canndo
Well-Known Member
OK, I am going to do this again. I have posted this explaination a number of times but I do realize that it is tough to search this site and the word "case" might not yield reasonable results.Ok, starting to understand the process better. So basically it just spreads.?: Such as any other fungus's. On the temps I just have been trying to keep them warm, but not to warm. And you asked me about " am I going to case my grain IE' WBS"
Firstly, you will likely see someone chime in saying "cubensis doesn't need to be cased", or "I never cased them and look how MY grow turned out", or "Roger Rabit says you don't have to case.
You don't have to case, but many mushroom species, and many that are psychoactive DO need to be cased. You don't have to case, but you don't have to shake your jars either.
When the mycelium grows through very nutrient rich material it will "run", or grow very fast, as if it were attempting to take stock of the extent of possible growth. It will attempt to surround that high density material and only after that will it begin to send out more and more hyphae. Watch your corn grow. At first you will see each kernel surrounded by mycelium but after a while you will see the corn actually encased in something akin to cheese, a very dense, thick, pliable rubbery matrix will surround the kernels.
When the mycelium senses that it has come to the outer extents of that rich source of food it triggers a response. You may notice that the mycelium, where before it was always white, may blush blue, it will certainly bruise blue where before it likely would not.
What you are doing with a casing is demonstrating to the mushroom that it has reached the ;extent of its food supply. You are also providing the mushroom with a buffer zone, a way to pick the mushroom without violating the substrate, a reserve of water that can be kept at a constant - no dunking and rolling, a habitat for beneificial microorganisms, a ph sink, and a microenvironment that is conducive to primordia formation - little nooks and cranies so to speak.
The idea is to create a new substrate that has just the barest of nutrients, that is as basic as possible in PH (7.5 or even 8.0). The more basic you can make it and still have your mycelium heallthy the better. The mushroom will produce acids as it consumes it's food and the more acidic the substrate the more it is prone to be contaminated, so the more basic, the longer you have before it does so.
anyway, you create a substrate that will hold water, has a little food in it and is neutral or basic, then you cover your fully colonized substrate with this material and allow the mycelium to grow through it to just below the surface, at that point you initiate fruiting, you drop the temperature if you can, you expose the top to light, you mist - bringing the casing up to maxiumum capacity, and you provide those air exchanges.
you should see primordia only a few days after you have done so.
25 75 coir/vermiculte with a sprinkling of gypsum is mixed. Bring that to field capacity (a handful of it when squeezed tightly will yield a few drops of water). Then put it in a turkey bag and put that in the oven at 170 degrees for several hours. use a thermometer so you know the temperature in the middle. You are pasteruizing the casing.
Let that cool and put it on the top of your growing surface to a depth of an inch or so. Pack it down very lightly, so there is full contact between the casing and your growing substrate.
Then put the jars or whatever in your fruiting chamber and wait.
So far.. lol
