1. Light has no harm or benefit for colonizing jars, that's not what causes pinning. What stilumates pinning is Air Exchange, Bacterial Contamination, Early Pinning Strain(Genetics). That Incubate in dark is from TMC(The Mushroom Cultivator) by the author Paul Stamets which he doesn't say anymore. That "incubate in dark" was written 20 years ago and refuses to go away. He later changed that in his other book he wrote after TMC called GGMM(Growing Gourmet and Medicinal Mushrooms). If you visit Fungi Perfect(Paul Stamets mushroom farm) you would see 10,000 square feet of incubation area under high frequency flourescent shoplights with blue end of the spectrum on 10-12 hours a day.
2. 80-83F is optimal growth incubation temperature but anything past 81-83F increases the chances of thermophilies a.k.a contamination/bacteria. The 86F myth is based on a flawed agar study where heat isn't generated on petri dishes. Mycelia growth declines rapidly at 86F and above. Paul Stamets later reviles that that is misinformation and should be lower. If it drops into the 60's however your speed of colonization will go slowly. 75-78F or at room temperature in the 70's is perfect for jars. If you're comfortable in a t-shirt in your house the jars are ok. Heating jars in incubator causes a lot of condensation, condensation is where the inside 'Temperature' differs from the outside. This has nothing to do with humidity. Condensation is the enemy of mushroom cultivation. It breeds bacteria and any moisture that is stuck to the walls is moisture that is NOT in the air any more, making your crop suffer. You should read up every week about how many noobs come in asking if they've cooked there jars because there temperature met all the way to the 100F +. This is why I disagree as well as speeding up a few days later, why? To run into more problems? For bulk substrates I wouldn't go higher then 80F as they already create enough heat by themselves.
RR
And I've been trying to correct that disinformation for years. It's all based on a chart somebody mailed to stamets many years ago showing 86F to be the peak temperature for growth of cubensis on a petri dish, and everybody just accepts it as though Moses carried it down from the mountain on a tablet of stone. However, every single experiment I did to try to duplicate that with extremely accurate temperature monitoring was unable to verify that bogus 86F figure. What I have repeatedly found regardless of strain is that cubensis colonization remains rather flat from about 75F through 81F. Beginning at 83F, the rate of growth falls off sharply. By 86F, growth has slowed down nearly 50% what it was between 75f and 81F. These experiments were conducted on petri dishes that produce little to no heat because of the very thin layer of mycelium. In jars, up to several degrees of heat is produced by the colonizing mycelium; so definitely don't go over 80F to 81F if you're looking for maximum rate of growth. Furthermore, bacteria and thermophilic molds such as Mucor, the black pin mold are stimulated by higher temperatures. Therefore using an incubator set to 86F is certainly favoring bacteria and molds, while slowing down mushroom mycelium growth. Below is a picture of one of my colonization shelves. It sits in my bedroom at normal room temperature and quart jars of rye berries colonize fully in ten days, and pf jars colonize fully in 14 to 21 days, but usually closer to 14. How often do we see posts where people have incubators set at 86F, and they're asking why their jars aren't colonized after four to five weeks, and they have large spots of yellow liquid forming? The liquid is metabolites that the mycelium secretes in response to stress, usually from competitor molds and/or bacteria. What has happened, is they've slowed down the mycelium while stimulating the competitors.
RR
I have found little to no difference in colonization speeds between 75 and 81F. Growth falls off rapidly at 83F and above, not 87F. That chart above is bogus, period. I have tried dozens of times to duplicate it and it can't be done. It was apparently made by someone who did ONE grow with sloppy note taking, and sent the results to Paul. Growth is much slower in cold temperatures until you hit 69F, where it speeds up quite a bit until about 75F, where it remains 'flat' until 81, then is flat again until 83, where it falls off fast beginning at 84. By 'flat' I mean there is no discernible increase or decrease in rate of growth within those ranges. Jars will colonize as fast at 75F as they will at 80F. I've proved this time and time again with every strain in my collection. Growth also falls off rapidly above 84, and this is why so many new folks have problems with incubators set at 86F, and jars that 'won't colonize'. The figures I give are substrate temperatures, not air temperatures. The temp inside the jar is 1 to 5 degrees higher than the surrounding air, depending on where in the colonization cycle the jar is. The heat produced falls off fast as the jar approaches full colonization. If you live in an igloo, (or near the waterfront) by all means build an incubator, but keep it in the normal room temperature ranges for best results. I see no reason to set one above 80F, and lots of reasons not to. Here's a picture of one of my shelves for colonizing jars. The substrate bags are there because I ran out of room on the other shelf. These are in a room at normal room temperature, and exposed to light nearly all day. I don't even put the pf jars on a top shelf where it's warmer. Of course, I had a good teacher on how to make them up, as everyone will soon know.
RR
I've been saying that for years. My petri dish studies a few years ago showed that cubensis reaches peak linear growth between 75F and 80F, then is flat until 83F, where it starts to slow down. Mycelium at 86F is growing at about 2/3 the speed of mycelium at 80F. In addition, the higher temps tend to stimulate thermophic molds and bacteria. There's LOT'S of good information in TMC, but that 86F figure is one of the errors. When I did it there were ten petri dishes colonizing at each temperature, in separate containers. I went through well over 200 petri dishes of mycelium for no other reason than to determine the temperature that stimulates fastest growth, other factors being equal. That was a far more controlled study than the one reported over 20 years ago. If someone else wants to repeat the experiment, go for it. I consider the matter closed. Paul doesn't even repeat that 86F figure, which someone else sent him. Bottom line was the tubs that had petri dishes between 75F and 81F showed no difference in growth. Below 75F, and above 81F growth slowed down, with a rapid drop in colonization speed below 70F and above 83F. At 86F, a petri dish would be 2/3 colonized, while its sister at 75F would be fully colonized. Rate of growth at 86F was exactly the same as rate of growth at 72F, with fastest growth as said, occurring between 75F and 81F. Note that these tests were for linear growth in the two-dimensional plane of a petri dish. In three-dimensional space such as in grain jars or bulk substrates, the effects of thermogenesis need to be considered, so ambient temps should be lowered slightly to compensate.
RR
Mycelium will not colonize faster at 86F. That is flat out wrong. The state of growing mushrooms has progressed way past what was thought 25 years ago. Furthermore, the incorrect information presented 25 years ago said that 86F was an optimal SUBSTRATE temperature, not air temperature. Since there is up to a ten-degree increase in substrate temp over air temp, based on those 25-year-old figures, you should colonize at no more than 76F ambient air temperature. However, maximum mycelium growth occurs at a substrate temperature of 80F to 82F, with a drop off in colonization speed above that. Anyway, this has all been covered to death already, so there's no need to repeat it all over again.
RR
3. Use micro pore tape instead of masking tape.
4. Go to
www.shroomery.org/forums and click on the Search Forum at top
Keyword: Pinning Initiation
Username: RogerRabbit
