Agar bitches

[Richard Drysift]

A month?


Shouldn't be any more than 10 days.

I appreciate the work you put in here...but.


No need for gas exchange so long as you use half jar.

Be sure you carve out the out side of each plate before you "pizza" it. The region next to the edge of your plate is the most likely to be contaminated. If your sample has grown out contaminate can light on the grown mycelium, be transfered to new substrate and get an even chance of growing after the transfer.

Sencience can be an issue should you do plate to plate transfers for too many iterations. With oysters I find 5 to be about the limit. Seven with clones from general substrates.

Roger that; solid advice. Been so long I forgot how long it should take. Plus my thread of links and notes is still not available up on shroomery so I’m doing this from memory and suffer from short term memory loss.
I don’t have jar lids that do not have holes so I use a polyfil filter. The only lids I have that are not drilled out already are regular plastic; not autoclave-able. I’ve had issues in the past with leaving the grains too wet before jarring which tends to stall colonization; why I emphasize this. Everything contams eventually...

 

[OSBuds]

still not available up on shroomery so I’m doing this from memory and suffer from short term memory loss.

Try the Wayback Machine

Wayback Machine

web.archive.org

 

[Richard Drysift]

The grains were prepared, spread out, & dried until they passed the paper towel test....


Example of a failed paper towel test

A paper towel should not show wet spots when touched to the grain. Once the grains are dry the jars are loaded, the lids placed on tight, and jars are then sterilized for 90 min at full pressure. Forgot that we made up these lids a few years ago. They are just 3M filter discs cut into a circle and RTV siliconed onto the lid covering a 1/4” hole for gas exchange. The ones with the puffball on top were stuffed with polyfil which is just the filling from a hypoallergenic pillow; very cheap and effective filter.

 

[Richard Drysift]

9 jars were knocked with agar wedges on Saturday; doubtful they will finish in 10 days. Mycelium is just breaking into the oats now. Hopefully did not leave the grains too wet...seem kinda dark; maybe just boiled too long.

 

[canndo]

9 jars were knocked with agar wedges on Saturday; doubtful they will finish in 10 days. Mycelium is just breaking into the oats now. Hopefully did not leave the grains too wet...seem kinda dark; maybe just boiled too long. View attachment 4885305View attachment 4885309View attachment 4885311

Shake the jar, that's what whole grain is for

 

[Richard Drysift]

They all got shook. Grain jars are only about 30% colonized at this point. The agar plates that I took the wedges from are still clean; no contams ....a good sign. Left one agar plate intact & was planning to transfer it but it got a blue spot forming so I tossed it. Hopefully these jars will make it through without going south otherwise I will have to start all over again.

 

[Richard Drysift]

So this is 14 days. Maybe another week I can do some g2g transfers and spawn some of this to trays. I’ll wait until I have about 9 jars of spawn before going into a tub. Never fruited on trays in a shotgun chamber but I’m thinking of giving it a try this time. One jar has formed a map of the continent of Africa. Obviously this is fungi of advanced intelligence.

 

[Richard Drysift]

Jars are almost finished. Time to prepare more grains for transfer; 3 half quart Master jars almost ready. The other 6q will be left to consolidate and then spawned to a monotub.

 

[Richard Drysift]

This weekend we made up 9 more quart jars of grains. Used 3 of the fully colonized half quart master jars to nocc them via g2g transfer. Still have less than 1/2 of one jar left; thinking about spawning it to trays. They will be ready in a few weeks; g2g usually goes pretty fast.
We also have 6 quarts of spawn on hand from the initial agar wedge transfers. All are clean; zero contams. As a matter of fact most of the donor plates are still good; never tossed them. Planning to prepare a 50/50 coir/vermiculite substrate tonight and the 6q will be spawned to a tub soon after.
50/50 sub is pasteurized in an old cooler w/ missing drain plug. The cooler is cleaned w/Lysol and hot water/dish soap; rinsed clean. I begin by dumping boiling hot water in the cooler and swishing it around. This heats up the cooler. Then I drop in a 650g brick of coir and vermiculite. I bring a gal of water to a full boil and add in a tblspn of garden gypsum. Elevate one side of the cooler w/a brick or something so the water doesn’t drain out. Dump the boiling water onto the coir/verm and close the lid for an hour.
Check the temp w/ a meat thermometer or thermo-gun. After an hour the coir/verm should still be as hot as or hotter than 170deg F inside the cooler. Tilt the cooler to the drain side to drain off any excess water. Once the coir is mostly cooled you can mix it up by hand w/ clean latex gloves or use a sanitized spoon or something;
Squeeze the material: the coir should be damp but nothing should come out when you squeeze it. Field capacity. If it’s still too wet open the cooler and let it dry/drain out a bit more. You can also add in more dry verm to compensate. Once our substrate is pasteurized and prepared its time to spawn to a tub. More on that next. Stay tuned

 

[Richard Drysift]

So once our coir is prepared it’s time to spawn to a monotub. I use a 30 gal clear Sterilite tote bin modified w/ two 1.5-inch holes in each side and one on each end centered about 2” from the lid. The side holes are placed just above the substrate. Holes are covered with tape until it’s time to induce fruiting. They are stuffed with polyfill as a filter once fully colonized. Takes about 18-20 days to full colonization. Clean the tub w/Lysol, then hot water & dish soap. Wipe down dry. Clean the tub lightly but no need to sterilize; colonized grains are quite resilient to contam at this point.
Begin by dunking the grains. This can be done in a bucket or right inside the jars they colonized in. I prefer the latter; less mess to clean. During colonization the grains lose quite a bit of moisture. Dunking re-hydrates them and makes for more/better flushes and bigger fruits than without. Break up the fully colonized spawn jars on something soft yet sturdy; I use a smelly old chair cushion loaded w/beer farts. Add cold tap water to each jar filled to the top and let the grains soak for 20-30 min. Dump out the water using a sieve or something so the grains don’t spill out & down the drain.
I like to line the bottom of the tub with a trash bag or something to reduce side pinning but this is optional. Taping the liner in place helps keep everything nice & neat while filling up the tub. Place a layer of substrate in the bottom and then shake in the grains. Mix it up by hand wearing latex gloves. Case the top with substrate and put the lid on. Leave the tub alone in the dark at ambient room temperature for a few weeks. Excess heat will slow this process; keep temps comfortable. When mycelium starts breaking through the surface it’s time to induce fruiting.

 

[Richard Drysift]

This is what your jar should look like fully colonized. You can even give another week or two to consolidate but grain spawn gets harder to break up by shaking as it solidifies. Shake it, don’t break it baby...

 

[Richard Drysift]

Forgot to take a pic but the first monotub is colonizing fast. Mycelium is just breaking through the surface in one place. Going to give it another 5-6 days to fully colonize and then into fruition. Have enough spawn from g2g transfers for another tub so there will be two side by side. Should produce enough for the season. Was planning on doing some trays this year but I ran out of perlite; I’ll just do it all in bulk tubs like always.

 

[Richard Drysift]

Doh!....spilled my popcorn....

Haha no sir it’s mycelium

 

[Richard Drysift]

First monotub is just about ready to fruit. The “fuzzy” looking mycelium breaking through the surface indicates the tub needs more fresh air exchange so I will remove the tape on the holes and insert polyfill for filtration even tho at this point you probly could frikkin sneeze inside this box and it will still fruit.
I have to leave town for a few days starting next week so I will case the top with fresh pasteurized ewc and set it to fruit just before I leave. Should begin pinning soon after I get back.
In other news the g2g spawn jars are ready to case in coir/verm. Finished pasteurizing the sub last night so will be ready to go tonight. Two side by side tubs coming right up... stay tuned my fellow shroomies pins are on the way...

 

[StonedGardener]

Not to mention that by taking the fibrous mycelium and isolating it it's kinda like cloning you're taking the strongest material and reproducing from that which from what I've read and seen will cause more fruit bodies per sq ft. Very interested to see your development of these methods.

I have to laugh tho bc of all the drugs I've done in my life only mushrooms and Marijuana have ever hospitalized me, in that order, 30 days on the shrooms and 4 days on weed.

30 days on shrooms.....yikes.....what species if ya don't mind me asking ?

 

[canndo]

First monotub is just about ready to fruit. The “fuzzy” looking mycelium breaking through the surface indicates the tub needs more fresh air exchange so I will remove the tape on the holes and insert polyfill for filtration even tho at this point you probly could frikkin sneeze inside this box and it will still fruit.
I have to leave town for a few days starting next week so I will case the top with fresh pasteurized ewc and set it to fruit just before I leave. Should begin pinning soon after I get back.
In other news the g2g spawn jars are ready to case in coir/verm. Finished pasteurizing the sub last night so will be ready to go tonight. Two side by side tubs coming right up... stay tuned my fellow shroomies pins are on the way...View attachment 4915772

Not sure your breakthrough is evidence of excess co2.

Nutrient in casing? Casing too thin? Shift to fruit too late?

But yeah, you are close to overlay.


BTW, thanks for the over all tour.

 

[canndo]

So once our coir is prepared it’s time to spawn to a monotub. I use a 30 gal clear Sterilite tote bin modified w/ two 1.5-inch holes in each side and one on each end centered about 2” from the lid. The side holes are placed just above the substrate. Holes are covered with tape until it’s time to induce fruiting. They are stuffed with polyfill as a filter once fully colonized. Takes about 18-20 days to full colonization. Clean the tub w/Lysol, then hot water & dish soap. Wipe down dry. Clean the tub lightly but no need to sterilize; colonized grains are quite resilient to contam at this point.
Begin by dunking the grains. This can be done in a bucket or right inside the jars they colonized in. I prefer the latter; less mess to clean. During colonization the grains lose quite a bit of moisture. Dunking re-hydrates them and makes for more/better flushes and bigger fruits than without. Break up the fully colonized spawn jars on something soft yet sturdy; I use a smelly old chair cushion loaded w/beer farts. Add cold tap water to each jar filled to the top and let the grains soak for 20-30 min. Dump out the water using a sieve or something so the grains don’t spill out & down the drain.
I like to line the bottom of the tub with a trash bag or something to reduce side pinning but this is optional. Taping the liner in place helps keep everything nice & neat while filling up the tub. Place a layer of substrate in the bottom and then shake in the grains. Mix it up by hand wearing latex gloves. Case the top with substrate and put the lid on. Leave the tub alone in the dark at ambient room temperature for a few weeks. Excess heat will slow this process; keep temps comfortable. When mycelium starts breaking through the surface it’s time to induce fruiting.

On "dunking".


I have weighed fully colonized grain before and after soaking for several hours.


I never saw much weight change. I can't dispute that *something * happens afterward but I don't think it has much to do with water absorption. Mycelium tends to repel moisture.

Sort of.

 

[Richard Drysift]

Not sure your breakthrough is evidence of excess co2.

Nutrient in casing? Casing too thin? Shift to fruit too late?

But yeah, you are close to overlay.


BTW, thanks for the over all tour.

Could be other reasons why the emerging myc is fluffy but according to “experts” at the shroomery more fresh air is needed. Pulled the tape off my vent holes and replaced with polyfill so we shall see what’s what very soon. Will flip this tub to fruit Sunday pm.

On "dunking".


I have weighed fully colonized grain before and after soaking for several hours.


I never saw much weight change. I can't dispute that *something * happens afterward but I don't think it has much to do with water absorption. Mycelium tends to repel moisture.

Sort of.

In the past when I have skipped dunking the grain after colonization the tub just dries out faster. I try to spray it down heavily after each flush. Some growers literally fill the tub w/water to hydrate the sub. One tub went south on me after just two flushes. 18 days and it was dry as a popcorn fart...

 

[canndo]

Could be other reasons why the emerging myc is fluffy but according to “experts” at the shroomery more fresh air is needed. Pulled the tape off my vent holes and replaced with polyfill so we shall see what’s what very soon. Will flip this tub to fruit Sunday pm.

In the past when I have skipped dunking the grain after colonization the tub just dries out faster. I try to spray it down heavily after each flush. Some growers literally fill the tub w/water to hydrate the sub. One tub went south on me after just two flushes. 18 days and it was dry as a popcorn fart...

What are you using as casing again?

 

[Richard Drysift]

Coir/verm nothing special; also just topped off the colonized sub w/ ewc/verm. Some call this a casing layer but when you ask what I cased with I assume you mean what kind of substrate did I spawn to...right?