Dark Side Of The Moon.....

**UPDATE** Jar#2 -GT is showing signs of growth as of this morning! No signs of any of that pale green like is on jar#1. So I take that as a + this morning..

The myc growth looks good, but that green is definitely mold. Don't even open the jar, just throw that whole jar in the trash outside!

Looks like your moving along well here dank. Did you cook the WBS at all before PCing it? When I ran WBS, I found it was suggested to simmer the seed to allow it to absorb some moisture. If it works without simmering though I like removing extra steps when I can . Guess we'll see soon.

~Dankster~420 said:

ok. well what would you suggest to use as my medium for chamber once these have colonized ?: Also, did you take a look at jar#1 GT ?: Is that contaminant ?:

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use a plenum, nothing else is half as good. And that business of soaking everything is just silly.

Well shit. Thanks 4 confirmation. i had thought it was so I went ahead and just sit that 1 aside. The jar#2 of GT has a small patch starting on bottom, seems to look like cotton 2 me.. lol All nice & white, which is what I am looking 4 correct ?: Didnt simmer the WBS. Although I did wash 3 times, let sit in water after that for 15 minutes or so then gave it another quick rinse, & the PC did the same way. OK.. as 2 my medium to use in my fruiting chamber ?: I am getting mixed information as what to use .. lol Also I seen a few pictures a few pg's back that had Shrooms growing on a bible, burrito,etc' lol. How is that possible ?:

Thundercat said:

The myc growth looks good, but that green is definitely mold. Don't even open the jar, just throw that whole jar in the trash outside!

Looks like your moving along well here dank. Did you cook the WBS at all before PCing it? When I ran WBS, I found it was suggested to simmer the seed to allow it to absorb some moisture. If it works without simmering though I like removing extra steps when I can . Guess we'll see soon.

Click to expand...

So its silly to wash your medium a few times ?: bc that's all that was done really, took 15 minutes to wash all the BS out and get it clean enough to use & pick out all the SS.

canndo said:

use a plenum, nothing else is half as good. And that business of soaking everything is just silly.

Click to expand...

~Dankster~420 said:

So its silly to wash your medium a few times ?: bc that's all that was done really, took 15 minutes to wash all the BS out and get it clean enough to use & pick out all the SS.

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no, it is silly to use any wet bedding to control humidity.

That white cottony growth is definitely what you want Dank. I believe removing the sunflower seeds is because they can burst and are more likely to cause contams. I really don't know how "true" everything I've read or done was. I researched for several months, and then was directed through the process by a friend on here that sent me my spores and told me how HE did things. What he did seemed pretty well in line with what I'd been reading and so I began. I felt like I was pretty successful at a basic level. I never got into agar, or cloneing. I took a bunch of spore prints, and if I'm lucky they were clean. They've been stored away on foil un opened ever since I took them so maybe I'll be able to use them to start again some day.

As far as growing on other things. P cubensis is a very adaptable organism. If you give it the right conditions I believe it can grow in lots of places, on lots of things. What we generally try to do when growing them though is to use the best/most convenient methods and substrates. From my understanding manure is an outstanding growth medium, but personally I didn't want to mess with poop. Just like growing weed there are lots of ways to do it.

Im lost. lol I don't have any "wet bedding" yet. I haven't even decided on my medium to use in the fruiting chamber. I just have them in there (dry) where its a constant 80 to 82 degree's.

canndo said:

no, it is silly to use any wet bedding to control humidity.

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OK cool. Thanks bro, very understandable. I have my glove box already made for taking the spore prints. I suppose I need to brush up on the agar. You storing your prints in the fridge ?: that's where I had read to store any syringes for longer shelf life ?:

Thundercat said:

That white cottony growth is definitely what you want Dank. I believe removing the sunflower seeds is because they can burst and are more likely to cause contams. I really don't know how "true" everything I've read or done was. I researched for several months, and then was directed through the process by a friend on here that sent me my spores and told me how HE did things. What he did seemed pretty well in line with what I'd been reading and so I began. I felt like I was pretty successful at a basic level. I never got into agar, or cloneing. I took a bunch of spore prints, and if I'm lucky they were clean. They've been stored away on foil un opened ever since I took them so maybe I'll be able to use them to start again some day.

As far as growing on other things. P cubensis is a very adaptable organism. If you give it the right conditions I believe it can grow in lots of places, on lots of things. What we generally try to do when growing them though is to use the best/most convenient methods and substrates. From my understanding manure is an outstanding growth medium, but personally I didn't want to mess with poop. Just like growing weed there are lots of ways to do it.

Click to expand...

My prints are simply in a box with my unused(empty) syringes. I have moved twice since my mushroom grow, I used to keep my syringes in the fridge, but it just wasn't practical to try to keep the prints in there the last 5 years. When I finally have my own house instead of renting, I am gonna have a mini fridge to keep my beans, spores, pollen, and anything else that I decide should be in there .

I hear that bro & good idea

Thundercat said:

My prints are simply in a box with my unused(empty) syringes. I have moved twice since my mushroom grow, I used to keep my syringes in the fridge, but it just wasn't practical to try to keep the prints in there the last 5 years. When I finally have my own house instead of renting, I am gonna have a mini fridge to keep my beans, spores, pollen, and anything else that I decide should be in there .

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Thundercat said:

My prints are simply in a box with my unused(empty) syringes. I have moved twice since my mushroom grow, I used to keep my syringes in the fridge, but it just wasn't practical to try to keep the prints in there the last 5 years. When I finally have my own house instead of renting, I am gonna have a mini fridge to keep my beans, spores, pollen, and anything else that I decide should be in there .

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Spores come from the fruit fully hydrated. As they age, they get dehydrated, they are still viable but they will not germinate unless and until they are hydrated again. 5 year old spores will take some work to get going again. I have managed to get 10 year old ones going but it took using a vaccuum jar and a few days at low pressure in sterile water to get some action. However, one by one they will die, permanently so your once abundant cache of spores will slowly become sparce.

I have found that it makes sense to store syringes in ultra cool, simply because it keeps the water from destroying the spore - which it will, finally do. but prints need not be stored anywhere in the cold if you don't want. Remember however, a kitchen refridge is FILLED with contamination of every sort.

canndo said:

Spores come from the fruit fully hydrated. As they age, they get dehydrated, they are still viable but they will not germinate unless and until they are hydrated again. 5 year old spores will take some work to get going again. I have managed to get 10 year old ones going but it took using a vaccuum jar and a few days at low pressure in sterile water to get some action. However, one by one they will die, permanently so your once abundant cache of spores will slowly become sparce.

I have found that it makes sense to store syringes in ultra cool, simply because it keeps the water from destroying the spore - which it will, finally do. but prints need not be stored anywhere in the cold if you don't want. Remember however, a kitchen refridge is FILLED with contamination of every sort.

Click to expand...

Thats how I thought it kinda worked. I figured if I ever get around to trying to use these spores, I'd make the syringes, and let them rehydrate for a few days. Honestly I've always figured they were prolly a lost cause and I'd end up getting new ones. I also want to venture into agar next time so that I can isolate a monoculture.

~Dankster~420 said:

Im lost. lol I don't have any "wet bedding" yet. I haven't even decided on my medium to use in the fruiting chamber. I just have them in there (dry) where its a constant 80 to 82 degree's.

Click to expand...

We were talking about your humidity system in your fruiting chamber. Many people use soaked pearlite (I don't like to use pearlte at all, for any purpose, mostly because it is white).


Now examine closely what you are attempting to do. You will be putting a soaked absorbant material at the base of a box that has holes in it.


What does your mushroom want? It wants very high co2 for the first part of its life, then ambient levels. It also wants in excess of 85 percent humidity, more likely 90 - 95. In order to stave off contamination, your mushroom needs gently flowing air as well, you will find that contamination usually occurs where the air is stagnant and then uses that as a foothold.

So what are you going to do? wet pearlite, holes, and "fanning" once or twice or three tmes a day is pitting one need against the other. The more you "fan" the less rh, the more holes, the less rh, the less you fan, the higher the CO2. If you so much as look at them, you will have to wait hours for your rh to level up and the air remains stagnant and becomes more co2 rich when you leave them alone.


The typical method used of big holes, stuffed with some sort of filter, with large amounts of water that harbors contaminations at the bottom, is a sad joke that people play on themselves.


You can NEVER manage the rh or the air flow with that system.

Now I know i am going to again get flack because hundreds of people here have used that method with success and because they are using a very forgiving species, of course, it works and so they are going to claim that, because it "worked" for them, it must be the best way or that I am insulting them for calling it silly. When you examine what needs to be done and compare it to the pearlite method, you will see how silly it is as well.

The fact is that there are far far better ways of not only controling rh within your chamber but giving your organism precisely what it needs in the way of air flow, co2, warmth and humidity with far less work and far more stability. This will net you the highest yields you can get from your substrate in the earliest time with the least amount of contamination for the longest time before you crash.

~Dankster~420 said:

Im lost. lol I don't have any "wet bedding" yet. I haven't even decided on my medium to use in the fruiting chamber. I just have them in there (dry) where its a constant 80 to 82 degree's.

Click to expand...

We were talking about your humidity system in your fruiting chamber. Many people use soaked pearlite (I don't like to use pearlte at all, for any purpose, mostly because it is white).


Now examine closely what you are attempting to do. You will be putting a soaked absorbant material at the base of a box that has holes in it.


What does your mushroom want? It wants very high co2 for the first part of its life, then ambient levels. It also wants in excess of 85 percent humidity, more likely 90 - 95. In order to stave off contamination, your mushroom needs gently flowing air as well, you will find that contamination usually occurs where the air is stagnant and then uses that as a foothold.

So what are you going to do? wet pearlite, holes, and "fanning" once or twice or three tmes a day is pitting one need against the other. The more you "fan" the less rh, the more holes, the less rh, the less you fan, the higher the CO2. If you so much as look at them, you will have to wait hours for your rh to level up and the air remains stagnant and becomes more co2 rich when you leave them alone.


The typical method used of big holes, stuffed with some sort of filter, with large amounts of water that harbors contaminations at the bottom, is a sad joke that people play on themselves.


You can NEVER manage the rh or the air flow with that system.

Now I know i am going to again get flack because hundreds of people here have used that method with success and because they are using a very forgiving species, of course, it works and so they are going to claim that, because it "worked" for them, it must be the best way or that I am insulting them for calling it silly. When you examine what needs to be done and compare it to the pearlite method, you will see how silly it is as well.
fact is that there are far far better ways of not only controling rh within your chamber but giving your organism precisely what it needs in the way of air flow, co2, warmth and humidity with far less work and far more stability. This will net you the highest yields you can get from your substrate in the earliest time with the least amount of contamination for the longest time before you crash.


The

Thundercat said:

Thats how I thought it kinda worked. I figured if I ever get around to trying to use these spores, I'd make the syringes, and let them rehydrate for a few days. Honestly I've always figured they were prolly a lost cause and I'd end up getting new ones. I also want to venture into agar next time so that I can isolate a monoculture.

Click to expand...

Monocultures are infinitely superior once you get to finding a strain that you really like. You can do you isolation on agar or you can simply take a clone of a mushroom that you like - but the best way to propagate that clone is agar.

canndo said:

We were talking about your humidity system in your fruiting chamber. Many people use soaked pearlite (I don't like to use pearlte at all, for any purpose, mostly because it is white).


Now examine closely what you are attempting to do. You will be putting a soaked absorbant material at the base of a box that has holes in it.


What does your mushroom want? It wants very high co2 for the first part of its life, then ambient levels. It also wants in excess of 85 percent humidity, more likely 90 - 95. In order to stave off contamination, your mushroom needs gently flowing air as well, you will find that contamination usually occurs where the air is stagnant and then uses that as a foothold.

So what are you going to do? wet pearlite, holes, and "fanning" once or twice or three tmes a day is pitting one need against the other. The more you "fan" the less rh, the more holes, the less rh, the less you fan, the higher the CO2. If you so much as look at them, you will have to wait hours for your rh to level up and the air remains stagnant and becomes more co2 rich when you leave them alone.


The typical method used of big holes, stuffed with some sort of filter, with large amounts of water that harbors contaminations at the bottom, is a sad joke that people play on themselves.


You can NEVER manage the rh or the air flow with that system.

Now I know i am going to again get flack because hundreds of people here have used that method with success and because they are using a very forgiving species, of course, it works and so they are going to claim that, because it "worked" for them, it must be the best way or that I am insulting them for calling it silly. When you examine what needs to be done and compare it to the pearlite method, you will see how silly it is as well.

The fact is that there are far far better ways of not only controling rh within your chamber but giving your organism precisely what it needs in the way of air flow, co2, warmth and humidity with far less work and far more stability. This will net you the highest yields you can get from your substrate in the earliest time with the least amount of contamination for the longest time before you crash.

Click to expand...

I admit that was my method and it worked, quite well might I add with no problems at that stage. not taking offense, even though I'm not cultivating anymore, what's the best way in keeping the conditions right? Just seemed that keeping the humidity up with frequent air exchange was key for a good bountiful harvest.

I had a large rubber made tub with a heat pad on low which evaporated the water with h2o2 in it to attempt to prevent contamination and used a computer fan modified on a timer for air exchange (I do see your point, I'm not contesting it, my friend used a mister for a much larger setup inside an enclosed rack with plastic around it using a a fan for air exchange on a timer, the setup was really slick)

Still mo plenum. You can build a mini plenum for 50 bucks or a precise one for about a bill. Mine will perform as little as 1 replacement per hour to 8, humidity from 80 to 100 in one percent increments to as many as three hundred cubic feet, depending on excange rates. I only have to service it every three days
you don't need that capacity unless you are doing home grows of eatables like oysters or shaggies. There is a picture of my plenum on this site somewhere. You can even control temps that way but I prefer to have a large differential between my substrate and the surrounding atmosphere.

OK. What do you yourself use as a medium in your fruiting chamber ?: Also do you place it in a tote ?: Or something else ?: And a plenum I seen/read about is running around $350-$425 US.
Would you happen to have a link to how to construct one ?: I could see how it would work much better then the previous method.

canndo said:

We were talking about your humidity system in your fruiting chamber. Many people use soaked pearlite (I don't like to use pearlte at all, for any purpose, mostly because it is white).


Now examine closely what you are attempting to do. You will be putting a soaked absorbant material at the base of a box that has holes in it.


What does your mushroom want? It wants very high co2 for the first part of its life, then ambient levels. It also wants in excess of 85 percent humidity, more likely 90 - 95. In order to stave off contamination, your mushroom needs gently flowing air as well, you will find that contamination usually occurs where the air is stagnant and then uses that as a foothold.

So what are you going to do? wet pearlite, holes, and "fanning" once or twice or three tmes a day is pitting one need against the other. The more you "fan" the less rh, the more holes, the less rh, the less you fan, the higher the CO2. If you so much as look at them, you will have to wait hours for your rh to level up and the air remains stagnant and becomes more co2 rich when you leave them alone.


The typical method used of big holes, stuffed with some sort of filter, with large amounts of water that harbors contaminations at the bottom, is a sad joke that people play on themselves.


You can NEVER manage the rh or the air flow with that system.

Now I know i am going to again get flack because hundreds of people here have used that method with success and because they are using a very forgiving species, of course, it works and so they are going to claim that, because it "worked" for them, it must be the best way or that I am insulting them for calling it silly. When you examine what needs to be done and compare it to the pearlite method, you will see how silly it is as well.

The fact is that there are far far better ways of not only controling rh within your chamber but giving your organism precisely what it needs in the way of air flow, co2, warmth and humidity with far less work and far more stability. This will net you the highest yields you can get from your substrate in the earliest time with the least amount of contamination for the longest time before you crash.

Click to expand...

canndo said:

Still mo plenum. You can build a mini plenum for 50 bucks or a precise one for about a bill. Mine will perform as little as 1 replacement per hour to 8, humidity from 80 to 100 in one percent increments to as many as three hundred cubic feet, depending on excange rates. I only have to service it every three days
you don't need that capacity unless you are doing home grows of eatables like oysters or shaggies. There is a picture of my plenum on this site somewhere. You can even control temps that way but I prefer to have a large differential between my substrate and the surrounding atmosphere.

Click to expand...

Is this something like you where talking about ?: