76 replies to this topic

[spacecowboy]

Peat moss, vermiculite, or potting soil

[Hippie3]

peat moss would be your best bet

[aettis]

Is coir only used to spawn to as a bulk substrate? Or can it be steralized in pressure cooker, inoculated and then cased? Just curious. Because if so, I want to Incolate WBS and Coir Jars (seperate) and then when ready to case mixed the two fully colonized jars of substrates and case with 60/40 peat/verm with hydrated lime for a buffer. Or I just might stick with casing WBS...the possiblities must be endless!! Thanks to all.

-Aettis

[BuckarooBanzai]

Coir is used because it holds a lot of water and has a fluffy consistency. Coir, by itself, is not enough food for mycelia. BRF or WBS are good food sources to put in a jar.

A bulk substrate also contains food. Some kind of poo will make a good mix with coir. The coir is used primarily to fluff the substrate and hold water to support good sized fruit bodies.

A good plan is to innoculate WBS jars and then either crumble and case or just bury the tube of colonized seed in casing.

If you want to try a bulk substrate, 50/50 worm castings/coir is a nice mix. Just make sure not to over hydrate. A big handful of bulk substrate should just drip a few drops when you squeeze it very hard.

If you do bulk, you would colonize the jars and then crumble 1:3 into sterilized/pasteurized substrate, cover and incubate again. A casing layer is good thing, but is also optional.

[Hippie3]

coir is an additive, not a true substrate.
you can mix it with your wbs after full colonization
but don't waste time/effort trying to colonize jars of coir.

[Grateful_soldier]

I know this is an old thread but I just found it and have a question, how long should it soak before it expands and all chunks fall apart? a FOAF has had his soaking about 24 hours and still in pretty tight chunks......longer? can it be used when still in "chunk" form?

[anticheffy]

wow mine is all broke up in 15 min or so

[arezap]

Me too anticheffy. A gallon of hot water and 15 mins or so later it is all broken up.

[altered_states]

i think maybe folks should just stop
pasturizing their coir casings.

Assuming that a new bag of verm is being used, would you recommend separately pasteurizing/sterilizing the verm for coir/verm casings?
I usually nuke moistened verm in order to sterilize.
I've seen some nice results using 100% verm, straight out of the bag, as the casing layer, but I've also seen some forest green...
Not sure if it was my technique or dumb luck when it worked.
I'm about to case a compost tub (from the Wagner) with coir/verm.
Trying to limit variables as much as possible, since I'm new to steam pasteurization.

Cold water/bleach soak for the verm, perhaps???

[Hippie3]

a brand new bag of verm should be pretty much good to go as casing,
i never bothered pasteurizing it.

[Lazlo]

When I first came up with my spawning technique for coir, not one time did I ever pasteurize it. Now I do it because of the additives I put in it.

[Hippie3]

what kind of additives using ?

[Lazlo]

Mostly coffee grinds. If you don't pasteurize the coir mixed with coffee grinds, it will explode with trich if the ph isn't adjusted high.

[Hippie3]

Mostly coffee grinds. If you don't pasteurize the coir mixed with coffee grinds, it will explode with trich if the ph isn't adjusted high.

makes sense, good point.
i don't use coffee grounds anyway but some do.

[Hippie3]

http://www.composter...wncare2.html#cb