89 replies to this topic

[bluehelix]

Time to try another species (thank eatyualive for the generous spore donation!). This time I am going to grow Jamaica. Again, I started spore inoculation into a with a solution composed as follows:

Standard Liquid Culturing 4% Sugar Solution

• water 600 ml
  
• 12 g dextrose
  
• 12 g light malt sugar
  

DAY 7 - The pictures attached are after 7 days of liquid culture maturation being constantly stirred at approximately 60 to 200 RPM. This day I will use the culture because it is fully mature (note the clearness of the amber sugar solution as indicative of its maturity). Of particular note in this particular liquid culture, the mycelium aggregates were one of two distinct terminal morphologies as depicted in the illustration attached. I haven't even a good guess why this would be.

Also, this is a good time for me to say that I strongly advocate active stirring liquid cultures for vitality and, further, allowing them to mature very well before use in an inoculation. I have noted much better colonization when I do this. My belief is that lingering bacteria in the solution are wiped out only once the mycelium has really gained a foothold, and if one uses the solution early, when only a few blobs are available, then bacterial competition drains energy from the growth, although I have no hard scientific proof of this notion.

The liquid culture was injected into a sterile fruiting substrate consisting of the same formula I used with my previous successful Panaeolus Cambodgeniensis grow:

Standard Fruiting Formula (Fills 3 Large Spawn Bags)

• Manure 75 oz
• WBS (dry) 18.8 oz
• water 188 oz
• vermiculite 2.5 liter

The mix was confirmed to have an approximate moisture content of 65% via a microwave dehydration test, put into three large spawns bags which were sealed, and pressure sterilized for four hours. After being allowed to cool for 12 hours, they were injected each with approximately 190 ml of the mature liquid culture (even a quarter of this would have been fine in my opinion), kneaded through the bag to evenly distribute the liquid culture, and allowed to colonized undisturbed on wire shelving separated by no less than one inch (to prevent overheating).

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[spacecake]

I'll be following this one...!

Good luck Bleuhelix !

[eatyualive]

good luck!

how do you prep your lc's when you make them? do you pressure cook the quart jars?

[bluehelix]

good luck!

how do you prep your lc's when you make them? do you pressure cook the quart jars?

They are prepared using a lid as in the pictures that uses a filter disc and rubber septum. The liquid solution is prepared in a coffee machine and then allowed to pressure cook for 25 minutes. The coffee machine filter takes out some of that solid crap from the malt sugar (still don't know what it is). It also heats up the solution to get it ready for the pressure cooker. If you prepare you liquid culture without a coffee machine, you might want to microwave it to almost boiling before pressure cooking, especially if you are preparing multiple jars, to assure all of it reaches the proper sterilization temperature fast. It is injected with either a sterile spore solution or mycelium fragment solution (from an agar plate) through the Tyvek slip sheet and rubber septum into the jar (I used to use coffee filters for the slip sheet as in the picture but switched to Tyvek since it might also help filter the jar as a backup to the filter disc).

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[Foster]

Great stuff man, I love the lid setup and happen to have rubber septums in stock. Thought about adding a few to petri lids for " no open" agar.
BTW is this correct or should it be water instead of manure? Standard Liquid Culturing 4% Sugar Solution

* Manure 600 ml
* 12 g dextrose
* 12 g light Malt sugar

Keep the posts coming bluehelix, Awesome work your doing there. :bow:

[bluehelix]

Great stuff man, I love the lid setup and happen to have rubber septums in stock. Thought about adding a few to petri lids for " no open" agar.
BTW is this correct or should it be water instead of manure? Standard Liquid Culturing 4% Sugar Solution

* Manure 600 ml
* 12 g dextrose
* 12 g light Malt sugar

Keep the posts coming bluehelix, Awesome work your doing there. :bow:

Darn! LOL Yeah, that's water. I had manure on the brain I guess.

[waylitjim]

Good to see ya back at it Blue :D

[Rhyno]

This picture almost made me run and hide. Looking good!

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[bluehelix]

This picture almost made me run and hide. Looking good!

Me too. The mycelium looks very aggressive and healthy, which always gives me warm fuzzies! The bags don't look bad either showing growth in 24 hours. I think the extra spikiness is from the large number of malt-sugar-related particulates in this LC. I'd be curious what that stuff is (anyone with beer-making skills know?). It seemed like what happened was the mycelium cleaned out these from the solution, making the spikes.

[AdamBomb1985]

That picture is the coolest thing i've seen one here .... it's like little amebas ...
LoL

[Foster]

How would filter paper compare to a filter disc? Are they similar, usable?

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[bluehelix]

If the filtration specifics are the same (micron rating and such) they might work equally well, but keep in mind that one is designed to filter a liquid and the other a gas, which might make a difference. I guess I really don't know.

What I do know, though, is that the filter discs are only $1 each and sold by the dozen at Spore Works. I think a dozen plus shipping would be under $1.50 each and well worth the investment. I have been reusing each filter disc at least a dozen or two times without problems, so 12 could last you a very long time.

[Grimvixen]

So interesting to witness; especially for a neophyte like me. Grim

[krinec]

i will be folowing this one also!:hippie:

[Subbalteatus]

Yeah I will follow as well.

Hey Blue, this is a great thread! Those globs in the LC are amazing! You mentioned stiring often?

What do you mean? Are you talking once its knocked up shaking or turning the jars? I allways struggle understanding the simple things.

Peace,
Subbal

[Hippie3]

Yeah I will follow as well.

Hey Blue, this is a great thread! Those globs in the LC are amazing! You mentioned stiring often?

What do you mean? Are you talking once its knocked up shaking or turning the jars? I allways struggle understanding the simple things.

Peace,
Subbal

magnetic stir plate one imagines...

[bluehelix]

Yeah, as Hippie3 said it's a magnetic stir plate with a teflon magnet. A magnetic stir plate like mine, which is a silent direct drive type, can be had new for about $300. I paid, almost new, $30 for this unit on ebay and have had it running continuously for months now if you added it all up. I just did a quick ebay scan and found Fisher Scientific non-heating units closing around $30. If you are going this route, go ahead and buy the teflon-coated stir magnet too (even though almost any piece of metal could work). For $4 it's worth it I think.

For those on a budget, there is no need to buy one like this. Just get a strong magnet (say from an old hard drive) and a PC fan or anything else that turns. Tape the magnet on the PC fan with double-sided tape. If you use an old PC fan, get a power box thingy and hook it up to a low voltage so it runs slower (say 5 or 9 volts from that old charger box from your cell phone that you got stolen). Use either a simple nail covering in epoxy or go buy a teflon-coated magnet in the solution before pressure cooking. When the nearby magnet turns on the outside under the jar, the nail or magnet on the inside of the jar turns too.

[el_ronhub_bird]

blue-i just knocced up some bird seed with some jamaican lc over the weekend. ive read somewhere on the tope that jamaicans are harder to grow than other pans and i was just wonderin if u had a position on this subject. the only reason im concerned is because this is my second try at pans (havent been successful yet)and it would really suck if i have that workin against me too.

[bluehelix]

blue-i just knocced up some bird seed with some jamaican lc over the weekend. ive read somewhere on the tope that jamaicans are harder to grow than other pans and i was just wonderin if u had a position on this subject. the only reason im concerned is because this is my second try at pans (havent been successful yet)and it would really suck if i have that workin against me too.

I do not have a position on the subject as this is my first grow of this strain too. So far these Jamaicans seem to behave like any other strains I've tried to grow, maybe even a bit more aggressive than some. The bags are nearly half colonized now (it's been about 56 hours), so at this speed, I don't think the colonization is slower for sure. The mycelium seems pretty dense and vigorous to me as it races through the substrate. Normally I would expect my first flush in less than two weeks from today, so I guess we'll see. I'm really curious if they end up all small for me like the pictures I've seen.