Won't pin am I about to experience casing overlay?

SO im still new to all of this, this being my second mushroom grow. First were cakes now is spawn bag (cambodian) Ok so after the bag was fully colonized I put down a thin casing layer and put my brick in the aluminum tray. Then cased it about 1/2" and put it away. After a few days the myc was growing and patching was needed so I did. and I had did again a few days later and then again. It's now all about even but it seems the myc is still growing into my casing layer consuming more and more. I just had it at room temperature when it was first colonizing maybe 76 degrees in the shoe box. I cased and and sealed it up and put it away again for a few days, same conditions. Then I noticed the myc coming through so I patched waited a day or two (don't remember) and put into fruiting tank. The temp is 74 with lights on 72off. Last time I had my fruiting chamber in a cooler location where it was an easy 68 lights off and maybe 70/71 lights on. should I move it back there? although now that it's winter it'll drop easy to low 60's. I thought I read that cubinus species don't need a cold shock to initiate pinning?

Am i just being inpatient? it's been about 8days since it's been in the fruiting chamber but it took about 5wks to fully colonize (2lb rye berry bag) which seemed like a little longer than normal so maybe the pinning will take longer aswell..

If anyone can share some insight I'd greatly appreciate it. As of now im just going to continue to let it go and see what happens. Im wondering if maybe my RH is too high. I mean its extremeley humid in the tank my guage only reads to 99% so maybe that's the cause. I have a tropicair humidifier hooked up with an air pump that pumps fresh humid air into the tank which seemed to work for me last time.

Thanks in advance for all the help.

What are you using to case with? Casings are a non-nutritious substrate like verm or peat moss, so they shouldn't colonize. It is just there to keep RH up and help fight contams. I don't case with any of my cubes though.

If they are colonizing your casing, then the casing has to be offering some nutritional value to the mycelium and it will continue to grow until there is nothing left for it to consume. When that happens they should switch to fruiting. Hopefully that happens before a contamination comes. The extra time added by the casing colonizing sadly isn't to your advantage. *

Im using pure Canadian sphagnum peat but lately i've just patched with verm. damn this sounds like a shitty situation. So I have a tank with lava rocks on the bottom a decent amount with that tropic air humidifier since you say you don't case could I get away with not casing since Im able to keep the humidity so high inside?

Hmm... Not sure why it is colonizing the casing if it is just peat moss, but I have little experience with using casings myself.
Cubes don't need the casing to fruit, but it can offer benefits if done correctly, so keeping it is up to you.
I wouldn't worry about the casing and your RH, it sounds like it's high enough... You have more going on to keep your RH up than I use.

If your conditions were good to fruit them in the past, then you shouldn't need to change things for fruiting more cubes.

What did you spawn the rye berries to and how long did you let that colonize? Are you just fruiting the spawn bag as is with a peat casing layer on top?

I innoculated with a spore syringe took about 5-6wks for the bag to be fully colonized. put it in a tray and cased.

Firstly, your mycelium will indeed "colonize" your non-nutriative casing. What you seem to have done is missed your pinning time. When you see a patch or two of mycelium cresting your casing and you believe that the rest of the myclium is close behind it (within about 1/8th of an inch of the top, it is time to reduce your co2 and give your setup at least 2 fresh air changes an hour. The myclium will coast a few more days so it is best that you try to anticipate the growth cycle. You really shouldn't patch until after you have initiated your pinning strategy and certainly, if you patch and then don't inititate, you will have to patch and patch and patch. If you think you have gotten overlay in a bad way try scratching. Take a board and pount a bunch of nails into it to make a "comb" each nail half an inch or so from the other, sterilize the comb and then draw the exposed nails across the casing soil, maybe 1/4 inch deep. Keep the soil moist and wait (of course now you will have inititated pinning right?). Scratching will bring your casing almost back to par and in some cases scratching early will give you super flushes, packed with pins.

One more thing, if you are using peat, take care that you buffered it with enough base material to bring your ph down, if you do not, your pins will be inhibited and you will encounter trich much sooner than you would otherwise.

canndo said:

One more thing, if you are using peat, take care that you buffered it with enough base material to bring your ph down, if you do not, your pins will be inhibited and you will encounter trich much sooner than you would otherwise.

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lol the one thing i did do right.

ok yea so yesterday I started airing it out as much as possible and have been leaving the top more open. Yea my casing is almost colonized lol so I just scratched it up my question is should I re apply a thin layer of casing or leave it kinda bare n spots? So does me making sure its getting more fresh air initiate the pinning. really appreciate the help

im thinking I just dropped the ball on the fresh air thing, I assumed my tropic air humidifier hooked up to an air pump would supply enough fresh air. My last grow I didn't seem to have a problem but I did jars im finding out now a lil different.

SirLancelot said:

lol the one thing i did do right.

ok yea so yesterday I started airing it out as much as possible and have been leaving the top more open. Yea my casing is almost colonized lol so I just scratched it up my question is should I re apply a thin layer of casing or leave it kinda bare n spots? So does me making sure its getting more fresh air initiate the pinning. really appreciate the help

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Let it recouperate and don't touch it , it will be fine. I happen to think that the PF method is silly but it does serve to demonstrate that you can get fruit from anything in any condition where the co2 is lessened. You don't need much light and even a low humidity will be ok if you are fine with lots of aborts and cracks in the caps. I think that arguments and discussions on the "proper" way to grow mushrooms have managed to convince people that growing this stuff is hard and that growth parameters are narrow - this is not the case. As i have said, if you are after perfection and perfect pinsets then be precise but if you just want some mushrooms for your weekends and you are growing for the fun of it, they will grow almost anywhere. I have seen them in my compost pile out back. I have grown them on marijuana trimmings, I have posted pictures of mycelium growing on clones, I have grown them on dog food and artichoke leaves and cheddar cheese - and all of this accidentaly. the point is - RELAX and enjoy.

the bit of drying out might do the trick, signals like that and food running out normaly tells the myc it is make or break time if it wants to kep its genes alive.

canndo said:

Let it recouperate and don't touch it , it will be fine. I happen to think that the PF method is silly but it does serve to demonstrate that you can get fruit from anything in any condition where the co2 is lessened. You don't need much light and even a low humidity will be ok if you are fine with lots of aborts and cracks in the caps. I think that arguments and discussions on the "proper" way to grow mushrooms have managed to convince people that growing this stuff is hard and that growth parameters are narrow - this is not the case. As i have said, if you are after perfection and perfect pinsets then be precise but if you just want some mushrooms for your weekends and you are growing for the fun of it, they will grow almost anywhere. I have seen them in my compost pile out back. I have grown them on marijuana trimmings, I have posted pictures of mycelium growing on clones, I have grown them on dog food and artichoke leaves and cheddar cheese - and all of this accidentaly. the point is - RELAX and enjoy.

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thanks for the insight!

yea I've dropped the humidity down in the tank to about a steady 80 and have been able to provide fresh air more. Yea aborts don't bother me, it's all personal.

one last thing, you said light requirments is minimum? I have a cfl above the tank runnin 12/12. good schedule or reduce?

12/12 is fine, studies indicate that they respond to only a few seconds a day.

well I have lil mushies poppin up everywhere but it was short lived I also noticed some green on part of the case, I sterilized a spoon and scooped it out, I know I should throw it away but I may try and see if I can stop it... any thoughts?

cant say i'ts never worked, but be carefull as sometimes the main contamination is under the surface.

SirLancelot said:

well I have lil mushies poppin up everywhere but it was short lived I also noticed some green on part of the case, I sterilized a spoon and scooped it out, I know I should throw it away but I may try and see if I can stop it... any thoughts?

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Follow the scooping with a mixture of baking soda and water - make a paste and spread it all over where you scooped and a bit beyond. Trich (which in all likelihood is what you encountered) loves acid and hates base - this is why you basify the casing soil and this is why baking soda inhibits growth. Trich will not poison your fruit but it will finally grow - first over aborts and anemic fruit and then finally (and you had better not let this happen because you are poisoning your entire house for future mushroom growing) the healty fruit - especially if the humidity is too high.

I digressed a bit. Your fruit will mature in a few days, the point here is to hold back the trich long enough for that to happen. Scoop the crap out, cover with soda paste and be patient, you will get that flush - then throw the thing out, it is unlikely it will be any good after that flush.

that's pretty good info, thanks man

canndo said:

Firstly, your mycelium will indeed "colonize" your non-nutriative casing. What you seem to have done is missed your pinning time. When you see a patch or two of mycelium cresting your casing and you believe that the rest of the myclium is close behind it (within about 1/8th of an inch of the top, it is time to reduce your co2 and give your setup at least 2 fresh air changes an hour. The myclium will coast a few more days so it is best that you try to anticipate the growth cycle. You really shouldn't patch until after you have initiated your pinning strategy and certainly, if you patch and then don't inititate, you will have to patch and patch and patch. If you think you have gotten overlay in a bad way try scratching. Take a board and pount a bunch of nails into it to make a "comb" each nail half an inch or so from the other, sterilize the comb and then draw the exposed nails across the casing soil, maybe 1/4 inch deep. Keep the soil moist and wait (of course now you will have inititated pinning right?). Scratching will bring your casing almost back to par and in some cases scratching early will give you super flushes, packed with pins.

Click to expand...

I very much enjoy reading information I can tell is good. I have a question about some monotubs of mine and specifically overlay. I would greatly appreciate a second opinion if you've got a second.