casing with "coco fiber" or "coco fiber+"? - Mushroom Cultivation

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rebelmoon
enthusiast

Registered: 04/04/00
Posts: 204

casing with "coco fiber" or "coco fiber+"?

#600105 - 04/05/02 10:06 PM (22 years, 5 months ago)

i was wondering if anyone has done any comparison b/t straight coco fiber casings and 1) mixed casings composed of coco fiber and vermiculite 2) casings of straight coco fiber and/or mixed that have the ph buffered by lime/oyster shells etc.

i know that mycofile has done a 75/25 coco/verm+lime casing ... check your pm myco :smile:

thanks.

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"habit is the ballast that chains the dog to its vomit" - s beckett

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rebelmoon
enthusiast

Registered: 04/04/00
Posts: 204

Re: casing with "coco fiber" or "coco fiber+"?

[Re: rebelmoon]
#603259 - 04/09/02 11:25 AM (22 years, 5 months ago)

mycofile says to me:

rebelmoon, no really scientific testing, as in side by side with controls and what not. I did use straight coir at first, and thought it was by far the best casing I'd ever seen. Colonization times were much faster than anything I'd used previously. Mycelium was much more rhizomorphic and generally aggressive in the coir. Ease of preparation was nice, even though I started adjusting pH after a couple of times. The only thing was that coir dries out faster than other casing formulas. Hence the addition of up to 25% by dry volume of verm. OK, I'm lying, who really measures that stuff exactly? Just throw some verm in there to hold more moisture.

You don't need to adjust pH but coir is acidic, and most contams don't like basic casings, so might as well throw in a little lime. If you feel like testing casing pH, then go ahead, I did on occassion. By far most of the time I would just hydrate the coir while baking some verm, mix the two, add a couple dashes of lime. Moisture content is more important than pH, again you want the standard field capacity. Add water if you're too dry, add some verm if you are too wet. (let it sit for a few to allow the verm to soak up some water before retesting).

So, I think it obvious by looking at a coir/verm casing that you get all the benefits of a coir casing, and some more water retention. pH adjustment will always be beneficial in the sense that you should always strive for perfection in this hobby, but of far greater practical import is moisture content.