It has been so long, it seems, since I've posted here @ the shroomery. Well, if there's anything I've learned from my first (albeit failed) cultivation experience, it is that :
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1. You can never be too [pre]cautious
2. patience is the answer.
3. pressure cookers are your friend (when used correctly), and your worst enemy when they aren't.
4. no matter how well informed and materially/mentally prepared you are, the only way to learn is through experience.... I am now convinced of that.
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Well, if any of you even fucking remember, I cooked the PF jars a little too much in the PC, drying them to the point of shrinkage, but I innoc'd anyway, heeding the advice of fellow shroomerites...Lo and behold, within 4 days of innoculating, I had seen some white growth on the jars..... But my problem was lack of patience. I found myself picking them up and observing their progress each day. That was one fuck-up of many!! And after 3 weeks and only 3 or 4 showing eager growth, I became a little....well, frantic. But all I could do was loosen the lids and hope for some CO2 to escape and hopefully growth would speed up..... and I messed with them every day....loosening lids, turning them upside down, moving the heating pad from underneath (Which, I am no longer going to use a heat pad.....there's a reason they all say it's not a good idea).
After about a month, I was...well...discouraged.....to say the very least!!
Cakes eventually started to drop like flies.... stalled and receded mycilial growth, dry, cracking cakes, contams... (green mold AND cobweb) It was a real kick in the balls.....and today, my final remaining cake....(the ONLY one to FULLY colonize) was taken from me by the dreaded cobweb mold (RIP, Calvin).
Well, after going back in my mind over the whole experience (1 3/4 months worth of which I did what I thought was necessary to sustain the colony) I remembered things which I now see I could have done better and more carefully. I PC'd 5 PF jars for 1 hr 15 minutes (I applied the RAMSEY seal....foil layer to prevent moisture loss. I didn't do that last time!!).....They all looked great!! And later I innoculated all 5 with 2 cc's of ecuador spores.... a smaller # of jars would be easier to maintain... and they are now in my sock drawer.... no heating pad, yet no fancy incubator, either....(The PF Tek doesn't have plans for an incubator, does it). I am noot going to look @ them for a week. I was extremely discouraged from my first attempt, but I haven't given up, If anything, I've become more practical...anyways, I have to learn to crawl before I fly, right??
Anyways, to any of those newbies out there getting discouraged... don't give up.... I'm determined to unlocking these little fucker's magic mysteries, and I can't do that by sulking over some lost jars, can I???
It's good to be back to the SHROOMERY after that horribly disheartening episode, but I'm more eager now than when I first started, and a LITTLE bit wiser!!
Peace,
Paco
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"The surest way to corrupt a youth is to instruct him to hold in higher regard those who think alike than those who think differently ." - Nietzsche
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Remember when others would remind you to take a deep breath and count to ten? Well, this is a little bit like that! First of all...realax...it's not like you have a whole town relying on you (and if you do you shouldn't be cultivation IMHO). Review your tek. and try again. I failed 3-4x before I was successful. I think the key is 1 - 2 jar runs untill you get it right so you dont mess up substrate + money + most importantly time. Start off slow and getter better as you go!
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"There's only one corner of the universe you can be certain of improving and that's your own self. So you have to begin there, not
outside, not on other people" - Aldous Huxley
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