1018 replies to this topic

[Asura]

Whatever I am doing, the semperviva doesn't like it. I am almost 2 months from spawning and I have 2 little pins.

 

I had the tray in a mono for a bit, but now it's in my FC with constant FAE and high humidity. Fresh air is trickling in.

I don't have a lot of movement.

 

Not sure if I should just give up or hang in there. The mycelium still looks really good. Strong. But I swabbed some 

new plates a few days ago for another go.

[newmoon]

Asura, I wonder if reducing the FAE and misting more heavily might help? I've been keeping the casing on my cakes pretty moist, and they seem to like that. They do grow very slowly!

[DonShadow]

I use a 452 nanometer blue light, but ambient daylight is fine. The pins like minimal misting. Just keep the caps looking caramel brown, and try to keep the humidity high and steady without having to mist lightly more than once or twice a day. The casing should look moist but not saturated. This is where perlite and an air pump really comes in handy. As for FAE, I use an 80gal air pump and exhaust the chamber 4 times daily for 3-4 minutes each time using a 2.5” cpu fan mounted on the lid. Ideal temp 72-80F, 75F is best.

Edited by DonShadow, 16 February 2020 - 08:14 PM.

[Asura]

Don, this sounds like my GH. It's basically wide open on FAE. Temps are 77-80. Humidity is 95%.

 

I'm not really having to mist. Maybe every 3 days.

 

I'll keep forging ahead. If anything, I'll clone those two fruits for another round.

[DonShadow]

What was your grainspawn/substrate/casing? MS genetics or clone? I have had much more success with clones.

[Asura]

Yeah this was MS.

 

Grain spawn was milo. Substrate was 70% straw, 30% poo by volume with a good amount of sand added in.

 

Will definitely be trying a different sub on the next go around.

[DonShadow]

Semps don’t grow in pastureland as far as I know, so manure isn’t necessary. They grow in coffee plantations from what I’ve read. Try my supplemented coir substrate, it has coffee in it and works great for most psilocybes (it’s back on page 2 BTW)

Edited by DonShadow, 16 February 2020 - 09:12 PM.

[Asura]

Yeah, I am going to switch it up. Peacefrog posted his grow several years back on the other site and I believe he

showed that the coir-based substrates did better. I used this sub because I had a whole bunch made up and

I guess I needed to learn the lesson that you need to approach each species on it's own terms.

 

Edit: I remembered it wrong.

 

Peacefrog says:

 

Update:
So far the horse manure compost is kicking ass. The organic compost is a close second. The ones WITHOUT straw are producing the most abundant fruit. And sadly the black Kow jars and the plain straw one are doing nothing! Just primordia that have set there doing nothing for a couple of weeks. It appears straw might not be that great or needed in the substrate (at least for this clone anyway).

Edited by Asura, 16 February 2020 - 10:17 PM.

[DonShadow]

Manure compost isn’t the same as manure... it’s manure that has been decomposed along with mostly organic waste afaik

[Asura]

Correct. I think saralove's grow was basically on the same. Just compost from her garden.

 

I'll try coir next, and obviously ditch the straw. Looks like it's not doing anyone any favors.

 

Short of that, I guess I could get a compost pile going in the yard :)

[DonShadow]

Compost is a pain to prepare and work with and offers no advantage over a supplemented coir substrate IME. I’ve grow several species with it, including secondary decomposer edibles and they all thrive in the recipe I mentioned.

[newmoon]

Besides those cakes, which are newspaper +  flour + popcorn, I am waiting on some PF cakes, some tubs of cased oats, and some tubs of oats -> straw & worm poop. The paper/flour cakes are the only ones to pin so far, am curious how the others will fare.

 

I know it's kind of entry level, but why not try some cakes too?

[DonShadow]

The most obvious reason to not use cakes is that they dehydrate very quickly and semperviva takes a very long time to fruit. You’ll get some fruits but likely a very weak flush.

[YoshiTrainer]

I wonder if there is any symbiotic relationship between coffee plants and semperviva/hoogshagenii? I have coffee plants and wonder if composted leaves or fruit would help? Maybe attaching to the roots? I wonder what type of fertilizers they use for coffee plantations? Chicken poo?

[Asura]

I don't believe any Psilocybe species are mycorrhizal. 

[newmoon]

Also worth remembering that coffee is a relatively new arrival to this continent, and so it's unlikely that this mushroom is specifically evolved for that setting. I'm not sure how coffee is grown - is there something about the ground cover between the coffee plants that's favorable, perhaps?

 

I would really like to get some spore prints to share here, in case anyone else wants in on this, so I am going to wait to see if these will sporulate. I've read that sometimes the first flush doesn't.

 

[Asura]

Those are real beautiful, newmoon. About how long did it take from pins to that size?

[newmoon]

They're super cute! I really like how this species looks.

 

It's been 8 days since I noticed the first pin, but I wasn't checking regularly. Might have been a couple days before that.

 

I finally got a small space set up at 75F, which I think is helping a lot. I might be imagining it, but it seemed like misting them fairly heavily a couple of times has helped.

[DonShadow]

They will sporulate, but you have to wait until the caps look ragged... curling up and getting gnarly. When you think they’re mature, wait another week.

[DocOct]

These guys look great, really cool thread!