Shroom Practice, What strains.

jpeg666 said:

I wasn't being mean .... I hate the internet and not being able to express words like you can in person

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jpeg666 said:

Did you read where I said 130 isn't a problem for me? So for 130 I have to absolutely do no work and get mushies my very first time almost guaranteed. for 130 dollars I have no chance of fucking up anythign while trying to make the stuff and that is worth it right there.

Sorry that you might not have that much money and resort to making everything yourself.

That is exactly how I was when it came to hydroponics, everything was wayyyy cheaper to build yourself. In the end really it is just easier yo put money out for the real set up with pre fabbed parts with better quality once you start thinking about the time you save the better quality the parts are and then add all that up you really aren't saving that much at all to make it worth your time to build yourself

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testtime said:

It's not a matter of money, it is time and frustration and control. Your all-in-one may work. Ehh, 80% chance you will get a decent harvest. Out of my ass of course, but we gotta start somewhere.

That "success" may take a LONG time, or it may be pretty quick. But it is out of your control. You didn't choose the spores or the substrate, you are trusting them to get it perfect, and you are paying for their expertise. All of this has value, I am not arguing against that. I have a firm grasp on build/vs/buy decisions.

Spores to jars are growing in 3 days, and done in 10 after 2 shakes. Prep for everything boiling popcorn or grain is a couple of hours. Prepping the jars (drilling lids, gluing rtv and tyvek in (sorry RR, it works for me)) is another hour, which I treat as an art project.

You can safely (really, create the rtv ports) noc up a bunch of jars (10 or so) with 1/2 a needle, put it in the fridge, and save it for later.

It is highly probable you will get several good jars out of this, if not all of them. Even when I 1st started, I had about a 90% success rate.

Assume you have 5 jars live. Put one in the fridge. That is your starting point for GLC later.

Note: We are 10 days from spore needle deliver at this point.

Mix up a couple of mini mono tubs. 2 jars to each, with appropriate amount of substrate mix (damions is nice) at a 50:50 ratio.

The reason for this is to simply split the possibility of air-born contams. 2 eggs, 2 baskets. Put them away for 2 weeks.

Look and wonder, or look in anguish. Sorry, realistic. Is it done, is it infected, is it to fast, overlayed, and died, or is it "just right"?

This is where I push for you to have used one of the offers from any spore vendor for a bunch of needles. As many as you can afford and envision using (10 quart jars per needle). This will enable you to understand the huge difference in myc run rates, which in turn will allow you to pick and choose the best for you. You will also be able to get a PE syringe. DO IT! But don't depends on it, since PE is a bitch. But she's worth it. She's not any "harder", just slower, and when you want PE, you want it NOW! So it's tough to watch it grow.

So, depending if you have a single (possibly slow) myc, or a 1/2 dozen (and you WILL find one of that batch that fully colonized that tub) you will get to the next step. Fruiting. And it can happen in 10 days once you find the right myc. But assume 20 days for your 1st run.

If you had bought the box, you may be ok, or you may be stalling at this step. But no alternatives, just watch that box.

I seems to recall the interactive spraying fanning of the box is basically the same as the tub at this step, so no point in comparing.

Ok, my goal was fast consistent highly pinning mycelium. About 30% of the spores I tried qualified when done. If I had used just 1 of any of the others, I would have given up. It is so easy to hedge your bets with this hobby, I hate to see people end up with a single solution (maybe) kit.

And this is much easier than hydro. Not that the experience doesn't apply a bit, but you will find yourself switching your brain all the time, ie: flowering, fruiting, what the fuck did I just say, oh, yeah, shrooms fruit.

Additional note on PE: It's HARDY. It grows in the jar and substrate VERY fast, it just take an extra 2 weeks to pin and then grows slowly as it put on bulk. I've done batches of PE and others at the same time, and the PE finished the jars and subs in 20 days, while the other stalled in subs for another 3 weeks. The PE was fruiting (well) before the rest of the tubs even started pinning. So no matter how faster they are to pin, if they are slow to get to that stage they still sucked. Of course, it could have been my poor substrate mixture. My point is, PE loved it anyway and is producing better than the others (at this point). So get some PE.

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JohnyPotHead420 said:

so your saying PE was the best you have grow just grows slow in flowering?
also what jar mix did you use for PE i just ordered some was gonna use brow rice flower and vermiculite

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testtime said:

#1: Shrooms don't flower. Reread my post and see the line where I predicted this would be said.

#2: PE is not my best ever, but for this run, of this moment, PE is winning the race. The others will catch and pass in a bit, but the PE still produced well, BEFORE any of the others. So PE is not ALWAYS slower. Just usually.

#3: I do not use PF Tek. Never again. Reread previous post for suggestions. For an experienced PF Tek grower I'd tell you to use larger tubs with 5 qt spawn in each, and experiment with cased vs uncased and rye vs corn and coir/verm vs straw. But this guy just wants some shrooms so I left it out.

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tibberous said:

Imo, producing shrooms is pretty hard to do economically. There just isn't much bulk demand, and efficient production pretty much requires bulk. I would guess that more money is spent on trying to grow mushrooms, and perhaps even on spores, than on mushrooms themselves.

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tibberous said:

Imo, producing shrooms is pretty hard to do economically. There just isn't much bulk demand, and efficient production pretty much requires bulk. I would guess that more money is spent on trying to grow mushrooms, and perhaps even on spores, than on mushrooms themselves.

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canndo said:

believe it or not, about the easiest to grow are the ones you really want. Beyond that, if you are in the right temperature zone, try oysters. The others are pretty much out of reach for a novice for one reason or another.

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tibberous said:

Imo, producing shrooms is pretty hard to do economically. There just isn't much bulk demand, and efficient production pretty much requires bulk. I would guess that more money is spent on trying to grow mushrooms, and perhaps even on spores, than on mushrooms themselves.

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Jogro said:

If you're talking about magic mushrooms, everything you just said is untrue.

Startup costs are minimal; just a pressure cooker, some cans, media and spores. These are fixed, one time costs. Everything can be re-used, and if you know what you are doing, once you get your crops going, you can just keep the same culture going for years, creating new spores along the way as you go.

Media is dirt cheap, we're talking pennies a pound for low-end grain or straw that works fine.

Of course growing anything in bulk is going to cheaper by economy of scale, but the street value of mushrooms far exceeds the cost of producing them. Even if you have zero intention of ever selling them, even with startup costs, you'll still save money growing them yourself vs buying them. In fact, if you do things right your very first crop will pay for the entire startup cost.

Now if you're talking about food mushrooms, these typically require more expensive media, and are more difficult to grow. You're probably not going to have a market to sell them to, unless you have a reasonably large consistent supply, so no this is not a money-making home project. On the other hand, if you love a particular type of food mushroom and have the skill to grow it at home, you're still almost certainly going to be able to do so a lot cheaper than buying them mushrooms retail at your supermarket (assuming you can even find them on the shelf).

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mickmycelium said:

Just check out the PF Tek method. Very easy and fun to do. Just search on shroomery on PF-Tek

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