GoldenTater
New Member
Hey. New at this. Followed the PF Tek Method carefully. Here are areas where I think I failed:
I ordered spores in a syringe. They came in 10cc. I inoculated 8 half-pint jars. (FAIL #1?)
I understand now I would have probably received better results if I inoculated 4 instead (2.5cc per jar), because it took too long for mycelium to populate 8 jars.
The problem I had is the mycelium started on schedule, maybe a few days later than I expected, then the mycelium growth really slowed down... a lot.
SEE PICS labeled Day 11 (after inoculation).
Found a thread on this site where someone mentioned lack of FAE. So, I followed the actions of that thread, turned my jars upside down in a fairly clean environment and opened each one up for 60 seconds and let the jars breath. For about a week I saw some improvement, but not a lot... still pretty slow growth. So, I started opening up the jars upside down every other day hoping for better FAE.
FAIL #2?: Perhaps the problem here is I was storing the jars in a closed container and even though each jar had 4 holes on the top with pour tape covering them, it may have not been enough fresh air overall, therefore retarding the growth of mycelium.
By day 29, I grew frustrated. I had at least 2 almost fully formed cakes and another 2 that were 85% fully caked. So, I birthed my cakes the 4 cakes, hoping I would see some fruiting.
Here we are on day 36. SEE PICS labeled Day 36. The 4 birthed cakes have been in the shotgun fruiting chamber for 8 days now. One mushroom has begun to grow about 4 days ago. It's growing slowly. And it's on one of the 85% formed cakes. My fruiting chamber is in an opaque bin with holes in the side and the temperature is consistently between 68F - 75F; humidity is 90 to 100%. Are my cakes too dry? Unformed?
I ordered spores in a syringe. They came in 10cc. I inoculated 8 half-pint jars. (FAIL #1?)
I understand now I would have probably received better results if I inoculated 4 instead (2.5cc per jar), because it took too long for mycelium to populate 8 jars.
The problem I had is the mycelium started on schedule, maybe a few days later than I expected, then the mycelium growth really slowed down... a lot.
SEE PICS labeled Day 11 (after inoculation).
Found a thread on this site where someone mentioned lack of FAE. So, I followed the actions of that thread, turned my jars upside down in a fairly clean environment and opened each one up for 60 seconds and let the jars breath. For about a week I saw some improvement, but not a lot... still pretty slow growth. So, I started opening up the jars upside down every other day hoping for better FAE.
FAIL #2?: Perhaps the problem here is I was storing the jars in a closed container and even though each jar had 4 holes on the top with pour tape covering them, it may have not been enough fresh air overall, therefore retarding the growth of mycelium.
By day 29, I grew frustrated. I had at least 2 almost fully formed cakes and another 2 that were 85% fully caked. So, I birthed my cakes the 4 cakes, hoping I would see some fruiting.
Here we are on day 36. SEE PICS labeled Day 36. The 4 birthed cakes have been in the shotgun fruiting chamber for 8 days now. One mushroom has begun to grow about 4 days ago. It's growing slowly. And it's on one of the 85% formed cakes. My fruiting chamber is in an opaque bin with holes in the side and the temperature is consistently between 68F - 75F; humidity is 90 to 100%. Are my cakes too dry? Unformed?
