Anybody growing mushrooms willing to talk???

Just wanted to have a simple discussion on mushroom cultivation with people that have ANY experience I inoculated 6 pf tek jars 3 weeks ago and have alot to talk about. Any input would be much appreciated.

I haven't got any knowledge on this, but a friend gave me a link to a site.. same friend who gave me the link to introduce me to RIU.
Not that no one here grows mushrooms, you just might find a conversation quicker here:

You can also try the shroomery, lots of good info there as well.

Best way to get answers to questions is to just ask the questions and let people try to help.

Are they breathing?

Grew them a long time ago. Tried being as sterile as possible but still had some infections, grew great mycelium but had trouble getting them to flush. Still tripped balls plenty though

Thanks guys so I inoculated 6 jars with a 12 ml spore syringe 3 weeks ago today. As they colonized and started to shrink it's the dry layer vermiculite on top started to trickle down the sides of the jars between the mycelium and glass. They're all pretty much pulled away from the glass and colonized I'm waiting for a little bit of brown on the bottom of the jars to go away. I don't know if these are fully colonized and ready to go in a fruiting chamber, can't really tell if they're pinning looks like they are, and can't tell if they're contaminated. This is all due to the dry vermiculite barrier on top trickling down when the cake shrunk. I know p.f. Tek isn't really the way to go but it's my first time so I decided to try that out first just to see how it all works. If these fail I have everything to start over. Here's some pics any opinions would be much appreciated.
Here's what the bottoms look like:


Here's some pictures of a couple pictures of the sides. The dry vermiculite layer was only as thick as the lid and now that the cakes are almost fully colonized, the vermiculite is falling down the sides.

Here's a couple sides. Ugly. So as the cakes colonized the substrate consolidated, my dry layer of vermiculite that starting at the line all trickled down the side. So underneath the vermiculite you see the substrate is colonized. They've been in the jar for 3 weeks. I'm worried that the vermiculite layer trickling down the sides is gonna contaminate it if it didnt already. I believe I'm seeing pinns on some jars. I don't want to leave them in there too long. Looking at the bottom of the jars should I wait till those brown spots go away? Or do you guys think these cakes are fully colonized and ready to go in a chamber. When they're ready to come out I'm going to dunk overnight and then put them in a shotgun fruiting chamber but I have to get them out of the jars ASAP so they don't get contaminated and I can't tell by the bottom of the jars. I have micropore tape over the holes and have been keeping the jars in a sterilized Tupperware tub in the dark except the temperature in the 70s. This is my first time doing this and it seems pretty sloppy and I won't make that mistake again but does anybody have any thoughts about this and what I should do? Also if it's pinning should I still dunk and roll but just be very careful? Thanks a lot any advice would be much appreciated.

They shouldn't be pinning in the jar, if they are, that means they are getting light, which is what induces fruiting.

If they seem fully colonized then get them into your fruiting chamber.

Moisture droplets are good sign. Time is nigh. Exhale and pull the trigger. Check out coir casing.

Thanks guys the jars look done right now. I was going to rinse them off in my faucet and then let them sit in water for I don't know what people mean by overnight I'm guessing 8 to 12 hours. Made my fruiting chamber going to rinse a lightness trainer and put a couple inches on the bottom of the tub and let this tub sit up on jars sitting on another lid. Does this sound about right?

Yeah those are fully colonized. It’s normal for the cakes to shrink as the myc eats/colonizes them. They’ll be like 1/3 the size after a couple flushes.

Shroomery is for sure the best place to go, but the site not the Facebook group.

Been in the sgfc for 2 days nows. They're in a room by their self sitting on a dresser and getting ambient light from the windows. Hopefully start seeing growth soon. I've been misting twice a day and Fanning four times a day.

Make sure the Sgfc isn’t right up against a wall, and I’m not sure but I think the bottom should be raised too. I run bulk but I know airflow on all sides is important for Sgfc to work right.

A.k.a said:

Make sure the Sgfc isn’t right up against a wall, and I’m not sure but I think the bottom should be raised too. I run bulk but I know airflow on all sides is important for Sgfc to work right.

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Ok thanks bud. It actually was a few inches from the wall but i moved away and I have it sitting on up on jar lids. It's day 5 now in the sgfc and I'm seeing a little growth on a couple cakes. The only light it gets is the ambient light from the windows. I don't know how much light matters I've been reading a lot of outdated info. I've been missing about twice a day and Fanning about 4. Last night I inoculated six more jars with a 12 cc syringe. I want to see how this turns out but these next cakes I want to shred to bulk substrate so that's the next thing I got to figure out.

Johiem said:

They shouldn't be pinning in the jar, if they are, that means they are getting light, which is what induces fruiting.

Click to expand...

How much light would you say is enough for a shotgun fruiting chamber? Is the ambient light from my windows good enough? I don't have it on any type of life cycle it's just in the room.

Dreaming1 said:

Moisture droplets are good sign. Time is nigh. Exhale and pull the trigger. Check out coir casing.

Click to expand...

I looked into coir casing. It seems it would definitely stick to the cakes better and hold more moisture I also feel like it would protect from contams. I may try this with my next cakes or when I flush the ones in the chamber now.

7L!fTeD24 said:

How much light would you say is enough for a shotgun fruiting chamber? Is the ambient light from my windows good enough? I don't have it on any type of life cycle it's just in the room.

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I bought a little light for them.
Mosthink LED Plant Grow Light Strips Full Spectrum for Indoor Plants with Auto ON / Off Timer, 48 LEDs / 4 Dimmable Levels, Sunlike Grow Lamp for Hydroponics Succulent, 2 Pack https://www.amazon.com/dp/B082PJJC8S/ref=cm_sw_r_apan_i_CFT750XS69Z2FMP3MK38?_encoding=UTF8&psc=1
I just left the last ones (didn't flush much) in the outer light cast by my tent. So I'm hoping this little light will help.

They don’t need much light, sometimes they’ll grow towards it if it’s kinda dark but usually they don’t care.

some weird cubes I’ve got going right now

Ok well todays day 8 in the sgfc. Still Fanning and misting as usual. I may be seeing some pin sets I don't know some action going on a little. Cakes are turning a little blue kind of feel like they're drying out so I'm missing a little bit heavier and added a little more wet perlite I only had about 2 in and I bumped it up to about 4 in. The temp stays in the low 70s in the room I also have a humidifier in the room which gives the room at about 60% RH hopefully these take off soon