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BBC
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cakes and wick systems for better yields
#6348221 - 12/08/06 02:46 PM (17 years, 3 months ago) |
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Ive seen experiments over at mycotopia where cakes have been drilled and filled with water (like a well) and the shrooms seemed to grow prolifically around the area. I was wondering if anyone had experimented with wicking material (there are certain materials used in hydroponics) used as a ground mat for cakes or even as a ground layer for substrates, which the mycelium can wick moisture from for maximum yields?
-------------------- Blooming Buzzing Confusion
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Grogan
Shroomieologist
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Re: cakes and wick systems for better yields [Re: BBC]
#6348253 - 12/08/06 02:58 PM (17 years, 3 months ago) |
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Verm??!
-------------------- "Maybe a cow occasionally ate a shroom, but it certainly wouldn't be such a potent shroom that the cow would be trippin balls. " LOL
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total
Post Office Tyvek Advocator
Registered: 10/03/04
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Re: cakes and wick systems for better yields [Re: Grogan]
#6348267 - 12/08/06 03:04 PM (17 years, 3 months ago) |
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Seems feasible...I saw some pics here the other night where a member had shoved straws into the top of their cakes and filled'em up w/ h2o...pretty lookin cakes...lemme tell ya...
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xeallos
Sore wa himitsudesu!
Registered: 09/13/06
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Re: cakes and wick systems for better yields [Re: total]
#6348292 - 12/08/06 03:10 PM (17 years, 3 months ago) |
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Indeed, look at the "Largest Yield" thread located right on the front page still and you will see these methods described. One member uses a sharpie and then fills the resevoir with dry verm and waters with syringe, another had "straws" inserted and referenced as "jack in the box", which I found hilarious. Looks interesting, for sure.
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BBC
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Re: cakes and wick systems for better yields [Re: Grogan]
#6348298 - 12/08/06 03:12 PM (17 years, 3 months ago) |
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yeah lol, i was thinking of other stuff like that wicking mat material used for hydroponics if anyone had experimented with another moisture absorbing material? i was thinking a sheet of wicking material could be cut to size and laid in a tray and the cakes or substrate could sit on top.
-------------------- Blooming Buzzing Confusion
Edited by kandahar (12/08/06 03:13 PM)
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creamcorn
mad scientist
Registered: 03/13/06
Posts: 2,962
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Re: cakes and wick systems for better yields [Re: BBC]
#6348329 - 12/08/06 03:25 PM (17 years, 3 months ago) |
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as long as you strike a balance, it can work
moisture is obviously an important necessity, but it is also possible to water-log cakes. they become mushy and soggy, sometimes contaminate, other times have difficulty fruiting; you'll see fat stubby mushrooms that seem to grow wider rather than outward...
feel free to put some creativity towards the task, but there is a pretty simple and effective way to go about it within any PF grower's reach, and how i always did my cakes: take a jar lid, both pieces (the ring and lid) and turn it upside down. now you're looking at a little bowl... fill it level with some moist vermiculite, and set the cake on top of it like a pedestal. voila. it won't waterlog the cake, and you can squirt water into the verm with a dropper or a syringe during the cropping cycle to replenish what the cake absorbs..
a few cakes done in that manner... wish i had some pics still handy of more mature ones, but it was common for them to reach 6-7" in length and weigh 15-20 grams wet on the average. you'll also see the edge where the cake sits atop the verm makes for prime pinning. i was never a fan of rolling which is why you'll notice all my pins form on top or the bottom edge there... a dozen or so healthy pins is about all i want out of a half pint cake personally, sure you can encourage more by rolling but the end result is a bunch more smaller fruits, not necessarily more yield... i'll take fewer but larger fruits personally.
the problem with cakes isn't so much moisture delivery though. its limited nutrition. its pretty easy to hit theoretical max efficiency on a cake as long as you don't mind waiting through 4-5 flushes to get it, and take the time to dunk in between. if you come up with a good moisture delivery system, you're not going to necessarily get better yields in the end (since again there's only so much it can possibly do) but the benefit would be getting your yield out quicker, in say 2-3 flushes instead. when you see pictures with enormous flushes on cakes, it does make for good pictures, but understand that's the cake blowing its wad all at once and they likely didn't get very good subsequent flushes afterwards - but its the way to go if you want your yield NOW rather than waiting a few flushes to get it. so its a tradeoff to consider, any method you apply will incur additional costs, namely materials and your time in prepping - but if that's worth it to you to get cakes moving in and out of your FC faster, then hell by all means
its my personal opinion to keep it basic for cakes, if your goal is higher yields, focus your creative ideas on higher yielding methods.
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total
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Re: cakes and wick systems for better yields [Re: creamcorn]
#6348354 - 12/08/06 03:35 PM (17 years, 3 months ago) |
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very well put cc...
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BBC
Stranger
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Re: cakes and wick systems for better yields [Re: total]
#6348366 - 12/08/06 03:38 PM (17 years, 3 months ago) |
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thanks for writing that out, it makes a lot of sense.
-------------------- Blooming Buzzing Confusion
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