"How to" Mushroom BRF Tek.

Hello Zero,

I have been growing for a few months now and have had a few nice fruits, with a max of 3 flushes. I have also been having some problems, around 1/3 to 1/2 of my cakes never fruited and some only flush once. I don't understand why some mycelium cakes of the same strain in the same conditions fruit and why some aren't.

Do the cakes die if they get too dry or wet? Or possibly my temps/humidity/or air exchange is off at times.

I'm also having a problem with some bulk substrates I've been trying. I spawned three different strains into shoe box size plastic containers with horse manure. Only one of the three has fruited and only did one flush. The other 2 still seem to be colonizing but very slowly. The one that did flush wasn't fully colonized and I thought it was fruiting early. I thought they wouldn't fruit until all the manure had turned into mycelium. I picked half (only shrooms that looked ready) and all the other mushrooms stopped growing and never got another flush. I feel like I am having the same problem in each setup.

I have around 17 cakes that I birthed about a week ago, and would like to make the most out of them. Any advice is appreciated; mostly looking for fruiting advice and knowing when to give up on a cake.
 
Thanks, answered all of em (for now!). I'll post pictures of progress later, right now its just a shitload of jars sitting in a tub in the corner of a room so it isnt terribly exciting. =)
 
Awesome thread man, +rep. Great timing too, my friend and i are getting ready to do our first batch and i think we'll try to follow your instructions as closely as possible. Any chance you could post some pics of the preparation of your setup? I'm a visual learner :D

Edit: Forgot to ask, any particular strain you would recommend to a first time grower?
 
Sorry it took so long for me to respond, ive been busy, and i knew that it would take me long to write out this answer.

weasels911 said:
Hello Zero,

I have been growing for a few months now and have had a few nice fruits, with a max of 3 flushes. I have also been having some problems, around 1/3 to 1/2 of my cakes never fruited and some only flush once. I don't understand why some mycelium cakes of the same strain in the same conditions fruit and why some aren't.

Do the cakes die if they get too dry or wet? Or possibly my temps/humidity/or air exchange is off at times.

I'm also having a problem with some bulk substrates I've been trying. I spawned three different strains into shoe box size plastic containers with horse manure. Only one of the three has fruited and only did one flush. The other 2 still seem to be colonizing but very slowly. The one that did flush wasn't fully colonized and I thought it was fruiting early. I thought they wouldn't fruit until all the manure had turned into mycelium. I picked half (only shrooms that looked ready) and all the other mushrooms stopped growing and never got another flush. I feel like I am having the same problem in each setup.

I have around 17 cakes that I birthed about a week ago, and would like to make the most out of them. Any advice is appreciated; mostly looking for fruiting advice and knowing when to give up on a cake.
Click to expand...

I think the problem u probably have, is there is some type of contamination that you are not seeing. Mushroom fungus wont usually fruit if its spending its energy battling contaminations for dominance over the nutes. I think u should take a step back. clean out your work area, wipe down your entire work area, and fruiting area with a light bleach solution, and spray them with lysol. clean all your equipment.

Next i dont think u should use H-poo. what were you spawning to the h-poo? bird seed? rye?
Instead substitute the h-poo for coco coir. you can find it in bricks at petco / petsmart. its in the reptile bedding section and comes in bricks usually for $5.
bring 1 gallon of water to a full rolling boil, in a big pot and then drop the brick in there, and put the lid on, and let it simmer on low for 90min. then add about an equal about of verm, and half as much verm in water. (if you add 4 cups of verm add 2 cups of water.) then cover and let it cool. then once its cool, and you have your tub, that you have wiped down with alcohol, and allowed the remaining alcohol residue to evaporate, and the coir verm mix, finish mixing it with your hands (wearing gloves if u have them) and then crumble your jars of spawn into it. and let it re-colonize for about a week, covered with foil with lots of holes. then put a thin layer of moistend verm over it as a casing. and wait for fruits.

and i would give a cake at least 3 weeks to show fruits before giving up. dont forget to dunk under water. and before really giving up, i would dunk again just to be sure. also u could try cold shocking the the cake into fruiting, put it under water, and stick it in the fridge for 24 hours.
 
zeffysaurus said:
Awesome thread man, +rep. Great timing too, my friend and i are getting ready to do our first batch and i think we'll try to follow your instructions as closely as possible. Any chance you could post some pics of the preparation of your setup? I'm a visual learner :D

Edit: Forgot to ask, any particular strain you would recommend to a first time grower?
Click to expand...

Treasure Coast is my favoite strain, it is very forgiving.
I just mixed up some jars last night, i could take pictures, but there is really not too much it.

1. make the BRF mix.
2. load them into jars.
3. press envelope filters on with jar bands. cover with foil
4. pressure cook for 90 min at 15psi let jars cool.
5. innoculate jars with .25 a cc per injection point. 1 to 4 points per jar.
6. let jars colonize at room temp. (70* to 84* 82* is optimum) untill 100% white
7. pop the "cakes" out of the jars, rinse with water and submerge under water for 24 hours.
8. roll the cakes in verm. and place them in your fruiting chamber. wait 30 min and then begin misting.
9. wait for fruits while misting and fanning the chamber everyday. u should try to maintain droplets on the walls and lid.
10. harvest
11. dry ur fruits.
12 enjoy!

But, zeffysaurus please let me know if u come accross any questions as you and your friend give it a shot.
 
Wow! I think I want to do this now. I didn't understand the whole envelope thing... how does that work? For the polyfill why cant you just of set the 2 holes so you have more space in the middle row?

You explained everything else great though. Things kinda look creepy though haha. Just use to the green:weed: how much does an 8th usually go for?
 
Thanks that seems like the problem, it has been about 4 or 5 weeks now with no shrooms or visible contams.
I have been doing some reading on ShroomTalk.com and think I am not getting enough fresh air exchange resulting in
slower fruiting and easier growth for contams. I was fanning and misting 3 times a day,and see that some do a lot more.

I will clean and sterilize my fruiting chamber that hasn't shown growth for several weeks and the grow space. I have a second fruiting chamber
that I made about 2 weeks ago now filled with cakes and want to give it more time to try and fruit ( mycelium just stated
bubbling out the sides of the cakes so I think it should be any day now)

For my bulk substrate I used BRF cakes crushed with pasteurized horse poo 1:3 ratio.
I will try coco coir next time because of the poor results I'm getting this time around and
didn't know how easily I could get coco coir.

I am interested in using wild bird seed but am not sure if I can successfully use it without a
pressure cooker. I will get a nice one eventually but can't afford one right now. Would it be worth
it to try wbs without a pc for the time being? I haven't had any contamination problems inside my jars
with brf and a large stock pot. BRF is very slow and I just received 3 new syringes from Spore Works (Ecuador, PE, and PF Classic)
and was looking to see if it's worth it to try something new or it would be a waste without a pressure cooker?

Also I would like to start a liquid culture using honey and some bigger jars I have. Is there a tek that you prefer
for LC?
 
weasels911 said:
Thanks that seems like the problem, it has been about 4 or 5 weeks now with no shrooms or visible contams.
I have been doing some reading on ShroomTalk.com and think I am not getting enough fresh air exchange resulting in
slower fruiting and easier growth for contams. I was fanning and misting 3 times a day,and see that some do a lot more.

I will clean and sterilize my fruiting chamber that hasn't shown growth for several weeks and the grow space. I have a second fruiting chamber
that I made about 2 weeks ago now filled with cakes and want to give it more time to try and fruit ( mycelium just stated
bubbling out the sides of the cakes so I think it should be any day now)

For my bulk substrate I used BRF cakes crushed with pasteurized horse poo 1:3 ratio.
I will try coco coir next time because of the poor results I'm getting this time around and
didn't know how easily I could get coco coir.

I am interested in using wild bird seed but am not sure if I can successfully use it without a
pressure cooker. I will get a nice one eventually but can't afford one right now. Would it be worth
it to try wbs without a pc for the time being? I haven't had any contamination problems inside my jars
with brf and a large stock pot. BRF is very slow and I just received 3 new syringes from Spore Works (Ecuador, PE, and PF Classic)
and was looking to see if it's worth it to try something new or it would be a waste without a pressure cooker?

Also I would like to start a liquid culture using honey and some bigger jars I have. Is there a tek that you prefer
for LC?
Click to expand...

No, dont do WBS without a pressure cooker. personally i wouldnt even do brf cakes without a PC either, but i have heard some can get away with just boiling. once youve saved up enough money u should shell out for the 23qt for $80 on amazon.

also, personally i don't believe in turning cakes into bulk. IMO cakes should stay cakes. I mean, its fully colonized, and ready to give you fruit, and then you smash it, and make it spend a week or two getting itself back together? thats a week or two wasted IMO, should have just fruited it.

I love shroomtalk, i dont care what the kitty says. lol. (actually i think in a week or two, im going to be promoted to moderator over there.) Look up "hippypiss" i think its potato water. never had much luck with LC's but i think i know what i was doing wrong. when i have a ton of spores i dont know what to do with, ill try them again.
 
brianc01088 said:
Wow! I think I want to do this now. I didn't understand the whole envelope thing... how does that work? For the polyfill why cant you just of set the 2 holes so you have more space in the middle row?

You explained everything else great though. Things kinda look creepy though haha. Just use to the green:weed: how much does an 8th usually go for?
Click to expand...

"tyvek" envelopes found free and the US post office work great. Tyvek works great as a filter, its supposed to be water proof, but at the same time, it still lets some air though. by placing the envelope over the jar, and pressing the jar ring down on it, we create a double filter layer of tyvek. this will really help keep the contaminations out. i have yet to have a jar that has this kind of filter on it contaminate.

an 8th can for around $25.
anywhere from around $10 to $20 a gram.
 
This is a great write up. How much harder is it to go to the rye seed and casing method? The pictures I've seen seem to show more uniform mushrooms and very good yield. Could you perhaps list some pros and cons of cake vs casing? I know the General Cultivation Questions says there is more chance of human error, but it sounds like there is plenty chance for human error in the cake method as well. The cake doesn't sound terribly difficult but it all sounds like you just need to be very clean and pay attention to what you are doing. Is the casing method really that much work considering all that goes into the cakes?

I saw this guy's first grow and was very impressed. He said he got a lot of equipment from a buddy but damn his mushies look awesome. I have no problem doing cakes but if it isn't much more work then I'd prefer to do the casing. Thanks again for the guide.
 

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lvnv said:
This is a great write up. How much harder is it to go to the rye seed and casing method? The pictures I've seen seem to show more uniform mushrooms and very good yield. Could you perhaps list some pros and cons of cake vs casing? I know the General Cultivation Questions says there is more chance of human error, but it sounds like there is plenty chance for human error in the cake method as well. The cake doesn't sound terribly difficult but it all sounds like you just need to be very clean and pay attention to what you are doing. Is the casing method really that much work considering all that goes into the cakes?

I saw this guy's first grow and was very impressed. He said he got a lot of equipment from a buddy but damn his mushies look awesome. I have no problem doing cakes but if it isn't much more work then I'd prefer to do the casing. Thanks again for the guide.
Click to expand...

Yes, if its your first time, go with cakes. and use my method with the tyvek envelopes. its night and day. i think the biggest error with the old cake teks is using lids with holes, and relying solely on the dry verm layer to protect the cake, and also probally more likely to dry out, if you dont use the tyvek. My reason for saying this, is that you will get first hand experience, and get to see the mushroom growing cycle first hand. once you know what to expect, and what your supposed to see, you will be more confident and know what dosnt look right when you move to "bulk" methods.

Yes, Bulk methods do require much more work, and several more steps. in the cake method, once your jars are colonized, your pretty much done, and ready to fruit. in the spawn grain jar method, once your jar is colonized, your only half way there. you still need to make and pasteurize your substrate, then break up the grain spawn, and mix with the substrate into a tub or tray. and then wait a couple of more weeks for the trays to re-colonize, and then case. and then wait another week for fruiting to start.

so bulk is like twice the work, and 2-3 extra weeks of waiting.

That picture has a very nice pin set. thats a very good flush. thats called a "canopy" where you can not see the ground due to so many mushroom caps. I would not expect a flush like that on your first try, when you go bulk. and don't consider yourself a failure if you don't get a flush like that. That is what happens if everything you do from begining to end is "optimum" many growers grow for a very long time before they can get to that level of efficiency. and it also has to do with genetics. If everything is not perfect, including genetics that you cant control, you will not get a flush like that.

Its very much trial and error till you reach that level. and once you do. and you find what works for you, keep it. it takes time, so just keep at it.
 
Hi, just had a question about the fruiting chamber. Before I've seen to drill many holes into the terrarium but not with your method. Do the quarter size poly filled holes replace this completely?

Polyfill seems better for keeping humidity higher and contaminations out, but wasn't sure if you had any other holes drilled in top, bottom, or sides. thanks.
 
Thanks for the very thorough response, zer0ed. Cake method it is for me. Your tek really does seem pretty fullproof as long I pay attention to what I am doing.

Time to pony up for a pressure cooker I guess! Wish I had some other use for it...
 
lvnv said:
Time to pony up for a pressure cooker I guess! Wish I had some other use for it...
Click to expand...
i thought the same thing. i think what ive decided (still haven't gotten the cooker yet myself) is that i might start making my own jelly or something ;)
 
weasels911 said:
Hi, just had a question about the fruiting chamber. Before I've seen to drill many holes into the terrarium but not with your method. Do the quarter size poly filled holes replace this completely?

Polyfill seems better for keeping humidity higher and contaminations out, but wasn't sure if you had any other holes drilled in top, bottom, or sides. thanks.
Click to expand...

I like to drill a few small holes near the top below the lid, and below the lip or rim of the tub if it has one. this will let the heavier co2 leak out the polyfil, and pull o2 fresh air though the top. but do this only if your fruiting chamber is in a more or less clean location. like in a closet that isnt too dusty, and has been cleaned. and spray lysol at the celing every few days. but dont over do it, or your mushrooms will mutate like some kind of birth defect.
 
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