First mushroom grow. Got some questions.

Hello everybody. I'm currently in the middle of my first mushroom grow. I'm growing them following a PF tek method using vermiculite and brown rice flower and putting the mixture in canning jars. I've inoculated the jars some time ago and the jars are almost fully colonized.

I've got my fruiting chamber ready for the cakes and I've got some questions as to what I'm suposed to do from here.

1. How much light (if any) do cubensis need to grow well?
2. Should I drill holes in the fruiting chamber or should I air it out manually a few times a day?

Any help would be greatly appreciated. Thanks.

1. You dont need much light really. Like a light in the blueish spectrum a 10w bulb or something will do. Or several LEDs.

2. You can do both! Just make sure the humidity is high (keep perlite moist) and that there is frequent air exchange.

Peace hombre

Whats up
Heres what I have done in the past. I do bulk substrate with horse poo, verm, and coco coir. I wouldnt bother with pf tek. Crappy yields for the time it takes. But its how I got my feet wet. If I did it all over again I would break up the cakes into a bulk substrate.

Light- In my tubs I cut the a hole in the top and recover the hole with a chunk of clear shower curtain(its cheap) and use a walmart under the counter t5 fixture. 10bux i think. Then I went to my pet shop and got a t5 actinic bulb and replaced the one that came with the fixture.

Fresh air exchange- Here is the best idea I have ever come across. My tubs are 18 gallon sterilites. On the bottom of the tub I cut 2 2" inch holes on the long side of tub and 1 2" hole on the short side about 3-4" from the bottom. Now this is where the magic is applied:
parts needed:
1 aquarium airstone
1 aquarium air pump
6' aquarium air hose
So heres the plan
Run your airstone on the top(in the inside) of your tub and pump fresh air in 24/7. Thats it. The air from the stone pushes the co2 out of the FAE holes you cut. You will have to mist with sterile water to keep RH up. Only mist the sides of the tub dont mist your
substrate or cakes. Mist as the sides dry out. The co2 that builds from the mycilium eating its food is what you want out the airstone does this for you. I had 12 18gallon mono tubs
going and fanning them 4-6xs a day sucked. After doing this my yields and shroom size went bonkers! My biggest was 77 grams wet and the rest of the flush not one shroom was less than 50grams wet. That was for one tub

OHHH Dont forget to clog the air holes with tyvek or polyester batting. Here is a beautiful site to check out if you havnt.
http://www.mycotopia.net/

Im 6ft and 200lbs. My arms and hands arent small. This was a B+ strain.

Damn fourrings. That's a big shroom. I'm gonna check out the site you suggested.
Thanks for the info. I never thought about using an air stone and pump. I'm deffinantly
gonna try it after taking a look at that shroom.

OHH! I forgot!! Like I said I was using the PF tek method. And I would also like to know, after the cakes yeild their first crop, will they continue to fruit after the shrooms are picked? I've heard different things as far as that goes.

Forrings, you mentioned breaking up the cakes into bulk substrate. I'm interesed in trying this. Can I do that after they yeild as cakes? If so, I'm not real familier with many other forms of mushroom cultivation. However I'm interesed in producing the highest yeilds possible. If anyone can offer up some more info it's all greatly appreciated.

Thanks. Peace.

Yes! after you get your first flush you can break up the cakes and spawn them into a bulk. what happens with cakes is they have a limited supply of food via brown rice flower. It is not a good nute base, the mycileum rolls through with avengence and eats it up fast. A reason you dont see big boomers is the brf cakes dont hold a lot of moisture. as you know boomers are 98%water...so you need a good well for them to drink from. But after you get a flush the myc. is still active and in search of food, spawn it into a good bulk and you have basically done what I do with wild bird seed. You will be quite impressed to see how fast it will colonize the bulk substrate. Remember when you want the mycilium to grow you want warm temps you want to get ti fruiting you want cooler temps. Thats the key most leave out. same as weed change the light cycle and she makes you bud change the temp and you force that cake into fruiting.