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maharashii
Stranger
Registered: 03/12/06
Posts: 18
Last seen: 16 years, 6 months
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Poor Man's Pod failing - can I recover?
#5649356 - 05/19/06 08:20 AM (17 years, 8 months ago) |
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Hypothetically speaking, if I dreamt all this up, how would I recover?
B & Ecuador cakes fully colonized. Transferred to poor man's pod made of opaque material.
Cakes not pinning, and suspect humidity in the pod is too low. One cake showing some bluing. other cake still all white.
Pod is a pretty large rubbermade container (52 quart?) filled with hydrostone and water, with lots of air (oversized hydroponic air pump through several bubble wands). pod has two small (3/16") vent holes near the top.
Can I save these cakes? What do I need? Light to pin? How can I increase humidity?
I've dreamt of being very successful in the past using smaller containers with perlite and misting / ventilating manually. This set-up is meant to be automated since I am out of town often.
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ShroomFoot
Makerofmusic and dreamerofdreams


Registered: 01/31/06
Posts: 266
Loc: Den Inventing Room
Last seen: 1 year, 11 months
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Re: Poor Man's Pod failing - can I recover? [Re: maharashii]
#5649386 - 05/19/06 08:32 AM (17 years, 8 months ago) |
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your over sized pump might be the problem. They will pinn trust me unless their..... your would have to have screwed up bigtime. Yes light is nessasary to innesceate fruiting. 3 things tell a cake to fruit tempiture change, fresh air, light.
-------------------- Willy Wonka: The strawberries taste like strawberries!, and the snozzberries taste like snozzberries! Veruca Salt: Snozzberries? Who ever heard of a snozzberry? Willy Wonka: *We* are the music makers... and *we* are the dreamers of dreams
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RogerRabbit
Bans for Pleasure


Registered: 03/26/03
Posts: 42,214
Loc: Seattle
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Re: Poor Man's Pod failing - can I recover? [Re: maharashii]
#5649392 - 05/19/06 08:34 AM (17 years, 8 months ago) |
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If the cake is blue, it is dry. Give that one a dunk and return to your fruiting chamber. Massive air exchange is one of the major pinning triggers, but humidity must stay high. Perhaps you can throttle down the air pumps a bit. Invest in a quality mechanical hygrometer. It will pay for itself many times over the years. RR
-------------------- Download Let's Grow Mushrooms semper in excretia sumus solim profundum variat "I've never had a failed experiment. I've only discovered 10,000 methods which do not work." Thomas Edison
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maharashii
Stranger
Registered: 03/12/06
Posts: 18
Last seen: 16 years, 6 months
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Re: Poor Man's Pod failing - can I recover? [Re: maharashii]
#5649417 - 05/19/06 08:44 AM (17 years, 8 months ago) |
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Need to get the humidity up ... i covered the vent holes but they were tiny. The pump doesn't have the ability to throttle down. I suspect air is escaping all around the lid.
I see two options: 1) Use a smaller / better sealing container 2) Go to a much smaller pump
Anything else I can do? How about triggering the pinning? I think a mistake was made in birthing them before pins were ready.
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ShroomFoot
Makerofmusic and dreamerofdreams


Registered: 01/31/06
Posts: 266
Loc: Den Inventing Room
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Re: Poor Man's Pod failing - can I recover? [Re: maharashii]
#5649420 - 05/19/06 08:48 AM (17 years, 8 months ago) |
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whats the RH at??
-------------------- Willy Wonka: The strawberries taste like strawberries!, and the snozzberries taste like snozzberries! Veruca Salt: Snozzberries? Who ever heard of a snozzberry? Willy Wonka: *We* are the music makers... and *we* are the dreamers of dreams
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maharashii
Stranger
Registered: 03/12/06
Posts: 18
Last seen: 16 years, 6 months
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Re: Poor Man's Pod failing - can I recover? [Re: ShroomFoot]
#5649425 - 05/19/06 08:50 AM (17 years, 8 months ago) |
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I don't have the tools to measure, but on visual inspection it seems dry. 2 of the 4 walls of the pod have some dampness on them but other sections are dry.
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ShroomFoot
Makerofmusic and dreamerofdreams


Registered: 01/31/06
Posts: 266
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Last seen: 1 year, 11 months
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Re: Poor Man's Pod failing - can I recover? [Re: maharashii]
#5649427 - 05/19/06 08:54 AM (17 years, 8 months ago) |
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try perlite wiht a toataly sealed container fanning 3-4 times a day i sopose 2 times a day would be the bare minimum i would go. search for a pmp set up poor mans pod.

-------------------- Willy Wonka: The strawberries taste like strawberries!, and the snozzberries taste like snozzberries! Veruca Salt: Snozzberries? Who ever heard of a snozzberry? Willy Wonka: *We* are the music makers... and *we* are the dreamers of dreams
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maharashii
Stranger
Registered: 03/12/06
Posts: 18
Last seen: 16 years, 6 months
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Re: Poor Man's Pod failing - can I recover? [Re: ShroomFoot]
#5649492 - 05/19/06 09:23 AM (17 years, 8 months ago) |
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I have dreamt of the sealed perlite setup in the past, and it was good, however I am now dreaming of an automated setup as I travel every week for work.
My current setup is a poor man's pod, just with very low humidity.
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creamcorn
mad scientist


Registered: 03/13/06
Posts: 2,962
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Re: Poor Man's Pod failing - can I recover? [Re: ShroomFoot]
#5649497 - 05/19/06 09:25 AM (17 years, 8 months ago) |
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Quote:
maharashii said: I don't have the tools to measure, but on visual inspection it seems dry. 2 of the 4 walls of the pod have some dampness on them but other sections are dry.
You can't visually inspect humidity. Condensation on the walls isn't humidity, its a temperature difference and all it tells you is the inside of your FC is slightly warmer than the outside. That brings up another point though, remember that RH is "relative" - air has different humidity holding capacities at different temperatures. So you can increase RH a few percent by lowering the temp a few degrees. That may or may not be feasible depending on your setup, but its just a thought.
You do certainly need some light to initiate the pins. But it doesn't take much, theoretically a few minutes a day while you're checking on them is enough. More would be better though, as it not only helps pinning but keeps the mushrooms growing upwards.
You don't want your container to be completely sealed either. Its not going to do much for the humidity, but will totally defeat the purpose of your air pump. If its totally airtight you'll end up with back pressure, the pump won't be accomplishing anything, and you'll make things worse in the long run. You can surely throttle down the pump with some creativity. I can think of sticking a little bit of polyfill into the tubing to create turbulence for example. Or using one of those dimmer switch outlet adapter things designed for a table lamp. (Something like this )
Go with RR's advice of dunking the blued cake. In fact, dunk all of them if you didn't before putting them in there. A lack of moisture within the cakes will really delay things, if not keep it from pinning all together.
Otherwise, hang in there. You didn't mention how long the cakes were even in the FC. It can take up to two or even three weeks sometimes (although its usually more like 7-10 days).
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RogerRabbit
Bans for Pleasure


Registered: 03/26/03
Posts: 42,214
Loc: Seattle
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Re: Poor Man's Pod failing - can I recover? [Re: creamcorn]
#5649514 - 05/19/06 09:33 AM (17 years, 8 months ago) |
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You can throttle down the air pump by squeezing the tubing leading to your airstones. Adjustable vise-grips work very well. RR
-------------------- Download Let's Grow Mushrooms semper in excretia sumus solim profundum variat "I've never had a failed experiment. I've only discovered 10,000 methods which do not work." Thomas Edison
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maharashii
Stranger
Registered: 03/12/06
Posts: 18
Last seen: 16 years, 6 months
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Re: Poor Man's Pod failing - can I recover? [Re: creamcorn]
#5649519 - 05/19/06 09:35 AM (17 years, 8 months ago) |
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It's been 2 weeks in the fc. Good point on the visual inspection. I suspect that this gigantic hydroponics pump is exchanging the air way too fast, flushing humidity out the top and vent holes. Why else would the cakes be bluing and drying out? Will dunk 24 hours and put them back in.
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maharashii
Stranger
Registered: 03/12/06
Posts: 18
Last seen: 16 years, 6 months
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Re: Poor Man's Pod failing - can I recover? [Re: maharashii]
#5649583 - 05/19/06 10:12 AM (17 years, 8 months ago) |
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also - should note the air pump is 18w / .038 cubic meters/minute
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creamcorn
mad scientist


Registered: 03/13/06
Posts: 2,962
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Re: Poor Man's Pod failing - can I recover? [Re: maharashii]
#5649598 - 05/19/06 10:17 AM (17 years, 8 months ago) |
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cakes will blue from dryness even if you've got 100% RH... think about how much water you put in there when you started, and how much the mycelium must have used colonizing. no amount of humidity alone can rehydrate a cake, that's why dunking should almost be considered mandatory!
if its been two weeks already i predict you'll see some action very soon after a dunk, they're probably on the verge right now but begging for some moisture.
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Ducktoe69x
Poop pants

Registered: 04/24/06
Posts: 24
Last seen: 17 years, 5 months
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Re: Poor Man's Pod failing - can I recover? [Re: creamcorn]
#5668547 - 05/24/06 12:19 PM (17 years, 8 months ago) |
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Also, a lot of department chains have adjustable valves for only like $1 each....it'd be easier and more efficient to try some of those!
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maharashii
Stranger
Registered: 03/12/06
Posts: 18
Last seen: 16 years, 6 months
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Re: Poor Man's Pod failing - can I recover? [Re: Ducktoe69x]
#5677697 - 05/26/06 04:55 PM (17 years, 8 months ago) |
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The dunk was a great tip. I had a vision of one cake with half a dozen or so fruiting bodies, 3-4" long.
The other cake wasn't doing much.
I fear they still aren't getting enough water - they should be fruiting like mad by now.
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