2nd flush problems

[kliptoe]

hi all,

im hoping someone can shine a light on where on earth i have messed up with my 2nd flush,

ok, here are some details as to what ive done so far ......

i used 4 pints of GT spawn (popcorn) to 20 pints of 50% pasturized horse poo, 25% verm, 25% coir (roughly)

substrate was 4 inch deep, left to colonize for 7/8 days (tad short but i was trying to grow some by a certain date... didnt work)

initiated pinning, had good temps and humidity

first flush they grew quick and was my best effort so far, 180 grams wet ( yes, i can hear you pissing yourselfs at my measly effort but i was quite chuffed considering everything else before this) . nice sized fruits.

picked them all, sub had shrunk a fair bit by now and also the last few shrooms from first flush seem like they were struggling to grow unlike the earlier growing ones.

so, i had read alot about dunking the sub, mine looked dry so i dunked for 4 hours ... alot say longer.

now was this the biggest fuck up i have done so far ??? did my hp sub need to be dunked for 4 hours or even be dunked at all ???

so now, we are on 2nd flush and the mushrooms are absolutely tiny, literally breaking veil at 1cm others have poked their head out of the myc but are not growing at all .............

temp and humidity are still good, so have i drowned these poor lil things ??? obviuosly they are not happy so are breaking veil so quick and so small .....

or is it something else, it did occur to me that i used 20 pints of sub to 4 pints of spawn but stupidly i didnt take into consideration that the 4 pints of spawn were only half full , DOH!! could that be a factor aswell...

im confused, any help or advice is as always hugely appreciated

thankyou kp

 

[iconoclast]

Most likely your dunk man. I could never imagine dunking a casing for 4 hours. I can't imagine why anyone would feel the need to dunk. I get 3-4oz's without evening misting.

 

[canndo]

possibly too much water, possibly another strain making its first flush. Don't dunk bulk.

 

[kliptoe]

what is the best way to rehydrate a bulk sub then ?

as the sub shrunk alot after first flush, an the last mushrooms of the first flush were alot thinner an took a tad longer to grow
and break veil compared to the first few which were big an grew fast.

in my thinking, i thought they are obviously running out of water as their growth was slowing.

am i better off just heavily misting ?

i dunked it because i have recently done alot of reading on shroomery, there seems to be alot of dunking going on over there.

as for the 4hr dunk, that was a conservative dunk compared to the 12/24hr dunks peeps are doing. i thought any longer than 4hr an it wouldnt be a solid mass anymore.

live an learn

 

[iconoclast]

what is the best way to rehydrate a bulk sub then ?

as the sub shrunk alot after first flush, an the last mushrooms of the first flush were alot thinner an took a tad longer to grow
and break veil compared to the first few which were big an grew fast.

in my thinking, i thought they are obviously running out of water as their growth was slowing.

am i better off just heavily misting ?

i dunked it because i have recently done alot of reading on shroomery, there seems to be alot of dunking going on over there.

as for the 4hr dunk, that was a conservative dunk compared to the 12/24hr dunks peeps are doing. i thought any longer than 4hr an it wouldnt be a solid mass anymore.

live an learn

Don't listen to everything you read on forums. I've read a lot of bullshit on the mushroom growing forums and people love to repeat shit they heard other people say without even trying it. People typically make things much more complicated then they need be. You should not have to dunk a casing, ever, ime. I've heard of dunking cakes but never casings. If you are running out of moisture there must be something else going on. I personally don't even mist my casings until after the 3rd or 4th flush. There should be enough moisture in yoiur casing to easily produce 4 nice flushes. Misting increases chances of contamination.

My casings always shrink a bit after each flush. I personally, will do a light resurface with fresh casing material. This helps to rehydrate and also to fill in all of the divots.