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Gameshot911
Stranger
Registered: 10/16/08
Posts: 11
Last seen: 12 years, 11 months
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Roots growing very slowly
#9086331 - 10/16/08 12:19 PM (16 years, 3 months ago) |
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Hey guys, first post / attempt at growing ever so Im a true noob.
My problem is that the spores are not growing in the canning jars very quickly. Out of 10 jars, all of them were successful to a certain extent - there was no contamination, and all have some white fuzz growing in them.
However, it has been about 3 weeks now, and continued growth is slow to non-existent. Most of them are fully white down the side of the jar where I inoculated them with the syringe (two holes per jar), but it has not moved outward to take over the entire substrate. I would say that in a 1/2 pint canning jar, the average is a one centimeter line down each side of the jar, with the best specimen having growths with a diameter of two inches across. ------------------------------------------------------------
Now as for potential solutions: the only thing I deviated from the guides was that I had to use regular organic flour as the food medium, instead of rice flour (I went to 6 different places and none had it). In terms of heat, I have a space heater blowing on them which seems to work very nicely - they are staying warm to the touch but not the 95+ that would kill them.
So I basically have three questions: 1. What should I do with the specimines I have right now? Is this growth rate normal, or can I do something to salvage them, or should I just start over? 2. In the future, what should I do differently? Perhaps a different food medium, or more of it per unit of substrate? 3. In terms of heating, sometimes I have seen water condensation form on the inside of the jar? Is this okay (or even good in that it is at the right temperature, or it means it is way too hot)?
Thanks for your help guys!
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Sage.Phish
Guerrilla Farmer



Registered: 02/17/08
Posts: 598
Loc: City 17
Last seen: 9 years, 8 months
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Re: Roots growing very slowly [Re: Gameshot911]
#9086350 - 10/16/08 12:23 PM (16 years, 3 months ago) |
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you should do 4 holes for each jar next time. if your doing the BRF Tek then 4 holes is the standard.
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T2K_Rusty
Rusty Shackleford


Registered: 10/08/08
Posts: 342
Last seen: 16 years, 1 month
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Re: Roots growing very slowly [Re: Gameshot911]
#9086358 - 10/16/08 12:25 PM (16 years, 3 months ago) |
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I'm willing to bet you are over-heating your jars. 95 is 15 degrees warmer than optimal temperatures. Anything above 82 can stall the mycellium growth. Quit incubating them, set them on a shelf at room tempurature. Light will not harm the process either, so you dont have to cover them up (unless trying to hide them).
Condensation is pretty normal on the jars. Next time just buy some regular brown rice, and grind it up in a blender. I think it works better than storebought flour.
-------------------- Sh sh shaw!
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SickShroomer
Retired Shroom Master



Registered: 05/25/06
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Loc: Midwest
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Re: Roots growing very slowly [Re: T2K_Rusty]
#9086678 - 10/16/08 01:22 PM (16 years, 3 months ago) |
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I could almost bet that you still have tape over the holes?? The mycelium will slow and stop after a week or 2 due to lack of o2. I have had jars that i thought had contamed hidden under my bed for months, then one day i decide to take the tape off and they started to grow again!! They will go into a almost "hibernation" state..
-------------------- Going to miss the PNW gatherings.
I'm not here trying to make anyone feel stupid or to make myself feel good by putting ppl down. I am just here to help fellow shroomerites in there grows. I do this to keep my own knowledge fresh, and to help everyone succeed!
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Gameshot911
Stranger
Registered: 10/16/08
Posts: 11
Last seen: 12 years, 11 months
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Re: Roots growing very slowly [Re: SickShroomer]
#9086733 - 10/16/08 01:31 PM (16 years, 3 months ago) |
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Yes, i DO still have the tape on the holes! Should they be taken off? I never really saw that mentioned anywhere, only *ZOMG CONTAMINATION BE CAREFUL!!!11*
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Jean-Luc Picard
I only wish i was this good!



Registered: 12/30/07
Posts: 4,695
Loc: New Mexico, USA
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Re: Roots growing very slowly [Re: Gameshot911]
#9086780 - 10/16/08 01:40 PM (16 years, 3 months ago) |
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yes tape needs to come off, the dry vermiculite at the top acts as a contamination barrier
-------------------- The universe is under no obligation to make sense to you - NDT
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Boris
Viking Warrior, of Valour




Registered: 08/28/08
Posts: 2,225
Loc: TX.
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Not telling ya to do this... but I replaced my lid disks with a disk of thick stiff felt. I purchased a sheet for like 50 cents at a craft store, placed the metal lid disk on the felt, traced off the circle, and cut them out. Or you could buy them from the vendors for an arm and a leg. 


On my first grow I had the same concern. Colonization was FAR too slow. I later figured out my moisture content in my substrate was off (Too much water), and I kept the tape on (No gas exchange)cause I was over cautious for contams, and didn't take into consideration for Co2 buildup/o2 starvation.
The filter disks both leveled out my moisture content, and solved the gas exchange. But true gas exchange is just enough opening to let gasses out, not to let excess amounts of o2 in. Allot of people will frown on the idea of a filter disk replacing a lid disk cause it allows too much FAE, but I wanted that moisture out. The result of excess FAE personally for me was, FAST myc growth, and omitted that 5-7 waiting after 100% colonization. 1-2 days after they hit 100% colonization, they started pining in the jar. I just birthed (Dunk/roll) like normal, and everything was fine... Al-tho when I noticed if you have pins, and you dunk for 24 hrs, the pins abort. Knots on the other hand survive the dunk it seems.
-------------------- AMU
Terence McKenna Said:
"We have to create culture, don't watch TV, don't read magazines, don't even listen to NPR. Create your own roadshow. The nexus of space and time where you are now is the most immediate sector of your universe, and if you're worrying about Michael Jackson or Bill Clinton or somebody else, then you are disempowered, you're giving it all away to icons, icons which are maintained by an electronic media so that you want to dress like X or have lips like Y. This is shit-brained, this kind of thinking. That is all cultural diversion, and what is real is you and your friends and your associations, your highs, your orgasms, your hopes, your plans, your fears. And we are told 'no', we're unimportant, we're peripheral. 'Get a degree, get a job, get a this, get a that.' And then you're a player, you don't want to even play in that game. You want to reclaim your mind and get it out of the hands of the cultural engineers who want to turn you into a half-baked moron consuming all this trash that's being manufactured out of the bones of a dying world."
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Gameshot911
Stranger
Registered: 10/16/08
Posts: 11
Last seen: 12 years, 11 months
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Re: Roots growing very slowly [Re: Boris]
#9087194 - 10/16/08 03:19 PM (16 years, 3 months ago) |
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Thanks to everyone for the advice.
In regards to moisture content, like I said before when I was heating them I saw moisture building up on the inside of the jar.
I wonder if I could have too much moisture in my cans. I used a pressure cooker to sterilize the jar and substrate, but I just put some tin foil over the top of the jars throughout the cooking process. Since I had already put the holes in it, I'm worried that this could have let too much water in. Could this be an issue, and how can i avoid this in the future?
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RogerRabbit
Bans for Pleasure



Registered: 03/26/03
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Loc: Seattle
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Re: Roots growing very slowly [Re: Gameshot911]
#9087342 - 10/16/08 04:06 PM (16 years, 3 months ago) |
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If they're too wet, mycelium can't permeate the substrate. If you've now opened up the holes, you're fine. You want the four inoculation holes open for gas exchange, but no more than that. If you allow too much fresh air, fruiting performance will suffer later, as well as cause premature pinning and drying out of the substrate.
If the tape you used was breathable tape such as micropore medical tape, then that isn't the problem. If it was duct tape or similar, then your mycelium was starving for air. RR
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