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Pre-Boxed growing kits?

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Pup Tentacle said:
Let me make sure I understand what you have going on... innoculated jars (that came preprepared and sealed) in another container? And it looks like foil over the top of at least the jar in your picture.

Are there holes in that foil? Are there holes in the top of the jars or just covered by foil?

First, its been about 3 days now that my jars have been incubating.

---I have have had spores take up to almost two weeks to germinate - so be patient.

This one seems like there IS mycelium growing, but it looks...a little greenish. Which, to my understanding, is bad.

--- :!: Green is mushroom death get it out of your cultivation area and don't get it all over your self in the process of disposal and drag unwanted spores back into your area.

Whats everyones take? I did not pack and seal this jar, it was part of the pre-boxed kit.

--- You either received the jars already contaminated OR you contaminated them via something you did or left undone. Re-think everything you'd had to do with this kit and try ro isolate any un-clean goings on if you can. If there are non.... then the contamination came with the jar probably.

To add a note also, I went back and checked all jars. I have 6 jars innocluated with cubensis golden teacher spores and 6 jars innoculated with Malaysian Cubensis spores.

Each jar with Malaysian spores is identical in the same stage of mycelium growth with 4 little peanut sized white blotches per jar, and it is totally white.

2 of my golden teacher jars have a LOT of green in them taking up Id say 50% of the jar, the other 4 jars have not even any growth starting yet.

Any ideas as to why all of my Malaysian jars look the same and are in good condition and why 2 of my GT jars are not gonna make it and 4 others look like they havent even been innoculated? lol

---Different races germinate, develop, and fruit at different rates under different conditions any conjecture about your situation at this point would be just that... conjecture.

I'm going to agree (kind of) with the suggestion of using the Shroomery as well. Not that you shouldn't ask here... just ask there as well and try to just deal with folks who've gotten the "Trusted Cultivator" tag. Be prepared the Shroomery can get kind of snarky (to be nice) sometimes,but there's a ton of good advice there as well.

Read up on sterile procedure. Grab a copy of the book "The Mushroom Cultivator" by Stamets and Chilton. Most of all just be diligent and continue learning and trying... it is like any other endeavor... you'll start getting the hang of it.

Good Luck :thumb_up:
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Yes the jars came with the kit I purchased, its a rye substrate. They have plastic lids which have 4 holes for innoculation and a tin foil cover over the lid, but no holes in the foil.

Thank you for your help! I appreciate it, I removed the jars with the green mold carefully and disposed of them.
 
Ditch that foil too, those holes in the lids need to be open to allow a bit of air exchange. It may explain some of your condensation.

Also, I know its fascinating and hard to not look, but leave those jars on a shelf and don't move them around or anything, check in 7 days (if you're on day 4 or 5 right now - after that aver 3 days or so). Leave fully colonized jars go for another week to make sure they are colonized in the center of the cake as well. Then birth them.

😁
 
Really? Remove the foil? I thought it was supposed to remain covered, no?

And I have the jars in an incubation box with an aquarium heater keeping the box in 80 degree water. Isnt it better they stay in the box dark and warm?
 
HumbleTraveler said:
Really? Remove the foil? I thought it was supposed to remain covered, no?

And I have the jars in an incubation box with an aquarium heater keeping the box in 80 degree water. Isn't it better they stay in the box dark and warm?
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It seems common to leave the foil on until visible colonization begins, then remove one layer and expose the holes or else the myc will suffocate itself as it grows. It makes sense to leave it on at first to make sure the mushroom mycelium starts before a contam does, or else we let contamination breathe and possibly escape, contaminating more jars nearby.

Also remember complete darkness is not necessary, that information is 30 years old and has long since been debunked. Ambient indoor light actually helps to accelerate colonization.
 
Ok cool :) Thanks Orion. So I just took the foil off of all of my malaysian jars because each one has beautiful white growth.

The remaining GT jars still look like I never even innoculated them haha. I left the foil on them.


I kind of still want to leave the cover on my container just to keep dust and other potential contams out of the area.

Could I buy like small stick on white light and leave it on in the container so that the jars get light?
 
After I posted that I was thinking maybe just place them in the empty fruiting chamber for the time being since its a clear tub. I dont want to just leave them out in the open.

At this stage, are the substrate jars still susceptible to contamination?
 
I ended up cutting small V shaped vents into the top of the container to allow for air to move thru the container, they can also be pushed back into place to close the vent. It allows for dust and potentially most other foreign entities to keep out but allows plenty of air circulation.
 
I hope it worked out for you!

Watch out for tiny mushroom flies that love the mycelium, they can find their way through the tiniest openings, a few years ago they ruined my harvest! They must be able to smell a few molecules, incredible how they can find it.

I've been dabbling with PF mushroom cultivation since, hmm.. 1998?... with varying succes.
I totally agree that it's much more fun to go the hard DIY way, but I had done that already. My spores apparently were no longer viable, so I got a grow kit of Golden Teachers instead of a new spore syringe ;)

But besides the main harvest of 220 wet grams, I made my spore print... and more will follow 8)

I guess I got lucky with a good kit (no brands mentioned)
 

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So far so good thank you! Ive got a few more days til birthing the cakes.

I see you used a large Tupperware container, is there an advantage to that at all over the small jars? Did you grow based off the PF/brf tek?
 
HumbleTraveler said:
So far so good thank you! Ive got a few more days til birthing the cakes.

I see you used a large Tupperware container, is there an advantage to that at all over the small jars? Did you grow based off the PF/brf tek?
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Sorry if I wasn't clear: this is a pre-fabricated growkit I bought in a smartshop! I guess it's a rye substrate with a casing...
I'm hoping to harvest some spores for further cultivation, and the mushrooms are a bonus. Second flush almost there..

All I had to to was poke some holes in it with a clean fork, add tap water and let it soak for an hour, add water to a ventilated bag, put the container into the bag, and wait.


Good luck with the birthing, keep it clean :thumb_up:
 
No worries thank you!!

I birthed my cakes just last night, dunked them overnight, and theyre now in the fruiting chamber!

Most pf tek writeups Ive read say that you "should" have pinning while the cakes are still in the jars. I had no cakes pinning while they were still in their jars. Is that bad? :(
 
totally fine, just make sure your cakes are not only 100% colonized but also past that 1 week consolidation process.
 
yes I waited until the cakes were 100% and then gave them an additional eight days just to be sure :D hahah.

How often should I be misting them now? 2 or 3 times a day? I have like 30 holes drilled in my fruiting chamber on the sides and top so I assume co2 will have an easier time escaping by itself rather than me having to fan often?
 
HumbleTraveler said:
yes I waited until the cakes were 100% and then gave them an additional eight days just to be sure :D hahah.

How often should I be misting them now? 2 or 3 times a day? I have like 30 holes drilled in my fruiting chamber on the sides and top so I assume co2 will have an easier time escaping by itself rather than me having to fan often?
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Did you skip drilling holes on the bottom and adding risers? Doing this allows the co2 to fall out of the bottom and provides a better FAE.
 
I did not drill holes on the bottom, should I? What are risers?

Also, before drilling I sprayed lysol in the container, let it sit for a while, and then wiped it out with a wet cloth. I noticed though while misting that my container smells...well, like lysol. Im concerned that the lysol will impact my cakes or the shrooms themselves by contaiminating them with dangerous chemicals.

Should I quick wash my tub out and then plop everything back in to fully rid the lysol??
 
HumbleTraveler said:
I did not drill holes on the bottom, should I? What are risers?

Also, before drilling I sprayed lysol in the container, let it sit for a while, and then wiped it out with a wet cloth. I noticed though while misting that my container smells...well, like lysol. Im concerned that the lysol will impact my cakes or the shrooms themselves by contaiminating them with dangerous chemicals.

Should I quick wash my tub out and then plop everything back in to fully rid the lysol??
Click to expand...


Yea you should drill holes in the bottom for best FAE. Risers are just anything you attach to the bottom to make it lift off of whatever surface it's on so that the bottom holes are effective. I for example have 2 blocks of wood glued to the bottom of the chamber to lift it about an inch and a half off its surface.

The lysol won't hurt your cakes or shrooms.
 
Ok gotcha, thats what I was thinking really, makes sense for sure to get it off the ground so air can move totally around the entire container. I bought a bigger container because the one I was using has 7 cakes in it and theyre super crammed tight together, theres like an inch between each cake and each cake and the container walls.
 
I use a 66 qt and it does 12 cakes pretty easily with good spacing - although I've heard before that you can cram cakes and it's no big deal as long as they have proper FAE.
 
The thermometer I have in my fruiting box says its only 65 degrees in the box.

The room itself is pretty chilly, is that too low of a temeprature?

If so, I was considering buying some tea lights and making that room heater with two clay pots.
 
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