Huautla cakes and monotub

[Defiance]

Hey everyone, here are some pictures from a huautla grow that my friend sent me. I don't see many people growing this strain out there so I decided to share it with everyone. There are 24 cakes and an 18 gallon monotub. Everything was inoculated with a multispore LC. The substrate in the tub is 3.5 gallons of coir/verm/castings in a 2:2:1 ratio. It was spawned on the 15th with 1.5 gallons of crumbled PF cakes. The cakes in the terrarium are on their first flush, probably with harvest tomorrow.

[mycobri]

nice one
never really see this strain either

thanks for sharing

mycobri tooks the words right out of my mouth. looks good! interested in
seeing how that monotub works out for ya.

-DM-

[Defiance]

My friend e-mailed me today:

The monotub has since fully colonized. It was set back a week because of humidity issues. I was using a press'n seal cover with a fan pointed indirectly at it to promote FAE while I was out of town. I ended up using the original lid to much better success.

I cased it a week ago with 3/4" of pasteurized vermiculite. Yesterday the surface began to pin:



The side started pinning a bit earlier :



These fruits are between 4" and 6" long and put the mushrooms I got off of the cakes to shame. The caps on the large ones are much darker than the others, although the pins on both grows have been uniformly long and thin.

[CoyoteMesc]

[SharkieJones]

Cool but why are the pics so small? Need a better view.

[Defiance]

The tub had its' first flush right before I left town.



There was a lot of invitro growth between the substrate block and the walls of the monotub.



Still, I pulled a few big guys off and ended up with a few ounces of mushrooms.

[Defiance]

After picking the first flush I misted the substrate brick and flipped it. I recased with a thin layer of verm and set the tub in a warm closet for four days before the second flush started pinning, again the sides started first.



Still, the surface is knotting up pretty well and I think I'll get a much more even pinset on the second flush.

[Hippie3]

[Hippie3]

Originally Posted by SharkieJones

Cool but why are the pics so small? Need a better view.

click on the thumbnails, not the inline
to see the full sized version

[dial8]

Side pinning in some circumstances can indicate a problem with moisture. If a sub is going to dry out the exposed surface will dry the quickest leaving the sides wetter. You might want to check this and decide if that is what is happening here or not.

[Defiance]

Thanks Dial8, it certainly was the case on the first flush. I had some humidity problems caused by a fan near the tub. I flipped the block and lined the tub with brown paper so cross your fingers that the side-pinning will diminish.

[Defiance]

Here's flush number two so far. I'm going to shoot for a few prints from some of the big guys and a clone from the cluster base.

[CoyoteMesc]

looks really good Def, what happen to your tyvek over the holes?

[Defiance]

Thanks CM

There's postal grade tyvek taped with the print facing in, is that what you mean?

[mycobri]

Nice clusters
enjoy

[Defiance]

I finally retired this monster to the Great Outdoors today after 3 rather small flushes for a tub that size. I was going back over things and the initial problems I had with the Press 'N Seal lid really set things back I think.

Since this was my first try with it I'm wondering how you guys do your air exchanges with Press N' Seal lids. Do you take them off every day and fan manually or just let them sit and exchange passively?

[fedshtkpndrk]

I have a mini-tub with a bunch of small holes in the lid. I recently grew Texas in it uncased and picked a little under an ounce dry in one flush, The Sub was poo/verm spawned from waylit cakes. My point is I never fanned but I did have a oscillating fan blowing on it. There was mad surface pinning as well, meaning good RH in the atmosphere and monter sized shrooms. Sometimes the best solution is the simplest, ime.

[MyAntiDrug]

Is the Huautla strain relatively easy to grow? I've never tried before (actually, I've never shroomed before), but I'm collecting supplies and putting together the equipment for my first grow and subsequent first trip. I plan on using the brown rice flour / vermiculite cakes method.

Research indicates the Huautla strain can deliver strong hallucinations and 'spiritual encounters'. Any advice from anybody would be very helpful!

[Defiance]

I had pretty middling luck with it, but honestly I didn't put the time into this particular grow that I should have. Don't take my tub as an indication of the strain, I let it dry while out of town.

The cakes yielded fairly average for a multispore grow, there were no contams and colonization was relatively quick. I've had great luck getting prints from mature fruits with hardly any effort - all my prints were dark and the spores fell readily. They pinned quickly and I had few aborts. You could do a lot worse than starting with Huautlas - at the very least they were forgiving of my neglect.

Strong hallucinations and spiritual encounters indeed! I don't think you'll be disappointed, friend.

Edit: And welcome! You should start an introductory thread, and let all the growers say hi

[koldjgdaro]

Originally Posted by MyAntiDrug

Is the Huautla strain relatively easy to grow? I've never tried before (actually, I've never shroomed before), but I'm collecting supplies and putting together the equipment for my first grow and subsequent first trip. I plan on using the brown rice flour / vermiculite cakes method.

Research indicates the Huautla strain can deliver strong hallucinations and 'spiritual encounters'. Any advice from anybody would be very helpful!

That's something about all psychedelics. Set and setting may be even more important than the drug! IMO - a cube is a cube! I barely felt any difference between sclerotia of Ps. Mexicana, Ps. Semilanceata and a few strains of cubensis. Maybe the differences are only subjective. Anyway - you're gonna trip your balls!

Pretty good grow Defiance, what was your casing and how deep was it in the monotub? I love the cluser with the lighter next to it .

[Defiance]

Eh... it's been awhile but I think I was using straight verm around then. Probably a touch of calcium carbonate. I'd case between 1/2" and 3/4" with a sub as thick as this was, easily 5+ inches.

And let this be a lesson to me, I'm not a big fan of posting my grows and nobody likes posting failures but I'm glad it came in handy for someone at least.

[koldjgdaro]

Jesus Christ! It's an old grow!

So how are you doing now and have you learned anything since then? I mean - any innovations? You got some nice fruits up there, but only on the edges of the tub - that happens pretty often. I'd like to know how did you cope with that?

[Defiance]

I ditched the Press N'Seal lids and that helped a ton. They just never stuck well to my tubs. Also a little coir in my casing layers really helped to even out the pinset, even 30% makes a noticeable difference.

Mostly what I did was switch to straw logs though. My last few grows have been exclusively on straw and I've had much better results. I've actually just started another, so I may as well post it.

[koldjgdaro]

Do it!
Nice to know you've learned something - that helps us all actually!