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KCizzle
Egar Noob


Registered: 08/27/07
Posts: 81
Loc: Vancouver, BC BABY!
Last seen: 10 months, 4 days
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Hydrated Lime Burning?
#7546584 - 10/22/07 12:00 PM (16 years, 3 months ago) |
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I read a great casing tek but ordered supplies and mixed up a batch before I got a chance to read the whole thing. (Yeah i'm an idiot ha) Towards the bottom they said since some people had experienced buring with their Hydrated lime that people should use Calcum sulfate instead. How would I know if its burning. I have two casings going. One is a small test casing that has already flushed twice and is now workin on the third. I feel like things are not moving as fast as they could be. To be honest this too hot for TV fall we are having most likely has something to do with it as well. I can barely get the temp down below 83 degrees (87 right now)
What are signs that I may be "burning" the mycelium?
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Captain Cubensis
Bleeding HeartLiberal


Registered: 09/18/07
Posts: 648
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Re: Hydrated Lime Burning? [Re: KCizzle]
#7546623 - 10/22/07 12:11 PM (16 years, 3 months ago) |
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Try Earth Juice if you can get it, it's a safe organic pH up.
Also oyster shell flour is a good buffer.
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RogerRabbit
Bans for Pleasure



Registered: 03/26/03
Posts: 42,214
Loc: Seattle
Last seen: 11 months, 3 days
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Re: Hydrated Lime Burning? [Re: KCizzle]
#7546643 - 10/22/07 12:15 PM (16 years, 3 months ago) |
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Gypsum is not used to balance pH, although a healthy casing layer will have 5% or so by volume in gypsum. You want to use hydrated lime or calcium carbonate for pH adjustment. However, hydrated lime is water soluable so it balances the pH right away. Calcium carbonate is a long term buffer that is better suited to gardens, since mushroom casing layers are not used long term. Search my posts and hydrated lime for a good starting point on how much to use. Good luck. 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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KCizzle
Egar Noob


Registered: 08/27/07
Posts: 81
Loc: Vancouver, BC BABY!
Last seen: 10 months, 4 days
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Cool I'll look into it. This is my mix:
50% Peat Moss 50% Vermiculite
Then out of that: 4% of total volume Hydrated lime 15% of crushed oyster shell
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KCizzle
Egar Noob


Registered: 08/27/07
Posts: 81
Loc: Vancouver, BC BABY!
Last seen: 10 months, 4 days
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Re: Hydrated Lime Burning? [Re: KCizzle]
#7546675 - 10/22/07 12:23 PM (16 years, 3 months ago) |
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Ok Cool. Yeah i searched several other teks and it looks like I am doing things correctly casing wise. My problem is more likely related to my temparature issues. DAMN GLOBAL WARMING!
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monstermitch
Growing in Bags Doesn't Work



Registered: 02/10/06
Posts: 3,911
Loc: Arizona Bay
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Re: Hydrated Lime Burning? [Re: KCizzle]
#7546749 - 10/22/07 12:42 PM (16 years, 3 months ago) |
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Quote:
KCizzle said: Cool I'll look into it. This is my mix:
50% Peat Moss 50% Vermiculite
Then out of that: 4% of total volume Hydrated lime 15% of crushed oyster shell
no, no, no. that will burn the mix... you only want about 1% of the totoal volume to be hydrated lime.
one teaspoon of hydrated lime per cup of dry sifted peat. hydrated lime is only added to peat, not to verm!! so for total volume, it's one teaspoon of hydrated lime (.02083 cups) to two cups of mix (the one peat it's added to and the one verm to match the one peat).
so... 0.02083/2 = 1.04%
4% is way too high.
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KCizzle
Egar Noob


Registered: 08/27/07
Posts: 81
Loc: Vancouver, BC BABY!
Last seen: 10 months, 4 days
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Damn thanx man. I actually lucked out because when I mixed the first batch I misread so my current bulk batch only has about 2%. I will add more peat / verm to bring that number down.
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monstermitch
Growing in Bags Doesn't Work



Registered: 02/10/06
Posts: 3,911
Loc: Arizona Bay
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Re: Hydrated Lime Burning? [Re: KCizzle]
#7546874 - 10/22/07 01:15 PM (16 years, 3 months ago) |
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when making casing, there's a few steps you really should take.
one is sifting the peat to start with. every single piece of uncomposted woody material needs to be removed.
hydrated lime and gypsum should only be added to peat. not ever added to vermiculite. and the peat has to be 100% dry.
the sifted, dry peat should be mixed with the dry lime and gypsum. after they are fully mixed, then the peat should be hydrated to field capacity and allowed to sit for a couple of minutes.
then the pH should be tested.
once done, then the vermiculite should by hydrated on it's own and then mixed in with the adjusted and hydrated peat.
that's the best way to do it for the most consistent results.
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KCizzle
Egar Noob


Registered: 08/27/07
Posts: 81
Loc: Vancouver, BC BABY!
Last seen: 10 months, 4 days
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Good lord man. where have you been all my life ha. I need to stop being a cheap ass and just toss the bunch I made up first. I have plenty of left over supplies and its not like they were that expensive anyway. Its ok tho... I wouldhnt be an official newb without jumping the gun a couple times and making beginner mistakes. With all my mistakes (casing, NO FAE at all in RG jars) i still managed to slowly squeak out two pretty nice flushes out of my test casing that were freakin bananas :-D
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KCizzle
Egar Noob


Registered: 08/27/07
Posts: 81
Loc: Vancouver, BC BABY!
Last seen: 10 months, 4 days
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Quote:
monstermitch said: one is sifting the peat to start with. every single piece of uncomposted woody material needs to be removed.
Def something i'm going to start doing but whats the scientific reason behind this?
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monstermitch
Growing in Bags Doesn't Work



Registered: 02/10/06
Posts: 3,911
Loc: Arizona Bay
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Re: Hydrated Lime Burning? [Re: KCizzle]
#7547069 - 10/22/07 02:10 PM (16 years, 3 months ago) |
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I'll quote The Mushroom Cultivator for you:
Trichoderma:
"Habitat & Frequency of Occurrence: Very common on compost, casing soil and to a lesser degree on grain and agar. Trichoderma often parasitizes mushrooms under cultivation and can inhibit or reduce fruitings. Many species grow on wood or woody tissue and are abundant in peat. Trichoderma frequently grows on the wooden trays holding compost.
Medium Through Which Contamination Is Spread: Primarily and airborne contaminant when contaminating agar or grain cultures. On casing soils, it is introduced through the peat or humus. Trichoderma is often spread during harvesting, bed cleaning or watering. Species in this genus generally prefer an acid pH in the 4-5.5 range.
Measures of Control: Careful picking; disposal of dead and diseased mushrooms; lover of humidity levels; lover carbon dioxide and increasing air circulation to eliminate dead air pockets. Use of clean casing materials lacking undecomposed woody tissue lessen the chance of Trichoderma contamination."
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mycocurious
Mike O. Kuerias



Registered: 02/09/07
Posts: 1,265
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To build upon what monstermitch has already said - although I'm starting to feel like I type the same bits over and over again - casing layers are supposed to be non-nutritious, slightly-alkaline mixture that is hydrated to field capacity to act as both a contaminate barrier and a humidity blanket for the colonized substrate beneath it.
The idea is that the mycelium in the substrate below will grow through the 1/2" or so casing layer without problems - as it has a large food-source beneath it - however any wayward contaminates which find their way on to the casing layer will germinate from the moisture but then find inhospitable alkaline environment with no food-sources to colonize and, hopefully, die.
In the mean time, while protecting the substrate from contaminates it's also providing a humidity rich environment giving the mycelium that 95-99% humidity it needs down where the substrate meets the casing to help fuel the moisture requirements for fruiting.
--- So, when evaluating a casing layer, there are three main things to look for...
1. how nutritious is this medium. 2. how well does it retain moisture. 3. what is the baseline pH of the medium.
More often than not, no one substance is going to give you everything you need so we buy or create mixtures of peat + vermiculite + some kind of lime (not dolomitic) to increase the pH.
Out of the bag solutions are Moisture Control Miracle Grow and Jiffy Mix Seed Starting Mix - although since both are geared towards plants their pH will be somewhere near 6.8 range and benefit from a tad of lime as well.
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Don't mistake my tone for a "matter-of-fact" attitude. I'm just presenting what I believe to be correct, until I'm corrected... - How Myco-Curious Prepares Coir & Compost Substrates - How Myco-Curious Builds A Bulk Humidifier - How Myco-Curious Builds An Automated Greenhouse ------------------------------------ figgusfiddus said: Keep in mind that inoculating or whatever in front of a flow hood won't help your bad substrate, your bad inoculant, your bad sterile procedure, etc. etc. etc. It's not a +3 flowhood of magic, it's just a tool.
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KCizzle
Egar Noob


Registered: 08/27/07
Posts: 81
Loc: Vancouver, BC BABY!
Last seen: 10 months, 4 days
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Re: Hydrated Lime Burning? [Re: mycocurious]
#7547595 - 10/22/07 04:38 PM (16 years, 3 months ago) |
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" although I'm starting to feel like I type the same bits over and over again"
Yeah i feel you. I am the same way but on a completely different kind of forum. Sometimes there is just too much information out there and you want to hear str8 up from someone who knows. I got my original (flawed) casing tek from the searching and apparently was grossly misinformed. Thx for all the info dudes. I will take all of this info and merge it with my current teks.
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