Cold Jars Damp Substrate

[steveK]

Quoting myself above :

I tried doing a search for tanzanian but didnt find a thing though"

Thats probably because I should have been searching for Tasmanian ,since thats what they are. Apparantly these are quite decent ,and Im so looking forward to trying them . I hope this thread hasnt become too confusing for people to follow. I am starting to think maybe I should just start over. Im also thinking about changing my username. I guess I was just in a hurry to get started,and figured I could change it later when I thought of a good one.

[TVCasualty]

Originally Posted by steveK

Quoting myself above :

Thats probably because I should have been searching for Tasmanian ,since thats what they are. Apparantly these are quite decent ,and Im so looking forward to trying them . I hope this thread hasnt become too confusing for people to follow. I am starting to think maybe I should just start over. Im also thinking about changing my username. I guess I was just in a hurry to get started,and figured I could change it later when I thought of a good one.

I'm not sure if changing your user name is possible without starting all over from scratch with a whole new account (losing your post history, etc.). We do prefer that members not reveal any personal information, btw.


Regarding your grow, if you got a fully colonized jar, all you have to do to get some mushrooms from it is leave it someplace warm that gets some light (invitro). Better success rates do come with practice, and fortunately rice and vermiculite are pretty cheap. Spores aren't, so I also suggest you make a few LC jars so you can stretch a spore print/syringe much further.

Originally Posted by Nord

I guess a dro pof food dye in the boiling water in the PC would help identify if that is makeing it's way into the pot...

Or you could weigh the jars before and after PC'ing. If they feel heavier, water got in (you don't even need the precision of a scale, really).


The tape or no tape issue is just a matter of personal preference IMO. I've done both and seen no difference in my results. I don't use foil and I do use tape, mainly because tape is cheaper and it's a matter of habit. It may well be unnecessary.

Water getting in the jars is almost certainly being caused by filling the PC with too much of it. Put the jars in first (just the bottom layer, if they will be stacked), then pour in water taking care to not pour it directly on the lids of your jars. Only pour in enough water to bring the level up the sides of the jars about 1/2 inch (~1cm). If doing more than one run, double check the water level before firing it up again and make sure there's enough.

PC'ing takes less water than many people assume, or so it appears from all the water-logged jar posts. I guess it's because of the dire warnings about what happens if we accidentally boil off all the water, which would be bad, so we make sure that doesn't happen by using too much.

[steveK]

Spores aren't, so I also suggest you make a few LC jars so you can stretch a spore print/syringe much further.

thanks for this and all the other great advice,I will have more to say about them later,but Im too tired now since I just finished my workday and Im going home now. Im looking forward to seeing how my jars are doing after today too. A couple questions you didnt answer though is if its ok to stack them in the incubator,and should I loosen the lids? I seem to be finding various opinions on these things,thanks again

[steveK]

Just to update,my cakes are doing very well for the most part, several are nearly fully colonized. I am likely going to use invitro as tv casualty suggests. The chronic tek invitro method looks interesting since the jars are bigger,so I would assume these would result in bigger yeilds. It looks like a near fool proof method anyhow,so I think I must be well on my way to my first truly successful grow. Thanks again for all the advice so far!

[steveK]

I just did another run last night of 14 jars,and I am quite sure I now know why I had a moisture problem the last time. As I was mixing the substrate I noticed there was a fair bit of water at the bottom of the bowl,just like there was last time. This time however instead of just assuming that this was how it was supposed to be I kept mixing it for a few more minutes,and I noticed that the extra water was disappearing and when I finished it was gone. Therefore instead of having several jars that were overly damp,and others that were rather dry,they all look pretty much the same. I used surgical tape to cover the holes and weighed them before and after the PC and found there was no difference even though a few of the holes seemed to have opened due to the pressure or heat. I said in my last post that the jars from the last batch were doing very well for the most part but only maybe half are doing very well,perhaps they were the ones that got just the right amount of water in the jars. The ones that look dry are going very slow ,and the ones with wet spots are showing slowed down growth around the wet spots.
Anyhow I have taken a few of the jars that were nearly fully colonized and switched them to these cool 500 ml jars I found which also are wide mouth so the cakes fit perfect. I didnt like the idea of using those huge jars I saw in the chronic tek simply because they are so big. Im sure the extra room these 500ml jars provide will provide ample space for invitro fruiting.
Finally I just thought I would add a picture of my battle scars I now have from using my PC. I wasnt using it for my cakes I was cooking spaghetti and I let it boil too long so I tried opening it up,and got burned bad as you can see. This was about 10 days ago and it looked even worse then. Anyhow I just thought I should mention what happened in case I can prevent someone else from doing the same thing.

[steveK]

I now have 4 cakes in these bigger 500 ml jars. Anyhow they all have mist on the glass ,but I notice the one with the most mist seems to be the one which also has the most myc growth . I didnt dunk any of them,but if the less misty jars continue to show slower growth I may try dunking them to see if it helps. I hope I didnt gross anyone with with the pic of my burnt hand ,I guess I am so used to it since I see it so many times a day,and it is getting better for sure.

[TVCasualty]

That explanation of the moisture problem makes sense. It's one of those "little" details that tend to get left out of tek write-ups, which is why there's no substitute for getting your hands dirty and actually doing it. And then doing it again. And again. The good news is that once you get the feel for it (literally; I just squeeze a fistful of it to test it before packing in jars, whether it's BRF or whole grain WBS) you'll be able to make up jars fast and they'll all work great (unless you smoke too much herb and forget you already added water and end up with a bowl of mud, or so I hear).

That's a pretty gnarly burn ya got there. My first reaction was "Tyler Durden? Is that you?" But then I remembered we're not supposed to talk about Fight Club.

If you ever watched that old TV series Kung Fu starting David Carradine, you might recall the opening where, during his training, Caine picked up a hot cauldron with his forearms and got cool dragon scars burned into them. Well, since I got one of those AA 941's, which are freakin' huge, I now have some less-than-cool scars on my forearms that resemble wingnuts. Since then I always put a towel over the whole thing when I have to carry it hot. So congratulations, grasshopper, you're not a mycologist until you've been bitten by a pressure cooker.

And no more cooking pasta in it! (unless you leave the lid off the whole time). Or anything that foams up and sputters everywhere like pressurized enriched whole wheat napalm. But I don't guess I'm telling you anything you don't already know at this point. Carry on!

[steveK]

Thanks Tv Casualty,I used to watch Kung Fu but that was sooo long ago,I really cant rememnber a single episode.

you're not a mycologist until you've been bitten by a pressure cooker

thats what I was thinking too,but I dont really want to wish anything like this on anyone else either. Perhaps its a sign of better things to come for me though. Speaking of which all 4 cakes I have switched to the pint jars are looking very good...yes I mean many pins and lots of fuzzy myc. Party!

And no more cooking pasta in it! (unless you leave the lid off the whole time). Or anything that foams up and sputters everywhere like pressurized enriched whole wheat napalm

I have already cooked pasta in it again a few times already with the lid on part of the time but I was careful. I even cooked a steak in it last night and it turned out great. Its the only pot/pan I have right now,and I feel much better now that I know how to use it without danger.

[steveK]

well things have gone from very good to very bad overnight in regards to those 4 invitro jars. I forgot to mention that only one of these cakes was fully colonized. The rest were about 80-95% colonized. I simply got tired of waiting for them to fully colonize since they seemed to be stuck on those certain spots. Anyhow those exposed parts have now become contaminated with green mold . Not only that but the pins that were flourishing are now smaller and some of the ones that were on the side arent even there anymore. There is definitely less fuzzy myc in general and the cakes appear to be drying up. There isnt as much humidity on the inside of the jars as well. I am sure the holes are 1/4 inch as chronic tek suggests but maybe they are a bit too big,since the jars I am using are about half the size of the quart jars recommended. I am also speculating that maybe the cakes were on the verge of infection anway before I even put them in the new jars. I believe that this happened because of the fact that I didnt mix the substrate well enough as explained earlier. Most of them had to be thrown out due to contamination,and they were the ones that were obviously too dry or to wet. The 4 that became colonized or nearly colonized may have had a better moisture level,but I could see by looking at the jars that there were big clumps of rice stuck together ,and the spots that didnt colonize also looked like big clumps of rice. Anyhow this is my theory but I am just a novice at this so I certainly hope I am right. The substrate in the jars from the runs that I did a few days ago look much more uniform for sure so I definitely hoping for the best with these ones. It sure is frustrating though since I was very encouraged last night about the pinning and all ,and now its like Im just starting over again. Any advice is greatly appreciated as usual.

[steveK]

I just found this video on the "where do I start" thread in this forum,and I learned so much I had to post it here as well. Holy @#*! did I make a lot of mistakes again http://video.google.com/videoplay?do...86859329905674

[TVCasualty]

Keep doing it, keep paying close attention to your results, and keep exploring how to improve and before you know it it'll be second nature to you. It sounds to me like you're well on your way to mastering this stuff. Every failure just moves you closer to the bull's-eye (I speak from massive experience here; massive experience with failure I mean). After you hit it, success flows with comparatively little effort and failure eventually becomes as rare as success usually was at the beginning, so keep at it.

[steveK]

Thanks for the encouragement tvcasualty ,Im sure you are right,and it sounds like you can relate to the frustration Im feeling now. I think Ive come too far to turn back now. I just dont understand all these people who say the pf tk is easy as pie,and had great success their very first try.