" because they are not of much use to me. I think most newbies would get by without these as well.
Lysol. Useful, but again, not necessary. Most of what can be accomplished with very expensive lysol can be done with much more affordable chlorine bleach, diluted with water and placed in a spray bottle. I like to use lysol in places where bleach would cause damage, like if I'm doing something open air or using an oven for a laminar flow hood...spraying bleach around the kitchen migh mess up the finish on cabinets and the like.
The vermiculite part is generally OK in your "tek", although some people are probably better off measuring their water in a formula rather than "eyeballing" it as you suggest. I think with experience the "by feel" approach would be OK.
I don't think telling people at the store that you're growing magic mushrooms is a particularly good "tip".
Paper towels? Well...if your "newbie" audience is so slow on the uptake that they cannot come up with the fact that paper towels are useful for clean-up on their own, then maybe you've got a real audience after all. The word "sterile" is inappropriate, however...especially when you've gone to such pains as to reprint the dictionary definition of it at the beginning of your "tek".
You mention bleach, but you don't really mention its greatest utility--that when mixed with water and placed in a sprayer it makes an excellent sterilization solution, particularly for inside a glove box. And again, if you're going to be sterilizing jars in a PC, why the fuck would you need to chemically sterilize them before hand? Makes no sense (to me). Sounds more like wasted time and wasted effort.
Latex gloves are useful, but the ones you are talking about that are only $3 for a box of a hundred are explicitly NOT sterile (the box usually mentions this). But as you've suggested spraying them with lysol, this should pose no problem. But you've misused the word "sterile" yet again--and if the conditions of sterility are so important (which they are), then it behooves you to use the word more accurately. Believe it or not, I've gotten by using dishwashing gloves! They can be sterilized in the microwave, if chemical sterilization isn't enough. (I don't know if they'd survive a PC; I've never tried that.)
Your tips about tape, pens, paper, etc. are OK. But again, nothing people wouldn't think of on their own. I use duct tape for almost every instance where tape is needed--but as I work in a glove box I don't put holes in jar lids and therefore don't need to use tape at all.
About plastic bags and their use in keeping things less obvious for "the MAN" when he comes "swooping" down on one's growing operation. I think your later advice of sticking all kinds of cultivation teks on one's refrigerator will get raise suspicions first, well before people start opening drawers and cabinets looking for "contraband". But again, this is another case where you might be trying to be "funny" and it's just creating more confusion, hmm?
I love the listerine idea! I think it's ridiculous, but it's sure funny! Just ask your dentist how long your mouth is germ free after gargling with the stuff. I think you'd be far better off making a glove box, or wearing a face mask...or even just breathing with your head turned to the side when doing open air work....although you might like the taste of listerine, in which case, be my guest!
And your last piece of advice might actually be better positioned at the beginning. You write "Finally, the last thing we are probably going to need is the tek you will use to
get everything going". In fact, once you have the desired cultivation tek, you don't need NewbieShroomer's "materials tek" because TEKS usually include the materials needed that are specific to them. I don't see that this "materials tek" adds any significant info.
And as I mentioned, whether from attempts to be funny or a simple deficit of knowledge and experience, there is great potential for a newbie to become confused.
I would suggest, along with some others, that newbies are far better off following the MMGG or PF TEK fairly closely for their first couple runs.
I think NewbieShroomer's heart is in the "right place" for the most part. I don't think he's trying to mislead people. But I do think that being recognized as someone "cool" that others will stroke and look up to is as much a motivation as giving what he feels is "essential" info, and I think his efforts to cater to this audience are precisely where this "tek" fails miserably. He has little experience, less humility, and his "jokes" more often than not can be mistaken as part of his "important info" by the newbie shroom grower.
I think NewbieShroomer could make something useful from this tek by tightening up the language a bit, removing all the non-shroom growing references (like peroxide for cleaning ones ears) and stupid jokes, and then giving more specific info for locating ESSENTIAL items that might be hard for some to find. Aluminum foil is everywhere...canning jars and vermiculite are not. And instead of increasing one's syringe supply by buying spore syringes, why not just buy empty syringes? You can get them easily by mail if you're not comfortable going through a local medical supply place, or if your state has restrictive "drug paraphernalia" laws.
I realize this thread is just about dead, and also that none of you out there know me, and that I may have to earn your respect with subsequent postings. But I do speak from experience, and I've tried to be civil in my criticism of NewbieShroomer's tek without casting aspersions on his parentage or anything of the kind. I will admit that his writing style is really grating and my reaction to it has probably inspired language of my own that is more strident than would best serve the points I've been striving to make.
So I will close by admitting that I'm a flawed human being with my own "baggage" and biases. I know I have probably pissed a few people off in the process, but please remember that such was not my intention.
What we discuss here is so sacred, so potentially transformative of the planet (I said >potentially<) that I have to give great respect to each and every one of you out there who is trying to manifest this beautiful and powerful consciousness.
One Love!
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