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Rahz
Alive Again


Registered: 11/10/05
Posts: 9,230
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Even more Reishi questions
#5530168 - 04/18/06 04:41 PM (17 years, 9 months ago) |
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My book still hasn't arrived, though Amazon says it's in the mail. This is 3 weeks after ordering 
Anyway, if the book is anything like "The Mushroom Cultivator", I'm still going to be getting the majority of my answers from this board. I've done a "reishi" search, and have 1000 posts to comb through. I'm sure this will answer some of my Qs, but if anyone would like to help, I'd appreciate it.
1- Am I correct: Reishi mycelium will not pin on the sides and bottom of a clear container. The pics I've seen indicate this.
2- In a large tub situation, would it be a good idea to case with PH buffered peat? Does Reishi release acid in the same way cubensis does?
3- Beyond the PH issue, is a casing a good idea, or would plastic with slits (like mycobags) be better?
4- Humidity issues: I understand low CO2 levels induces conk formation. Would there be any drawbacks to providing humidification with a coolmist 24/7? With a coolmist, there's a lot of water dropplets comming in, but I've read that directly misting reishi is not a problem.
5- However, I've learned that although there's a lot of water movement, a 24/7 cool mist will slowly dry out a casing... would this be a problem with mycobags?
I haven't really decided on humidification yet. It's either the cool mist, or a fan/ultrasonic combo set up on timers. Any advice on what works or doesn't work would be appreciated.
6- I'm assuming that dryed wood chips will store as well as dried straw or hpoo, is this correct? I have a large load of oak I'll be chipping over the next couple days and would like to be able to store the lions share, but I don't want the nutes eaten by other fungi.
7- I've read that bran is a common supplement, what does it add to the substrate? Are there other beneficial supplements?
8- All my oak is smallish branches 1-2" thick. This will result in a higher volume of bark material, is this bad, or no big deal? It will be about impossible to debark a bunch of 2" branches.
9- All the grows I've seen that discuss substrate prep are autoclaved bags. I'm wanting to pasturize, any problems with this?
10- That's all I can think of for now, I feel like such a newb again
Rahz
-------------------- rahz comfort pleasure power love truth awareness peace "You’re not looking close enough if you can only see yourself in people who look like you." —Ayishat Akanbi
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falcon


Registered: 04/01/02
Posts: 8,005
Last seen: 13 hours, 33 minutes
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Re: Even more Reishi questions [Re: Rahz]
#5530539 - 04/18/06 06:45 PM (17 years, 9 months ago) |
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Hey Rhaz, I don't know the answer to a lot of your questions, I'll answer a few.
1- Am I correct: Reishi mycelium will not pin on the sides and bottom of a clear container. The pics I've seen indicate this.
It is unlikely that it will pin along the sides or bottom.
2- In a large tub situation, would it be a good idea to case with PH buffered peat? Does Reishi release acid in the same way cubensis does?
3- Beyond the PH issue, is a casing a good idea, or would plastic with slits (like mycobags) be better?
Most of the pictures I have seen of Reishi growing are uncased growing out of bags.
4- Humidity issues: I understand low CO2 levels induces conk formation. Would there be any drawbacks to providing humidification with a coolmist 24/7? With a coolmist, there's a lot of water dropplets comming in, but I've read that directly misting reishi is not a problem.
5- However, I've learned that although there's a lot of water movement, a 24/7 cool mist will slowly dry out a casing... would this be a problem with mycobags?
I haven't really decided on humidification yet. It's either the cool mist, or a fan/ultrasonic combo set up on timers. Any advice on what works or doesn't work would be appreciated.
6- I'm assuming that dryed wood chips will store as well as dried straw or hpoo, is this correct? I have a large load of oak I'll be chipping over the next couple days and would like to be able to store the lions share, but I don't want the nutes eaten by other fungi.
Wood chips dry and keep well. I sun dried some mixed hardwood chips on a covered porch 3 years. I spread them out about an inch deep on a tarp and stirred them around once a day. The chips kept for 2 years.
7- I've read that bran is a common supplement, what does it add to the substrate? Are there other beneficial supplements?
Bran adds protein and carbohydrates. Just about any grain can be added to add carbohydrates and the protein supplements can come from a variety of sources. Gypsum is added to improve the texture of the blocks. Supplements help increase the yeild.
8- All my oak is smallish branches 1-2" thick. This will result in a higher volume of bark material, is this bad, or no big deal? It will be about impossible to debark a bunch of 2" branches.
9- All the grows I've seen that discuss substrate prep are autoclaved bags. I'm wanting to pasturize, any problems with this?
Chips are larger and not as porous as most pasteurized substrates.It may take longer to pasteurize and the protection you receive from the reishi's mycelium natural antibiotic and anti-fungal may not get in all the nooks and crannies as well as it would with something finer.
GnuBobo's five gallon bucket grow on wood shavings is similar to a tub grow.
-falcon
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Rahz
Alive Again


Registered: 11/10/05
Posts: 9,230
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Re: Even more Reishi questions [Re: falcon]
#5530797 - 04/18/06 07:54 PM (17 years, 9 months ago) |
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Awesome, thanks for the reply falcon! That tied up a few Qs. In a way, Reishi may prove to be more fun than cubes. The difficulty of conk formation, and the lack of grow data as compared to cubensis makes it a real challenge.
I'm leaning tward growing in 3 seperate chambers/tubs, with 3 experiments in each. One chamber will be similar to a mono-tub, with polyfil vents near the bottom and top. One chamber will be hooked to a coolmist running 24/7, and one chamber will be a fan/ultrasonic combo. Each chamber will hold identical substrates, one cased, one bagged, and 1 open air. Once I find an overall winner, I'll set up another experiment using various wood/supplement combos. Course, this is an evolving concept at present.
Rahz
-------------------- rahz comfort pleasure power love truth awareness peace "You’re not looking close enough if you can only see yourself in people who look like you." —Ayishat Akanbi
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GnuBobo
Frilly Cuffs Extraordinaire


Registered: 06/17/04
Posts: 43,754
Loc: Charisma
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Re: Even more Reishi questions [Re: Rahz]
#5531500 - 04/18/06 10:16 PM (17 years, 9 months ago) |
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Actually, I've found that my original reishi bags, which stalled when I wasn't giving them optimal warmth, when transferred, have now started pinning out on the sides and I actually had to move a plastic bag enclosure of one block to allow an antler to continue to form. Reishi is a weird species--it seems it just picks a place to pin out and there you go. I have pins (which are stalling/aborting as they are running into the 5-gallon bucket) down the sides of that thing right now. Also, I have this weird new growth in the middle of the surface of the bucket's mycelium surface that I don't know what the hell is going to happen with it.
I really need to take a rogue's gallery digipics of the various incarnations of reishi I have going right now. It's such a weird species. Ugly like a pug.
-------------------- Jerry Garcia. JERRY GARCIA! JERRY GARCIA!!!!
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falcon


Registered: 04/01/02
Posts: 8,005
Last seen: 13 hours, 33 minutes
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Re: Even more Reishi questions [Re: Rahz]
#5531840 - 04/18/06 11:30 PM (17 years, 9 months ago) |
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have fun, and let us know how it goes.
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