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 megaman3
Stranger
Registered: 06/07/02
Posts: 274
Last seen: 18 years, 9 months
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 grrrr up yours casing! 
#902948 - 09/23/02 09:35 PM (22 years, 6 months ago) |
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hi people. Well my friend's first casing is looking pretty ridiculous. There are a few spots where the mycelium poked through, but no rhizos or anything. I suspect moisture content, and that brings me to my question:
In TMC, Stamets says the following on page 227: if mycelium fails to run through the casing layer, then it could be that the casing is too wet or too dry. He suggests preparing the casing layer so that it is at 90% water capacity (70-75% moisture). On page 132, he says that verm has 84% water content at saturation. So if I understand correctly a verm casing should have around 75% water and 25% verm.
However, in the Casing for Dummies tek (http://www.mycotopia.net/teks/hongus.html) , the author says to use 25mL water for each half cup of vermiculite. But that's only 20% water! So my guess is that I misunderstood Stamets' point about ratios.
I searched the site for the proper water/verm ratio for the casing layer, and couldn't find anything. Can anyone please enlighten me? And for anyone who's used verm casings, did you see many rhizos or just a few circular spots of mycelium? My friend left it in his incubator for 12 days with the air temp at 82.5 F (since the container temp is usually higher), and he only got a few spots where mycelium came through. The mycelium seemed to stop growing through the casing layer after the 8th day (i.e. for 4 days he saw no more growth, and he got mad and took the casing out and put it in the fruiting chamber). It looked more cottony than rhizomorphic (I love that word).
The jars colonized beautifully, in 15 days. Then he cased them (he had two jars) with about half an inch of verm that clumped together if he squeezed hard enough. He spooned it over and did not push it down. Then he covered with saran wrap and put it in his incubator. 12 days later he only saw a few small spots where mycelium had come through.
He now keeps the humidity at around 98% in the fruiting chamber, and fans 5 times a day for 3 minutes. Another thing he noticed is that the spots where the mycelium broke through are now looking flatter, and he is hoping that this is normal when it's exposed to high humidity during prepinning.
Thanks
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Anno
Experimenter
Registered: 06/17/99
Posts: 24,168
Loc: my room
Last seen: 17 days, 19 hours
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 Re: grrrr up yours casing! [Re: megaman3]
#902971 - 09/23/02 09:41 PM (22 years, 6 months ago) |
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>So if I understand correctly a verm casing should have around 75% water and 25% verm.
By weight! But not by volume!
Try following: saturate 9 parts vermiculite to the field capacity, so the vermiculite is completely wett but with no standing water in the bowl.
Now add 1 part dry vermiculite to this.
This should have a good water content now.
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megaman3
Stranger
Registered: 06/07/02
Posts: 274
Last seen: 18 years, 9 months
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 Re: grrrr up yours casing! [Re: Anno]
#902999 - 09/23/02 09:48 PM (22 years, 6 months ago) |
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> By weight! But not by volume!
Ahhh! Thanks Anno! Heheh
> Try following: saturate 9 parts vermiculite to the field capacity, so the vermiculite > is completely wett but with no standing water in the bowl.
> Now add 1 part dry vermiculite to this.
ok I will tell my friend to try that! Btw what is field capacity? Keep in mind that I'm slightly retarded :-)
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megaman3
Stranger
Registered: 06/07/02
Posts: 274
Last seen: 18 years, 9 months
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Re: grrrr up yours casing! (Anno) [Re: megaman3]
#903022 - 09/23/02 09:52 PM (22 years, 6 months ago) |
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Anno: also, when you say to saturate 9 parts vermiculite to the field capacity, do you mean that he should let the verm soak in water for a few hours so that it soaks up water, or should he just mix water until it looks very wet? I know that with perlite you need to let it soak up the water, and I am wondering if verm is the same.
Thank you very much
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 matts
matts
Registered: 01/28/02
Posts: 3,649
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Edited by matts (09/23/02 09:54 PM)
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Mac
member
Registered: 08/26/02
Posts: 126
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Re: grrrr up yours casing! [Re: megaman3]
#903054 - 09/23/02 10:04 PM (22 years, 6 months ago) |
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I have done only verm casings and found that the verm does not colonize very well. A few fluffy spots here and there. When I see them I put casing in fruiting chamber with few hours light and wait. Fan about 3 times a day and lightly mist casings maybe every 2 days until I see pins. No other humidiy but from the casings and mistings.
Nothing seems to happen and then one day (usually bout 1-2 weeks later) I finally get a bunch of pins. Sometimes the mycelium does look flat but never seemed to affect casing. Almost threw a casing out once, waited almost three weeks for pins without one spot of white on verm and it turned out to be the best and most even flush I ever had. This is the tek I always use and seems to work well for me.:
casings for dummies
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Mac
member
Registered: 08/26/02
Posts: 126
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Re: grrrr up yours casing! [Re: Mac]
#903076 - 09/23/02 10:08 PM (22 years, 6 months ago) |
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OOPs, just noticed that you have read casing for dummies, sorry bout that.
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Snobrdr311
outdoorenthusiast
Registered: 09/03/01
Posts: 1,468
Loc: Midwest
Last seen: 11 years, 5 months
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Re: grrrr up yours casing! [Re: Mac]
#903113 - 09/23/02 10:17 PM (22 years, 6 months ago) |
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you really should move on to 50/50 instead of verm, it's no harder to do. just mix it half and half and nuke for 10 minutes in the microwave. you can add spring water to the mix after you nuke as well.
verm only casings don't change in color much when they dry out, so it's hard to tell the moisture level of the casing level and in turn hard to tell when you need to mist. move on to 50/50 or coir and verm.. don't listen to the rumors of it being difficult for newbies, it really couldn't be more simple.
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Anno
Experimenter
Registered: 06/17/99
Posts: 24,168
Loc: my room
Last seen: 17 days, 19 hours
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Re: grrrr up yours casing! (Anno) [Re: megaman3]
#903831 - 09/24/02 04:54 AM (22 years, 6 months ago) |
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>do you mean that I should let the verm soak in water for a few hours so that it soaks up water
I mean it like here:
http://www.fungifun.org/pf/pf_en.htm#zubereitung
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megaman3
Stranger
Registered: 06/07/02
Posts: 274
Last seen: 18 years, 9 months
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 Re: grrrr up yours casing! [Re: Mac]
#904081 - 09/24/02 08:18 AM (22 years, 6 months ago) |
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Thanks a lot for your post Mac! That is very very encouraging, since what you described is exactly what my friend is experiencing. I will let you know in 3 weeks or so if it worked!
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Mac
member
Registered: 08/26/02
Posts: 126
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Re: grrrr up yours casing! [Re: Snobrdr311]
#905268 - 09/24/02 05:21 PM (22 years, 6 months ago) |
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Yep! Did my first 50/50+ casing last Sunday and already have white spots all over, covered aggressive spots with more casing hoping for even flush. Cannot believe the difference between that and the verm. Tried coco coir once and nothing but contams. Didn't add lime or oyster shells. Big mistake I think. Hope this one doesn't go green. Being very careful. I am lucky, live in an area where everything you could need is available...coir, lime, vermiculite..etc. Had to hunt but found it all. Would be a shame to not use it. Have read these boards and FAQ's until I thought my eyes would fall out, but worth it with the knowledgible people here to help...Thanks. You guys ((and girls) know who you are. My biggest dream is to have flushes that look like Anno's!
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