My cat also has a couple mycobags on the way. He's gonna store it in 2 black trash bags (which I hear comes sterile) after noc'ing up with B+ and Cambodian. Black, to block out the light, 2 for double assurance (leaving the top of the bag open for gas exchange). While reading some posts, I learned that keeping the bags upright for gas exchange through the filter patch is good... but what do I know? I'm new here.
-------------------- Brand spankin' new..
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OK I'll give you a rundown of what to do, as I just noc'ed up 2 bags last Friday.. The #1 thing for starters is STERILITY - go to CVS and get latex gloves, oust/lysol, 70% alcohol & a spray bottle, 70% alcohol wipes.. When you're ready to inoculate, try and do it in the middle of a bedroom, up high off the ground.. I put a big box on top of a bar-stool..
Now 1st of all, make sure you just showered and washed your hands thoroughly.. Put some latex gloves on and spray w/ alcohol spray.. Get your Mycobag out [I thoroughly recommend MadSeason], and if the substrate is really hard and compressed, massage it a little to soften it.. Now wipe the injector port w/ an alcohol wipe, and leave it on there covering it..
Next w/ your syringe - as you're sliding the cap off the needle, try and slide an alcohol wipe right over it as you're doing it - you wanna try and prevent it from coming in contact w/ air.. If the syringe is brand-new, don't bother flaming it - no need.. Now what I did, is I injected the needle right thru the alcohol wipe on the injector port - just to be really safe.. I went in at an angle to the left or right, and pushed the needle all the way in.. Then I pushed my hand holding the needle inwards, and I saw the needle in the bag emerge outta the substrate.. When you do this correctly, you see the needle right in between the substrate and the wall of the bag.. This is where you want it - you want to inject right along that wall, and actually see the liquid come out..
So I injected 2cc all the way to the left, and another 2cc all the way to the right.. Now at this point, the bag is not gonna be inflated or hold itself open - but just keep it extended as much as you can.. Now after you've injected - the BIGGEST thing I can tell you is to NOT touch the bag anymore, no more massaging! This is what ruins so many people's bags on here, and I'll tell you why..
Now at this point, I put my bags in the box they came in - which I put on top of my warm stereo.. I notice that the box got a little too warm, so I put a folded T-shirt in there which is perfect.. Here's what it looks like:
Now at this stage, it's the waiting game.. I've read ALOT of threads on here, and based on what people do and how they inoculated - they may be waiting a LONG time before they see anything.. If you inject into the middle of the substrate - you'll be waiting weeks to see growth.. And if you start massaging the bag everyday, thinking you're helping - you will also be waiting a LONG time, because you're actually preventing the mycelium from growing.. Just think about a jar - there's no way you can disturb the substrate thru a bag, so they have a high success rate.. With a bag tho, it's so easy to disturb it - so if you keep handling it, just forget about growing anything..
Now I took this advice seriously, and did NOT handle my bags.. Sure, I looked at them a couple times a day, but that was it.. And what happened was, I woke up on the 3rd day, and saw growth! Out of all the Mycobag threads I'd read using regular old spore-solution, I'd never seen someone get growth that quick.. And now I'm 5 days into it, and the mycelium is quite established in both bags, and I couldn't be happier.. Here's a pic right here, it's tough to see, cuz my macro sucks, but you can at least get an idea of what it looks like when you 1st get growth..
Now I'm using the MadSeason bags, and Sporeworks syringes - and I can't say enough about how good they are.. And if you're gonna get into this, try and follow what I did exactly.. Don't touch or massage the bags after injecting - #1 thing! And just think if you follow these instructions, you should DEFINITELY be seeing growth within 5 days.. Any other questions, just let me know.. My grow log will continue to be updated with pictures..
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