43 replies to this topic

[kocos]

So, i was at home, mixing shit in a very europhoric mood, when i realised that my tub isnt going to hold such a large amount of spawn. I went through the kitchen looking for something i could use to hold and incubate my spawn in. No trays, no nothing i thought i could use, then when i took a glance at the far corner of the kitchen with mounds of empty spring water bottles, the idea hit me. Plastic bottles, abundent, inexpencive, easily modified, and just the right size. So i created a proto type of the 1.5 liter spawn holding bottle unit SHBU :D From the pics one can see the creating steps, bottle is shortened, fitted with polyfill up in the top, and on the bottom two sections are cut and patched with tyvek thus creating good air circulation in the bottle. Ive used the bottle the same day, filled with horse doo/ straw/coir/verm and GT spawn, i did this on god knows when, but a few days ago, and the "log" is almost ready for birthing. Ill have pics of that too, and pics of the flushing, if any will occure. I thought it was a neat idea, to be able to use something which would otherwise end up the garbage. Tell me what u guys think :)

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[Toads tool]

Recycling items to use in your hobby is just like icing on the cake.
Free shit to grow with, gotta love it.

I like to use bottles like those to grow my salvia starts in, I cut my bottls 1/3 of the way up from the bottom instead of the top.

[kocos]

Yeah ive used clear bottles for botanicals too, this was the first try with mushrooms thought, now i have that GT bottle and also a bottle of late oyster which has started to run through the spawn. Ive taken a few pictures of the colonising tub i beleive it is now day 3 perhaps. Its lookiiiin gooood :amazed:

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[mycobri]

will you start the bottle pinning invitro and then birth into some other larger terrarium? very cool use of recycled items for sure! :greenboun
i look at my trash the same way :loveeyes: -what can i grow in / with that? :lol:
good luck on some fruits!

[kocos]

Iam not sure yet to be honest, since it has a cylinder shape it would be almost impossible to case, like you said i might actually let it start pining or atleast knotting then remove the bottle and let it sit in a shallow tray of moist verm. This seems like the easiest solution, however it might not be the best. I might try cutting of half of the bottle then let it sit in its little shell. I still have a few days befor initiating pinformation so i have time to think. Ill be back with the final sollution :)

[TVCasualty]

How did you clean/sterlilize the bottles after prepping them for spawn?

To case, you could always crumble them into trays, or even just lay them on their sides close together, like this: "OOOO" and cover the top w/casing.

I'm assuming you are spawning pasteurized poop with grain spawn that was grown and incubated conventionally in jars or bags (so as to allow PC'ing of the grain, which these bottles would not withstand)? That is, you are not incubating grain in these bottles, just pasteurized poop spawned w/ grain?

[kocos]

How did you clean/sterlilize the bottles after prepping them for spawn?

To case, you could always crumble them into trays, or even just lay them on their sides close together, like this: "OOOO" and cover the top w/casing.

I'm assuming you are spawning pasteurized poop with grain spawn that was grown and incubated conventionally in jars or bags (so as to allow PC'ing of the grain, which these bottles would not withstand)? That is, you are not incubating grain in these bottles, just pasteurized poop spawned w/ grain?

The bottles were cleaned out with bleach and very hot water before use, and ofcourse after the modifications were made. Then the bottle was closed untill i used it this way it should have been almost free of contams.
About the actuall fruiting of the bottle, you really gave me a great idea about laying them on the sides close to each other and case that, however i only have one such bottle so this experiment will be done next time! This time this little log will be started as is, when knots start to form i will birth it, lay it in tray and keep it in 99%RH terrarium. Hopefully that will work. But the laying them beside each other really got my mind going, i would say 4 such logs would be enought to use. So this is noted for next project.
And finally, this bottle tek is for bulkspawning, so no further sterilization of the bottle or the spawn is required. Straw was pasturised, coir was mixed with horsedoo, and vermiculate, also pasturised, then mixed well in a tray, mixed yet again together with the spawn and finally loaded into the bottle. It is day 4now bottle is fully colonised and ready to start fruiting :)

[TVCasualty]

Cool!

Looking forward to more pics, too.

[Hippie3]

also see
http://archives.myco...html?1108387388

[kocos]

Neat little cake holders Hip, and inexpencive. For a second there i thought someone else has already spawned in bottles. Iam sure someone already has though :) In anycase iam pretty much out of space in my FC so it is the question of the week how iam gonna fruit this bottle, maybe remove the plastic and hang it up in the fc like some fat sausage :D Ill figure something out :) thanx for the input guys and ill keep posting as things progress.

[kocos]

Fast update on the bottle, after seeing the first knots forming i removed the spawn from the bottle. I rolled it in the casing layer, injected about 10 cc of sterile waterinto the cake, the layed it out on a tray with moist verm. Since then the myc has started to poke through and even though its not visible on the pic knots are begining to form, so it looks like i have a fare chance of this thing fruiting. Ill update once things start popping.

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[TVCasualty]

Looks great, I think you're going to get a good flush or two or three.

I prefer injecting water too, which I do instead of dunking, and it seems to get more water into the cakes faster and with less mess (and no less a yield than that reported by those who dunk). Sometimes a pint-size cake will take 20cc's before water squirts out the side...

One more thing: I looked real close at your pic, and I'm not entirely sure but it seems you might should invest in a hair net. I've made a few "fiber-reinforced" cakes myself, and for uber-cleanliness I inoc. wearing a shower cap (the only thing that can contain my excessive keratin). If a hair gets in the substrate before it's PC'd, then it's of no concern, but hair does have oil on it, which is sticky to airborne particles that might get on the substrate. It also might have been a quirk of the photo, but it looked like a hair to me!

[kocos]

Very very good point man, something i havnt really taken serious. And since i havnt had a haircut in almost a year i have a huge freekin mess on my head so iam sure i deposite my fare share of hair everywhere, not to mention the two cats and my girlfriend. So yes it is very possible that your keen eyes spotted a strand.
Ive been injecting all my subs instead of misting, i think no matter how fine the mist is, knots and primordia dont like water directly on them, so its just safer to inject. Hopefully the knots will soon start swellin and i can post some fruiting pics. Till then peace pot and love :)

[kocos]

Thx snake :)

Here is an update, no great pinset, no great picture. But it works and thats what i wanted :eusa_clap

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[golly]

Nice....:thumbup:

[TVCasualty]

Those are nice looking pins, congratulations!

You may well have many more pins set for your second flush, so don't worry about pinsets or yields just yet. Then there's the third flush, possibly the fourth... keep shooting them w/ water between flushes and you could end up with a nice pile to go exploring with.

[kocos]

Will do :) really amasing how the myc from the sub has started runing through the verm in the tray.

[kocos]

And here is the bottle, almost there, prolly done by the time FOAF gets home today. iTS actually an ok flush that came off this little bottle, i mean its like less than a liter of spawn... pics :)
Forgot to mention one thing i noticed with this bottle. Notice in the second picture where the majority of pins mushrooms are... why? Cus thats where most of light was coming from, so yes, light is so very very important for pinset, check out that other side its almost empty!

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[golly]

Lookin good Kocos...!