|
Some of these posts are very old and might contain outdated information. You may wish to search for newer posts instead.
|
flipside13
Grasshopper



Registered: 02/25/07
Posts: 66
Loc: Canada
Last seen: 17 years, 1 month
|
BRF cakes exposed to light...
#6833720 - 04/25/07 06:12 PM (17 years, 8 months ago) |
|
|
So, I have been wondering why my BRF cakes have been pinning like crazy befor being fully colonized, when I decided to cram into the closet I have been using to incubate them. Low and behold there is a large amount of light streaming in from a crack above the closet door. I put them into a box so now they are now in complete darkness. It has been nearly 7 weeks in total since I innoc'ed them.
I am wondering if I should birth them as some have like 5-10 pins - with some of them being a couple of inches long. Will those pins stall now that it is dark? Will they likely keep for another week if I leave them so that further colonization takes place? I birthed several already befor complete colonization and they seem to have done fine with medium yields.
Whadda you folks think? Flipside13
-------------------- Flipside13
- I intend to live forever. So far, so good.
|
flipside13
Grasshopper



Registered: 02/25/07
Posts: 66
Loc: Canada
Last seen: 17 years, 1 month
|
Re: BRF cakes exposed to light... [Re: flipside13]
#6833783 - 04/25/07 06:23 PM (17 years, 8 months ago) |
|
|
I just found this post when I did a search, which seems to lead me to believe that the light was only one of the factors. My cakes are also a bit "sweaty" in the jars. Again...suggestions on what to do? FS13
For the record, light has no effect on colonizing mycelium, good or bad. The old advice of "incubate in total darkness" is bunk. Those words were written by Stamets in TMC 20 years ago, and he disavows that advice today. I concur. The only real time that keeping in the dark has an advantage in my experience is during casing run, when the introduction of light after casing colonization can serve as one of the pinning triggers along with air exchange and proper humidity. Bear in mind, you want a constant rate of evaporation from your substrate to acheive the best pinset. If you're at 100% humidity, there will be little to no moisture evaporating from your casing layer, and pinsets will suffer.
To repeat, light is a pinning trigger, but it isn't the only one, and it's greatly overrated. For the best pinsets, you have to balance several triggers at once. Screw up on any of them, and pinsets suffer, regardless of what you do with light. RR
-------------------- Flipside13
- I intend to live forever. So far, so good.
|
nw2shroom
shroom deity

Registered: 02/18/02
Posts: 229
Loc: Tu hablas el Spanglish??
Last seen: 17 years, 7 months
|
Re: BRF cakes exposed to light... [Re: flipside13]
#6833819 - 04/25/07 06:34 PM (17 years, 8 months ago) |
|
|
well that second post seems to me will cause confusion to some people IMHO-- let the cakes colonize, Pins are like women, once you quit being scared about never getting one, they just pop up everywere- dont worry. Keep them in the dark If they are pinning now, just wait till they are birthed. Any questions?
|
etam
it's a hobby...


Registered: 04/24/06
Posts: 1,126
Loc: East Coast
Last seen: 16 years, 3 months
|
Re: BRF cakes exposed to light... [Re: nw2shroom]
#6833832 - 04/25/07 06:37 PM (17 years, 8 months ago) |
|
|
You don't want to birth uncolonized substrate. If the cakes finish colonizing before the mushrooms mature, go ahead and dunk and birth them. If they do not finish colonizing, slice the uncolonized part off with a sterile knife and birth the rest.
I hope this helps. Good luck!
Peace.
|
flipside13
Grasshopper



Registered: 02/25/07
Posts: 66
Loc: Canada
Last seen: 17 years, 1 month
|
Re: BRF cakes exposed to light... [Re: etam]
#6833941 - 04/25/07 07:08 PM (17 years, 8 months ago) |
|
|
So, am I to understand that even if a cake pins and they break off or die off when the cake is birthed, that the cake will just grow a bunch of new pins? I guess I am concerned that the cake will burn up precious nutrients in those pins and wont be as effective later on.
Then again, I suppose more myc will be formed anyway. Ponderings...perhaps I should take a few grams and commune with the jars and ask them what they want. ;-)
-------------------- Flipside13
- I intend to live forever. So far, so good.
|
RogerRabbit
Bans for Pleasure


Registered: 03/26/03
Posts: 42,214
Loc: Seattle
Last seen: 1 year, 10 months
|
Re: BRF cakes exposed to light... [Re: flipside13]
#6834210 - 04/25/07 08:20 PM (17 years, 8 months ago) |
|
|
A substrate will not form pins until it's fully colonized. If you're getting pins then the substrate is fully colonized. Now, that being said, full colonization is reached when the entire substrate is colonized by mushroom mycelium, OR when part of it is colonized by a contaminant and the mushroom mycelium runs up against the contaminant. Either way, the substrate is fully colonized by something. 7 weeks is way too long to keep anything in the jar. That's why you have pins. It has little to nothing to do with light exposure.
You probably have some bacterial contamination, and the mushroom mycelium has ran up against that and stopped. The natural response in a case like this is for the mycelium to try to reproduce before it dies. That's why fruit bodies are formed.
A properly made BRF cake will fully colonize in two to three weeks. If it doesn't, something is wrong. Usually, this can be traced to using a silly incubator that keeps the temperature too high, thus favoring bacteria and thermophilic molds over the mushroom mycelium, which thrives at normal room temperature. During that two to three week period, light exposure is irrelevant. I colonize jars on an open shelf at normal room temperature and exposed to normal room lighting for up to 18 hours per day if I'm in there working, because that room is also my office, and they NEVER pin early.
I'd suggest birthing yours and washing them under the faucet in the sink and breaking/rinsing the uncolonized parts off, then dunk and roll before placing into a fruiting chamber. 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
|
flipside13
Grasshopper



Registered: 02/25/07
Posts: 66
Loc: Canada
Last seen: 17 years, 1 month
|
Re: BRF cakes exposed to light... [Re: RogerRabbit]
#6834793 - 04/25/07 10:23 PM (17 years, 8 months ago) |
|
|
Thats my boy!! I was hoping you would respond, RR. ;-) I was searching around today and came up with several posts that you or other respecteds had written that made me wonder at some of the things I have read or been told. So yes, I have been cooking them too high for the past 7 weeks(in the 80s) and of course thought that darkness was required. Looks like I have about 15 jars to birth in the next day or so, and I am going to run out of FC room. Can I leave cakes in the fridge dunking for more than 24hrs? I am actually going away for 3 days on Friday morning, so I don't have alot of time to get all this taken care of. Flipside13
-------------------- Flipside13
- I intend to live forever. So far, so good.
|
RogerRabbit
Bans for Pleasure


Registered: 03/26/03
Posts: 42,214
Loc: Seattle
Last seen: 1 year, 10 months
|
Re: BRF cakes exposed to light... [Re: flipside13]
#6835346 - 04/26/07 01:18 AM (17 years, 8 months ago) |
|
|
Don't dunk for more than 36 hours. Just leave them at room temp and not dunking until you return, then take care of business. 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
|
Chrisped
Say What?


Registered: 03/12/07
Posts: 32
Loc: Australia
Last seen: 17 years, 7 months
|
Re: BRF cakes exposed to light... [Re: RogerRabbit]
#6835422 - 04/26/07 02:01 AM (17 years, 8 months ago) |
|
|
Highest respect for RR!
I am confused though... why is it that so many TEKs suggest the incubator? I've been 'cooking' them as well because what what I've been reading ????
-------------------- Look around and choose your own ground
For long you live and high you fly
And smiles you'll give and tears you'll cry
And all you touch and all you see
Is all your life will ever be ......
|
deucedbi9
Stranger


Registered: 10/24/06
Posts: 4,696
Loc: UK
|
Re: BRF cakes exposed to light... [Re: Chrisped]
#6835556 - 04/26/07 03:29 AM (17 years, 8 months ago) |
|
|
Quote:
Chrisped said: Highest respect for RR!
I am confused though... why is it that so many TEKs suggest the incubator? I've been 'cooking' them as well because what what I've been reading ????
i think it satisfies an urge to make stuff. they are unnessesary unless you live in a cold area. normal room temps(mine fluctuate between 60-80f) are all that is required.
-------------------- whether low pressure sucks or high pressure blows...
it's a bugger to cycle in.
even though I'm feeling good
Something tells me I'd better activate my prayer capsule
|
RogerRabbit
Bans for Pleasure


Registered: 03/26/03
Posts: 42,214
Loc: Seattle
Last seen: 1 year, 10 months
|
Re: BRF cakes exposed to light... [Re: deucedbi9]
#6836376 - 04/26/07 10:43 AM (17 years, 8 months ago) |
|
|
Because many of those teks were written by new growers after a successful grow or two. They think everything they did was right, but sometimes mushrooms grow in spite of what the grower does, rather than because of it. This is especially true with such an easy species to grow as cubensis. They're so forgiving of improper technique, they practically grow themselves. 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
|
|