about a week ago i ran across the honey idea while perusing the boards, and unable to find anything concrete -- other than use 1tsp per pint of water -- i decided to take matters into my own head.

i took regular "Sue Bee" clover honey, dropped about a tsp into about a pint of water which was sterilized in a microwave in a presterilized mayonaise jar for 8 minutes (i put seran wrap around the lid with a hole in the top for venting since metal lids are not microwave friendly). I then let the liquid cool for a few hours, innoculated the honey water with some PF spores, put the real lid on (which i had sterilized by boiling for 10-15 minutes -- just make sure you remove the liner in the lid or it will boil out).

after about a day i noticed the first signs of life. after about three days, the growth had reached its stalling point, and i waited about three more days just to see.

finally, i prepared substrate as described in the MMGG, sterlized a syringe and filled it with +10cc of mycelial liquid -- making sure to get as much of the fuzz and balls as I could. The results? After about three hours I noticed the first definite signs of colonization... after about thirty six hours, the growth was very noticeable (around 5-10% colonized). And that is as of this morning.

Basically, i'm pleased. Next time i will make sure to use a smaller jar, as the mayo jar was almost too big for the syringe. I also read somewhere about yellow honey from a health food store being more beneficial for mycelial growth.

I've still got a decent amount of liquid left and am preparing to try my hand at the 9er Tek with honey water instead of shroom water -- seeing as how I don't have any shrooms yet, but plenty of honey water.

As time progresses, i will definitely update my results. :B

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I always thought that "Stop, Drop, and Roll" was a way to save your life if you caught on fire, but then I realized my grade school teachers were advocating my later drug use.

My friend has a few jars going, 1 tsp per a 1/2 pt jar. A few days and there is some dandruffy/flake stuff at the bottom, but it doesn't look like much.

i swirled them around about twice a day to break it up and hopefully promote a more even growth. Oh, one other thing, when i check the new cakes, the mycelial growth has almost doubled since this morning! (about 18 hours) I'm sure that by the middle of next week i'll have two more cakes ready to birth!

more good news too: my first set of cakes -- which i impatiently birthed too early -- are pinning and should have some harvestable fruit by Valentines Day... what better way to spend the holiday...

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I always thought that "Stop, Drop, and Roll" was a way to save your life if you caught on fire, but then I realized my grade school teachers were advocating my later drug use.

i had experimented with the honey tek as well...i had innoculated about 2cc of water into a jar filled with 250ml water and 1 tsp. of honey...

after about 6 days now all i have are like dandruffy flakes at the bottom as well, and they start to cloud around after i shake it and hte marble (which i put in there so it would agitate the liquid) just scatters it..

anyways, is this any sign of growth? it did get cloudy...

here's the picture...

cheers..

[This message has been edited by boO (edited February 05, 2000).]

MunkeyKing- how over are you swishing your jars about? I wonder if agitating too much would prevent mycellium from forming.
(damn impatient monster I am, I can't stop swishing)

thanks for you help everyone, this thread is turning out to be pretty interesting to me. If my friend gets liquid mycellium working, it won't be long before he can colonize those big-ass spawn bags.

anyways, i was wondering if those who tried the honey tek get the same results as me...as in if their liquid looks similar to mine...i'd like to know so i can either 1. throw this shit out or 2. continue on...

cheers

In addition this is how the Chinese do a lot of mass mushroom farming, but they have large vats and have them with aeration (oxygenation) to improve growth.

Low Tech-High Volume, the Chinese way.

I'm worried the flakes may be wax from the honey.. who knows. its only been a few days for my friend. But your coloration there, if it came in slow might be some sort of contam.

I like honey more than molasses as its in every kitchen I know. Plus I love the honey bear. So I'd like to see my friend get it working.
thanks utinsfey, did I mention my friend grows shiitakes too? What a concidence.

BTW:Off of a 12oz bottel, could you just drink it and trip? It seems like to little to trip off of. anyone tried it?

However, the substrates I innoculated with the liquid mycelium are already about 75% colonized. I also prepared some substrate as per the 9er tek: it started slow, but seems to be moving pretty fast. Those are about three days old as well.

And my birthed cakes are beginning to fruit... my first harvest!

i have a question for every one -- on my birthed cakes i have on three out of the four some little (about 1-1.5cm diam) light golden "bulbs" forming. Is this contamination or an abhort?

also, what is the optimum temperature for fruiting? i've been using two ice packs to drop the temp and shock them... should i leave the icepacks out now, or continue to use em?

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I always thought that "Stop, Drop, and Roll" was a way to save your life if you caught on fire, but then I realized my grade school teachers were advocating my later drug use.

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-From a registered Mad Scientist

"From a certain point of view"
-Jedi Master Obiwan Kenobi (also a Mad Scientist tm)

i started a new honey liquid jar again just 2 days ago. when i compared the colors of the other jar which i posted the pic of and the new one, it did get cloudy abit....but nothing has happened to that jar...fortunately wiht the new jar, i am seeing some white "balls." hopefully this will mean something

cheers

if any of u guys care to see a pic, just ask and i'll gladly take pictures

My idea about using a cork for the honey mycellium water container seems to have worked wonderfully. I sterilized a few syringes last Friday and filled them with the honey mycellium water from the corked beer bottle. Not one jar is contaminated. Since I have so much solution I was very very generous to each jar by giving 3 or 4 ml to each. This is the greatest thing that ever happened to my whole shroom garden.

By the way, I was just at the local brew store and the hand held corker I own is only $4.99. Trust me, this is cool, it really works.

[This message has been edited by Fonz (edited February 09, 2000).]

Do you know much about corking? I'm wondering if after I put that cork in, if I put a beercap on that would hold it in.

Also, the bottles are tipped on their side when pressuring cooking, in case that would matter.

Well, it's obvious there's a pressure increase
in your bottles, which would be nullified
by a hole at the top of the bottle, but if it
were horizontal, wouldn't water spew out the
hole, or did you put holes in the tops?

bonghits anyone?

But if Fonz is having to tip his too (which he'd have to, unless he has a really tall p.cooker) than that won't do it U'pope.