A fungus among us

Day 3 and no early signs of mycelium. Ive been keeping the incubator at about 78F. There sure is a lot of different views out there. some say room temp is best for incubation (73ish), a lot say 81 is max you want to go, some even say 86. Ill keep it in the high 70s.
Yet to make the fruiting chamber. think I need to get a slightly bigger container, or make one out of the bin I have (with room for 9. )and use the other 2 in a monotub. That's if they all make it.

shroomery.org is where its at. Ive been just browsing the forums learning a lot.

No rush, as the mycelium grows it produces heat that can bring the organism to levels of protective exudate. Then thermal inhibition, then death.

First sign of mycelium this morning. Just one jar, But there are 2 spots that look black. right on the edges of the white spot...anything wrong with looking once a day? I know they are supposed to incubate in the dark, but is one quick glance of light doing them harm?

I am glad I got the first shot out of the way, Got the technique down and know what to expect. Learned how to use a pressure cooker...Pretty sure I made the substrate a bit too wet (some verm was too fine?) I leaned the bowl and there was no standing water, but it seemed like wet sand at the end of the bowl, and on top of that I may have let some more into a jar or 3 when PCing. Filled them too close to the top (thin dry layer), Incubator was a bit high at first. But these will be corrected, if I don't just switch to a bulk grow. also looking to get some LC's going.

Put in an order from the hawk yesterday and it was here waiting for me when I got home today!..thats what im talking about. Got some more Penis envy and Teachers. Also got Brazil and treasure coast. and for the freebie I got AA+ albino. I told them to surprise me and that's the one they chose. Hopefully with the LC's I plan on making it will be my last order. I might just start a new batch in the next few days, because im pretty sure this first run isn't going to go as smooth as planned.

Got a pic of the best one showing so far. Been 7 days since inoculation. Only 2 spots are showing in this one jar, and one of those looks like its possibly contaminated. (black spots). got one more jar that looks like its starting to show white. And that's it, no others are showing anything. (syringes came during a really hot week, don't know if they were weaker because of that)
Im thinking this fast one is one that got a clump stuck in the needle and busted a fat load when it pushed through. Could the black spot be part of the clump?. Well im going to give it another day to see if it grows.
Pic of the questionable spot, and the same jar on the other side. I only used 3 injection ports, I know it will take longer to colonize but i don't think it would effect time to show the mycelium.
Also getting things together for a monotub, getting all the stuff together for a bulk in the near future. So many different ways to do it, just gotta go with one that works for me. Even a few small bins in a PMP would be cool. and have a Mono tub on the side. Got a couple weeks to make the final decision.

Any opinions on that black clump being spores? I know its not the best pic...

Took my butt over to shroomery to get support, but ill still keep you guys posted...Im glad I learned the art of patients with bud, but I am finally starting to see pins.

Nooooooooooooooooooooo!!! No No not fruit grain, grain for inoculating compost. Compost big mushroom yes, not fuck with sterile culture.

yesssss, I had to start somewhere. Ive got some rye berries colonizing

Less is more when it comes to spores. Inject too much and you'll be facing contams not to mention wasting spores. 2-3 cc is plenty, the substrate will colonize, trust me. I couldn't see the black clump you were talking about but yeah it could be spores. Proper sterilization and moisture content is the most important aspect of growing shrooms. Next would be keeping them in a dark place for as long as possible during colonization, UV (light) exposure is not good during the mycelium phase.

One of my cakes, Its been going good. Very easy if you can follow directions and keep things clean in the first stages. This is treasure coast, but my favorite has been brazils. Even from Multispore they have been consistent and fast.

TakeTheTicket said:

Less is more when it comes to spores. Inject too much and you'll be facing contams not to mention wasting spores. 2-3 cc is plenty, the substrate will colonize, trust me. I couldn't see the black clump you were talking about but yeah it could be spores. Proper sterilization and moisture content is the most important aspect of growing shrooms. Next would be keeping them in a dark place for as long as possible during colonization, UV (light) exposure is not good during the mycelium phase.

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that's not true, I had them on a shelf in my room getting ambient light all day. not a problem at all.

Been reeling them in for weeks...Very easy as long as you keep sterile during inoculation. (brazil, AA+)

TakeTheTicket said:

If you really want to do the PF Tek (Brown Rice Four Tek) then check out these videos:
http://www.mushroomvideos.com/BRF-Pf-Tek

There's also some written information below the videos.
I downloaded their 2 Disc DVD about 3 years ago, pretty useful information. The torrent doesn't seem to be available anymore, and it's 8GB. The videos on their site seem to be the same content though...

In my opinion, growbags are great for beginners because it shows you the various growth stages when everything goes right. The downside is the cost per yield and the RELATIVELY low yields when fruiting in the bag. However, You can also use growbags to colonize your substrate, instead of fruiting them in the bags, you just let the mycelium fully colonize and then you break it up and use it like "seed" in your bulk substrate.

EDIT: I went back and looked at the DVDs that I have and there is a lot of video on the DVD that is not available for free on the website. The PF Tek video on the DVD and the four part PF Tek video on the website ARE the same.

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Thats how I learned as well. Shroomery always refers beginners to that content.

TheTrippyHippie said:

Thats how I learned as well. Shroomery always refers beginners to that content.

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Folks should not start with that messy, low productivity, low learning potemtial, high maintenence and cartoonish method.

canndo said:

Folks should not start with that messy, low productivity, low learning potemtial, high maintenence and cartoonish method.

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Why the hate? Your guide isnt that great though it works id prefer this over your method any day.

TheTrippyHippie said:

Why the hate? Your guide isnt that great though it works id prefer this over your method any day.

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The hate? The tek was designed to sell syringes. It teaches you little about mushroom cultivatiin, only works with ine one strain and is far more labor intensive than it needs to be.

Mostly though, as i saud, it was a ploy by a brilliant man looking to make money. He managed to leave this one legacy.

I do think really care to entirely much about mycology As I do cannabis. I get two ounces from a 10th syringe And that last me a long time. It's a perfect tek for personal consumption.

canndo said:

The hate? The tek was designed to sell syringes. It teaches you little about mushroom cultivatiin, only works with ine one strain and is far more labor intensive than it needs to be.

Mostly though, as i saud, it was a ploy by a brilliant man looking to make money. He managed to leave this one legacy.

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So what am I learning by using your tek? and why do you use quart jars which are more likely to crumble and get contamination. As far as I'm concerned if you're following a method you aren't learning much about the actual mushrooms anyway.

TheTrippyHippie said:

So what am I learning by using your tek? and why do you use quart jars which are more likely to crumble and get contamination. As far as I'm concerned if you're following a method you aren't learning much about the actual mushrooms anyway.

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Dont get me wrong, i have NO ego invested in my tek, it was offered only because i rag on pf. You learn the lufe cycle of the mushroom.

Oh, and nothing crumbles, ever.

TheTrippyHippie said:

I do think really care to entirely much about mycology As I do cannabis. I get two ounces from a 10th syringe And that last me a long time. It's a perfect tek for personal consumption.

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I completely agree with this. Just with my pf tek I grew enough to last me a looong time. And I think I learned a good amount. Got my confidence up. I don't understand all the hate. I am moving on to bulk, but to say there is "no point" in doing PFtek is ignorant. I would just recommend using 8oz glasses instead of jars. That way you can use them for something else after you move on.