Experienced cubensis growers please help

[joeyjoejoe]

first off, let me say i have seen the pf tek video and have been doing a lot of reading on cultivating cubensis shrooms for scientific reasons.

secondly , i am not interested on growing high yields or some crazy potent stuff. i just want some half decent stuff with an ok success rate for my colinizations and fruiting. i also am trying to make this process very easy and also very cheap.

so heres what i got so far
http://www.amazon.com/Brown-Flour-Mushroom-Substrate-Grow/dp/B005ZMYLSA/ref=pd_sim_ol_2
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says you can incubate and fruit in the same bag no casing or that stuff. right?plus the fae is pretty good


[/FONT]http://www.amazon.com/Cambodian-Str...9RDG/ref=sr_1_2?ie=UTF8&qid=1328661207&sr=8-2

i plan on innoculating 5 bags with 2cc each of spores

let sit in a nice warm dark place till full colinazation is done , and then some.

next step is to place it in a window sill and wait for fruiting to begin temp will be around 60-70 degrees f


will this process work ? do i need to cut the bag open after colonazation to spray water and get fae? will i need to fruit in something else? im trying to make this whole process as simple as possible to eliminate contams.




any help will be greatly appreciated. thanks in advance jjj

 

[joeyjoejoe]

i also wanted to say that i picked this cambodian strain because it was easy for beginners, very contam resistant , and also a very fast producer .

 

[Theowl]

you are going to want a little higher temps.. like 78-86.. if you have access to your water heater that would be good.. set it on top and forget it for a while.
the cambodian will do good for you but if you are able to find a local strain(wild/native to your area) that would be the best as it is already used to the conditions where you live.

sorry my comma button got fucked

when its time to fruit you'll want to cut the bag open for more fae
just a slice around the bag circumferencewise.

or you can take all the substrate out and put in a roasting pan after full colonization.. allow a few days to recover and you will actually get more fruiting out of it but they may be a tad smaller.

i gots lots o info.. or you can look over at the shroomery they can show you the world...

 

[joeyjoejoe]

THanks for the quick feedback buddy! I guess the only other question is will I need to spray the bag every day with distilled water when fruiting? And also can I dunk and roll the bag cakes when I'm done?

 

[Theowl]

yeah. mist them only until you see primodia.. you CAN dunk and roll but its going to be a few pounds so be careful or you'll break it and set yourself back.

if you are going to dunk and roll do it a day or so after full colonization.. then mist every other day or so depending on moisture content.
be sure to flame and sterilize your syringe.. or you will introduce contams. they WILL take over before your mycelium take hold.

 

[joeyjoejoe]

10- 4. Thanks again + rep

 

[joeyjoejoe]

wish me luck on the first go around every1!

 

[Theowl]

gracias.. good luck bro. keep your head down and let the shrooms wiggle your world!

 

[glShemp]

Did I just see spores being sold on Amazon.com!!! And this: http://www.amazon.com/San-Pedro-Trichocereus-Pachanoi-Cactus/dp/B004GPGMFM/ref=pd_sim_ol_6

And good luck to the OP on your grow.

 

[joeyjoejoe]

Haha and yes amazon Is the shit! They sell everything . Thanks bud.

 

[canndo]

See this is what I am talking about with the PF tek, it leads people astray, it makes things seem more complicated than they have to be. the guy who invented the tek was a smart man (now a smart man in jail unfortunately), he short circuited the old method of sectoring and spawning from dishes by using spore syringes - which he charged what? 10 bucks each for? and, contrary to the older method, he had growers "hooked", as they had no recourse with his method but to go back time and time again for more syringes. SMART. But the tek is not the most reasonable and it keeps the grower from understanding the full life cycle of this or any other mushroom. Many people who started with cubensis have gone on to grow edible mushrooms - Paul Stamets himself was inspired by cubensis to go on to become the foremst expert in mycology.

Enough of my rant.

Don't puy your bags in the window - light isn't necessarily bad for your mycelium but radiated heat is. Full sunlight isn't the best idea. Don't be so concerned about your temperature, cubensis will grow in a wide temperature window, the only thing cool temps will do is delay growth. High temperatures will harm your bags, drowning them in expelled liquid or perhaps outright thermal death. Don't forget that depending on your substrait you have the luxury of shaking your bag - do it.

My suggestion is that you do not do any dunking or rolling or any of the pf tek philosophy if you are working out of a bag. the whole point of all mushroom growing is steady enlargement of myclieal mass - in your case from spore to monochariotic mass to dichariotic mass to full colonization of your bag. When this is done you have yourself a living "plant" that you can do anything with. Many have had the most sucess by simply breaking up everything in the bag and laying it in a tray a few inches in depth but never more than about 12 inches (heat generation causes internal temperatures to skyrocket). After a few days, when you are certain that eKeep the casing covered in one way or another until you see whisps of myclium cresting the surface of the soil, then apply hunidified fresh air, an occasional misting and wait. Simple as that.

 

[joeyjoejoe]

See this is what I am talking about with the PF tek, it leads people astray, it makes things seem more complicated than they have to be. the guy who invented the tek was a smart man (now a smart man in jail unfortunately), he short circuited the old method of sectoring and spawning from dishes by using spore syringes - which he charged what? 10 bucks each for? and, contrary to the older method, he had growers "hooked", as they had no recourse with his method but to go back time and time again for more syringes. SMART. But the tek is not the most reasonable and it keeps the grower from understanding the full life cycle of this or any other mushroom. Many people who started with cubensis have gone on to grow edible mushrooms - Paul Stamets himself was inspired by cubensis to go on to become the foremst expert in mycology.

Enough of my rant.

Don't puy your bags in the window - light isn't necessarily bad for your mycelium but radiated heat is. Full sunlight isn't the best idea. Don't be so concerned about your temperature, cubensis will grow in a wide temperature window, the only thing cool temps will do is delay growth. High temperatures will harm your bags, drowning them in expelled liquid or perhaps outright thermal death. Don't forget that depending on your substrait you have the luxury of shaking your bag - do it.

My suggestion is that you do not do any dunking or rolling or any of the pf tek philosophy if you are working out of a bag. the whole point of all mushroom growing is steady enlargement of myclieal mass - in your case from spore to monochariotic mass to dichariotic mass to full colonization of your bag. When this is done you have yourself a living "plant" that you can do anything with. Many have had the most sucess by simply breaking up everything in the bag and laying it in a tray a few inches in depth but never more than about 12 inches (heat generation causes internal temperatures to skyrocket). After a few days, when you are certain that eKeep the casing covered in one way or another until you see whisps of myclium cresting the surface of the soil, then apply hunidified fresh air, an occasional misting and wait. Simple as that.

first off let me say thanks and plus rep to you also. and yes the whole process seemed way more complicated than actually is necessary. it took alot of reading for me to understand whats going on. and my windowsill is only filtered light for about six hours a day. the blinds are down and they are only open a little . it is where i grow orchids. i saw multiple kits like the mycodome and all this other shit for like over 100 bucks , plus substrate, plus spores, and other shit you dont need . etc etc etc... i paid 40 dollars delivered for 5 sanitized substrate bags and a syringe of spores. i feel as though all that other shit is totally unnecessary unless your are trying to deal these bad boys , of which i am not!

if i understand this process correctly , the big thing is just being very very sanitary from the get go . once the mycelium take hold of the cake and full colonization is complete you are pretty much in the clear.right? the only thing i am worried about is my forced air heat .? i plan on cutting the top of the bag off if all goes well . then using 3 skewers and some plastic to make a humidity tent . then let time , a little light , and some tlc take care of the rest . any other suggests ? thanks

 

[joeyjoejoe]

also anybody have experience with the cambodian strain? ive read reviews that it is a long ,happy ,energetic journey filled with laughter in between if shared with friends.

 

[canndo]

first off let me say thanks and plus rep to you also. and yes the whole process seemed way more complicated than actually is necessary. it took alot of reading for me to understand whats going on. and my windowsill is only filtered light for about six hours a day. the blinds are down and they are only open a little . it is where i grow orchids. i saw multiple kits like the mycodome and all this other shit for like over 100 bucks , plus substrate, plus spores, and other shit you dont need . etc etc etc... i paid 40 dollars delivered for 5 sanitized substrate bags and a syringe of spores. i feel as though all that other shit is totally unnecessary unless your are trying to deal these bad boys , of which i am not!

if i understand this process correctly , the big thing is just being very very sanitary from the get go . once the mycelium take hold of the cake and full colonization is complete you are pretty much in the clear.right? the only thing i am worried about is my forced air heat .? i plan on cutting the top of the bag off if all goes well . then using 3 skewers and some plastic to make a humidity tent . then let time , a little light , and some tlc take care of the rest . any other suggests ? thanks

Case. Case. Case. yes, when you have 100 percent colonization as long as you don't damage the mycelium through heat or physical damage (or petrolium based liquids) then you have a decent protection from all molds and bacteria - for a while. You will eventually get Trchoderma - or forest green mold. Cambodian is not particularly rhyzomorphic unfortuantely.

 

[joeyjoejoe]

Case. Case. Case. yes, when you have 100 percent colonization as long as you don't damage the mycelium through heat or physical damage (or petrolium based liquids) then you have a decent protection from all molds and bacteria - for a while. You will eventually get Trchoderma - or forest green mold. Cambodian is not particularly rhyzomorphic unfortuantely.

why is it so important to case ? cant i just fruit within the bag. will the fact that mycelium are photosensitive, and growing from the sides will hurt the yield much. and why does it matter that cambodian is not very rhyzomorphic? does that make it all the greater reason to case ? sorry for all the questions , i just read somewhere cambodian is good for the beginner boom farmer. also casing would further complicate process. i was under the impression that it was not necessary all the time?

or were you also telling me to case because it will increase my success rate and also lower the chance of contams. i will do whatever you think though, although id prefer not to case the bags if it was not needed. unless it is for this particular strain.

 

[GrnMn]

why is it so important to case ? cant i just fruit within the bag. will the fact that mycelium are photosensitive, and growing from the sides will hurt the yield much. and why does it matter that cambodian is not very rhyzomorphic? does that make it all the greater reason to case ? sorry for all the questions , i just read somewhere cambodian is good for the beginner boom farmer. also casing would further complicate process. i was under the impression that it was not necessary all the time?

or were you also telling me to case because it will increase my success rate and also lower the chance of contams. i will do whatever you think though, although id prefer not to case the bags if it was not needed. unless it is for this particular strain.

Casing produces ample fruits. sure, you could get your measly few grams straight from the bag, but then what? the mycelium is still alive, and will still fruit on. casing ups your yeild, and allows you to truly enjoy the fruits of your labor. nothing like a nice 12x12'' field of golden caps staring you in the face when you wake up for work

 

[canndo]

why is it so important to case ? cant i just fruit within the bag. will the fact that mycelium are photosensitive, and growing from the sides will hurt the yield much. and why does it matter that cambodian is not very rhyzomorphic? does that make it all the greater reason to case ? sorry for all the questions , i just read somewhere cambodian is good for the beginner boom farmer. also casing would further complicate process. i was under the impression that it was not necessary all the time?

or were you also telling me to case because it will increase my success rate and also lower the chance of contams. i will do whatever you think though, although id prefer not to case the bags if it was not needed. unless it is for this particular strain.

GrnMn is absolutely correct. No, you don't have to case. Casing protects the mycelium from damage, it is a water supply for the mushroom, it is support for the fruit and it is a varigated enticement for primordia formation. Oh, and I have found that it promotes quicker fruiting as well. So you can just tough it out, and wait and wait and eventually the your mushroom spawn will give you a few mushrooms. Or you can spawn, wait 10 days and get a decent yeild. Casing is far less complecated (in my opinion) than dunking and rolling and mixing and fanning and spritzing and all the other stuff people have invented in order to complicate a rather simple process.

Yes, it would be better if you case strains that are not readily rhyzomorphic but that won't stop the thing from fruiting ok? I repeat, the mushroom WANTS to bear fruit and multiply and the mushroom is very persistant - this is why so many get a modicum of sucess doing this, it really is hard to fail, but it is even harder to get the true power of the mushroom to appear. How much different is this than growing pot? Anyone can put a seed in the ground, water it once in a while and harvest what comes up, the plant Wants to flower. It is for the expert to coax the most from the plant. So be the expert here as well, and start with casing. - to take that metaphore even further. Imagine your growing your pot from seed, you let it flower for a week or so and then you chop it down. Hey! you got some pot man, you really did, but why didn't you do it right and let it flower for 10 weeks so you could get a quarter pound rather than your 15 grams of shwag?

Cambodian - don't be alarmed, as I said, you will be sucessful. But rhyzomorphic mycelium is more likely to fruit well and you are more likely to have luxuriant numbers of primordia. I am planning to post the difinitive mushroom growing guide here - I am selecting pictures to post and the like. I assure you i will not be covering PF tek but I may repost my "slap it together" no glovebox, no nutzoid preparation method.

 

[joeyjoejoe]

ok ok. i guess ill go buy some verm and some little cactus trays or something similar.i read casing for dummies on some website last night and it seemed relatively simple.thanks again for the advice cannado. that is good idea for you to post an as you call it, slap it together less complicated process, without all the unnecessary bells and whistles as the pf tek method.

stay tuned everyone. i will take pictures before i innoculate and of all supplies. then , once again whether colonization was complete or failed. and then again for casing and fruiting. wish me luck .i have a feeling im gonna need it

thanks again to all those who gave advice. thats why i love this site . cheers everyone

 

[GrnMn]

ok ok. i guess ill go buy some verm and some little cactus trays or something similar.i read casing for dummies on some website last night and it seemed relatively simple.thanks again for the advice cannado. that is good idea for you to post an as you call it, slap it together less complicated process, without all the unnecessary bells and whistles as the pf tek method.

stay tuned everyone. i will take pictures before i innoculate and of all supplies. then , once again whether colonization was complete or failed. and then again for casing and fruiting. wish me luck .i have a feeling im gonna need it

thanks again to all those who gave advice. thats why i love this site . cheers everyone

Small disposable baking pans are wonderful, and cost about a dollar for 2-3 of them....

 

[GrnMn]