My cakes are so dry!!!

[Faaip De Oaid]

I recently inoculated 10 jars with a Koh Samui Super Strain and 12 jars with a Maz strain. They colonized great, no contams. For incubation, i kept the jars in a tub heated by a reptile lamp, the temp never went over 82 degrees. a couple of the jars began to pin before birthing them. when i birthed them, many of the pins were stuck to the jar and thus were removed. I double end cased the cakes and placed them on a layer of tin foil and put them in my fc... a big tub with holes and a bed of moistened perlite. i placed the tub near a window and have been using a reading light to light the fc. i did not dunk because i read in the archives that dunking is not required prior to the first flush. the next day my cakes felt all hard and scaley, but i noticed some pins on the bottom. i started misting the cakes to help moisten them, then read on the archives that misting causes abhorts...which it did. so i dunked the cakes for about 18 hours and scraped the sides with a fork, re-cased them and put them back into the fc. a couple of the cakes have produces 1-3 smaller mushrooms, but the rest are just sitting there.

My questions...
Why are my cakes so dry?
Why are my yields so low?

Please help!

[TastyBeverage]

How many holes are in the chamber and how big are they? How deep is your layer of perlite? Does it too feel dry to the touch? How often are you misting the chamber? Do you have any condensation on the chamber walls?

[MLBjammer]

Originally Posted by Faaip De Oaid

I recently inoculated 10 jars with a Koh Samui Super Strain and 12 jars with a Maz strain. They colonized great, no contams. For incubation, i kept the jars in a tub heated by a reptile lamp, the temp never went over 82 degrees. a couple of the jars began to pin before birthing them. when i birthed them, many of the pins were stuck to the jar and thus were removed. I double end cased the cakes and placed them on a layer of tin foil and put them in my fc... a big tub with holes and a bed of moistened perlite. i placed the tub near a window and have been using a reading light to light the fc. i did not dunk because i read in the archives that dunking is not required prior to the first flush. the next day my cakes felt all hard and scaley, but i noticed some pins on the bottom. i started misting the cakes to help moisten them, then read on the archives that misting causes abhorts...which it did. so i dunked the cakes for about 18 hours and scraped the sides with a fork, re-cased them and put them back into the fc. a couple of the cakes have produces 1-3 smaller mushrooms, but the rest are just sitting there.

My questions...
Why are my cakes so dry?
Why are my yields so low?

Please help!

Colonization takes a lot of moisture out of the cakes. If you can, dunk them just after birthing (at least I do). If you used a multispore syringe, there are no guarantees of high yield--it's a crapshoot. There are other factors as well--humidity (need to be 100% for cakes), temps (70s F), light (you need some light--I go 12/12, but there is no standard), and 3 or 4 fresh air exchanges a day. As you doubled-end cased the cakes, make sure those layers are moist, dunk them after every flush or so, and keep the other conditions constant--and you should see better results. In the future, learn how to clone (plenty of reading material in the Vaults), and you will have much more consistent results. Good luck with your grow.

[Faaip De Oaid]

there are about 50-60 holes around the chamber all around the size of a dime. my perlite layer is about 2 inches deep and still feels quite moist. i am no longer misting because it seems to cause abhorts, but i have been using a syringe to keep the casing moist, and i do not notice much condensation on the fc walls

[Faaip De Oaid]

[QUOTE=MLBjammer;733523]There are other factors as well--humidity (need to be 100% for cakes), temps (70s F), light (you need some light--I go 12/12, but there is no standard), and 3 or 4 fresh air exchanges a day.[QUOTE]

my temp and lighting are good, and ive been fanning quite a bit. how would i increase humidity?

[firerat]

50-60 dime sized holes seems a little excessive.

If I had to guess, I bet you are losing too much moisture due to the big ass holes.

Try covering a few of them with micropore tape and see if it helps. I had a similar problem once and that helped a lot.

Also mist the walls of your FC when you fan. If you're worried about aborts, just don't get water on any pins.

Worked for me.

YMMV

[TastyBeverage]

Originally Posted by Faaip De Oaid

there are about 50-60 holes around the chamber all around the size of a dime. my perlite layer is about 2 inches deep and still feels quite moist. i am no longer misting because it seems to cause abhorts, but i have been using a syringe to keep the casing moist, and i do not notice much condensation on the fc walls

I agree with Firerat, too many holes. You are losing moisture big time. You should tape over at least half of those with duct tape and try the micropore tape on the rest or stuff with a little loose plug of polyfil. You should also be misting the sides of the chamber to keep the humidity high, and you can use a straw or syringe like you've been doing to dribble water onto the verm that you cased with, just don't get any directly on the pins.