Fruiting Chamber Management - Spore Explosion

[Shady Ways]

Well I had some SA go ballistic on me in a short time this week and my FC looks like Beirut in the mid-seventies!

I had quite a bit of spores drop onto other fruits, cakes and over much of my perilite bed.

Some pieces of foil had so many spores on them it was almost like a spore print (hated throwing it away!).

I rinsed some of the larger fruits for appearance reasons.

I just cleaned it like two weeks ago! I really would prefer not to do it again this soon, but I'm looking for some input...

I'm also having a difficult time with cake moisture retention. My FC has water droplets on the sides consistently indicating very high RH, but I seem to need to dunk very frequently (after every flush). I've tried using the straw method, but it leaves a straw sized whole in the center when I remove it. Maybe I should leave the straw in and use a dropper to feed water into the cake (kinda like one of those water plant feeders)? I just started (yesterday) experimenting with injecting water into the cake, but the myc seems to resist the flow from a pretty large gauge needle.

I know I'm combining a couple different subjects but they're the concerns at this stage of my research!

[Shroomette]

Try scraping off the top of the cakes where the spores have dropped before dunking. Best thing to do if the RH is too high is take a papertowel and wipe the excess water droplets (Just dab them off). Maybe fan once or twice a day. You can rinse out the perlite. If you are worried about using the same perlite don't be just rehydrate it will salt water (as much salt as possible) this will get rid of any nasties left behind and prevent further contamns. This time try leaving the casing off and see what happens. Good Luck! ShadyWays.

[durka_durka420]

water on sides of terarrium is from differation in temperature from the outside and the inside of terarrium no indication of high rh i get them while having a green house set at 92% rh...for the spores do what shroomette said try to scrape em off and dunk...seem to be fruiting good so just pick your fruits earlier before that spore explosion happens! and after each run when i was using a perlite filled terarrium id pour perlite in a bucket soak with bleach for a hr then rinse it with hot water really good then cold water let it drain and pour back in and birth more cakes!

[vork21]

Wow. Those are some horny mushrooms.

[Shady Ways]

Thanks for the input Shromette and d_d420! Good suggestions for perilite cleansing.

d_d420... you make a good point about causes of condensation, but I don't think there's enough of a difference in temp. between tha grow room and interior of the FC to account for atmospheric condensation.

I'll drop a hygrometer in there and take a reading!

[fun_guy]

shouldnt the mushroom be harvested before the spores drop? i thought it was best to pick them before the cap curls up or just as the veil breaks. by letting them go that long no good could come of it right? the potency actually declines at that point right?

maybe im wrong but please inform me this is a good subject i think many people are unsure of. ty myco community!

[plantman21]

the potency doesn't decline. the potency just stops increacing, and the mass of the mushroom keeps going.
Plantman

[Shroomette]

Originally Posted by fun_guy

shouldnt the mushroom be harvested before the spores drop? i thought it was best to pick them before the cap curls up or just as the veil breaks. by letting them go that long no good could come of it right? the potency actually declines at that point right?

maybe im wrong but please inform me this is a good subject i think many people are unsure of. ty myco community!

I've always picked them as the veil breaks but, there is a lot of times when you think they aren't totally mature and leave them, hence the spore showers. and plantman is right the potency doesn't decline.

[Soliver]

Sounds to me like you're doing all the right things to keep your cakes hydrated...

In the past, I had the same issues, so when making cakes, I'd install a smallish
(quarter sized) reservoir of straight verm in the center/top of the cake. Steam and
innoc per usual, then use the straw tek to keep that center reservoir hydrated.

There's a tek on it somewhere in the archives... "inner reservoir" or something.. I'll
try to dig it up for you.



soliver

[Soliver]

Voodoo Tek / Inner Res:
http://forums.mycotopia.net/cakes-br...live-well.html (Voodoo Tek Alive And Well)

Anyone using cakes should search the archives for "fahtster," a member from some
time ago who did AMAZING things with cakes:
http://forums.mycotopia.net/cakes-br...-ala-faht.html (GT's ala faht)

That should start you out... good luck!



soliver

[tbonus]

Soliver is right.Fahtster is a myco genius.Thanks Fahtster for all your knowledge

[tbonus]

Damn,look at how his cakes produced.You really are the man Fahtster

[stimpy]

Originally Posted by fun_guy

shouldnt the mushroom be harvested before the spores drop? i thought it was best to pick them before the cap curls up or just as the veil breaks. by letting them go that long no good could come of it right? the potency actually declines at that point right?

maybe im wrong but please inform me this is a good subject i think many people are unsure of. ty myco community!

I dunno about the potency decreasing but i think sporeulated shrooms taste nastier

[GadgetGuy]

I would agree, shrooms covered in spores taste like crap.

[Shady Ways]

Thanks for pointing me in the right direction, Soli... I'm going to read up and keep pushing on! Going outta town for a week soon so I'm working on flushing things out and then putting unbirthed jars in the fridge until I return.

As for the taste of sporulated shrooms, I'd imagine their somewhat off-putting. Friends usually grind well and mix 'em into O.J. or create a honey paste. So I doubt the taste will stand out much.