B+ bulk in a box (mondo low tech)

[BuckarooBanzai]

Bulk substrates are damned fun to play with!!!

This is a transparent vertical file holding box (from Wal Mart - $5ish) with the bottom 5-6 inches light shielded with aluminum foil and duct tape. Inside is 8 cups of popcorn spawned to 12 cups of bulk substrate. Incubation was at room temperature in big cardboard box (in the dark).

After fully colonized, the tub was exposed to indirect sunlight and fanned twice per day (morning and evening). NO direct sunlight!


1 tub a waiting.jpg




This is the tub, 12 days later…

2 big tub pins outside.jpg 3 big pins tub inside.jpg


Four days later (almost ready to print):

4 pre harvest.jpg


And here it is stupid high res and just pretty as hell (remember, each of those has a stem 4-6 inches long):




The only down side is that all those monsters were deeply rooted in the substrate. As a result, the mycelial mat was badly damaged during harvest. A second flush would be cool, but it isn’t really expected….

The up side is that harvest was well in excess of a pound (wet), so a second flush would just be gravy anyway!

[roc]

Thats some nice lookin shit there... Congrats!

[llamabox]

Those are the reasons I love mono tub growing. Super easy, and 1/4lb dry first flushes.

[safTman]

Nice as always!!!

[reverend trips]

Buck those are awesome!

[srgtm1a]

Nice clean grow buck.

[waylitjim]

I love seeing a fully colonized substrate with no casing layer. It just glistens like the first snow fall of Winter. Add to that some beautiful cubensis, what more could you ask for!!!
Thanks for sharing BB, lovely as always.

[grove_shroomer]

loving the pics 1 lb super nice

[Hippie3]

what kind of 'bulk substrate' ?

[Freaky]

Buckaroo,

That is a great flush of B+! I love the pictures. Great job! Brings back some fond memories of that strain for me

[BuckarooBanzai]

Bulk substrate mix was 40/40/20 coir/castings/poly. Hydrated with EarthJuice, to make things more complicated.

Thanks, all, for the kind words. It means a lot. It really does!!!

[moorglade]

Wow thats an amzing flush....whats your secret? i kno u got one

[BuckarooBanzai]

I'll give you my secret: RTFM. None of this is very difficult.

Everything I know about mycology and home cultivation I have learned here at Mycotopia by doing research and asking questions. Not so long ago, I had never even heard of a PF cake.

Other than that, it's pretty simple: spores, worm poo, coir, poly, popcorn and a little water.

[Im A Fungi]

Amen to that brother.. I owe all of my success to Mycotopia!!!! Thanks guys!

[jrogers311]

Real nice buckaroo

[waylitjim]

Originally Posted by BuckarooBanzai

Everything I know about mycology and home cultivation I have learned here at Mycotopia by doing research and asking questions. Not so long ago, I had never even heard of a PF cake.

A modest guy, a real quick learner, and talented cultivator!

[dial8]

Damn fine job, bb! I love it when there is a full canopy like that.:

See, you don't have to have a casing layer to get a great flush.

[akoutdoors]

What is this "polly" that makes up the other 20% of your mix?
I have 25 big jars of birdseed and pcorn ready to go with the coir/castings is the polly something I need.
Thx and amazing flush pix

[SharkieJones]

Dude that was awesome. If I was a sprite I would want to live in that box.

[BuckarooBanzai]

Wow, thanks for the props, guys! I would LIKE to say that I did this for entirely altruistic reasons and that impressing my "elders" never crossed my mind.

Of course, I can't say that, 'cause it would be a bald faced lie!

To all those who have come before me and left notes, THANK YOU.

To those who taught me directly as a peer and continue to haunt the scene, THANK YOU.

To you who host us and insist that we behave (that's you, Hip), THANK YOU.

To those who may come after me, even once I've long gone, I leave as much of this knowledge as I can in the simplest terms I can find: The Banzai Institute (see the signature).

If you figure it out too, be sure to leave some notes for your descendants and remember to give thanks for the gift of this knowledge. It is far more powerful than any of us can imagine.

Esoteric posturing ends...here.


The "poly" in question is polyacrylamide gel. You can substitute field capacity vermiculite (about 5%-10% less). Poly has upsides and downsides. It is discussed a bit in this thread:
http://forums.mycotopia.net/showthre...polyacrylamide (Hillbilly clone bulk - growlog -Polyacrylamide gel/water crystals)

Other threads in my sig discuss it; my FOAF considers it a requisite additive to substrate. Others consider it to be a very, very hazardous poison (and they may be right). Inform yourself before using it. There are alternatives.

[akoutdoors]

does the polly have any benifits over verm?
Other than the "cancer" crap......
PPLe allways used to bitch about the leftover "crap" in BHO'd hash oil but when you ask em how much butane they suck down hitting the bong/pipe/cigs they get all quiet.

[eu_por_exemplo]

very well man!

Congrts

[BuckarooBanzai]

Poly holds a LOT more water than an equal volume of Vermiculite without getting "wet." Poly releases the water back into the substrate very slowly, as needed, without over wetting. Also, if you only hydrate the poly to about 75%, you can mist heavily later with no fear of drowning the substrate.

My FOAF just thinks poly makes a much better water reservoir for a substrate than Verm.

[BuckarooBanzai]

FOAF reports the second flush has just been harvested (sorry, no pics) and the first flush weighed in at 109 grams dry. Not quite a QP, llamabox, but pretty damned close!

Manual fanning works just fine!

[dial8]

Hey, bb, where do you get your poly? I know you don't rip up diapers....

[Hippie3]

why not use coir instead of vermiculite ?
as a substitute for polymer, i mean....

[BuckarooBanzai]

My FOAF gets his from: http://stores.ebay.com/Water-Crystals-Ranch

[BuckarooBanzai]

The second flush went a little long and turned the top of the substrate "spore print purple," so it was flipped over and 10 days later it spat out this:



Later flushes can make for some real monsters! Check this cluster (this dude has big hands, by the way):



The caps in this flush were really beautiful and totally photogenic. Here is the prettiest one in two different lighting schemes to accentuate it's different features:




And finally, three beautiful caps. Same strain, same substrate, same flush (even the same cluster)...variety is the spice of life!!!




You can do some VERY cool things with a hand fanned plastic box and a little worm poo!!!

[BuckarooBanzai]

Originally Posted by Hippie3

why not use coir instead of vermiculite ?
as a substitute for polymer, i mean....

Verm holds a lot more water than coir. I figure the poly's primary value is as a moisture reservoir (and regulator).

[Hippie3]

but it doesn't taste as good

[BuckarooBanzai]

God no. I HATE verm, 'cause of the grit in the mouth. Taste doesn't bother me (much) but chewing on bits of sand...BLECH!!!

Thats the primary reason I'm willing to risk cancer with poly. Ya gotta have something good for a rez...

<--jealous.

[safTman]

sorta look like a nipple.

Very nice pics BB

[BuckarooBanzai]

I like the glow around it from the underlighting. My friend was kiinda trying to make it look like it was flying/floating...

[bugs]

Originally Posted by BuckarooBanzai

Other threads in my sig discuss it; my FOAF considers it a requisite additive to substrate. Others consider it to be a very, very hazardous poison (and they may be right). Inform yourself before using it. There are alternatives.

Here;s what Terawet Studies says about toxicity. Yes, they manufacture the stuff, but the data seem reassuring.


TOXICITY DATA::
The following studies were performed to include most reasonable exposure conditions:
Oral toxicity: The substance is regarded as essentially non toxic after oral intake
Approximate Acute Dermal Toxicity: No toxic symptoms were observed.
Subacute Dermal Toxicity/Irritation: No systemic effects were observed. The test substance , in its gelled state shows good skin compatibility
Acute Eye Irritation: No irritations or systemic symptoms were observed due to the application of the substance into the conjunctive sac and adjacent mucous membranes.
Chorion Allantois Membrane (CAM) Testing: Applications of Terawet polymer as a gel in .9% saline solution had no effects on the (CAM) and no chemical effects.
Cell Toxicity: No negative effects on growth behavior and no biocidal effects were observed,; cell toxicity is therefore regarded as very unlikely.
Skin Sensitization: The Terawet® polymer was tested with respect to its sensitizing skin contact according to the maximization test of Magnuson & Kligman. No erthermas or edermas were observed, therefore it is unlikely for Terawet® crystals to produce any skin sensitization.
Mutagenicity: There were no indications of a mutagenic potential to bacteria of the extract of Terawet’s polymer up to the equivalent of 5000 microorganisms/plate.

[BuckarooBanzai]

Thanks for that info. Any chance you still have a link to the page you copied that from? I haven't seen that particular study before and would like to read the full text.

Regardless, I strongly encourage others to do research and make their own decisions about using polyacrylamide.

Some very smart folks consider poly to be a dangerous additive. I think it is safe, but using it (or not) is a decision that each cultivator must make for him/her self.

[bugs]

http://www.terawet.com/health_and_safety.htm

The site's kind of interesting. All kinds of similar products.

If you do a search on water crystals you'll find quite a few sites.

BB, that's a gorgeous box o' fungus. And so simple. I'm definitely getting some poly soon and giving it a try. Tnx

By the way, sorry for the delay in answering. The holidays get nuts sometimes!