|
Some of these posts are very old and might contain outdated information. You may wish to search for newer posts instead.
|
Yossarian22
Stranger
Registered: 09/12/07
Posts: 415
Last seen: 9 years, 1 month
|
First time bulk. Any reassurance/suggestions welcome
#7576660 - 10/30/07 01:13 PM (16 years, 3 months ago) |
|
|
Hi. Before I start this post, I should say that I've been reading as much as I possibly can- I just want to make sure that I haven't missed anything or misunderstood.
I'm planning on using coco coir with gypsum and used coffee grounds. I have several PF cakes colonized. I plan on sterilizing the coffee grounds by wrapping them up in tin foil and putting them in my PC for 45 minutes like I did for the PF cakes. The gypsum's still in the vacuum sealed bag, so I imagine contamination won't be a problem with that. I'm going to pour hot water(I have an electric kettle and am going to wait for the water to start slightly bubbling with a little steam) with the quantities suggested on the coir packaging, then mix the other ingredients in.
I'm planning on using a ratio of 6:1:1 in terms of coir:gypsum:coffee grounds. I have two tupperware containers with the following dimensions(width/length/height): 6.5/10.5/3 inches. I'm gonna put some tin foil at the bottom and around the edges, then apply a thin layer of substrate. I'm going to crush up 2 cakes per container in a ziploc bag and then lay most of it down, followed by another layer of substrate. I'm gonna put the remaining cake morsels into the upper layer of substrate to speed up colonization/prevent contamination.
Now I have a Perlite chamber which is usually pretty humid- I can usually see water droplets forming around the walls. Is this a problem for a uncased bulk container? If so, I was considering making a new chamber with less Perlite and more frequent airings, and then putting a Peat Moss/vermiculate casing layer on top. I do have a problem with that, though- I have no bags suitable for PC and getting them would be hard(I don't have a car and an Internet delivery would take too long). Would it be possible to put the dry ingredients in an oven for a short while and then pour boiling or H202 infused water over them and let cool in the fridge?
Thanks for any help. Again, I've tried to do as much research as I could, but I just wanted to make sure I put the pieces together all right.
|
orchidfanatic
retiree




Registered: 08/12/07
Posts: 832
Loc: where the wild things are
|
Re: First time bulk. Any reassurance/suggestions welcome [Re: Yossarian22]
#7576903 - 10/30/07 02:10 PM (16 years, 3 months ago) |
|
|
you want to mix the gypsum with the coffee and coir .. after properly moistened you want to pasteurize not sterilize . if you sterilize you make a free for all in spores and bacteria to run rampant through your substrate you are spawning to. Read some more its all in there. if you go with a peat moss verm 50/50 then you should get some garden lime to bring the PH back up a bit .. otherwise case with miracle grow moisture control straight from the bag works but pasteurize it if you feel like it .. not sterilize it . good luck
|
Yossarian22
Stranger
Registered: 09/12/07
Posts: 415
Last seen: 9 years, 1 month
|
Re: First time bulk. Any reassurance/suggestions welcome [Re: orchidfanatic]
#7576947 - 10/30/07 02:19 PM (16 years, 3 months ago) |
|
|
I was only planning on sterilizing the coffee, not the coir. But if even that's a bad idea, I can skip that. Does my idea for pasteurizing sound good? Again, I don't have access to a lot of materials and I've heard some teks simply recommend using hot water to pasteurize the mixture.
|
CaptainLinger
A Fungus Amongus


Registered: 05/25/07
Posts: 1,756
Last seen: 3 years, 7 months
|
Re: First time bulk. Any reassurance/suggestions welcome [Re: Yossarian22]
#7577017 - 10/30/07 02:34 PM (16 years, 3 months ago) |
|
|
Actually, coir doesn't have much in the way of beneficial bacteria, so it doesn't particularly matter whether you sterilize or pasteurize it. It's produced with an intense steaming; many people have just hydrated/used right out of the package.
|
tight
Stranger


Registered: 02/26/07
Posts: 95
Last seen: 13 years, 3 months
|
Re: First time bulk. Any reassurance/suggestions welcome [Re: Yossarian22]
#7577110 - 10/30/07 02:57 PM (16 years, 3 months ago) |
|
|
No point in lining the inside with foil, the myc will rip through it for sure. If you are trying to make the tub lightproof, work on the outside and consider lining the inside with a black trash bag or something. What I did for my smaller tubs is line the outside with electrical tape. It took along time but was very effective.
And as others suggested I wouldnt sterilize anything. You were talking about casing and PC's. If you did want to use a PC to pasteurize just put it in a pillow case or something, be creative. You can just leave the lid on the PC with the weight off and once you start seeing steam come out your vent leave it on like that for 5 minutes and then turn off the heat. This suffices for my pasteurization needs (gas stove with a 22Q PC)
Other than that sounds like you will do fine, good luck!
-------------------- SD prop 215 and occasional fungus cultivator
Edited by tight (10/30/07 03:01 PM)
|
|
|
You cannot start new topics / You cannot reply to topics HTML is disabled / BBCode is enabled
Moderator: Shroomism, george castanza, RogerRabbit, veggie, mushboy, fahtster, LogicaL Chaos, 13shrooms, Stipe-n Cap, Pastywhyte, bodhisatta, Tormato, Land Trout, A.k.a 515 topic views. 14 members, 145 guests and 45 web crawlers are browsing this forum.
[ Show Images Only | Sort by Score | Print Topic ] |
|