Quote:

I want to use it to get my PH in bulk to around 8-ish
EDIT^^ I use hydrated lime already, but at just an eyeballed amount, it works nicely, but I really just want to get a PH meter to be sure.

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The shroomy 1 said:

Maybe mine was defective, but I ended up throwing that piece of shit away within a week.

The Shroomy 1

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RogerRabbit said:

Quote:

I want to use it to get my PH in bulk to around 8-ish
EDIT^^ I use hydrated lime already, but at just an eyeballed amount, it works nicely, but I really just want to get a PH meter to be sure.

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That was a mistake.  Mycelium prefers a substrate in the 5.5 to 6.5 range.  We only lime casing layers(when used) to make them less hospitable to molds, since casings don't fully colonize.  Since substrates fully colonize, they're fine right out of the bag if coir, or right out of the field if manure.  Add gypsum if you have it, but not lime.

That pH tester will be OK for your houseplants, but I've found them to read all over the place when used in manure or coir.
RR

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Hmm, I use coir/verm/coffee grounds/gypsum/lime
in the respective ratios of about(i eyeball everything) 50%/30%/10%/5%/5%

Anything wrong with that mix, or anything I should tweak? it seems to be working pretty well

fr33d0mfry said:

Hmm, I use coir/verm/coffee grounds/gypsum/lime
in the respective ratios of about(i eyeball everything) 50%/30%/10%/5%/5%

Anything wrong with that mix, or anything I should tweak? it seems to be working pretty well

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RogerRabbit said:

fr33d0mfry said:

Hmm, I use coir/verm/coffee grounds/gypsum/lime
in the respective ratios of about(i eyeball everything) 50%/30%/10%/5%/5%

Anything wrong with that mix, or anything I should tweak? it seems to be working pretty well

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Omit the lime next time and I think you'll be happy.  The fact that it works is a great testament to how adaptive cubensis actually is.  I used to lime substrates as well, but realized a few years ago that the mycelium actually prefers acidic substrates after running a series of tests in petri dishes of various pH mediums.
RR

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Quote:

im just paranoid about trich raping my substrate before the mycelia can get it 100%

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RogerRabbit said:

Quote:

I want to use it to get my PH in bulk to around 8-ish
EDIT^^ I use hydrated lime already, but at just an eyeballed amount, it works nicely, but I really just want to get a PH meter to be sure.

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That was a mistake.  Mycelium prefers a substrate in the 5.5 to 6.5 range.

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I was reading at another board and someone posted different info.  Why do you think mycelium like that PH?  Do you have any background info I can read?  I know fungi prefers a lower PH vs bacteria but Ive never read of that tight of a PH range.


Someone posted this at another (unnamed board ) and it seems very well studied.  Its from Penn State I think:

Quote:

a. pH - There seems to be little or no correlation between compost pH, subsequent mycelial growth, and ultimate yield. Determinations of pH made at the time of spawning seem to be acceptable all the way from a pH of 6.5 to 8.2. The compost pH during a crop decreases from 7.5 at spawning to 6.0 after cropping. Attempts to correlate pH of the compost with spawn growth and ultimate yield have been unsuccessful. Composts have been found with relatively high pH, containing no ammonia and supporting good mycelial growth. On the other hand, composts with a relatively low pH, 6.7, containing considerable ammonia and supporting little or no spawn growth have been observed.

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I too add PH adjuster to my bulk.  I want to order this great soil PH meter.  It also measures moisture so  it will be easy to get the perfect filed capacity around 70-75%: http://fungi.com/tools/ph.html

Quote:

Moisture and Acidity Meter
This remarkable unit simultaneously reads the moisture content and pH of the substrate into which it is inserted. It is especially useful for composing the casing soil and for insuring maximum primordia formation. Effective range: pH 4–pH 9.

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-goose2r

RogerRabbit said:

The fact that it works is a great testament to how adaptive cubensis actually is.  I used to lime substrates as well, but realized a few years ago that the mycelium actually prefers acidic substrates after running a series of tests in petri dishes of various pH mediums.
RR

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shroomer17 said:

But liming a substrate will probably throw the pH range for the substrate out of 'optimal' for mushroom mycelium, and while it may still grow, the results may be less than optimal (longer spawn run, less fruiting, etc - this is all speculation though).

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Quote:

Also, in my experience, the soil-test pH meters of that style are almost always useless.  If you're really concerned about the pH of your substrates & casings, then get a digital pH pen like the one posted above.  Mix some substrate with distilled water, let it sit and then filter out the sediments with a coffee filter (thanks RR for this tip).  Then test this water with the pH pen and you should get a very accurate result.

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goose2r said:

shroomer17 said:

But liming a substrate will probably throw the pH range for the substrate out of 'optimal' for mushroom mycelium, and while it may still grow, the results may be less than optimal (longer spawn run, less fruiting, etc - this is all speculation though).

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Well put and I agree.  But what is optimal?  I like RRs testing but it was with agar so I don't see too much of a direct connection to bulk subs.

Quote:

Also, in my experience, the soil-test pH meters of that style are almost always useless.  If you're really concerned about the pH of your substrates & casings, then get a digital pH pen like the one posted above.  Mix some substrate with distilled water, let it sit and then filter out the sediments with a coffee filter (thanks RR for this tip).  Then test this water with the pH pen and you should get a very accurate result.

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Mixing substrate with water does not give you accurate PH of the media, a "hobby" digital meter is for liquids.  You need to test the moistened soil directly with a probe.  The PH/moisture meter I linked to is from Fungi Perfecti and is around $120.00.  My buddy has one he uses for cannabis and it works really well.  He had his 'homemade' media tested at a soil testing lab (which also does "Washington Heavy Metal Test", etc) and the lab found the PH to be almost identical to that of the PH meter I linked to when he tested it.

I have used other cheap soil probe PH meters and they don't work worth crap. 

-goose2r

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