70 replies to this topic

[FunnyFarmer]

When I set the tub to fruiting I dropped the mat temp control to 75, I had been keeping it at 80 or so during spawning. I hadn't noticed it before but the mycelia temp seems to rise and fall according to lighting conditions. Turn the lights off and the temp drops about 5 degrees to the set temp, turn them on and it rises 5 degrees to about 80. I'm considering lowering the set temp to 72, or lower, and see if it falls to that at night. I've got everything in my bedroom and at night it can drop too much for the shrooms during winter.... maybe.

 

Another thing for me to bring into the equation is in nature the temps naturally drop at night and more than likely contributes to the fruiting cycle.

[FunnyFarmer]

Yesterday I lowered the mat temp control from 75 to 71 then took note of the temp. Overnight it dropped from 80ish to 74.4 so it seems to be happy at that temp. During the day (lights on) it rises to 80ish all on it's own. It'll be interesting to see if the upper temp drops as the fruiting progresses. I had another thought/question last night, has anyone tried dunking their tub cake in substrate squeezings? What might the drawbacks be? The benefits are apparent, a fresh infusion of nutrients for the shrooms.

 

I checked in on the PB and it's a happy, happy cake. Lots of primordia and pins have developed since putting it to fruiting conditions on Friday That's a piece of bubble wrap off to the side. I don't have two tubs to see if it makes any difference so take the result with a grain of trich.

 

 

I'd like to have some opinions on the look of spore colonization of the Koh Samui. I don't know if this is how colonization manifests itself with KSSS or if there's a problem. My other inoculations didn't look like this at first.

 

   

 

I remember it starting as a concentrated little white areas instead of a cloud. If it is contam would it be safe to sterilize and inoculate again or start from scratch. If it is contam it'll be the second time this has happened from the same syringe, I started fresh with this batch. in another direction, instead of rye inoculation could I squirt some spores from the syringe onto agar and attempt to separate the good from the bad to another agar plate? It would be a first for me. I know, gotta start sometime...

 

Damn, not sure what's going on with the editor. It's reversing the enlarged image position!!! That or I don't understand the process...

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Edited by FunnyFarmer, 11 January 2021 - 12:22 PM.

[Salty117]

That fluff does look suspiciously like what grew on oats in a bag I couldn't finish filling and get sterilized because of an emergency, when I returned just under two days later there were these very similarly appearing fluffs that I knew wasn't mycelium (as I hadn't inoculated the grains, as I hadn't finished filling the bag or ran them through the PC)

I don't think I would suggest re-sterilizing the grains, as I myself was cautioned against it when I asked a very similarly rooted question here. If it's not mycelium, something else is thriving on the nutritional supply, in my mind, re-sterilizing it would leave you with a weakened nutritional source to spawn to since something else has been feeding on it. Atleast that's what comes to my mind when I think about trying to recycle a spawn/food source that's in question.

[FunnyFarmer]

That fluff does look suspiciously like what grew on oats in a bag I couldn't finish filling and get sterilized because of an emergency, when I returned just under two days later there were these very similarly appearing fluffs that I knew wasn't mycelium (as I hadn't inoculated the grains, as I hadn't finished filling the bag or ran them through the PC)

I don't think I would suggest re-sterilizing the grains, as I myself was cautioned against it when I asked a very similarly rooted question here. If it's not mycelium, something else is thriving on the nutritional supply, in my mind, re-sterilizing it would leave you with a weakened nutritional source to spawn to since something else has been feeding on it. Atleast that's what comes to my mind when I think about trying to recycle a spawn/food source that's in question.

I went through the usual prep for rye berries: hydrate 24 hr, boil for 10 minutes, PC for 1.5 hr, let cool to room temp, heat syringe needle with flame before each inoculation, wipe everything (including injection port) except needle with iso. I sent the needle through the PC to sterilize wrapped in foil. I didn't have this problem with the Pink Buffalo so I'm suspecting the syringe is contamed. Probably time to toss it and move on to another variety.

 

The contam was progressing way to fast to be anything but a contam so I pitched it and the syringe. It too was showing signs of corruption, there was a gel like substance stuck to the plunger that wasn't showing up in my other syringes. So I ordered another syringe of KSSS. In the meantime I've started another batch of rye berries that will get inoculated with???

 

Good thing I ordered some more rye berries.

Edited by FunnyFarmer, 11 January 2021 - 07:48 PM.

[FunnyFarmer]

Since this thread is about Thai variants I'm continuing that theme with Ban Phang Ka. The inoculation went smoothly, I've gotten lots of practice in the last few weeks. My project for next month will of course be KSSS... or something else...IDK I've got older syringes that need to be used before the vitality drops too far plus I want to get spore prints from all the variants I have.

 

Almost had a crisis today, I was misting the PB tub and absent mindedly grabbed a bottle of iso. Fortunately I have bubble wrap on the substrate and it caught the vast majority of overspray when I sprayed the sides of the tub.Then gave it a fanning for good measure.

 

Speaking of bubble wrap the pins are putting on some weight. Before putting the bubble wrap on there was virtually no primordia, just a good layer of mycelia. A day and a half later lots of them.

[FunnyFarmer]

Got reasonable pin coverage on the PB cake. If not by tomorrow I'll definitely be harvesting on Saturday if they grow as fast as GT's. So far I'm happy with the progress of the PB compared to the GT's somewhat anemic results but that was my fault for rushing it. This tub reflects what I've learned from the help here and elsewhere. A big thumbs up to all that helped.

 

 

Soon I'll get to see if all the hoopla surrounding this variety is well deserved... Don't worry, I will be taking prints.

 

Has anyone tried setting up a nebulizer/humidifier in their grow area for the winter months what with the dry air? Even in the grow tent it hovers at 35% with an aquarium bubbler, it does go up  over night when I turn off the ventilation and light but not by that much. I'm not monitoring inside the fruiting tub but I am putting a portable nebulizer to it a few times a day and misting only as the sides go dry.

 

 

[FunG]

Your setup is extrodinatley fancy for p.cubensis (I think I mentioned that before)

Normally a temperature controlled fruiting environment is best left for pan cyans which are more picky about their conditions. Cubensis will fruit anywhere from 62-80f it's a wide range but optimally is 72-75f as you know.

If you're concerned about r.h you could put your tray into a tote with damp perlite and cover it with seran wrap.... it would also save you a ton of space.

Your setup is good for cyans but overkill for cubes in my opinion.

I dont run anything special during winter, I just let the bulk substrate provide the humidity.



Get into unmodified mono's funnyfarmer and you can save the tent for more exotic mushrooms like pan cyans.

[FunnyFarmer]

Point taken FunG. That being said I'm kinda glad I have separate tents for colonizing/spawning and fruiting. If they hadn't been separated everything would have gone down to trich a while back. As it was it was confined to one tent and didn't infect the fruiting tent or get loose in my bedroom. A good scrub down of the tent with Lysol took care of the problem and as you see the PB is very happy.

 

Speaking of the PB I've got one shroom ready for  pickin that I think I'll print. Not a monster but will make for good sized print. Make that two for the picking, another one broke veil since this morning when I started the post. I'm sure there will be many more fine specimens that I can print from.

 

 

[FunnyFarmer]

The first flush of the Pink Buffalo is done, 132g wet. Not great but not bad either. I harvested what was left plus the aborts and larger pins then took a plastic fork and lightly pricked the surface. Next I heavily misted the surface and fanned it for a few minutes before putting it to bed for a couple days. Last thing to be done was use a nebulizer on it and plug the large vent holds with poly fill. I'll keep an eye on the wall condensation. If anyone has additional tips that I don't know about please chime up. It's all appreciated. The one thing I'm not sure about is whether to dunk it.

[Salty117]

Dunking is probably a good idea. I have tried the route of loading a clean syringe with distilled water and injecting the cake with a couple ml of water in a few places making sure to inject gently so that the water permeates without over-saturating a single area with what I would consider to be success (acheiving another flush without removing or submerging the cake)

I have also read that dunking with the squeezings of substrate helps put nutrients back into the cake. I've also seen it mention that adding coffee (liquid) brewed from twice-run grounds will help add nutrients as well. This is not something I've tested out myself but I fully intend to when Salty's Laboratory gets operating at full capacity 

[jrh]

Like dunking with grainwater? That's an interesting idea.

[FunnyFarmer]

The idea of dunking with substrate squeezings crossed my mind a few weeks ago but was a little hesitant considering the risk of contams. I may have even mentioned the idea here. The squeezings would have to be stored in such a manner that it would preclude contams getting to it. Pasteurizing again before dunking? Or freezing? Would have to clearly label it for the freezer. Honey, why did you put the chocolate milk in the freezer?

 

As I was searching for additional tips on the web I came across a reddit where the grower picks the last of the shrooms and aborts but leaves the pins alone for the next flush. Apparently the pins that appear with the first flush don't all necessarily grow with the first flush. They take their turns with each subsequent flush. Then in my continuing read of RR's notes I came across the same statement last night. Duhhh, wish I had read that before pricking the surface with the fork... During my research of growing shrooms I had come across references to removing all shrooms, aborts AND pins as preparation for the next flush... Duhhh  It's the little bits of info like this missing from general instructions that trip up noobs. Anyway during my inspection this morning I noticed a lot of pins coming out alongside the cake and the surface appears to be recovering somewhat from the fork job. So all is not lost. I forgot to add the bubble wrap after cleaning the surface but remembered later when I went to bed. It does seem to help by creating a micro-climate on the surface with a removable casing. I went one step further then the description at that other shroom website by cutting a grid-work of holes in the BW.

[FunnyFarmer]

This morning I harvested about 172g of the PB, about 30g more than the first flush. While i was at it I took 4 prints, three to foil and one to a 4oz jar lid. So far that makes a total of 303g wet from the PB and at least one more flush to go. And that doesn't include the caps that I'm printing.

 

I came across a different method for making spore syringes on Youtube. Put some spring water, maybe a third full, in a 4oz Kerr wide mouth jar (like you use for BRF tek) and sterilize. Then take another Kerr jar and print to it's lid using the jar as a cover then store it on the jar. I imagine you could wrap the lid in foil but there is the chance of spore transfer to the foil but it would make for a little more compact storage...  When you're ready using a SAB transfer the print lid to one of the sterilized water jars, shake and fill your syringes. It's one of those duhhh moments, why didn't I think of that...

[FunG]

That sounds riskier then printing to foil and then making the syringe using the baggie tek and then transferring the spore syringe to a jar of water to stretch out the spore solution and keep it well hydrated in a storage jar.

But to each their own.

[FunnyFarmer]

Maybe I didn't explain the process very well, here's a link:

[Direct Link]

[FunnyFarmer]

The last flush managed to drop massive amounts of spores on the cake and now it's slow on the uptake. The only thing coming up is the side pins. Is there anything I can do, the cake is still massively colonized. I've considered slicing the cake in half and turning the sides up with the bottoms together... or the other way around...

 

 

There are lots of black aborts all over the substrate, but I don't know if they are really black or just black with spores.

This is driving me nuts trying to figure out how to post pics here...

 

Addendum: I decided to pluck the black pins and discovered the cake was a bit on the dry side, even with misting several times a day, so another dunk is taking place. Probably drained it too much from the last dunk. We'll see what happens then...

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Edited by FunnyFarmer, 31 January 2021 - 08:22 PM.

[FunnyFarmer]

Out of what looks to be a pathetic flush from the previous post tuned into an OK production, 129g,  from a substrate that looked finished at two flushes.

 

 

 

I had been thinking about cutting off the edges of the cake and rotating them 90 degrees but a little research suggested it might be a waste of my time. So I decided to take a look at the underside.

 

 

Holy Shit Batman! That cake ain't done! I'm gonna try for another flush... or two... maybe three? Not sure what I'm gonna do with those slugs trying to escape around the edges.

 

If you're wondering how I did it I cut two pieces of plywood to size and wrapped with plastic. Clean the plastic with iso and place it on top of the cake, flip the tub, withdraw the cake and  place the other piece of ply on the other side. Flip it over, remove the first ply and reinsert into the tub, take picture.

 

That impression from the bottom of the tub gives me an idea, take a large enough plastic mask and... hmmmm...

 

Addendum: While checking the colonization progress of the Ban Phang Ka I noticed a bright orange spot on the mycelium and worried it might be some kind of contam. A little further investigation reveled rust dripping off the lid. Whew.

Edited by FunnyFarmer, 02 February 2021 - 08:15 PM.

[FunnyFarmer]

FunG was commenting on my craftsmanship in a PM so I wanted to show him a different kind of craftsmanship that I indulge in and thought everyone else might appreciate it. It's a little project that I built from scratch, no plans not even a detailed drawing, just a sketch on paper. It's a Greene & Greene Arts & Crafts inspired liquor cabinet. I made everything (including the stained glass door panels) but the hardware.

 

 

The frame is walnut with cherry side panels, the upper door panels are quilted maple. Inside the upper area the back panel is birdseye maple and inside the lower area the back is curly maple. It's all mortise and tenon construction, no nails, no cheap particle board anywhere, just solid wood.

Edited by FunnyFarmer, 14 February 2021 - 10:53 PM.

[sandman]

Wow what an exquisite cabinet! 

[TVCasualty]

That's a gorgeous piece of furniture.

 

Have you ever considered making your own spalted maple (or oak, etc.) by using your myco skill to inoculate logs? I met someone who was doing that and he was able to either sell it or use it for his own projects and seemed to be making a modest but worthwhile side income from it.

 

And I see you have an old-school "radical harm" saw; I inherited the same model from my dad. I don't see those around much anymore (I don't have my dad's anymore, either but as consolation I still have both of my hands and all of my fingers).