19 replies to this topic

[jrh]

Or is that just asking for a muddy mess?

 

The mushroom is cubes, the sub is CVG, the casing is peat/verm and uncolonized. 

 

I guess my options are twist and pull and patch, cut as best as I can down in the tub, or float and cut, or maybe something else.

 

What is recommended?

[rockyfungus]

All viable options. I just harvested this morning and I twist and pull typically. If it's a dense tub, I'll float and cut or pull depending how much of a hold they have on the substrate.
Sometimes just touching the fruit it will pop out of sub, other times they are really in there and you'll rip out too much sub.

[sandman]

Personally when I cut the stumps always mold up around the second or third flush causing some unwanted mold spores in the lab.

 

I'm a twist and pull, or more accurately a hamfisted snatch and grab, then patch

[rockyfungus]

Is the molding dependent on climate?

Never had issues cutting down to sub, the sub seems to reabsorb the stumps and fruit over it. Granted I've only cut maybe 20 tubs or so.

Thanks for reminding me to patch!

[sandman]

Yes I'm sure a lot is dependent such as the spore load of the grow room and the general season and local climate. Let's just say I'm a little dirty. For dirty fucks like me, a twist and pull leaves less to rot.

Edited by sandman, 15 February 2021 - 10:57 AM.

[jrh]

As a learning experience, I floated and cut a Glad round of B+ and my smaller crop of shoebox ApeR. I think I'll try the twist, pull, and patch for the other shoebox, see which I prefer.

 

The smaller crop, even though it was only a few clusters, seems like a lot of mushrooms to me. They're now in the dehydrator, overcrowded, because I know the other box is at least twice as many. The dehydrator is set to 135 F. Anyone know if it's safe to go up to 150 F?

[rockyfungus]

Hate to give bad advice, but I think the myth about temperature is false. I have a dehydrator that has one temperature and it's closer to 170 I believe. My fruits work, that's not to say if compared to someone drying with just air their fruits would be slightly stronger. (it's negligible I'm sure)

I think in my arid, high elevation climate we don't have the mold problems associated with a more humid or temperate climate. Now you'll see those stumps get a ton of aerial myc and kinda look nasty, but I've never had them contam out.

Did you print any?

[sandman]

Run your dehydrator as hot as you want Mine goes to 165 that's what I do no problemo.

 

rocky: An arid high elevation climate like that is ideal for sure besides the boiling point. You can get away with some much riskier techniques in that kind of region vs somewhere with really high ambient spore load.

Edited by sandman, 15 February 2021 - 11:14 AM.

[rockyfungus]

If I switch climates I have a feeling mycology is gonna make me it's bitch and show me all the shit I've gotten away with.

That boiling point is so strange. Like I get the science, but I've never had to cook anything differently, I bake and never had to do high elevation recipes...

[jrh]

@sandman Thanks, I'll turn it up to 150 F

 

@rockyfungus No, I didn't print anything. I figured I had enough to do with the cloning and harvest and cleaning. Hopefully at least one of the clones will take and I can take a spore print of it at a later date

 

I think, except for purposes of taking a spore print, I may harvest earlier from now on. Oh, and is it normal for the stems to be basically hollow? Trying to get tissue to put on agar was more like taking scrapings than making an actual cut.

 

My B+ harvest is sitting in the living room in front of a fan while I'm working on the ApeR in the kitchen. I wonder if my husband ate any. He's upstairs now, lying on the bed, listening to music out loud, and feeling not so good in a vague way, and doesn't want lunch (it's almost noon here). I don't think he knows that you basically have to eat 10x fresh mushrooms to get the same actives as dried.

Edited by jrh, 15 February 2021 - 11:54 AM.

[jrh]

Went ahead and snacked on 20 g fresh. Will see how it goes.

[rockyfungus]

Went ahead and snacked on 20 g fresh. Will see how it goes.

How we doing, don’t underestimate fresh mush! Nothing better then fresh fruits, say hi to the universe for me.

[jrh]

The fresh mush didn't really agree with my tummy. I probably should have made a tea or something. I'll probably put the dried ones into capsules, that's what I did before. They dried almost black, except for the unbroken veils... those are still light. It's almost like I washed them with India ink or something. Does that mean I messed them up?

[rockyfungus]

Did you handle them a bunch or wash em, before drying? I can't really answer you there, only time I had black dried fruits, I tossed em...Usually they keep their color...

 

How was 20g fresh, I've had fresh batches lay me out lol

[jrh]

I rinsed them off, but I did that to the B+ and they look normal.

[rockyfungus]

I don't think you rinse mushrooms. I just assumed the dehydrator takes care of most things. If you had a nice clean grow, they should be fine.

My stomach can't handle raw mushrooms of really any variety. They gotta be cooked/dehydrated. You could stir-fry em up and not lose potency, easier way is just a tea (boil em good if worried about nastyness). Discard your fungi. Flavor accordingly.

[jrh]

There was casing material on the tops of of some and on parts of stems, so I rinsed that off. Plus the ones I twisted and pulled up came with a lot of substrate so I was rinsing and cutting off the bottoms at the same time. Oh, and the tissue scrapings I did for the agar plates also turned black.

 

I guess I'll know if they're ruined when I try the dried ones. Honestly I didn't get much off the fresh ones -- except I got the chills complete with chattering teeth. I guess normally I end up cuddled up in a blanket, but this time I was freezing. Typically I know mushrooms are kicking in when I start getting visuals, but there was none of that this time. I think my gut purged them quickly and I didn't get as much of the actives as was actually there.

 

I'll make capsules tomorrow.

[jrh]

1 oz dry... hopefully they're not ruined.

[rockyfungus]

Just take a nice sharp knife (the sharper the less it bruises, from my experiences) shave them stems so the substrate comes off. Clone probably just bruised, and yes they can be hollow stems, or more full (but hollow I guess). Sounds like that knife needs sharpening...

 

You don't need any visible myc to transfer, but it is nice having the visual confirmation.

The chills are a good sign, not that it's a fun effect. 20g fresh is a decent dose if you haven't tripped a lot.

 

You need to keep fresh fruit down 45m-1hour, if not longer depending on your metabolism. I got a slow gut so if I eat em it takes 2 hours to trip, if I drink it I'm zipping in 45m. Less work on the gut/liver, as a tea.

[jrh]

So as far as harvesting went, I found floating and cutting to be tedious... but twisting and pulling I was ripping up substrate down to grains and it was more work getting rid of all that afterwards, so after this experience, I think I prefer the float and cut method. I'll have to see how the stumps fare. Also, this time I used a little paring knife and maybe next time I'll try something bigger and do big slices instead of little cuts.

 

I think my mushrooms turned black as a combination of rinsing my mushrooms (adding water), not towel drying them well enough before putting them in the dehydrator, overcrowding them in the dehydrator, and cranking the heat up. I'm not worried that they went rancid or anything, but clearly there was oxidation going on for them to turn black. The batch that I put in first were less black, presumably because they had a head start before I overcrowded the dehydrator.

 

I finished a round of antibiotics not too long ago, so my gut's probably not the healthiest at the moment. It probably rejected the freshies before I could get the full dose. In any event, previously when I imbibed, the mushrooms were dehydrated and ground up into powder and taken either with lemon tek or in capsules so those or a tea are probably a better way for me to enjoy the fruits of my labor in the future. When I get another harvest, maybe I'll try something fancy like TV's honey recipe.

 

Today's been a good learning experience. Thanks for keeping me company for it. :)

 

Now to learn about the challenges of a 2nd flush and work on getting a clean clone culture going.