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 shrums
Stranger
Registered: 04/05/08
Posts: 28
Last seen: 15 years, 8 months
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 Amateur has questions 
#8241966 - 04/05/08 10:26 AM (16 years, 15 days ago) |
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Hey everyone, Im new to cultivation and have a few questions. but firstly, I would like to thank everyone who contributes to this site. it has been nothing but a blessing as far as insight into cultivation goes. thanks for your time
I currently have a 2 chamber set up. One of my questions is regarding vermiculite. My casing tek calls for layers of rye grain, perlite, and course vermiculite. problem is i cant find the latter, seems vermiculite is hard to come by these days becuase of asbestos contamination or something? so my question is, what could I substitute for the vermiculite in my casing?
Another question I had, I have two spawn bags in my incubator (85 degrees f as the heater is +-1 degree), and one bag is developing a really nice mycelium culture and is spreading fast and evenly, while the other seems to be taking its sweet time. i see very little mycelium and the rye in that bag is starting to look almost dryer than the first bag. I see no signs of contamination, is it normal for culture growth to vary that much between bags?
considering that there is no contamination that I can see, and that i need both bags of inoculated grain in order to fill the chambers correctly, I was thinkin that by the time the first bag is completely inoculated throughout, I could perhaps mix the well inoculated bag with the less inoculated bag to evenly distribute the mycelium between the two chambers, and thus hopefully I would still have a large yield. Is this a good idea?
my last question for now involves my fogger. I have yet to put it together (times running out too, cultures are almost done!) and I was wondering how i should do it. I was gonna have a cylinder filled with water with two airstones and a ultrasonic fogger at the bottom. Im having trouble finding an ultrasonic fogger (i guess petco stopped carrying them), so, are there any other cheap, effective foggers or humidifers I can build? I already have an air pump sterilized in a hepa filtration chamber, so I would like to still be able to use it. I read the tek on building a fogger by taking apart a cool mist humidifier to get the ultrasonic thing out, but I rather not mess with taking apart an appliance, as i fear the danger of fire or something by doing something incorrectly. I cant use the portable closet/cool air humidifier tek anymore as my fruiting chambers are too large for the plastic closet casing.
whew thats a lot i know, but thank you for your time
postscript
I notice that everyone recomends cool mist humidifiers, My idea for my FC setup is to have dense fog for about 5min and then 2 min of exhuasting the fog and filling with clean air, then re-cycle (as to not choke shrooms). cool mist doesn't create fog, and I know heat is bad, but what are the negatives to using a warm mist? I have several for my home and the mist is warm, probably about 86-88 f tops, but thats not warm enough to break down psylocibin is it? in fact, isn't that close to the ideal temperature for the fruiting chambers?
Edited by shrums (04/05/08 10:32 AM)
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 dysphoria
lost soul
Registered: 06/04/03
Posts: 1,651
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 Re: Amateur has questions [Re: shrums]
#8242111 - 04/05/08 11:10 AM (16 years, 15 days ago) |
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im gonna start backwards and work up...
warm mists vs. cool mists...
warm mists arent a substitute, warm is bad, wick type humidifiers are bad (filter that gets replaced).
cool mists are the only way to go regarding this.
as for fogging...that seems fine, and you're right, you dont want a lot of fog, but it isnt a bad thing as long as nothing is drowned. most people will just simply use a cool mist (which can usually be obtained at stores beginning with wal and other similars, along with the ultrasonic) .. and if the cool mist doesnt provide enough humidity, then they'll use an ultrasonic.
as for your question regarding a DIY fogger...the best bet is what you've already read, which is probably stealing (or buying, as per agars fogger tek, somewhere) an ultrasonic piece, and then simply placing that in the appropriate amount of water. once again an ultrasonic (if you can find it/order it online/etc) will be the best bet...but once again, get a cool mist and see where you're at...you dont wanna go into overkill and waste money/time for what you dont need.
as for the bags...yes its common to see that kind of diversity, for a variety of reasons. one of which was probably multispore inoculation, another is the amount of actual spores that landed in one bag, and might or might not've in the other one. now, assuming both bags are the same strain, then yes...you could theoretically colonize the slower bag with the faster/completed bag. but doing so risky, blah blah blah...you should probably know enough about why this might or might not work. point is, if you wanna risk it, it might work...or it might fail and you lost everything...your call.
now for vermiculite...there really isnt a substitute for this substance, most ppl find it pretty essential. there are ways to go about it without using it...some of which is not even using a casing layer, or not doing pf tek. you mention rye berries in your formula...as an experienced rye grower, im gonna tell you that you need nothing in that jar but rye and spores. vermiculite is more useful in casing layers and protective pf tek type layers than it is for grains and the such. but, the best advice for actually getting vermiculite, is to find it at a local garden store, as most big name brand stores are gonna feed you the abestos crap story. whereas, local gardeners/shops realize its importance for gardening and will usually carry it. failing that, investigate buying it online via online gardening stores, ebay, or even as shipping material/packing for liquids that might spill in transit.
hope this helps somewhat.
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xaxphaanes
Mycologist
Registered: 08/08/05
Posts: 2,988
Last seen: 1 year, 8 months
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Re: Amateur has questions [Re: shrums]
#8242112 - 04/05/08 11:11 AM (16 years, 15 days ago) |
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Casing layers shouldn't have any nutrients that includes your rye grain....yes it is normal for different mycelium to have different colonization times....If you mix uncolonized grains it will usually contaminate pretty easily.
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"Anything i say is fictional"
what you should look for in manure
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kiowa27
educated idiot
Registered: 01/30/08
Posts: 144
Loc: Midwest
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Re: Amateur has questions [Re: xaxphaanes]
#8242198 - 04/05/08 11:43 AM (16 years, 15 days ago) |
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another possible source for vermiculite is hardware type stores (menards, lowes, home depot etc). you can often find large bags of verm in their insulation section for very very cheap.
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Evil is wasted on the wicked. Only the virtuous can truly plumb its depths, because only they have the necessary strength of conviction.
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shrums
Stranger
Registered: 04/05/08
Posts: 28
Last seen: 15 years, 8 months
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Re: Amateur has questions [Re: kiowa27]
#8246111 - 04/06/08 10:56 AM (16 years, 14 days ago) |
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wow thanks a lot guys. I appreciate the help.
dys: thanks for the local gardening store idea. I tried wal-mart and homedepot for the verm and no luck, i think we have a few mom and pop stores here in town, i'll check them out. Im gonna try the cool mist for now, i can make my sweet ass fogger intake/exhuast system in the future, if the cool mist works well enough like everyone says, i'll just try that first. I'll look for some teks. I have a question on garden hose grommets that i'll post in another thread.
xax: i'm a little confused on your post, are you telling me casing teks actually shouldn;t have rye grain or verm? mine calls for both... well inoculated grain and strictly course verm, so i'm a little perplexed as to what you meant
Klowa: yea i tried home depot and walmart with no avail. btw nice buddy christ avatar
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Nibin
Getting there
Registered: 11/29/05
Posts: 4,480
Last seen: 10 years, 11 months
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Re: Amateur has questions [Re: shrums]
#8248092 - 04/06/08 08:06 PM (16 years, 13 days ago) |
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As a casing material just use peat instead.
BUT, you will have to add hydrated lime as it is quite acid and contams tend to like it unless you buffer it like this.
PS: It is important that you get terms right. A casing is a casing layer, which is the layer of verm, peat, both, or others(back in the day coir, for example) that you put on top of a fully colonized substrate.
A casing is NOT the same as a cased substrate.
Substrate + Casing = Cased Substrate.
The reason it is important to be specific with these terms is that a lot of misunderstandings are caused by people using the word casing to refer to a cased substrate, i.e. "My casing isn't fruiting" (a casing has no mycelium so can never fruit) or "what ingredients should I use in my casing?" (do you mean the casing layer or cased substrate)
Anyway, after this little rant, I repeat my previous answer, use peat, it's what the commercial growers use.
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Newcomers guide-----> For all things shroomy
Edited by Nibin (04/06/08 08:14 PM)
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Blutjager
Inhuman
Registered: 06/11/06
Posts: 9,220
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Re: Amateur has questions [Re: Nibin]
#8249582 - 04/07/08 06:20 AM (16 years, 13 days ago) |
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I know that ppl from everywhere come here and this is subjective to where you live but I will tell you for a fact that around me buying verm in "Real life" is only slightly easier than getting your hands on a nuclear equipped submarine,It simply is NOT going to happen no matter how many phone calls you make or how much gas you waste driving around looking for it.
Not only does no one have it for sale but even after extensive searching I have only ran into one or two people who have ever even heard of it and they will tell you that they haven't seen it in years,if it wasn't for being able to acquire it online I would swear it was some mythical substance that came here on the meteor that killed the dinosaurs
Now for the good news,with the exception of throwing a handful or too into some overly wet jars to balance out the water content VERM HAS NEVER HELPED ME GROW A SINGLE MUSHROOM !!
Its that simple,stop looking for it,you do not need it,I never in my life have figured out why people make their own casing layers anyway and if you are one of those "I make things as difficult on myself as possible cause I like the challenge or because thats what other people do" than I cant help you,I'm the opposite and am always looking to get the absolute best results from the absolute least amount of work(Sorry I'm American )
Now,go and get yourself a bag of this stuff and start growing mushrooms and quit wishing you were growing mushrooms >>  .. Easy to get and easy to use
Best of luck
Edited by Blutjager (04/07/08 06:22 AM)
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