Anybody growing mushrooms willing to talk???

A.k.a said:

It’s all the same really, I mix the spawn and coir really well, level it, then add about an inch of just coir and level it again.

I’ve never actually tested it but I just assume mixing everything thoroughly will have the fastest colonization, I do know very good growers who mix some of it and then do a layer of just spawn in the middle too.

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that's kinda what i was thinking too: mixing it all together would seem the better option so it's evenly distributed in the sub

they made it sound like it was easier to layer the sub and spawn to keep the liner/garbage bag in place better?

thanks again for all the help from everybody!

i've got 2 more spore syringes if i mess this up but i was hoping to have some fun on a camping trip in early October.

Everyone has a liner of preference, contractor garbage bags work well as they were thick and durable and you could get a couple monos and a few minis out each bag. Some prefer thin bags, grocery bags or even that large roll out sheeting ect.

Has anyone tried brf cakes to bulk? Wht are ur thoughts on it ?

As long as the mycelium is clean shredding cakes works fine.

yeah wirh liners I cut the edges of the trash bag and peel it into two pieces so you get two tubs per bag.

the easiest is running 6qt shoeboxes, grocery bags fit perfectly and when you’re done you can just tie them up and throw it out then slap a new one in and start over.

A.k.a said:

the easiest is running 6qt shoeboxes, grocery bags fit perfectly

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a black grocery bag? or do the light brown or white ones work too?

just figured it out : so the liner isn't to keep light out to prevent side pinning. the liner clings to the substrate which prevents the side pinning.

some of the pre-made monotub kits have a plastic tub with black colored bottom and sides. guess that's not needed at all. just hype.

Keeps you from looking at bottom pin soup I suppose

so, one last question plz:

i have 1 grain bag almost ready to go.

should i do 1 16qt monotub or 2 6qt shoebox monos?

put all my shrooms in one basket, so to speak? or do 2 ?

I say do both. As in spawn your bag to the 2 shoeboxes, and then set them inside a bigger mono tub to fruit in. I don't think 16qt is big enough to fit the two 6 qt (try it), but whatever size they both fit in with some wiggle room should work fine, maybe the next size up from that. 50+ qt is more like it.

You could leave the lids on the shoeboxes, and let them colonize fully for a bit once spawned.. but I don't think its necessary, at least with cubes from my research. AFAIK you can pretty much go right to fruiting conditions soon as you mix the grains into the bulk substrate and compress it in the shoeboxes. You could also probably skip the liners, and think of the shoe box containers as the liner, as long as you pack it down well.

"EZ dial" tek seems to be the best way to make mono tubs btw, and worth looking into. Drilling small sets of FAE holes in a certain config, more or less, or bigger or smaller depending on your environmental factors, instead of using micropore tape over bigger holes (which has been the norm for awhile).

Drop That Sound said:

As in spawn your bag to the 2 shoeboxes, and then set them inside a bigger mono tub to fruit in

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i've seen this mentioned in a few different places but i don't understand the purpose of doing it that way. do you have a link that explains it? or would you mind giving me the reasoning?

Hey guys have any of yall tried growing Shakti blue brains ?

Yep they’re pretty cool. It seems pretty unstable cuz I’ve seen at least four different phenos out of it. They tend to be super dense, one grow was a bunch of short fat shrooms and I was able to fit over 50g into a pint jar.

rkymtnman said:

i've seen this mentioned in a few different places but i don't understand the purpose of doing it that way. do you have a link that explains it? or would you mind giving me the reasoning?

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I tried to link a vid to it, but the guys youtube channel was terminated the night before..

NM its back, lol.


The way I see it, there is more room for big wonky fruits to grow up and out of the shoe box. You can pack them all the way toward the top lid of the shoeboxes with extra substrate (more like a 1/5 or 1/6 ratio, with more water) as long as you have really clean spawn, and get bigger flushes. There is more FAE inside a 50qt tub with 2 shoeboxes in it than a smaller mono or dub tubbing, or putting sacks over the shoeboxes, etc.

I just like the idea of having a tub in a tub, and feels more secure IMO. I know its probably unnecessary, but yeah..

My mono tubs I got are 100qt ones that are a little more compact than bigger 100+ sterilite tubs, and perfectly fits 4 shoeboxes in the bottom, like it was made that way.

I haven't got to use them yet though.. I tried to shut half my grow room down so I have a place to setup, and started getting PM on my plants on the other side. Thought I could cut the airflow off to half my trailer, and do shrooms on one side and plants on the other, but it started causing problems unless I modify everything and reroute multiple ducts\fans.. which i dont wanna do just to temporarily cultivate some fungi.. Now I'm working on turning another one of my RVs into a mobile shroom lab (ffs I wish I could sneakily grow in the house\tent with my kid not wanting to look), and keep adding tools and equipment to my stash for when I'm ready.

I run shoeboxes inside bigger tubs because I’m in a desert and it’s way too dry for mushrooms. With the lid on there’s not enough space and dubtub has too much airflow. Putting it inside a larger tub makes it easier to control the environment.

Plus you can run 2-3 different types in one tub, and cycle each one out as they finish.

and you can give each jar it’s own shoebox so if one has a problem it doesn’t take down the other jars like when you mix a bunch together for a mono.

there’s lots of good reasons.

rkymtnman said:

so, one last question plz:

i have 1 grain bag almost ready to go.

should i do 1 16qt monotub or 2 6qt shoebox monos?

put all my shrooms in one basket, so to speak? or do 2 ?

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Don't put all your eggs in 1 basket when you can help it. I just had to throw away a tub that trich'd on me. I suspect the dry grains that wouldn't colonize in a poorly prepared grain spawn was the culprit. Fortunately there is another bin to back this one up.

Note the very thick aggressive bright white growths, that is trich. It will soon convert green like the highlighted area on the side of the tub.

One thing I've learned about growing mushrooms is sanitary conditions are crucial and the variables are a lot tighter than with cultivating cannabis.

I'm learning the best way to defeat Trichoderma is obviously properly hydrated and sterilized grain spawn, and most importantly fully colonized grain spawn should be used to "spawn to bulk" or mix with a substrate and fruit. If the grain jar/bag isn't 99% colonized white then its trash unfortunately. Lots of throwing stuff in the trash with mycology compared to cannabis cultivation.

Herms and diseases are now contaminations that are much harder to treat and prevent.

nugrug said:

Ay man been thinking about checking out skeleton crew spores . Got any reviews for me?

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Skeleton crew gets 5 forsure

rkymtnman said:

i've seen this mentioned in a few different places but i don't understand the purpose of doing it that way. do you have a link that explains it? or would you mind giving me the reasoning?

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I don’t think you have enough grain spawn to do a 66qt monotub right now. 5 quarts would be ideal. But when you do look into Pastywhyte’s Ez dialed monotubs you can find those 66qt flat bottom with clear lids at target.

@rkymtnman
And just so you know that’s 5-“myco” quarts.
add the 5ish myco quarts to some CVG.

1-650g brick of coir
2 quarts of vermiculite
1/4-1 cup of gypsum
Can totally leave out the gypsum

add those ingredients to the “Bucket” tech

Aeroknow said:

@rkymtnman
And just so you know that’s 5-“myco” quarts.
add the 5ish myco quarts to some CVG.

1-650g brick of coir
2 quarts of vermiculite
1/4-1 cup of gypsum
Can totally leave out the gypsum

add those ingredients to the “Bucket” tech

Click to expand...

thanks for the info.

so, good or bad, here's what i did:
that CVG @Aeroknow just posted plus 4 quarts water (boiling)
drilled 8 1/4" holes in two 6 qt shoeboxes: covered with micropore tape
layer of cvg, then a mix of cvg/spawn and then covered with more cvg in each 6 quart
lids on. room temp is about 70F ish. 48% RH but gonna run a small humidifier to try to keep it at 70%, right now the only air movement is the small fan in the small humidifier

wait for the next 2 or 3 weeks and see if it worked

edit: also running a 5000k small LED on a 12/12 cycle

rkymtnman said:

thanks for the info.

so, good or bad, here's what i did:
that CVG @Aeroknow just posted plus 4 quarts water (boiling)
drilled 8 1/4" holes in two 6 qt shoeboxes: covered with micropore tape
layer of cvg, then a mix of cvg/spawn and then covered with more cvg in each 6 quart
lids on. room temp is about 70F ish. 48% RH but gonna run a small humidifier to try to keep it at 70%, right now the only air movement is the small fan in the small humidifier

wait for the next 2 or 3 weeks and see if it worked

edit: also running a 5000k small LED on a 12/12 cycle

Click to expand...

You might learn that amount of breather holes in a shoebox is too much unless you have a sealed lid. But if your humidifying the room it shouldn't be an issue. If you keep the moisture just right in the tub from the jump then misting/fanning and high airflow won't be a requirement, I learned this early on and now can get 2-3 flushes without misting at all or opening my bins.

I started out in 10x20 propagation trays though and learned really quick having the top ports open was too much airflow considering the seal on the lids to the trays was not perfect.

Unrelated: Mushroom growing on a mushroom