116 replies to this topic

[FunnyFarmer]

So much for a clearer picture, at least with the plates, too much condensation on the lids but one of the Mckennai has contams along part of the edge. I may get lucky with that one. The jars are doing fine with the TW in the lead.

[MushLuvR]

Plates aren't the easiest to take a picture of.  Especially with condensation build up.  I have a small LED desk lamp my wife gave me with multiple settings for different Kelvin ranges.  It's hard to get really bright light in there to showcase the plate.  But when it happens, you are happy, I take more pictures than I need and select the ONE.

 

 

 

MushL

 

 

[FunnyFarmer]

Mine look like a window right after a downpour, can't see squat except for vague white spots. I've noticed that when I use micropore tape the condensation isn't as bad as parafilm, this time I went with parafilm. It just doesn't let the excess condensation evaporate very well but the flip side is it allows the agar to dry out after a while. I decided to go back to the parafilm in an effort to sharpen my wrapping skills which really suck.

 

MushLuvr, is your reference to "the One" an homage to Babylon 5?

Edited by FunnyFarmer, 26 February 2022 - 12:10 AM.

[MushLuvR]

I remember the show, but No I never got into Babylon 5.  

 

MushL

[FunnyFarmer]

Of the four varieties I did to agar, eight total of two plates each, only four are showing activity of any kind. I should have seen something by now. Any thoughts of whether to reinoculate the four plates with the same spores or just start new ones. They are otherwise contam free.

[MushLuvR]

If the plates are still good, hit Em' again, I have for testing purposes. 

 

MushL

[FunnyFarmer]

I hit them again today, one of them had contams but the rest were clear. And I added another two plates for each syringe for good measure.

[FunnyFarmer]

A couple days ago I gave a good shake to the TW jars expecting it would take them 4 days to recover. I was amazed to see robust growth the next morning, if it continues like this I may be spawning to sub in a few days instead of a couple weeks. Yesterday I did the same to the PR, today it also is recovering sooner than expected although not quite as fast. Is rhyzomis mycelia always this fast?

[jkdeth]

It can be that fast, it often isn't. Got some great aggressive stuff there that should rip through a substrate fast too.

[FunnyFarmer]

My last two grows colonized the sub in record time but they didn't show this kind of aggressive growth in the rye. This could be one of the characteristics of the Tidal Wave variety and the reason for naming it as such. Pure speculation. While I was putting it through the agar trials I selected for rhyzomorphic growth, it was fully willing from the get go. By the second gen it was already doing great so I took it another generation although I think this came from the second gen. Now I gotta wonder how the third would perform, maybe I need to put it to LC.

 

Fruiting in 7 days??? Stay tuned...

[FunnyFarmer]

The colonization of the jars went really fast compared to other projects, tomorrow I'm gonna spawn the TW to the sub then do the same the day after (or maybe the same day depending on unknowns) with the PR. The sub has been pasteurized and is cooling down so first thing in the morning I'll be spawning it. I'm going with a manure based sub mixed at 2:1 sub to spawn ratio in a 35 qt monotub. These two grows will be it until sometime in the fall when there aren't so many contams floating around in the air.

Edited by FunnyFarmer, 06 March 2022 - 11:36 PM.

[FunnyFarmer]

Now the countdown begins, how fast will these start fruiting? I got both spawned to sub today. My pasteurization method is working out pretty good for temp control. I'm using one of those slow roasters with variable temp control. The sub goes into a foil roasting pan covered with more foil then I float it on a gallon of water, double boiler method to evenly distribute the heat. I just gotta be careful bringing it up to temp, if I set it to the target temp from the get go it'll take forever to get there so I start out at 250 then check at the half hour mark. I'll continue monitoring the temp then bring the setting down to 165-170 ball park. I'm a little concerned about the second sub as it hit 180 but as fast as these colonized the rye I'm not anticipating any problems. I've tried a couple methods for pasteurization and so far I like this one, the pillow case dunk was wasting nutrients and the oven was too hot even at the lowest setting.

[FunnyFarmer]

Its day two since spawning the first tub and colonization isn't anywhere near as fast as the last grow. That one was 3/4 colonized by now whereas this one is less than 5%. The other tub barely shows any at all. Growing shrooms can be maddening at times...

[FunnyFarmer]

I think I figured out why the colonization is so slow, I usually cover the tubs with a towel but this time I left them uncovered. A couple days ago before going to bed I covered them, colonization has noticeably sped up on both tubs. :-)

[FunnyFarmer]

I checked on the grows this morning and noticed that the mycelia had changed from tendrils to more of a flat appearance on the TW surface. Is that an indicator they're ready for FC?

[Sidestreet]

It'd be easier to check progress with pictures.  Can you post any? 

[FunnyFarmer]

It's not easy to see through the condensation but the mycelia tendrils have little pompoms on the ends. It's not the pompoms I'm trying to point out it's the change from tendrils to an almost a flat snow appearance in the second pic.

 

This is what it changed to.

 

BTW, I decided to put the TW to FC the day after I asked the question. The first thing I did was put bubble wrap on it to create the microclimate they like. It has that fresh shroomie aroma we all love.

[MushLuvR]

She might be a little dry in areas of the tub, it happens, mist from high above with a fine mist sprayer.  Looks like you are getting close and into the knotting stage. 

 

MushL 

[FunnyFarmer]

So far things are going smoothly with both tubs, no sign yet of primordia in the TW. So much for fruiting in 7 days as I speculated in a previous post.

 

On a different subject I got some new spores to add to my collection, JFM, BPK, Maz and another I can't remember at the moment, one of the wood lovers. A couple of them I had to try twice to get anything from them, sparse syringes. I would put 4 dots of spore water on each agar plate but even that failed to produce anything. Yesterday I did a biopsy from them to new plates, actually jars as I'll detail next. Those are showing growth today. I need to make some more agar jars as I only had two jars for each variety, I much prefer three.

 

. I've been switching over to 4oz large mouth jars from agar plates, Instead of taking agar samples for LC I want to inject some sterile water into the colonized jar, swirl it around a bit, then withdraw the sample and inject it into a fresh LC jar. I'm hoping to reduce the chances of contams getting into the LC during the various transfers. It's a lot easier to swirl a jar with a tight lid as opposed to doing the same with a petri dish and not wearing at least half the water.

 

A question for those pscientists playing with LC, how long can you store prepared jars for LC work before they need to be refreshed? I've got several pints going on 6 months in room temp storage with no signs of contams.

[FunnyFarmer]

The TW moved onto the next step, primordia and it's looking very good. It's been a week since putting it to FC.

 

 

The Puerto Rican hasn't shown any primordia yet but I hope to see some within the next few days.