Mushroom growkit colonization (grow log)

[ॐ]

Hey guys.

I have wanted to start growing mushrooms for a long time now.
I have read quite a bit on the topic, but I figured I would start with a simple growkit to get started and observe the life-cycle with the least chance of messing up.
Now I know these kits are frowed upon by many, so please don't get me wrong, I really do want to move onto growing with the PF tek as soon as possible after this, and hopefully learn a lot in the process.

The grow kit I got (EZ Grow - Golden Teacher strain) came with a sealed plastic box containing perlite at the bottom, (partially) colonized substrate in the middle, and a layer of vermiculite at the top. The lid has a filter for gas exchange and should protect the substrate from contamination along with the verm.
Instructions were to:

1) put the box in a warm room (~26°C) for about three days if the mycelium wasn't reaching through the top layer of vermiculite, and to not proceed until this is the case.

2) pour some water in the bottom of the plastic bag that came with the kit (provides the right microclimate for the mushrooms to grow in), open up the box and put it in the bag, seal it with a paperclip.

3) Wait for the mushrooms to grow and harvest at the right time

4) Add a little bit of water to the box and repeat for additional flushes

I seem to be stuck right at step one, which makes me a bit anxious. I have included some pictures that were taken 2 days after receiving the growkit and placing it in a warm room.

It has now been about a week since I set the box in the warm room, and the kit looks just about the same, no real noticable growth. Is this to be expected, and will it just take more time for the kit to fully colonize? I am just getting worried since it has been over twice the length specified in the instructions that came with the kit. The mycelium looks pretty healthy to me, but it doesn't seem to be showing any growth so far.

The kit is set up (elevated from the ground) next to a radiator that is providing mild warmth. The kit is receiving some ambient light during the day. At night the radiator is turned off but the warmth is kept inside the room until the next day. There has been plenty of condensation within the kit for the entire length it has been set up.

Could anyone with more experience help put my mind at ease, or give me any pointers?

 

[SmoovPnCali]

It will need a few more weeks to fully colonize. I started off with this sort of kit and had no success. I tried 3 different kits before I did it the "old fashion"....Cakes. BRF cakes are the way to go. Keeping it sterile is the hardest part.

You can give the kit at least 4-5 weeks to colonize and if it don't, try BRF Cakes.

(BRF = Brown Rice Flour)

Good luck with your little guys!

 

[rudder]

Are you talking psilocybes? Where on earth is it legal to buy "kits" of Psilocybes? I thought they were banned altogether in the Netherlands a few years ago, and that was the only country I knew of.

 

[soulfood]

Spores are still legal and substrate is always going to be, so technically kits are still legal.

Making your own is the way forward IMO. Inoculate, colonize, fruit, pick, print, lather, rinse, repeat...

Always... repeat

 

[ॐ]

Are you talking psilocybes? Where on earth is it legal to buy "kits" of Psilocybes? I thought they were banned altogether in the Netherlands a few years ago, and that was the only country I knew of.

Yes they are psilocybes. Mushrooms were banned I believe back in 2008, but spores and growkits are still readily available (both in The Netherlands and over the internet). In The Netherlands they also still sell psilocybin-containing sclerotia ( so called "magic truffles" ) in smartshops.
Also, I believe the UK legally sold psilocybes up until the early 2000's (2002 I think, not sure), and I have heard stories of mushrooms being sold in vending machines in Japan a while ago (though that might not be the best approach, obviously ).

Anyway, on topic. There has definitely been a bit of progress. Around the filter there seems to be a tiny pin visible, as well as near one of the edges. I will give the box a few more weeks and hopefully there will be more mycelium that has made it through the verm and I can introduce it to the microclimate for fruiting

 

[headspice]

That looks to be coming along well. Best of luck to you!

 

[rudder]

Oh I see...I thought they came pre-inoculated.

 

[GroundSound]

Please update with pictures in further weeks, i would love to see how it goes!

 

[ॐ]

Oh I see...I thought they came pre-inoculated.

They usually do. Mine was pre-inoculated as well, it looked like the pictures in my original post when I first got it. The instructions specified that sometimes the box isn't fully colonized yet when you buy it, and that I shouldn't proceed with further steps until some mycelium was growing through the top layer, which wasn't the case for me. It said that I should put the box in a warm room for three days and then it should be fully colonized. I think you can buy kits that come with non-inoculated substrate in a box and a spore syringe so you can do it yourself though.

Please update with pictures in further weeks, i would love to see how it goes!

I will definitely do that. I have put the box into the plastic bag along with the specified 300ml's of water and kept is loosely sealed with a paperclip in a warm environment. The next day the bag looked like a suitable environment: warmth is kept inside while there is still enough air exchange through the filter. The entire bag was coated in a thin mist of condensation and looking good.
Three days later I am supposed to cut a hole the size of a coin in both sides of the bag. At first when I peered through the bag, I didn't see much growth, though I could see a few (very) small clumps of mycelium making it through the perlite.
After cutting the holes (for more air exchange to serve as a trigger for pinning) I could take a closer look, and there are now two sizable pins on the surface, one is still flat on the surface like in the earlier picture (I'm guessing because it grew against the lid), but the other is upright (it probably grew inside the bag when the lid was already off). There were also around 5 or 7 smaller pins rearing their heads through the top layer, so that was a huge relief.
I will be lightly misting the box daily to maintain moisture, and then I just have to wait for them to grow (which should take around 7 to 10 days).

I'm really glad this is finally showing some good progress, I was quite worried in the beginning. As promised, I will post some pictures whenever I have some free time on my hands

 

[GroundSound]

I happy it's working for you! :d when you say you lightly mist it and the bag over it, is this with the top of the plastic box the mycelium is in off? or do you leave it on?

 

[ॐ]

I happy it's working for you! :d when you say you lightly mist it and the bag over it, is this with the top of the plastic box the mycelium is in off? or do you leave it on?

The lid of the box is taken off, and the bag is folded three or four times and lightly sealed with a paperclip. This allows the bag to gently breathe while still trapping heat and moisture. The bag has the same sort of filter for extra air exchange. The water that goes in to provide a good moisture content is poured into the bottom of the bag, not into the box itself.

 

[foreverbluegreen]

Thank you for this thread OP. I will be watching the developments and hopefully learning something.

 

[ॐ]

Another update: The two large pins are growing a little bit, they are now around 3-4cm and the stems are getting a bit fatter. The small pins show less growth, but I'm sure they're still coming along. They are about half a cm above the top layer now, still rearing their little heads. There are a few more large ones that are growing against the sides of the box, inside the top layer. I take it these will eventually surface and grow normally.

I'm misting twice a day (once in the morning, once in the evening, 5-6 sprays with a mister). The mushrooms should be taking up the water that evaporates off of the top layer and grow. Right now it seems unreal that these mushrooms should be about fully mature in a good week, though it still seems to be coming along pretty good. I'm crossing my fingers and hoping that the humidity levels inside the growkit are still good now that the air holes have been cut. I'm sure a shotgun fruiting chamber is far more efficient, but I'm sticking with this for this grow. I will try to take some pictures this weekend

Making your own is the way forward IMO. Inoculate, colonize, fruit, pick, print, lather, rinse, repeat...

Always... repeat

This is exactly what I want to do further down the line. My next grow will definitely be with the PF tek. It seems pretty straightforward, the jars seem to colonize much better, and once you have your cakes in an easy to build fruiting chamber you are pretty much golden. The trickiest part seems to be working as sterile as possible, and avoiding contams.

And like you said, you can spore print and make your grow self-sustainable. I would love to be able to do that since you would no longer depend on vendors in this sort of grey area of the law, especially in this day and age when all sorts of research chemicals available via the internet are attracting negative attention from the media. That, and of course the joy of watching them grow, learning more about their life cycle and what makes them thrive. It would be awesome to maintain a modest collection of exotic spores as well, there are plenty of trading rings out there for exactly this purpose. Mycology seems like a fascinating and satisfying hobby

 

[lidea]

There are a few more large ones that are growing against the sides of the box

they usually struggle their way through to the surface, but the parts underneath can become waterlogged -- for the next flush, to prevent growth along the sides and underneath try taping round the plastic container to keep out the light

I'm misting twice a day (once in the morning, once in the evening, 5-6 sprays with a mister).

as long as the surface of the substrate doesn't dry out, they should be ok

Right now it seems unreal that these mushrooms should be about fully mature in a good week

it can take up to a week (or more) before the pinheads appear, but then they tend to zoom up very quickly

The trickiest part seems to be working as sterile as possible, and avoiding contams.

using a kit, you should be ok for the first flush -- later flushes are more vulnerable -- it's best to always handle using disposable gloves (a pair of household vinyl ones should last for a flush if carefully washed and dried each time after use), and you should wear a mask (cheap disposable ones are available from pharmacists and hobby/DIY stores)

 

[ॐ]

What does everyone think about taping the air holes back up though?
Wouldn't the humidity and temperature within the bag be far better for fruiting? I can still fan the kit in the morning and evening when I'm misting, so that's no problem.
And there is a filter on one of the sides of the bag that allows for constant air exchange. A friend of mine used a similar growkit a while ago, and he didn't have to cut the holes and did just fine once they started pinning. I can see a little bit of progress every day though, so it's slowly but surely getting there.

I took a few photos, excuse the fuzzy quality, it's really hard to take good pictures through the moist plastic. The blue spot in the bottom right corner of the second photo seems to be a bruised mushroom, I have looked at it up close and I don't believe it's contamination.

 

[lidea]

What does everyone think about taping the air holes back up though?

the pupose of the filter is allow air exchange while maintaining temperature and humidity and helping to keep out contam agents (other fungi and bacteria) -- so IMHO having open air holes doesn't make sense (if you tape them, make sure not to 'overmist' -- the surface of the substrate should be slightly damp but not water-logged)

I can see a little bit of progress every day though, so it's slowly but surely getting there.

looking at the photos, all seems fine -- i reckon they'll start 'spurting' in the next couple of days (they can do this overnight!) -- then it's just a matter of when to pick, how to dry, where to store, and of course preparing for the second flush

 

[ॐ]

looking at the photos, all seems fine -- i reckon they'll start 'spurting' in the next couple of days (they can do this overnight!) -- then it's just a matter of when to pick, how to dry, where to store, and of course preparing for the second flush

Awesome, thanks for the feedback, really appreciated
I taped the holes back up yesterday, and I'm now misting slightly less, just enough to get the surface slightly moist. I read that you should try to avoid spraying water onto the mushrooms themselves, but this is harder than I thought
I'll have to keep an eye on the right time to pick them, especially since I want a good specimen to spore print if I can. I will be drying them by putting them on a tray or something right above a layer of dessicant, I heard this is the most effective way to really get them cracker dry. Then I'll probably just store them in standard ziplock baggies and put them away in a cool, dark cupboard. Or are there better ways of storing them?

For the second flush, I take it I first pour all of the water from this grow out of the bag, fill the actual box with water, let it sit for 12 hours with the lid on and pour the water back out of the box (most growkits similar to mine tell you to do this as a first step, so I guess when I bought the kit this step was already taken care of), and start over again?

 

[ॐ]

Another update. Most of the other pins have shown significant growth now, and more seem to have popped up. None are taller than the biggest pins I initially had, but I'm guessing I just need to exercise some more patience.

I'm still a bit concerned about the blue spot. It's clear to see in the top-down picture. It looks like a blue mushroom stem with a black pin on it that is flat against the surface. Is this one rotting?

 

[lidea]

I'll have to keep an eye on the right time to pick them, especially since I want a good specimen to spore print if I can.

common advice is to pick them just as the caps are starting to open out -- (they usually do this at pretty much the same time) -- the reason given is that as they open out they start dropping their spores, and this might inhibit the next flush -- but all the shrooms are at slightly different stages, so it's a matter of judgement exactly when to crop, and whether to wait half a day or so to get the extra growth -- sometimes it's easy to crop them all at once -- but other times there's a few well in advance of the rest

as long as your cap has only just opened getting the spores shouldn't be a problem -- carefully separate the open cap from the stem and just place it on a glass slide or sterile paper (or whatever you've read to use) for several hours (or overnight), and the spores should drop out, making a pretty pattern

I will be drying them by putting them on a tray or something right above a layer of dessicant

that should be ok as long as the air around them isn't moist -- a recommended way of drying them is to get a 12V fan (eg a standard computer case fan) and connect it to the leads of a suitable transformer (one of those that plugs straight into a mains elec supply socket), and suspend the fan a couple of inches above a light bulb so that it blows downwards -- (sometimes the frame of a lamp shade is the right size and shape to position it) -- hang the light bulb six to nine inches above the shrooms (which are spread out on tissue) making sure the draft isn't too strong otherwise it'll blow the shrooms about as they dry out -- it's a bit tricky to set up the first time, but it provides a nice flow of warm air which dries but doesn't overheat the shrooms -- depending on how wet the growing environment is, the shrooms should be dry enough to snap (rather than bend) in 12-24 hours

you might weant to weigh them before you start drying, just for interest, and then weigh again after drying -- the dry weight is approx a tenth of the wet weight

Then I'll probably just store them in standard ziplock baggies and put them away in a cool, dark cupboard. Or are there better ways of storing them?

expel as much air as possible from the baggie before sealing it, then put it inside a closed jar along with a small pack of dessicant -- if no cool dark cupboard is available, then they can be put in the cool part of a refrigerator (*not* in the freezer part!)

what you're planning should be fine, but if you want to delve deeper, the "Storage" section of the "Mushroom Cultivation" page at Erowid has links to more suggestions -- and there's a very detailed discussion of storage techniques in Part III of CB Gold's "The Mushroom Entheogen" published in Vol 4 of Psychedelic Monographs and Essays (Thomas Lyttle, 1989, 1990), which may be available somewhere on the Lycaeum site

For the second flush..

yes, that sounds ok -- it's also an opportunity to give the bag a good wash out while the substrate in the box is having its soak

so I guess when I bought the kit this step was already taken care of

hmm... the amount of condensation in the bag indicates that the substrate is adequately soaked -- but it's usually left to the person growing them to soak the box at the start, so they can choose when to start growing -- (it's best to use the kits straight away, but some FAQs state that the (unsoaked) growkits can be stored for a few weeks in a cold dark place such as the non-freezer section of a refrigerater) -- maybe it's possible to check the FAQ/WIKI/forum of the site the kit came from just to make sure the growkit arrived pre-soaked?

 

[lidea]

I'm still a bit concerned about the blue spot.

hard to tell for sure, but looks strange -- i suggest you get a sterilised spoon and dig it out (along with a bit of the substrate it's growing from) as soon as possible -- it's worth losing one shroom for the peace of mind