Boomer growers, HELP!!

[seasmoke]

I have been trying to start a grow and am doing it for the first time, and as usual nothing goes as planned.
The directions say the mycillium should be ready in 2-4 weeks....well its been 90 days and only the top half has colonized....the bottom half has turned to mush...

A little about the set-up.

Its a new mushroom kit with the standard components, rye,grow box, etc, everything but the spores which came from Spore 101.

I followed directions to a T, kept it at 80 degrees in the dark and never opened it.

 

[ANC]

Time for a do over, I suspect you had problems with your moisture content.

 

[seasmoke]

thanx ANC. I'll start it over....

 

[ANC]

Dry the outside of grains well before jaring and use a bottom layer of vermiculite to absorb moisture.
I prefer a 10mm hole plugged with somy polyfill aquarium filter floss, to the plasters and tvyvek (costs)

 

[seasmoke]

Dry the outside of grains well before jaring and use a bottom layer of vermiculite to absorb moisture.
I prefer a 10mm hole plugged with somy polyfill aquarium filter floss, to the plasters and tvyvek (costs)

Do you mean leave on a heat source for a while dry or towel dry?

Great tip about the verm, I didn't use it before...

10mm hole you mean schringe hole?...and that floss is a sheet that gets cut up?

I appreacieate the help +rep.

 

[seasmoke]

Been readin mycrologys thread...I need all the help i can get.....is there a dr in the house??

 

[masterd]

i know this is what everyone says about people growing shrooms..... but its the best advice, jump on the shroomery forums, its full of mycologist and HEAPS of amatures that know what theyre doing.... you will find help here.... but the info on the shroomery boards is unbeatable

 

[ANC]

Do you mean leave on a heat source for a while dry or towel dry?

Towel dry, move them around often so they all get a chance to dry, when you touch them when you jar them, they should not make your hands wet.

Great tip about the verm, I didn't use it before...

It will serve you good, regardless of tek.

10mm hole you mean schringe hole?...and that floss is a sheet that gets cut up?

Just a big fat hole in the middle of the lid plugged with that cotton wool looking stuff you get at the petshop, don't use cotton wool though. This serves as both gas exchange- and innoculation port.

I appreacieate the help +rep.

...........................................

 

[kushmasta88]

When working with grains its important to get the moisture content right otherwise you have mushy substrate. Thats why its a tougher route than say PF tek. Go to shroomery.org and do a search on grain preparation and you will find a lot of ur questions will be answered.

 

[estesj]

This is a great thread on wbs tek! Shroomery - Doc's Wild Bird Seed Tek And this is a great monotub thread that ANC gave me! OZZ's Cubensis Horse Poo Pictorial - Cannabis Culture Forums I'm bout to start up a duel system like this in a couple of weeks! Thanks for the verm layer at the bottom of the jar tip ANC! P.S to ANC get back with me on that question I asked you in another thread. Can you grow kaht in the U.S.?

 

[seasmoke]

ANC, you mentioned "gas" exchange through the hole. Does that mean the jar needs to breathe while the innoculation process is happening? As I said, I didn't open it....well, yes I did. About three weeks after I first injected it, I didn't see any growth so I reinjected it. Then I put the cap on tight and left it...

When the kit came there was no vermiculite in the jar with the rye...How do you feel about the kits, are they worth the money?

Is the top half useable?

 

[ANC]

Hi, first about the khat, sure you can grow it, might have to bring it indoors in winter though, you get seeds i think but around these parts its commonly grown from cuttings.

Opening jars (especialy outside of a glovebox which you could make from a $3 tub), is a no-no. Unless its very cold where you are you should start seeing some mycelial growth in about 4 days from innoculating the jar, always aim to have the spores run down the side of the glass so you can see when it takes, its clearly visable and you don't need to open the jars...

I was talking about gas exchange, not fresh air exchange, you will learn there is a diffirence with mushrooms. No holes for gas exchange = stagnating jars.

 

[seasmoke]

When working with grains its important to get the moisture content right otherwise you have mushy substrate. Thats why its a tougher route than say PF tek. Go to shroomery.org and do a search on grain preparation and you will find a lot of ur questions will be answered.

The Rye came,supposedly, sterile with the kit. It had no vermiculite in the bottom of the jar....a quart jar, I thought all I had to do was inject it.

Initionally I put about 3cc's in the jar, and over three weeks or so there was no growth that I could see, so I gave it another shot. And it grew the way you see in those pictures.

Did I give it to much spore and thats where my moisture problem came from?

 

[seasmoke]

I was talking about gas exchange, not fresh air exchange, you will learn there is a diffirence with mushrooms. No holes for gas exchange = stagnating jars.

I see ANC, so the trick here is to allow gasses to escape but not let in fresh air....thats why tyvek building paper is used?

Growth after 4 days!!??...I didn't see growth after 3 weeks! What the hell did I do wrong in the first place?? Not shake the scringe first??

 

[ANC]

Something went wrong that is for sure, I have had something similar happen but that was from shooting up BRF cakes with a liquid culture, apparently not a good mix.
Under ideal conditions you should be going from spore to first harvest in a month, my record is 26 days. Do it again, keep the jars in a dark suitable place with nice warm constant temps, write the date of when 3 weeks will be over, and fruit them then. Start you next batch at week two of incubation.

Yeah you seem to have the gas thing under the knee, I just use plain old aqaurium filter gause twisted into a tight plug throug a 10mm hole, keeps contams out and lets gas through, and is easy to get a syringe through. DON'T use cotton.

Edit, I missed your description of how the rye came... yeah its not unlikely, but now you have jars and what not, just do it again, use about 1ml of spore solution per jar. If you can;t find organic rye, then use ordinary popcorn, first PC'd for 40minutes, break one open to make sure its cooked through. let the skins dry as described before, jar them up and Presure Cook them for 70 minutes. I like rinseing them with a bit of ICU dish washing soap before drying them to get rid of oils and startches.

 

[estesj]

Something went wrong that is for sure, I have had something similar happen but that was from shooting up BRF cakes with a liquid culture, apparently not a good mix.
Under ideal conditions you should be going from spore to first harvest in a month, my record is 26 days. Do it again, keep the jars in a dark suitable place with nice warm constant temps, write the date of when 3 weeks will be over, and fruit them then. Start you next batch at week two of incubation.

Yeah you seem to have the gas thing under the knee, I just use plain old aqaurium filter gause twisted into a tight plug throug a 10mm hole, keeps contams out and lets gas through, and is easy to get a syringe through. DON'T use cotton.

Edit, I missed your description of how the rye came... yeah its not unlikely, but now you have jars and what not, just do it again, use about 1ml of spore solution per jar. If you can;t find organic rye, then use ordinary popcorn, first PC'd for 40minutes, break one open to make sure its cooked through. let the skins dry as described before, jar them up and Presure Cook them for 70 minutes. I like rinseing them with a bit of ICU dish washing soap before drying them to get rid of oils and startches.

Yo i was just going to use that 6 hole poly filled stuffed holes and open it once or twice for air and spray the sides with ro water for humidity like on that horse poo link. Is that strait because that dude got 9.25 oz dry on first flush with a 64qt monotub? Also using the wild bird deed tek. Do you think I should spend $200 on the all American PC or get a $70 one.

 

[seasmoke]

I watched that 4 piece video from the other thread, where the guy used BRF. I have everything here to try that method....

How do you feel about those kits that have the presterilized jars?

 

[estesj]

I watched that 4 piece video from the other thread, where the guy used BRF. I have everything here to try that method....

How do you feel about those kits that have the presterilized jars?

Everyone on here says not to use any kits.

 

[ANC]

Kits are a waste of money, shit a $40 PC would be fine, you could use straight whiskey tumblers if you don't have jars and make lids with foil and rubber bands.

 

[seasmoke]

I thought those kits were junk. Anyways, I have almost all the stuff to build that set-up like in that video...tubs, jars,vermiculite, perlite, I can get BRF...I could buy a PC, (but I can follow that method)