Everything That Could Go Wrong, ep 2

[bismillah]

Hey again,

So we were successful in our war against the fungus gnats, which were swiftly eliminated from my grow tub. However, in their wake, a new enemy has swooped in to pick up where the gnats left off... as a matter of fact they may have even brought it in to begin with, like a trojan horse.

I've got nice green trichoderma trying to make its mark in my soil.

It's more or less restrained to one corner and is mostly on the surface which makes me feel that not the whole thing is contaminated... but I know this stuff grows fast and is pretty much a death omen for mushrooms. To slow the growth it I cut out all the soil showing the green with white puffballs and sprinkled baking soda all over it to raise the pH. I mean, I'm not optimistic, but I will keep going for the sake of learning.

Can the tub be saved? What do I need to do next time?

 

[Dirty T]

Green trichoderma is fruiting (sporulating) and is already fully established if it's green on the surface anywhere. If your mushroom mycelium hasn't started fruiting yet it's over, go dump it and clean it before it gets gross. If it has started fruiting you can cut the green by pushing a container through the offending area all the way through the substrate then wiping the cut out area with 70% alcohol and salting it with at least a half inch margin.

Trichoderma before fruits is always caused by dirty spawn (usually bacteria, Cubensis mycelium hates bacteria but 'King Green' trichoderma loves it, eats it like a tasty snack.) How it got there depends on how you started and your technique. In this case it's a kit and kits are notoriously dirty. So are multispore syringes. I suggest starting with agar. It's really easy and you'll never look back. After some serious practice you can make LC using an agar wedge and always have an easy to grow starting source.

 

[Seeingisbelieving]

step 1 throw your grow kit in the compost pile
step 2 google "bods easy af cheapest way to get started shroomery"
step 3 read about the proper way to grow mushrooms
step 4 order yourself a spore syringe from spore works. They're legit. If you do this right you will only have to buy one spore syringe. Prints are easy AF to make.


If you are successful at the above mentioned tek you can invest in a pressure cooker to start working with agar and grains but I personally do it the cheap and easy way sticking to brf+verm and fruiting to coir.

 

[bismillah]

Okie dokie! Sounds like a plan. Shame this one gets binned but oh well, I'm learning. I wanted to have the convenience and information-density of a kit and alas, I learn the same lesson for the nth time: if you want it done right, you gotta do it yourself! :d

Spore works does not ship internationally right now. I'm up north of the border.

I already have a pc (you know... for food). Is there an advantage to grain?

 

[Tony6Strings]

Bismillah, I've got a Golden Teacher print with your name on it.

Follow the advice of Seeingisbelieving bods easy as fuck links are how I learned. Good no frills no bullshit teks to grow bulk shrooms on the cheap with what you have handy.

I recently grew over 2 oz dried using 7 colonized half pint PF cakes, shredded to an equal amount of coir divided between two 6qt Sterlite shoeboxes. I'm hoping for a full 10 healthy cakes this next time to maybe up yield of my grow to 3 oz dry...

 

[bismillah]

I recently grew over 2 oz dried using 7 colonized half pint PF cakes, shredded to an equal amount of coir divided between two 6qt Sterlite shoeboxes. I'm hoping for a full 10 healthy cakes this next time to maybe up yield of my grow to 3 oz dry...

Yep, yep, I've been reading a lot. I think I'll get started right away on the same route. I'll just use the tub I already have as my main growing chamber, after I scrub it all clean.

Bismillah, I've got a Golden Teacher print with your name on it.

Hey, for real?? That'd be great!

 

[shroombee]

I'll just use the tub I already have as my main growing chamber, after I scrub it all clean.

Are you doing shoebox tek (6 qt tubs)?

 

[Dirty T]

Grains can translate to more potent fruits (one example is wheat with quinoa. You can't grow on the quinoa alone but can supplement with 25% quinoa which is high in L-Tryptohan and will convert to more psilocin) but the main advantage is speed and yields. The yields from grains mixed with a coir substrate beat out brf cakes exponentially. One quart of wbs with 2 quarts coir in a 12 qt tub (or dub tub shoeboxes) will result in 2oz dry in 10-14 days.

You can do agar with an instapot if you have one. I occasionally will do a 4 plate run in the instant for a quick clone so I don't have to set up a PC. I bought my first pressure cooker for 8 bucks at a thrift store, it was an old 6 quart presto that needed gaskets and you could do 2 quarts or 4 pints at once which is pretty decent for personal uses. It's always good to grow extra as well in case some fail until you get it down better. I've been growing over 3 years and have had success rates from 10% to 100% for an extended period. My failures were always my own fault.

I've used some sporeworks spores before and Workman is definitely a skilled mycologist. He never states how they get the syringes clean like that but I have a good idea how he does it which is the same way I would and doesn't require a million dollar filtration device (I know I'm being ridiculous, an aseptic isolator is around $20,000 for a unit that is suitable for making spore syringes). With a little ingenuity anyone with wide mouth half pints and a flow hood can make sterile prints and clones. The advantage of agar is you can clean it to sterility with just a SAB.

My most recent attempt all failed. I know the reason is my tap water, it's way too acidic. I had mold in unopened jars. It was crazy. I'm making a commitment to start my little closet back up this weekend. I'm running low on mush.

 

[bismillah]

Hey all,

Thought I'd share a pic of my first pins. Pretty modest but it's already better than that stupid kit
I grew these from a print I managed to take from one of the few fruits the kit gave me. They're just growing on whole oats under coir like in Bod's write-up.

They're growing all willy nilly cause the oats are uneven underneath... but I am optimistic that the next flush will cover the whole surface.

Cheers y'all

 

[Dirty T]

The biggest trick to "canopy" flushes is keeping surface conditions perfect. The top being lumpy or smooth makes little difference (smoother is marginally easier). The easiest way to get it right is to by a salon 'mister' instead of a normal spray bottle. One or two trigger pulls gives me a perfect surface every time, once they get to pinning mode I check them twice a day and mist as necessary. Leading up to pinning I check once a day and mist as necessary. You want tiny droplets completely covering the surface with no pooling or dry spots, that's optimal. Evaporation is the main pinning trigger. Evaporation plus light will get you canopy flushes.

A quick note about light. I tried a lot of different lights from 6000k to UV and everything inbetween and the most effective I found is LED strips on the deep blue setting. They work so well I actually had to change the way I make my tubs because I had 6 sided canopies, full top canopy, all 4 sides and the bottom also canopy. Problem is the bottom ones end up squished and ugly and will rot if you don't pull them. When astronomical yields cause issues, oh yes the problems of luxury.

Feel free to ask any questions, I'm happy to help anyone here any way I can and mush cult is an area of 'expertise' for myself.

 

[bismillah]

Yep, I got plenty of natural light, plenty of evap. I heat the top of the box with a reptile pad... they seem to like that. These suckers double their size in a matter of hours—there's already loads more than on the photo.


My only (small) concern is water pooling at the bottom. Since it's a small container, moisture easily runs down the edges and fills it from the bottom up rather than staying in the casing... so I drain it a little with a syringe. Dunno if that's necessary but I didn't think my mycelium should be swimming at the bottom.

 

[Dirty T]

That's good. Keep the bottom dry and it will take longer to turn green. Bacteria thrive in standing water. I don't like heat pads, never used one because 1 minute over 102* F is all it takes to kill the entire tub.