117 replies to this topic

[Sidestreet]

That's pretty sweet!  My only thought is that I'd probably want to use those jars again before the cakes were done fruiting.

[fahtster]

For sure and I’ve run into that problem a couple times where I want to start another project with cakes and all my jars are being used for testers. But I really need to get the short 1/2 pints for cakes lol. Without fail I run into the problem of the bottom of the cakes taking a long time to colonize.. just happens with the tall guys

Faht

[Oldpunk]

Maybe I missed it, but what's in those test jars for substrate?.

I like the idea. And might have to try something similar.



Oh yeah. I peeked in the top of the cardboard box and my sub in the zip lock is colonizing great for 2 days in

Edited by Oldpunk, 01 May 2021 - 08:01 PM.

[fahtster]

Nice!

It’s about 1/3 cup grain spawn to 2/3 cup coir/verm. I’ll either shoot spores to that amount of grain or I’ll clone to that grain and either use it for grain liquid culture or just spawn it to those tester jars

They give you a good idea of how a culture is going to perform on larger subs or if I want to get clone material or a spore print.

Faht

[Oldpunk]

Sweet. I've got a few clone samples colonizing. I'm gonna try to do grain to grain with part of each half filled quart jar and then try a couple tester jars like that. Then if they're looking good I will have a couple full grain jars ready to rock.

I can only hope they grow half as good as yours. Those last ones were beauties.

[Oldpunk]

Puffed up the bag on the first Ziploc this morning and im prepping substrate to start a 2nd one tonight. My bag was touching the sub when I folded it over and that edge didn't colonize. So don't do that.




Making a new batch tonight. Hoping that the other one fruits by the time this one is colonized. And then I've got another jar ready to carry on the process.

How long can I keep a fully colonized jar of bird seed? If it sits a couple extra weeks will that matter?

Here's tonights contestant for round 2



I'm mixing this round of coir/verm in a coffee can. Between that and the Ziploc this is pretty f'n slick.

Praying to the mushroom gods these grow out good.

[fahtster]

Good luck! So just a little part didnt colonize? Usually takes longer for the top layer to colonize than the part touching the bag.

I think a jar sitting extra won’t hurt.. there’s always the fridge

Faht

[Oldpunk]

Good luck! So just a little part didnt colonize? Usually takes longer for the top layer to colonize than the part touching the bag.
I think a jar sitting extra won’t hurt.. there’s always the fridge
Faht

Just on one side where the bag was resting on top of the substrate. Maybe too much condensation off the bag?

I dunno. We'll see what happens. This 2nd one I made sure the bag was off the top of the sub when I folded it over.

Im really digging the cardboard box. I've got this one on a high shelf pretty much in plain view and you'd never think twice about it unless you take the box down and look in it

[fahtster]

That’s pretty rad. Me likey

[Arathu]

The water tub in the bag is very effective, scales up nicely too I've gone so far as to use a cutoff 55 gallon food grade drum as the reservoir with another barrel flipped over on top of it.....sub jars, bags, blocks, whatever, fruiting on a rack above the "pond"....

 

A garbage bag over it works too but the wind can be a problem......

 

This 2 gallon bag for a few jars just RULES......I love this place....

 

A

[Sidestreet]

I see why the bag goes in the shoebox container and not the other way around... with the sizes mentioned in this thread, the container doesn't really fit INSIDE the bag!  Ooops...

[cflashor]

I want to experiment doing this with different size bags.  I see there are 5 gallon bags for marinating/brining/etc. on amazon.

[Oldpunk]

5 GALLON?
Bigger better faster higher.

I've had the same thought.... I keep eyeballing all the leftover bags around my house.

Yesterday I opened up my first try at this and fanned it for a few minutes. Seemed like there was a lot of condensation on the surface. Not enough to dump out though. Figured fanning it couldn't hurt. Still waiting for it to pin.

[Sidestreet]

So I tried fruiting Redboy cakes in the bags, cased in verm.  I didn't poke holes in the bags, but opened the ziplock partway.  I would open the ziplock the rest of the way for a big breath of fresh air twice a day, but other than that they were not getting much air movement.  I don't recommend this...or maybe if I had a fan on a timer nearby they would have done better...

 

Two of my bags contaminated.  First I smelled bacteria in each one, so I tried bleach dipping the cakes in ~5% bleach solution for 15 minutes, and using fresh verm baked in the oven, as well as washing the bag and container.  It just made things worse.  Cobweb and I think trich in the same two bags.

 

The third one is still going good, so I poked all the holes in it and put a fan on a timer nearby (not pointing right at the bag, just in the same closet) to run 4 times a day for the minimum amount of time.

 

I grabbed two cakes out of the cobweb bag (the cobweb wasn't touching the two cakes) and put them each in a little food container with holes. 

 

I'll get it, I just need to dial them in.  Also, these cakes are the product of some years old spore water, which might not have helped.  I think things will be running smoother for my upcoming PE cakes.

Edited by Sidestreet, 15 May 2021 - 07:19 AM.

[fahtster]

I appreciate you reporting back because others might have had the same thought. Could’ve been the old spore water but they really do like a lot of holes in the bag... especially near the cakes themselves. The needle holes are small enough that passive FAE happens slowly as to not dry them out too much

Faht

[sandman]

not to take away from this but if you use bigger bags it's just my sandbag tek lol 

 

 

I need to rewrite that thing updated,

Edited by sandman, 15 May 2021 - 08:43 AM.

[fahtster]

Yeah.. that’s why I mentioned ya in the op.. I should’ve linked it and I’d edit it if I could but the thread is more about using ziplocks as a whole in different ways

Here’s your link https://mycotopia.ne...ead/?hl=sandbag. You were part of the inspiration :) and that’s all I’m trying to cultivate here.. inspiration. Here’s a little story that involves you that got me to do the bags in the first part of the op. I mix the handful of grain with the cv for my 1/2 pint testers in sandwich baggies and held one up once and thought “aw it’s a lil sandbag” lol. And then a light went on in my noodle that I could just scale that up to the large ziplocks... the reason I don’t like shoe boxes is because how thin the sub is and the shortness of the tubs doesn’t allow for very much headroom.

Sorry I didn’t link your tek (I normally link out when I give credit) I guess I assumed everyone over here knew about it and where to find it but you know what they say about assuming..

Faht

Edited by fahtster, 15 May 2021 - 10:01 AM.

[sandman]

I was just sayin for anyone looking about the bigger ones, I think you gave me plenty of credit my bro. My links are all messed up, theres like 3 or 4 versions. That one is a wacky version lmao. I don't do it like that anymore. Carry on! 

Edited by sandman, 15 May 2021 - 10:56 AM.

[fahtster]

Word bird... well when ya get your updated thread rockin, plz post ‘er here. Cover all the bases

Faht

[Microbe]

1EBBBFB5-C562-4C62-B872-94E1734ED2D6.jpeg

Yoyoyo party peeps... I’m sure plenty have done this before (Sandman has sand bags that I can think of off the top of my head) or are currently doing it and there’s nothing new under the sun, as they say, but I’ve been using ziplocks a lot lately and thought I’d make a thread about it... maybe give others ideas of their own.

I like ziplocks because they’re: available almost everywhere, cheap, come in various sizes, reusable, FAE holes can easily be added to them, allows for lots of headroom for fruit growth, and they act as a built in liner when used for fruiting sub blocks.

The one downfall is that they’re obviously not stackable, but you can hang them... I haven’t had a need to hang them so I don’t have any pics of that but you can imagine that’d be pretty easy and with some strategically placed coat rods, you could fill a closet space up with hanging ziplocks.

Let’s get the show on the road, shall we?

**1 myco quart of spawn to 2 quarts of Coir/Verm (CV) in a 2 gallon ziplock blocks**

I use these just like you would a shoe box... small 1qt spawn grows either for testing out a culture or if you have suspect bacterial spawn etc.

Items needed:

- 1 x 2 gallon freezer ziplock
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- 1 x gladware 8 cup deep dish rectangular food container
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- 16g syringe needle
- 1 myco quart colonized grain spawn
- 2 quarts prepared coir/verm (I still use verm because I like it, but if you use just coir, that’s obviously fine). I use the standard 650g coir, 2 quarts verm, 1 gallon water, bucketed recipe. If you want to make just enough for one of these bags: 80g coir, 2 cups water, 1 cup verm.

These are stupid fast to make... if you’re using a new bag, there’s nothing to wash or clean except for your hands

1. Break up your jar of colonized grain and add it to the 2 gallon bag.. you can break up the grain more to individual grains once in the bag
C6FF28FF-B4DF-4159-ADF1-ED1DA17898EA.jpeg

2. Add 2 qts of CV to the bag and zip it up with as much air in the bag as you can (don’t blow into it lol. There’ll be plenty of air if you just push the sides out and zip it up). Bunch up the zipper end with one hand and shake the shit out of it to mix the grain and CV thoroughly.
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3. The ziplocks aren’t gusseted so we’re going to make it so the sides are flatter... do this by taping over about 2.5” of each corner like so:
7893E32A-B699-4F0B-929C-2C7D3D7ADC49.jpeg 126A7B3F-B7F3-4FDB-98EA-3E68E3EB032D.jpeg

^^^ I do that on both corners (fold one to the left, the other to the right). this is basically to reduce the size of the bag at the bottom so I can fit it in the 8 cup container better... if you don’t do that, those corners have to go somewhere and you’ll end up with them bunched up and small amounts of sub will get trapped in the little crevices. But you can get creative with the size container you use... I just like those containers because I like the thicker sub with a smaller fruiting surface.. I feel like I get bigger fruits that way. I know that’s debatable but that’s how I roll.

4. Put the bag with sub into the 8 cup container.. the container is simply to form the sub into a block shape
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5. I even out the top and lightly tap the container on the table to compress it slightly and add a top layer.

6. Take the syringe needle and poke FAE holes every 2” all over the bag (above sub level). For the two inches at and above sub level, I double up in the holes and go every 1” like this: ‘ . ‘ . ‘ . ‘ . ‘ in a band all around the bag

7. It even has a built-in label!
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8. For colonizing, I just fold the bag top over
AB86382B-6064-4C68-A418-689813E3CB6C.jpeg

9. After the 4-6 days it takes to colonize, I pull the bag top up to start fruiting.. you can take the container off the bottom if you want (the bag will be stuck to the sides of the sub and act as a liner). I tend to leave them on
8D42387C-2097-4D32-9ED1-EBEA281FC15F.jpeg 1EF51838-2B48-42EA-9D9B-7A33365C2D87.jpeg

That’s it! You may have to dial them in a bit with the amount of holes you poke in the bags depending on your climate. You can also unzip the top whatever amount you want if you need to introduce a lot if FAE, like mid-fruiting or if the weather changes drastically for example. The bags are definitely washable and reusable. They’re pretty easy to wash if you turn them inside out and put them on a big cutting board in your sink.. really fast that way. If you’re reusing one, obviously you can’t use ones with holes in them to mix your sub and grain... just have a non-modified one that you mix in and then transfer to the one you’re reusing.

One of the best features of using an oversized bag for the container to shape the sub block is that side pins are no problem at all... if you see a bunch of side pins coming in, you simply untape the corners and pull the bag away from the sub sides/ends and allow those fruits to grow into normal plump fruits!

Another nice feature is that if you get a lot of water pooling before fruiting, just take grab the bag by the sub block and turn it upside down over the sink and the water drains out. Ez pz!

Here’s some results...

Apeu MS:
0B7B1500-31EA-4B8B-ABB6-8ED99CE55970.jpeg EF617C7E-BB71-49D0-8116-D737EE62E711.jpeg CEB858F5-8C4F-463D-B43F-234CBA78E8DF.jpeg FBFA7C4D-B656-4195-9458-0F728737491D.jpeg
1BB6CB84-E228-47E2-B269-DA7037C5AF87.jpeg

PE/pfrs clone:
E7E0145F-897F-4538-9BF6-C5F2D232E26E.jpeg 4D2BFFC9-854F-400A-81A6-97D035479F0B.jpeg 6476DF54-EB79-4065-B33D-0AAD84E3883A.jpeg F73EE12E-FCEB-41EA-BB5F-2363F7C25024.jpeg

2nd flush:
3D22BC46-775A-47E9-A919-3D9EC606ACFA.jpeg CFED1F01-F47F-4D59-9F3C-135B00E5FB0B.jpeg D30DD27F-CB86-4063-B50A-9B141635928A.jpeg


2 bags of Pea+ f1 clone (these had lots of side pins and I just pulled the bag away from the sub and let them do their thing):
44B87788-CAB0-4BB5-8039-3F197A07B59F.jpeg CCE9CC0A-9220-4125-B3ED-7B281680272C.jpeg 26C7BF34-1240-41FF-8129-1F5C2EE92B3F.jpeg A24F134B-AA85-49FB-8285-1EC29D777ED5.jpeg
25369ED7-8B17-4E11-AC56-A9271B5D245D.jpeg 5BFE4D29-56B3-44F9-92CE-90018AFD95E7.jpeg 37B179F6-186D-44A9-96A7-3538DCFE497F.jpeg

2nd flush:
D5009131-491C-4074-B6CF-14CAFBE93F6D.jpeg 9F46C212-F7FB-4994-ABA2-0D3F79CA74F0.jpeg
9853FBC2-7431-4015-831D-9E87907211C0.jpeg 0129508C-54D8-4F3B-AFAA-E6E826E45BB6.jpeg

2 bags of Pea+ F2 MS:
3C6A98FE-46DC-497C-B532-33EE7832E28B.jpeg B0750259-756B-4B29-8FC8-E5357AC355D8.jpeg 2FB2FD67-21F6-4CB1-8489-3D59BD8D7BE7.jpeg BAD93A29-C0EA-4460-8FD5-182DDDBCDB32.jpeg

3 bags of Pea+ f3 MS (with these, I used the prints the next day after taking them and they were slightly bacterial... I should’ve waited at least a few days for them to dry)
DAC57FE1-2AD9-4016-A735-FD78817AFE4B.jpeg 29EF6FEF-6A2D-4410-8AA7-CBB54F9D5DCD.jpeg 77E8C510-201F-46B0-BBAD-3F0FC1EE8392.jpeg

Took 1 of them to a second flush:
0AAAEFE4-B33B-4A38-BC83-5ECE5423E821.jpeg 1DE3C67C-2112-4BA0-8C6A-F21C2A94A3E2.jpeg

**Fruiting 16qt Substrates in 2.5 Gallon Ziplocks for Second Flushes and Beyond**

This is as easy as it sounds... when I did 16qt tub grows, I sometimes ran out of tubs to put new subs into so if I had a tub that was finished with its 1st flush, I take that sub and put it into a 2.5 gallon ziplock and poke needle holes every 2” on the top and fruit the 2nd flush that way.. worked well:
671AB823-2C40-458F-A691-15747E0C414F.jpeg 17A0B693-CE08-4157-82AD-5323D80F9300.jpeg A6F6D733-9B37-440B-B342-92B989E8E4F8.jpeg
70282753-E512-4380-90DD-BB81454C1902.jpegFF875928-61D5-40D1-81B9-59CD055F164B.jpeg 78BD9DE2-9219-4741-A165-E9111363A3EB.jpeg https://mycotopia.ne.../attachicon.gif A9E90EB0-7BD4-4BF9-B077-BC7D6798585E.jpeg
https://mycotopia.ne.../attachicon.gif C7736DE1-DC1A-4097-BC7B-7FCB54CEB87F.jpeg https://mycotopia.ne.../attachicon.gif C0871D82-C152-401E-802B-D406789E5F14.jpeg

**Fruiting 3 or Less Cakes in a 2.5 Gallon Ziplock**

I use to use 2 gallon but that extra bag is nice for fruit space. Pretty simple.. I’ll let the pics speak for themselves.. an 8 cup container with ~3” of perlite with cakes sitting in 4oz jar lid that are DEC. I found using CV leftovers from bucketed sub works better than just verm for the cake recipe (obviously still use brf). And then needle holes poked every 2” and double that up at cake level.
https://mycotopia.ne.../attachicon.gif E0AE23DA-E85A-466A-90CE-5A2E14233E71.jpeg https://mycotopia.ne.../attachicon.gif A38389B0-83D7-41AE-AB2E-6B1B421FA8F9.jpeg https://mycotopia.ne.../attachicon.gif 30D4B48C-2AE7-46DC-B5FA-C2A57C2F5ED9.jpeg
https://mycotopia.ne.../attachicon.gif 22737898-D3F2-4EA0-A0CC-EBF711D11A27.jpeg https://mycotopia.ne.../attachicon.gif 499979B7-6E42-453D-B836-FD261F2EAB6F.jpeg https://mycotopia.ne.../attachicon.gif 685444D4-A882-4C16-AB49-AE497EAFEBAB.jpeg
https://mycotopia.ne.../attachicon.gif 89A3EE5C-11CA-4265-80DA-CA2DD23A1D94.jpeg https://mycotopia.ne.../attachicon.gif C624F5D2-61D1-495C-9C05-E1CA1291E2A7.jpeg https://mycotopia.ne.../attachicon.gif 9DA1C93D-7102-4208-A22B-D25CFEEA1882.jpeg
https://mycotopia.ne.../attachicon.gif 74FB98A3-F87C-4583-A58F-8ECD6403F150.jpeghttps://mycotopia.ne.../attachicon.gif 2391B718-F84A-4C12-BA08-25E4EA7C20C8.jpeg
https://mycotopia.ne.../attachicon.gif 9D5DEE83-2566-4145-86F0-0E7B092FE1C4.jpeg

**Tall 1/2 Pint Culture Tester Jars (finally, a reason to have tall 1/2 pints lol)**

I actually recently used a water tub for fruiting out ~1/3 cup grain to ~2/3 cup of CV using tall 1/2 pints. Just put 4 testers in a 8 cup container with some water in it in a 2.5 gallon ziplock with the standard needle holes:
https://mycotopia.ne.../attachicon.gif 426AA88F-27E9-4ED1-A901-8B2296D63F63.jpeg https://mycotopia.ne.../attachicon.gif FFE53081-46AD-4154-8507-365C4C2AE84B.jpeg https://mycotopia.ne.../attachicon.gif B648FCC2-CCA6-46D1-BE8B-4AAEF27D401E.jpeg https://mycotopia.ne.../attachicon.gif 71391907-EE4A-4211-BA85-CE2DCD264BA9.jpeg

I use to bury the tall 1/2 pints in perlite before I just used water:
https://mycotopia.ne.../attachicon.gif F3629703-52D6-452E-B2C4-1EA27BC900BE.jpeg https://mycotopia.ne.../attachicon.gif 5B6236D0-BCBB-4785-B516-581B035D0F9A.jpeg https://mycotopia.ne.../attachicon.gif 1548F2A6-0C91-41CE-BFFB-E123461BE9B3.jpeg https://mycotopia.ne.../attachicon.gif 63B0DA6A-D8E1-49E8-8273-AF2B1BE794BA.jpeg
https://mycotopia.ne.../attachicon.gif 8A204DFC-F6F1-4B53-9AA0-04A95E63AFC6.jpeg https://mycotopia.ne.../attachicon.gif 25C1CCDC-6D11-4578-BEEF-2BCB6D39B404.jpeg https://mycotopia.ne.../attachicon.gif BBF4F4FB-E77C-49F2-99E7-43C860766D0D.jpeg https://mycotopia.ne.../attachicon.gif B87DBB15-962E-40D4-A264-29E78BFBB159.jpeg
https://mycotopia.ne.../attachicon.gif 99300283-CD12-4F01-8251-F87F9B2DCEE2.jpeg https://mycotopia.ne.../attachicon.gif DE8EC68E-55F9-4317-B0F7-641ED57401EA.jpeg https://mycotopia.ne.../attachicon.gif C1805B81-4DC8-4EEA-9FDF-09B4056878BA.jpeg
https://mycotopia.ne.../attachicon.gif 46757366-B85B-4E75-9A5F-B0DE1D7F32F2.jpeg

**Lastly, just get creative.. ziplocks and containers come in all different sizes. You can do a lot with a bag, a container and a needle**
https://mycotopia.ne.../attachicon.gif 1E4E73B9-3372-4554-B6B4-45D903E74AB8.jpeg https://mycotopia.ne.../attachicon.gif 5E784B51-EAA2-43EE-8E38-9C5B2487E08C.jpeg https://mycotopia.ne.../attachicon.gif 2FACEA86-93F0-4BA9-9BFF-14233201A64D.jpeg
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Faht

Bro! Much respect for you putting in the time to make this post, and for your results. I also like seeing others allowing them fruits to curl their gilly smile at us. I believe, and so do a few peeps that have tried my fruits, that they ate more potent if you allow them to open up and even drop some spores as opposed to harvesting when the vail first tares. What are your thought on this? Boss level post bro.....boss level post!