JealousGreen's adventure in mycology.. . . . please help

Hey JGreen, from first glance it looks like you have both humidity and temp issues. Did you ever get that heating mat? That would likely solve both problems. You have more than enough perlite in there just keep it wet with the heat mat under the tank should raise interior temps enough you dont want to fall below 70F if you can help it that will slow growth down to a halt, the colder air doesn't hold moisture as well.
Also dont open your tub so much, or at all really. Drill small holes in the sides and cover or stuff them with filter and that will be fine for air exchange. Passive air exchange is fine for shrooms they aren't respirators in the same demanding way that plants are. If you get a clearish lid the ambient light from your growspace will be plenty for your purposes. With only a few cakes I wouldn't worry about lighting at all, the smallest amount will be fine.
Lastly do the dunk n' roll. When I first started I was also told that I didn't need verm, but after I started using it I always used it, as long as I did the jarcakes. I think what happens is the verm holds a significant amount of water while at the same time allowing air passage. This is great because the mushroom literally will not grow if the airspace isn't holding enough water for them to have a drink as soon as their little pins pop up.
If I was in your spot I would give them a quick 6hr dunk and roll them in dry verm leaving the bottom side bare, after placing them back in the tub mist the verm lightly, then leave them alone... fanning is not pratical for such a small grow. You should see pinning within a week or two if your temps are high enough. Hope this helps.

Citrus said:

Hey JGreen, from first glance it looks like you have both humidity and temp issues. Did you ever get that heating mat? That would likely solve both problems. You have more than enough perlite in there just keep it wet with the heat mat under the tank should raise interior temps enough you dont want to fall below 70F if you can help it that will slow growth down to a halt, the colder air doesn't hold moisture as well.
Also dont open your tub so much, or at all really. Drill small holes in the sides and cover or stuff them with filter and that will be fine for air exchange. Passive air exchange is fine for shrooms they aren't respirators in the same demanding way that plants are. If you get a clearish lid the ambient light from your growspace will be plenty for your purposes. With only a few cakes I wouldn't worry about lighting at all, the smallest amount will be fine.
Lastly do the dunk n' roll. When I first started I was also told that I didn't need verm, but after I started using it I always used it, as long as I did the jarcakes. I think what happens is the verm holds a significant amount of water while at the same time allowing air passage. This is great because the mushroom literally will not grow if the airspace isn't holding enough water for them to have a drink as soon as their little pins pop up.
If I was in your spot I would give them a quick 6hr dunk and roll them in dry verm leaving the bottom side bare, after placing them back in the tub mist the verm lightly, then leave them alone... fanning is not pratical for such a small grow. You should see pinning within a week or two if your temps are high enough. Hope this helps.

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Great comment C!!

I agree 100%, need to get the temp up above 72* the higher the better 78 about optimum. It is even more critical with a bulk grain grow, as I learned. They say lower temps are less contam, and that is true for bacteria, but if you use an organic sub and keep it under 70* you are giving an equal chance to non- welcome fungi. Not true for brf, just an aside.

Put the heat mat underneath. I'll dunk n roll tonight.

thank you.

Soaked my cakes over-night, rolled them in verm and put them back in the fc today. Temp is steady at 76 since I added the heating mat. Humidity is staying up around 90% since I taped up some of the holes.

I should be in business now.

JealousGreen said:

Soaked my cakes over-night, rolled them in verm and put them back in the fc today. Temp is steady at 76 since I added the heating mat. Humidity is staying up around 90% since I taped up some of the holes.

I should be in business now.

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sounds good, 76 is a good productive temp, and 90rh is perfect

here we are now.. happy and healthy

hoping to see new growth soon

Pins are forming!!

A few off of each cake so far. I'll take some pics tomorrow.

Thanks for helping me get back on track.

Sweet man glad to hear it. Ive started poppin spores quite a few years ago and I can tell ya that the hard part is over. Once you can regularly get those jars colonized w/o any green fuzz and poppin pins they pretty much take care of themselves. You and your friends are in for some happy trails.

Thanks citrus. I'd lay a few on you if I could.

Here we go

YEAHHHHH BOY,
[video=youtube;jg-WFkkKOaU]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jg-WFkkKOaU[/video]

i tried to find a video of jon witherspoon saying yeah boy, but i couldn't find one.

Little bastards grow fast eh? Turns out the nexus strain isn't pinning yet.. maybe by tonight. The Z strain is blowing up though. My B+ jar is about 65% white. I'll take some more pics tonight.

Needs more FAE and higher RH%.

Higher humidity than 90%? What is FAE?

last night..

they're double that size this morning. I'll take more tonight.

you need your humidity at 95-100% ALL THE TIME.

FAE is Fresh Air Exchange.

open the chamber, mist the air above the cakes and fan it for 30 seconds.
THAT is all in a fresh air exchange.

youll get it...

I've been doing that FAE since fruiting started about 5-7 times a day. Just like you say with the misting and fanning.

Do I pull off the fruits as the caps open up? What's with the seven little nips that aren't moving? Are they waiting their turn?

One peculiar thing I have noticed is that some strains grow in what seems to be little clusters. I have no science to back this and can't explain it other than, with some strains, I will notice one big cap rising above the rest of a cluster and if I pick the big one the whole cluster would just stop growing. Now I wait till the big one is humongous and the little ones are now big, then it comes out as one big rooted clump. Never really looked into it cuz I just didn't do it anymore then a couple times.

Another thing that could be slowing growth is the fluctuation of your RH%. Mushrooms drink the water from the air around them as they grow its not wicked up from the root like a plant. Your mushrooms have a sense to them (I believe a more complex one than we understand but that is a different discussion) and they will know if its not wet ALL THE TIME. If they dont anticipate steady water to drink, they dont pop. Also if you are fanning that much you are likely drying out the middle of your cakes, (think of how you cure buds by burping jars, you DONT want this to happen) while they may be wet on the outside the inside may have dried up and wicked its moisture to the outer shell, which is still wet cuz you are spraying it alot, this will also retard growth to a stop.

Maintaining a constant level of RH% is, I think, the single most important thing to nail down. True, FAE is important if you want big stellar looking shrooms that will chew through the substrate overnight, BUT... it should never be at the loss of a CONSTANT RH% An example for you.. I still use big 2L glass jars to mix up spawn for the big trays, these jars are pretty close to your standard "PF Tek" jar, the only FAE in my jars is two 2cm holes in the lid, both stuffed with wads of polyfil, and this is pretty standard I think for growing out the snow. Almost no FAE. However, when I smoke too much and misplace a colonized jar cuz they seem to pile up too fast, like maybe I leave one in the bottom of the incubator for say... a couple weeks to long. Shrooms grow... every time. They start wherever they feel like it and they press up against the glass and grow around the spawn in a nasty web. Now these shrooms aren't big or great looking... they are flat twisted and growing into each other... but its fruit just the same. Luckily, potency has absolutely nothing to do with any factor whatsoever except genetics, and how its consumed/dried.

Shrooms are sturdy little fellas, you are smothering them with love. Give them some time alone with alot to drink and they will do fine.

Thanks again citrus. My humidity is never below 85-90% and is regularly at around 95%. I mist as I fan when I do it, but I may do it a little less often to see if the other cake will kick on. Also.. the caps are opening on the 2 good sized mushrooms on the cake, I intend to let them open up completely before I take them off, good plan? I'll also need to find a walk through for taking prints.

Thanks for all the help.

Pictures from this morning and tonight. I'm going to pull these off, and all the other little ones that tried to start up have all stopped moving and the heads are black. These are aborts? So should I pick them off?

The next step is an over night dunk, fresh vermiculite, and back in the chamber? Would it be a good idea to redunk the cake that isn't fruiting?