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My First Bulk Grow! o_O
- Thread starter Phantastica
- Start date
Nice!! Have you done a PFtek with that strain? If so, can you qualify the differences? Are the fruit larger, denser, less aborts etc? Clearly you'll have a better yield by sheer substrate volume, but I am interested in knowing if the fruit themselves are more robust - some of those mushrooms look thick and hearty indeed!!
Another few questions - is your manure storebought or fresh? if fresh, how do you treat it before inoculating? pasteurize or sterilize? I tried to grow pan cyans with storebought cow manure but I never even got the tiniest spot of mycelium, so after 4 months and a ttear in my eye I threw them out...
Cheers,
JBArk
Another few questions - is your manure storebought or fresh? if fresh, how do you treat it before inoculating? pasteurize or sterilize? I tried to grow pan cyans with storebought cow manure but I never even got the tiniest spot of mycelium, so after 4 months and a ttear in my eye I threw them out...
Cheers,
JBArk
Astralking
Rising Star
jbark said:
Pasturization is better for the bulk. Keeps the good organisms which fight off molds but doesn't effect the mycelium. You want the horse manure to be dry nuggets that pretty much crumble in your hand with no smell.
How did you go about growing pan cyans? I might be able to try help where you went wrong.
In terms of the strain i'm sure you've heard the phrase a cubes a cubes a cube! Yes some strains have big mushrooms, but because of this it means they'll be less of them and the yield will be the same.
Some people argue that there are a few strains that are slightly different such as penis envy. If you've never seen it before you should check out this post on the shroomery:
Strain Questions HERE ONLY! - Mushroom Cultivation Archive - Shroomery Message Board
Welcome to my Race/Variety/Strain Journal. This is where we discuss 'Strains'. Please read any pertinent information in these first THREE posts before asking about any cube 'Strain'. If you have
www.shroomery.org
It compares almost every strain there is and talks about the myths surrounding each one etc.
Phantastica
Rising Star
Astralking
Rising Star
Forgot to mention as well. Nice haul mate 
I'm a big fan of 50:50 coir You been growing long?
I'm a big fan of 50:50 coir
You been growing long?
Phantastica
Rising Star
jbark, yes i've done the pf tek too, and the results are dramatically significant. these are straight monsters compared to the pf cakes ones. below are pics of my pf tek grow, though i only ever did 2 cakes.jbark said:
The substrate amount i used was 50/50 manure/1brick coir.
the manure was bought, but not from stores. it was bought from a farmer who sold me firefang manure in nugget form. I psateurized it at 140-160F for 2hrs. After that, i kinda made a mistake of letting the hot manure sit under a strong fan for 40 min, to instantly cool it, rather than wait over a 7 hr period. i innoculated right away after the 40 min of strong fan with 4qt of wbs; and by the day 2, the growth was very vigorous.
Ive actually seen almost no abhorts with this strain, whether it be pf tek, or bulk:d
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Phantastica
Rising Star
:d i just started recently, and now i see how easy mushroom growing really is. started a month ago, and already feel like a gangstaAstralking said:Forgot to mention as well. Nice haul mate
I'm a big fan of 50:50 coir
...but there's much to learn
:shock: bitch bitch bitch.... :shock:
That is one sexual yield Phantastica.
A SEXUAL yield.
That is one sexual yield Phantastica.
A SEXUAL yield.
Phantastica
Rising Star
^^haha i'm glad you're aroused! i know you want that shroom up ur butt:lol:
Hmm dunno they look kinda big
Orion said:Hmm dunno they look kinda big
Yeah some of them do. Personally I like to try and grab a few before the vails break. But i do let some open so the spores drop for the next flush.
Those do look good though.
I haven't grown mushrooms in a couple of years, but i think you've inspired me to once again Phantastica! I think i will try a new method this time though.
Looks like you have a few late nights ahead of you:wink:
I thought you were supposed to prevent spores from dropping as they reduce later flushes?
I always picked mine before the caps opened & usually get a good few big flushes... whereas if i let one big cap open by accident overnight, it drops its spores & the later flushes would be full of aborts
Lovely pics in the OP by the way, i usually wonder why people need to do big grows unless your going to sell them (which is sacrelig imo) but having that in my room would be beautiful, they usually give me intense dreams when they are growing in my room
I always picked mine before the caps opened & usually get a good few big flushes... whereas if i let one big cap open by accident overnight, it drops its spores & the later flushes would be full of aborts
Lovely pics in the OP by the way, i usually wonder why people need to do big grows unless your going to sell them (which is sacrelig imo) but having that in my room would be beautiful, they usually give me intense dreams when they are growing in my room
I haven't heard that it reduces flushes. But honestly i haven't done enough research on that particular aspect of the process (b/c i thought it made sense). I was taught some tricks of the trade by a close friend who seemed to know what he was doing. So i went by his word. I wasn't trying to mislead any one, thats just how i've done it.
Maybe next around i will pick them sooner.
I am looking into other methods. I used the popcorn kernels in jars previously, which worked out ok.
We shall see what happens.
Maybe next around i will pick them sooner.
I am looking into other methods. I used the popcorn kernels in jars previously, which worked out ok.
We shall see what happens.
Phantastica
Rising Star
awesome!! i'm glad i inspired you to pick up the hobby again! there can never be enough shrooms in this world..so the more the merrierSoulshine said:
hmm..afaik, spores droppings dont reduce future flushes. But i did have kinda small future flushes after my first one, which i blame on my wrong methods of going about dunking the substrate after the 1st flush. i think i put too much weight on top of the substrate to hold it under water..and i think that DRASTICALLY reduced the future flushes since the areas on the sub where the weight was applied almost had no growth for a long time...whereas there was healthy growth in other areas...but now, i'm seeing some growth in those damaged areas. On top of that, i accidentally cracked the cake at about 7 places when picking it out of the water after the dunk cuz it was so fragile due to not having enough depth.Soulshine said:
But i dont believe that spore droppings reduce flushes since i have never ever read anything regarding this at shroomery or topia.
As for picking up b4 the veil tearing...i used to believe b4 as well that the shrooms stop producing psilocybin after the veil tears, but no one can be certain of that since no studies have been conducted. these are all just subjective opinions floating around. There are many expert growers who claim that it doesnt matter if you harvest before or after the veil tears...so thats why i dont care much about that anymore. Besides, these are potent as fuck!
the reason i let some of the caps fully open is because i try to find that perfect timing where i can pick AS MANY shrooms as possible without any of them starting to rot. so...sometimes, i let them sit for a day or two even after the caps are flat open so that other smaller ones can mature and i can harvest them altogether, because drying them in small batches is a bitch. but if someone thinks this practice of letting the opened cap shrooms sit out for too long is bad practice, i would like to hear more of it since i'm a noob and only recently got started at this:d
i have no real experience with this, and the reasons you state make sense for you, but in the book:: "psilocybin mushroom handbook" by L. G. Nicholas and Kerry Ogame, they state the following:
"the best time to harvest is just prior to this point, when the veil is stretched but not broken, since after this point the mushrooms will no longer gain any real weight. In addition, you dont want spores falling onto your casing soil and containers. given the astronomical number of spores produced by a single mushroom, this can make quite a mess; in addition, the gases released by germinating spores can potentially inhibit further fruiting".
i know i like closed caps for eating, too:d
nice grow, enjoy!
Phantastica
Rising Star
sporeprints are cheaper and are easy to convert into spore syringes. but, if u dont care about the pricing, then here are a few sites that offer good quality spore syringes:Soulshine said:
http://www.mycrotopia.com/catalog/catalog.php
Ralphsters Spores – Your finest microscopy samples available
http://sporeworks.com/
...u can also spend $2 for a sporeprint if you wanna order from http://fsre.nl/..only thing is that they take ~3-4 weeks to deliver it..
mmm..for your first grow, cubes will be best. i think all cubes are more or less pretty potent. but my top 3 choices would be: penis envy, mazatepec, golden teachers
yea i know some places state that, but i dont think there is a single scientific study done on potency pertaining to shroom size/cap opening...though that may still be right. currently, i dont have much time to trip, so i cant subjectively decide upon that, but i will experiment with this further. just to be safe in the future tho, i think i'll harvest before cap opening..cant go wrong with that.biopsylo said:
i think you may also be right about the spore dropping reducing flushes, cuz after closer inspection over the past few days, there doesnt appear to be much growth in areas which are covered in spore droppings. the weight i applied probably is the main cause, but i think now that the spores augmented that effect.
yea they taste better cuz mature shrooms are covered in millions of spores. its the spores that make em taste unpalatable, but i still dont mind the taste reallybiopsylo said:
Phantastica said:
In regards to the number of flushes, this is hinged more on how even the pinset is, instead of a set number-- After a little experience you'll use your super-mycological skills and harvest 90% of your mushrooms in the first two flushes. Perhaps three flushes on a big tub.
After the first couple flushes, taking care of the now poorly-fruiting substrate, which is closer day-by-day to possible contamination, is a waste of effort. By tossing that substrate away and putting in its place a new tub/tray/bag you're going to see much, much more weight harvested over time.
In regards to your bulk substrate mix, it sounds good, but consider adding some gypsum (calcium sulfate). It can make up up to 10% of your bulk substrate. It adds calcium and sulfur. It is used in commercial mushroom farming. It improves the growth of the mushrooms.It helps hold the pH steady.
Here's what I like as a mix for a mulk substrate, in case you're interested: Coco-Coir (and/or local Horse Manure), Vermiculite, Gypsum (calcium sulfate), Composted Chicken Manure (3%-5%).
jbark said:
Besides the obvious answer of "genetics" here's a few other things that effect fruit growth:
Cold-fruiting cubensis results in stout, beefy fruiting bodies with very, very thick stipes (stems). The mushrooms grow very slow this way and are very heavy for their size.
There are few "unique" strains but clearly "Penis Envy" is one unique strain- besides its phallic look, the specimens tend to be hearty with thick, well-developed stipes.
Providing lots of air-exchange, such as in a good "greenhouse/Martha" setup or a "Shotgun terrarium" will produce mostly shorter specimens with well developed caps. Keeping CO2 levels higher (by providing less air-exchange) will result in long, increasingly skinny stipes with increasingly smaller caps.
Adding gypsum (calcium sulfate) improves the growth of mushrooms. Fruiting bodies are better developed and you are less likely to see those super thin stipes that many new cultivators complain about.
As I mentioned above, actually slightly reducing air-exchange (like in a classic "mono tub tek") will produce specimens with longer stipes and increasingly smaller caps, however, my favorite specimens to consume are specimens with short stipes and large caps that are picked young, before the veil thins. BUT the other trick, which I learned from old hands over on the shroomery like Agar, RR, Workman, is to add a handful of composted chicken manure to your bucket of substrate; there isn't any "secret" ingredient, but this is a lesser known addition that can help achieve some large specimens.
jbark said:
It needs to be aged manure, and free of cedar shavings (like you see from horse stalls).
Bagged manure sometimes works and sometimes doesn't- a single brand uses different sources depending on the part of the country, so I can't say X-brand works because that same bag where you are may be a different source. Either find it locally for free or just give bagged manure a gamble. Best for cubensis is field-aged horse manure because it has a less muddy texture than cow manure, which is also good.
Pasteurize for cubensis and cyans, but some species do want a sterile bulk substrate. CaptFuture (who just joined the forums here as well) has experience with a lot of species and would know better than me.
Phantastica said::d i just started recently, and now i see how easy mushroom growing really is. started a month ago, and already feel like a gangstaAstralking said:Forgot to mention as well. Nice haul mate
I'm a big fan of 50:50 coir
Yes! Growing cubensis is way easier than many think- helps to live in a mold-free, clean house though. Cubensis is a beginner's species, but even easier is cultivating psychedelic sclerotia from p. mexicana in quart jars invitro.
Chronic said:
With some species this is supposed to be a problem, but not with cubensis. Maybe, maybe a very, very heavy spore-depositing specimen could inhibit pin formation in a spot, but even that Iam not sure of.
Phantastica said:
That sure didn't help, BUT, once you're seeing very even pinsets where most of the mushrooms come from the first flush or two, this will be considered normal-- The substrate can only produce so much. After the bulk is harvested in the first flush or two, any later flushes generally produce very few, but often larger specimens.
