70 replies to this topic

[HrVanker]

Well, my last two tubs are done. They fruited well, but I definitely could have gotten more from them. The problem was that I kept accidentally leaving the lid-tubs off for too long and drying out the pin sets. I was also getting a lot of condensation and dripping during colonization, which seemed to cause some overlay issues.

So this time around, I've mixed things up a bit. First, I added ½" polyfilled holes high up on the short ends of the lids and may end up adding some smaller holes lower on the long sides if needed. Then, I cut back the amount of water in my coir again. This time, I used 4qt of water to 1lb of dry coir. And finally, put the tubs right into fruiting instead of covering for colonization.

I also did some mild experimentation with the sub. It's mostly coir, but I also added some used bark chips and pumice pieces from repotting some orchids, as well as using about 8oz of a 2mo old batch of organic fertilizer I use in my little raised bed. It's all worm/bat/kelp based, and I boiled it with the water before hydrating/pasteurizing my coir.

So far, these tubs are looking great. They are about 5 days in and starting to knot up a bit. The far left is from what I've been calling my EQ isolate lineage (probably not a true isolate yet), the middle is the B+ that I started from some dried gills, and the far right is a clone from a mushroom with an interesting bell shaped cap.

The pic of all 3 was taken about 16hrs ago. And the individual pics should be in order from left to right.

[Arathu]

Oh yeah they do look good.......sweet! I love it when rhizomes blast out and reach into the air....but even more so as they fall back and knot...

 

Nice work brother......

 

A

Edited by Arathu, 21 February 2022 - 07:10 PM.

[HrVanker]

I started harvesting the first flush off of the "bell capped" tub (far right in last post). Though I'm not so sure that this was the culture I thought it was... There was a chance that some things got mis-labeled, so I'll have to go back and figure out what this tub could be. I'll definitely take a clone to properly label; this is a pretty funky looking phenotype.

I'll start labeling better once I get some new prints.

Pic is after harvesting a large handful of similarly looking, more mature fruits.

[HrVanker]

The other two tubs are coming along. They both appear to be putting out some rather large fruits, especially compared to the one I posted last night.

The tub in the middle is definitely moving slower and has some scaly looking stems. I did realize that perhaps it was too well insulated by the other two tubs, so I arranged some gaps between them.

Here's a pic of the large handful I took from the funky-fruits this morning. Then pics of the two other tubs.

[HrVanker]

Just spawned my first batch of Lion's Mane! Got some LC online, and shot up some quarts. Definitely a new experience compared to cubes.

I couldn't find bran anywhere convenient, so I just used some coir and oak pellets. I am also using gallon ziploc bags.... So we'll see how this goes. This culture seems to be pretty aggressive, so I suspect that it will tear through the sub.

Not sure how I'm going to fruit. I have a large tub that I use for my glove box, and a couple elevated cooking racks that I've used to incubate tempeh. Was thinking about covering the arm holes w/ cloth or stuffing with polyfill, since I hear that they need lots of FAE. Humidity is a concern, but IIRC, LM prefers less RH than cubes. Am I correct on that?

Any tips for spore printing/collection? I've seen where people prop the mushroom up w/ toothpicks and the like to collect on foil. But would it be better to just swab to a plate with a sterile swab?

Edited by HrVanker, 01 April 2022 - 03:11 PM.

[HrVanker]

Forgot to update after the LM. They ended up contaminating after I spawned, not sure what happened there.

I had two quarts of cube spawn (labeled Blue Nips lol) in the cupboard for the last few months. Not entirely sure when I started them, but probably early June or late May. I finally got around to making up some sub: mostly coir, a heaping cup of loosely packed MiracleGrow vegetable soil (coir, manure, some woody buts), gypsum, and a dash of guano/castings fertilizer.

It was only 2-3qt of sub, so I boiled the water and organic fertilizer in an 8qt pot, while preheating the oven to 170F. After boiling for a few min, I added the coir/soil/gypsum mix and stirred as it hydrated. Once it looked well mixed, I put a lid on and put the pot in the oven. After about an hour, I turned off the oven. 8hrs later, I mixed up the cooled sub and spawned.

Usually I put a thin layer on top, but this time it was between ¼-½". Yesterday I started to see some myc poking through, and it looks like it's moving fast!

Edited by HrVanker, 23 August 2022 - 03:20 PM.

[HrVanker]

We got some mushroom knots! And it looks like I can see at least one pin, whose cap is still white.

[HrVanker]

Well, my dehydrator died on me yesterday, after not using it in 3 or 4 months. After I turned it on the other day I noticed that the fan was sounding a little rough, but it was always a bit louder than I expected. Then yesterday the fan kept stopping. I took it apart 2×, and the motor felt nice and smooth, so I lubed up the axel it spins on, which improved the noise.

But after work the whole thing was dead. No lights coming on or anything. Luckily it was mostly done w/ the run, with just a couple slightly soft mostly dry shrooms. So I put them all in a container w/ a ton of desiccant pouches to pull the rest of the water out. New unit arriving tomorrow.

Edit: they don't look too nipple-y. Seemed like 2 or 3 substrains made it into the clone sample I took: some shorties I had seen before, some nipple-ish caps, and some med-sized dome/sauce shaped caps.

Edited by HrVanker, 03 September 2022 - 01:44 PM.

[bezevo]

WOW ! bummer about your dehydrator , i have a very generic heated dehydrator i got on e-bay like 20 yrs ago with half dozen extra trays .  for  about $50 .. i also had two of those RONCO Egg shaped dehydrators that came with no heater just fan , i bought them both at thrift stores for $5 or $ 10 apiece but my EX- swiped them about 15 yrs ago .....man I'm old and CHEAP  eeeerrr i meant THRIFTY  ..but the Thrifty Chinese heated dehydrator still works great ..  i  dry  mushrooms over night in dehydrator then finish them in a tightly sealed generic tupa-ware type container with a bunch desiccant .

 

NOW  ! TIP ! of The DAY !  ...................JUST THE TIP !

 

instead of buying expensive  desiccant silica crystals . i go to Pet Isle at Evil Wal-Mart and buy a bag of there SENT FREE Krystal Kitty  litter ........... same stuff ..only  $4 for 4lb bag .  .THRIFTY .

 

BLah BLah enough of my opinions ha

 

BEZ

[HrVanker]

WOW ! bummer about your dehydrator , i have a very generic heated dehydrator i got on e-bay like 20 yrs ago with half dozen extra trays . for about $50 .. i also had two of those RONCO Egg shaped dehydrators that came with no heater just fan , i bought them both at thrift stores for $5 or $ 10 apiece but my EX- swiped them about 15 yrs ago .....man I'm old and CHEAP eeeerrr i meant THRIFTY ..but the Thrifty Chinese heated dehydrator still works great .. i dry mushrooms over night in dehydrator then finish them in a tightly sealed generic tupa-ware type container with a bunch desiccant .

NOW ! TIP ! of The DAY ! ...................JUST THE TIP !

instead of buying expensive desiccant silica crystals . i go to Pet Isle at Evil Wal-Mart and buy a bag of there SENT FREE Krystal Kitty litter ........... same stuff ..only $4 for 4lb bag . .THRIFTY .

BLah BLah enough of my opinions ha

BEZ

I'm hoping this next dehydrator lasts longer (gotta beat 1.5yrs), and that the other one is just defective. I did buy the same make/model to check, plus I can re-use the trays. I've seen the same brand's more expensive versions used hard in professional settings w/ no issues.

Usually I fully dry mine in the dehydrator. I can get an entire stack done in about 8hrs. I use the dessicant (and O2 absorbers) w/ my vacuum sealer. But I do have a bunch of silica litter and a bunch of color changing silica beads (!) just in case.

Edited by HrVanker, 04 September 2022 - 12:36 PM.

[Juthro]

There has been some talk about the color changing beads toxicity.  The blue ones are colored with cobalt IIRC.  Though it shouldn't be a problem if they are not coming into direct contact with what you're drying.  Just food for thought.

 

I know they are expensive, but I've never had any regrets with the Excalibur dehydrator that I purchased several years back.  Though to be fair, I use it more for stuff out of the garden then I do for stuff out of my closet.  It's likely a bit overkill if all you're going ever dry is mushrooms, unless you're going BIG that is :)