Golden Teacher PF tek, Mono Tek grow

yeah your right, I will leave it as it is, 5 sides drilled should give plenty of air for when im not around. Along with the air exchanger it should be fine while i sleep and do other stuff. I will mist then fan daily as suggested by pf tek.

JP

Drill ALL sides and DONT use the air pump. Rinse the perlite well first and with the volume you put in there it wont fall out the bottom, its like putting soil in a pot with holes in the bottom, the soil still stays in the pot. With only five sides drilled there is no air entering from the bottom which is how the perlite humidifies the chamber. Through the natural process of evaporation humid air is slowly rising from the perlite into your chamber and without holes on the bottom your environment will be off and inconsistant throughout the chamber. Dont worry about misting and fanning overnight, so ditch the air pump. The shotgun chamber is basically automated and would still preform without fanning and misting, it just improves preformance but its nothing to stress about while you sleep. Also, 4cc's is enough for 2 quart jars.

thanks for the info. i will drill the bottom holes so the perlite can breathe. should i put a couple cd cases or something under it so air can get under there?

JP

Yes, but you would need 4 tall stacks of cd's. If you can get wood blocks or 4 tall cans or something for each corner that would work, just raise it a good 6" or more.

Ahh i see, cool i will raise it 6 inches so air can get under there. Thanks a bunch!

I have a larger container on the way for a fruiting chamber but i wanted to iron out the wrinkles in the plan on a smaller scale first since i have only six 1/2 quart jars knocked up at the moment.
Once i move to a Pressure cooker, then i will use the large fruiting chamber for my bulk projects. But for now its the smaller one.

JP

ive had issues with fine perlite and holesi n the bottom before, i just bought some window screen and lines the bottom of my fruiting chamber with it, now between flushes if i wanna rehydrate the perlite i can just sit the whole thing in the bath tub, run a little water in it, add some h202 and stir it all up, smooth it back out and put the cakes back after their dunk/roll

WOW thats a really good idea! I think i will round up some screen. do you need the non aluminum kind? i hear tell that mycellium will eat through aluminum like its nothing.

JP

I think the black plastic kind is cheaper anyways...

Well if you guys don't mind... I think I'll just pull up a chair here on 3rd row and enjoy the show...!!!

Best of Luck..!!!

Hey JP it looks like your off to a good start. Can't wait to see how it all turns out for you. If you don't mind, how much $$ have you got invested into this so far. I'm just curious to know because I might try to grow me some shrooms sometime in the near future.

i use a fiberglass screen i got a lowes, didnt put to much thought into it. and only the perlite and water would be touching it anyways

Don't invest in all those syringes just a box of empty ones , It's too easy to make them your self. When your mushrooms are fruiting and the veil is about to break take a scalpel and chop the cap off before the veil breaks. Then in a sterilized area take a shot glass with distilled water putt a paper clip across the shot glass so the cap doesn't fall in. putt the cap over the shot glass, when it dries the spores will drop into the water, suck it up with a hypo, and that's it bro, you made you own syringe, You can make all the solution in the world 1nc you get to the point of fruiting and the spores are about to drop. with 1cc you can inoculate 1qrt mason jars of rye berries you don't need any more then that. I use straw for substrate , strait from the farmers market none of that kit shit, U can make a lot of things yourself I find, like instead of expensive terraruims u can go to wal-mart and get cheap transparent bins or toste for growing chambers. This way with the cheaper chambers and cheap bulk straw you can start growing on a bigger scale

Most of the gear required for growing mushrooms can be bought at walmart. A large clear tote cost me 10 dollars and will be plenty of room for fruiting
I found that if you look on craigs list people are giving away horse poo all the time. Star bucks gives free coffee grounds if you ask for them. the postal service gives away tyvek envelopes for the asking.

I will deffinately try making my own prints and syringes from the mushrooms if i get them to grow. the incubator is just a tub in tub design with water and a aquarium heater. As i said the fruiting chamber is going to be a large clear tote. ill drill holes in all six sides and place 5 inches of perlite in the bottom. if your willing to build it yourself you can get setup for pretty cheap.

Im hoping to buy spore syringes once only and make my own. ive been studying the lets grow videos mushrooms from RR as well as checking out different forums.

JP

got my food dehydrator in, was a good deal for the nesco on amazon, free shipping even.




This will be used MUCH later! also received my capsules as i plan to test some by powdering them and filling 000 caps. more on this later as the grow develops

JP

how long would it typically take to fully colonize a GT pk tek jar? im thinking two weeks plus one week of consolidation if everything goes right

JP

I've been doing some more research and i found out that I needed to lower the temp from 86 to 81 in my incubator because the myc grows faster at this temp than at 86 as previously thought. so i removed the top tub, reset the heater to 81 and replaced the top tub. that should speed things up a bit i hope.

JP

yeah you could go even cooler really, i think as long as its above like 74 degrees, and I've read alot of people saying the 80's is to high.. ive always done mine at room tempature..

I've been considering putting them in a cardboard box at room temp and forget the incubator all together.
The more i read, the less i think i need it for cubes

JP

as long as your room stays at a pretty constant temp and above 74-75 I think its best.. but I dont know really i've just read alot of people saying room temp is better than hot

Im setup in an interior walk in closet so the air is still and never below 75 ever. in the summer it gets 80 degrees in there. No air conditioner access in that closet.

JP