62 replies to this topic

[waylitjim]

overlay? thats what i assumed, but now that u mention it blue, the casing does look awful shiny.

I don't think overlay is a negative issue with Goiliath. The mycelium is so thin and fragile, that the "overlay" is really just a protective layer which locks in moisture on the casing layer. If anything Pan overlay is a good thing, the primordia have no problems breaking thru...especially Goliath ;)

[bluehelix]

pcsillypj, the pan cyans mycelium was a little different than I had seen before too. Each mushroom species I've tried in LC has a slightly different character in LC. Since I stir mine continously, what you get might be a lot different if you only stir daily. Of the types I've tried, some mycelium forms snow, other mycelium forms balls, and some a mix of the two. This one formed balls with light snow, but the balls were soft, almost like jello, and not spherical, like I've seen before, but rather more squarish (as you can see).

[panic]

i seem to recall golly had a strange bubbly thingy in his casing. has anyone else run into this? did anybody figure out what it was?

[bluehelix]

I found out the strain I have in Amazonian Pan Cyans. In less than 24 hours after injection (about 18), I see evidence of growth at some points. That puts this mushroom as fast as any cube I've seen once in composted manure and rye grass seed.

[bluehelix]

OOPS! I meant Australian.

[waylitjim]

Good to see you back in action Sev, :)
The trays above are multispore > BRF> horse manure.
Isolating strains is indeed a good way, but not the only way.
I feel that any spawn is fine for Pan cyans. Whether it's rye berries,
rye grass seed, wbs, or BRF, the important part is the bulk sub, not the grain.

[bluehelix]

The fruit out substrate cannot easily fail I think. Here it is:

6.5 pound compost made for mushrooms (agar's patented stuff)
2 pound WBS
2 pound rye grass seed
2 cups Stevia leaf (shown to increase potency)
1/8 cup black mustard (high fat source)

As you can see, the rye grass seed is a small part of the mix, and I have total confidence it will work very well. It already is; 24 hours after innoculation, I can see many points of growth.

[waylitjim]

Straw and manure can both be used, they each work well independently, or mixed together. I've tried both, and prefer properly prepared horse manure. I pretty sure VII uses straight straw, and with very good results. Last I heard his casing mix was 60/40 compost & verm.

[papashroom]

Way: How many cakes to how much casing material do you use? What type of humidifyer do you use and on what settings(low,med,high)?

[waylitjim]

The humidifier is a Vicks Coolmist - Model V400
which runs thruout the day. Whenever the RH drops
below 85% it turns on and stays on untill the RH hits 95%.
3 PF cakes were crumbled and layered into each tray.
The compost is finely sifted aged horse manure and
the casing layer was applied about 1/4 inch deep.

[bluehelix]

I recently had a very rapid development of Goliath liquid culture. The LC was done in only 48 hours! I had expected to see the same rapid development once I injected it into a sterile spawn bag of compost substrate, but the grain is very frail in the compost. On day 3 it seems to have covered most of the substrate but is so fine and whispy that I wonder if it's contamination I am seeing or actual mycelium. It looks almost nothing like the Ausi mycelium did. What do you think?

[bluehelix]

Just a followup on my post here. The Goliath mycelium seems to cover the substrate very quickly, but it takes about a week to really develop well. I will soon been writing up a grow log regarding the Goliath, especially in comparison to the Ausi Pan Cyans. The mycelium is totally different, much more whispy. I wonder if they are weaker in potency too.

[shobimono]

Using Waylit's tek, the containers with poo are pc'ed so I would have to guess that there are no beneficial bacteria left after that process.
Foaf added a center hole in the lid of the containers to see if she could get a more even flush than what she is seeing here in this pic.

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[bluehelix]

I do not believe in beneficial bacteria in relation to cubensis or Pan Cyans. I have no proof of that personally, and as the trays I've done are denser than any other's I have seen, I don't feel like anyone else has some information that I don't.

I did not mean to leave the impression that my Goliath trays weren't going to be fine. I suspect the flushes will be as good if not better than any seen here on mycotopia for Goliath because I am very experienced in growing, and that's the way it usually turns out. It's just that the mycelium is different than Ausi was for me personally. It seems to follow different rules.

In liquid culture, for example, the Goliath is actually faster than Ausi. That could have been the simple fact that I inoculated with starter liquid culture than a very small number of spores. No matter what the exact reason, though, the Goliath liquid culture took, on two occasions, no more than 48 hours to develop to a very dense culture! That makes it the fastest liquid culture I have seen of any mushroom, edible or otherwise. The Ausi liquid culture was, in comparison, slower to develop and weaker. It never became as thick before it formed strange gelatinous aggregates before I used it--such aggregates signal in other species that the liquid culture is done and won't get any thicker.

On compost and manure (I am concurrently trying both) supplemented with grains, the mycelia also were different. Goliath actually covered the grain faster than Ausi, but the Goliath initial mycelium coverage is hard to see and not white at all. The Ausi initial mycelium, in contrast, was very white (although still weaker looking than cubensis). Goliath seems to take about five to seven days to really flush out to where it looks reasonably white. Maybe that much time isn't needed, but I didn't want to chance it. The Ausi mycelium, on the other hand, flushed out white and was done within 24 hours of covering the substrate just like cubensis.

I am now at the casing. Since Goliaths have been so full of surprises, I am not sure what will happen! My hunch is that it'll form cottony overlay without any consequence like Waylitjim showed. The Ausi mycelium formed, in some places on my trays, more or less destructive overlay like cubensis. I'll report what I find out in a grow log.