B+ invitro (mostly) with bulk substrate

[BuckarooBanzai]

Strain: B+
Inoculation: multispore liquid culture, 10mL
Grain: 90/10 popcorn/polyacrylamide, hydrated with EarthJuice
Bulk substrate: 40/40/20 (castings/coir/polyacrylamide), hydrated with EarthJuice
Casing: 80/20 (coir/polyacrylamide), hydrated with EarthJuice
Jar: half gallon, wide mouth mason
Lid: double tyvek vents with silicone injection ports
Incubation: 84F for 14 days
Fruiting: see below

The question here was simple: could grain/bulk substrate be prepared in the same container? The answer: a most resounding yes! FOAF also wondered if a half gallon mason would make an acceptable terrarium. Another resounding yes, though he ended up opening the jar. If he hadn't done that, he was going to call this thread something like "the $2 terrarium!"

The technique for cooking substrate and grain in the same container couldn’t be simpler: layers. FOAF would like to share that this works really nicely with bags as well. Unfortunately, he managed to delete those pics, along with most of the "making of" pics for this log. Sometimes, stoners and technology just don’t mix!

The jar was prepared by placing 2.5 inches of bulk substrate in the bottom. 1.5 inches of fully hydrated popcorn was placed on top of this. The layers were NOT mixed. The jar was slightly less than half filled when complete. The jar was then pressure cooked for 90 minutes at 15 psi.

The jar was inoculated with 10mL of multispore liquid culture. The inoculant was dripped down the sides of the jar by touching the needle to the glass. About 4mL was also sprayed all over the top of the popcorn. The jar WAS NOT SHAKEN after being inoculated. FOAF deleted this picture. Sorry.

After the popcorn was fully colonized (8 days), the jar was beaten against a car tire to break up the mycelium and mix the corn/substrate. After mixing, the jar was set down/tapped firmly against the floor to lightly pack the substrate. The jar was then returned to the incubator until 100% colonized (6 days). FOAF also deleted this picture.

The fully colonized jar was opened and CO2 poured out in front of the flow hood. About ½ inch of casing was added, the lid was put back on and the jar was placed in the incubator until the casing was pretty well colonized. The CO2 was poured out and the jar (still closed) was placed in the fruiting environment (72F-76F with 12 hours light per day). Twice per day, the jar was opened a very small amount and CO2 poured out. Guess what happened to this picture…

Pouring became problematic around the time pins showed up as the case/cake had shrunk inside the jar and would slide when the jar was tipped. The jar was tipped carefully to just past horizontal from this point on. Two side pins that got beaten up pretty bad by the pouring process aborted.

When it became obvious that the jar was going to be completely filled with mushrooms, the lid was removed and some adjusting done with a chopstick so four of the caps could escape the jar and open fully. After the lid was removed, the jar was placed in a terrarium at 85%-90% RH.

This is the jar about 18 hours after the lid was removed:

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This is the finished jar, right before harvest:

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This is most of the harvest (the four big caps that escaped the jar are being printed):

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It ain't a purty harvest, but damn it's meaty. Beggars and choosers, don'cha know...

The jar was then filled with warm water and the cake was dunked for 2 hours. A second flush is hoped for...

Lessons learned: The jar should have been light shielded on the sides. The side pins were a huge pain to harvest. The jar should have only been about 1/3-1/4 filled. The corn/substrate fluffed a bit when they were mixed and more fruiting space in the jar would have been a good thing. The casing layer seems to have been pretty pointless (other than adding 3 days to the wait for fruit).

Neato!
Damn pretty fruit too!

[SharkieJones]

I thought it looked pretty. I like the little jar, nice job.

[Jaeger]

Well done!

Nice B+ Buckaroo!

I too like the little jar It's a shroom bouquet

[BuckarooBanzai]

Bouquet! LMFAO!!!!

That's almost exactly what my wife said!!! She suggested that it would make a nice center piece, amongst flowers, that guests "in the know" could pick from!!! I reminded her that I prefer not to have guests "in the know." We got a hearty laugh!!!

FOAF really likes the coloration of the B+. VERY different from the outdoor cubies he is used to. Hillbilly was his first strain and he would have sworn those came from a pasture two counties over! The B+ is different though, especially as young fruit. Really rich coloration.

[anticheffy]

wow.....the little jar that could !!!!

[Hippie3]

congrats
you have rediscovered the way we used to do it
20 years ago.

Originally Posted by Hippie3

congrats
you have rediscovered the way we used to do it
20 years ago.

Yeah, my first grow was B+ outta Quart jars
Not 20 years ago though.

[BuckarooBanzai]

Buckaroo is not an innovative man, but he does love to re-package other's ideas with slight tweaks!

[Hippie3]