using coir

[masterplain88]

so i got my order of coir and i am excited to try it out. i have some brf cakes that will be 100% soon and i was thinking of spawning them to coir.
so if i decide to go this route what would be a good 1pt brf cake to coir ratio. also i was thinking of maybe adding some other stuff like worm castings and verm in with it. anyways iv been seeing these coir threads
and know i am about to use some my self and want to get the best out of it. some tips from people that have used coir in this type of fashion would be exelant.
thanks,
masterplain88

[kcmoxtractor]

I haven't used coir, but I have used earthworm castings. I really liked their texture, if the moisture content is right they are quite fluffy. Verm is never a bad idea.

[rags724]

a good general spawn ratio for any substrate would be one part spawn five parts substrate.(coir in this case) I try to do about one to four, but that's a little excessive. So if you are useing one pint of spawn you should use about five or six pints of coir. Some people don't even use this high of a spawn ratio and still have success. But, a twenty percent ratio is the safe way to fly. Remember the more spawn the quicker it colonizes. On a side note, I have had good success with useing straight coir. Mixing with vermiculite does help to maintain a good moisture content. Check the rez effect section of the vaults to get more info on coir/verm projects.

[weiliicoyote]

man you are gonna love coir, its the shit. You didnt mention what size or type of container your using so im not sure on your ratio, but I use this recipe for my 72qt monotubs

1 brick of coir, hydrated
3 quarts composted cow poop
5 quarts of fully colonized grain spawn
couple handfulls of verm

Ive only had one coir project contam and that was after 5 flushes

[kcmoxtractor]

I used a really high spawn ratio (1.5qt spawn to 2.5qt straw/castings) and my bulk was colonized in 4 days. Still yielded a good bit from 1.5 qt of spawn.

[PsyBearknot]

most around here will say a 1:3 or 1:1 ratio

so for a single 1/2 pint you would use 3 cups for 1:3 or 1 cup coir for 1:1


PBK

[TVCasualty]

Originally Posted by kcmoxtractor

I haven't used coir, but I have used earthworm castings.

Those are two great tastes that taste great together!

Some people love coir, some love castings, but everybody loves what happens when you mix them together. I was very impressed with the results, and yielded more mushrooms for less effort than any other method I've tried.

[masterplain88]

yea this will be my first time using it. i have only have one 1pt jar of amazon. i was debating should i fruit it like a cake or should i go ahead and add some coir to it to gain a lil yeild. only thing is when i started with palenque,amozon,B+,bpk in put the whole%

[masterplain88]

what would be a good ratio for the coir/warmcastings/verm if that were to be used as a substrate. im thinkin like 50/50 all the way down.
masterplain88

[P4ulada]

coir rocks for cubies ^^
good luck

[apokalypse]

Originally Posted by masterplain88

what would be a good ratio for the coir/warmcastings/verm if that were to be used as a substrate. im thinkin like 50/50 all the way down.
masterplain88

40/40/20 coir/worm/verm would work.

Recently made up some trays of 50/50 coir/verm. I put 3 fistfuls of field-wet coir/verm down on the bottom of the trays, 3 pints of colonized popcorn, and topped it off with as much coir/verm mixture that I could (usually another 4-5 handfuls). I'd guess that each handful was ~1 pint jars worth of popcorn in size, so that's about 2.5:1 sub:colonized popcorn.

[TVCasualty]

Originally Posted by masterplain88

what would be a good ratio for the coir/warmcastings/verm if that were to be used as a substrate. im thinkin like 50/50 all the way down.
masterplain88

For Coir/castings/verm you can use 1:1:1, or 2:2:1, 2:1:1, or most any ratio you like. I'd avoid using more verm than coir, or more castings than coir however. I've been slowly reducing the amount of vermiculite I add to coir/casting subs to see if it's really required at all. I got a bit stalled in those experiments but I hope to resume them at some point.

I try to minimize my use of vermiculite since it takes up space that could be used for fungus food instead and I can always add water with dunks or injection or heavy misting if needed, but at this point I'd still recommend including it. The 1:1:1 (by volume) mix produces excellent results.

[masterplain88]

how many flushes do you normaly get from coir just by its self or useing coir verm and straw.
thaknks
masterplain88

[TVCasualty]

Originally Posted by masterplain88

how many flushes do you normaly get from coir just by its self or useing coir verm and straw.
thaknks
masterplain88

Well, for indoor grows I toss the subs outside after the second flush. My goal is maxing the yield for a given space rather than squeezing as many mushrooms as I can out of a substrate. Since almost three-quarters of the total yield comes in the first two flushes (approximately), you will ultimately get a lot more mushrooms out of a given space if you stick to a fast turnover schedule. The other benefit is minimizing contamination outbreaks, which makes keeping things clean a lot easier.

I normally get three or four more flushes off a sub after putting it outside (except when it's too cold, of course), so my usual range is between 4 and 6 flushes total. If using straight coir, it will contain less food for the mushrooms so you might still get 6 flushes but the later ones may only have a couple of individual mushrooms come up.