make my monster grow!

[stoney]

here is my second grow. This is a first attempt at casing.

I nocced up 6 quart jars of WBS with B+ spores I got from the good spore. Then I threw them into an incubator for 13 days


this is the Tub in tub incubater, I had it covered with a couple towels
to keep out light, and keep heat in.



and here is the water heater that was used


After 3 days I saw the first signs of growth, I shook them at day 5 and day 9, they were done on day 13.



Then I mixed all 6 quart jars of substrate with 5 jars field capacity hydrated vermiculite for rez effect and let sit for 1 day. The substrate and verm layer is 4" deep.

Next I pressure cooked a 50/50 verm/coir casing for 30 mins at 15 psi, let it cool completely then cased the substrate with about 3/4" to 1" casing (oops now I know 5/8" is better). I let this incubate at 82 degrees for 7 days, unfortunately I only saw a couple very little spots with mycelium poking out, I patched them right away. I was slow to mist this in the begining, but now I am misting every day, the coir seems to dry out quick. I have been using this post http://forums.mycotopia.net/mushroom...-strategy.html (Casing Pinning Strategy) as a reference to what the casing should look like when ideally hydrated.

I just put my FC tub on top and hopefully all goes well. This is a picture of what the casing currently looks like (day 8). I can see a few spots where the mycelium is about to break through, I'm not sure if you can see from this pic




right now I have 10 hours of light going a day, I have the timer set up to turn on at about 2 AM and turn off at 12pm. The hepa filter is also on a timer, it is set to turn on for 15 mins every 3 hours, I hope this helps with nice clean FAE.

here is some pics of the setup, I just nocced up 6 new jars tonight, this time I left the sunflower seeds in.



side of the setup: incubation chamber and dub tub, I am using 2 -15 quart sterilite tubs with a 3/4" hole filled with polyfil on front and back of each tub.




and here is a view from the top



hepa filter set to run 15 mins every 3 hours



and my new jars, freshly nocced up 15 mins ago



oops I forgot to take a pic of my glovebox, I will have to do that another time. It is just a bigass rubbermaid with holes in the lid and air duct tube(for lack of better name, it is the stuff that you hook up to the back of your clothes dryer). Gloves are attached to the tube, it works great so far.

That is all I got for right now, I hope all goes well. This is a great hobby. If my yields look a fraction as good as most of yours I will be grinning from ear to ear. BIG thanks to the good spore for the awesome deal on spores 5 for 25 bux is great! and it took less than a week to reach me.

Here are some links to posts that I found exceptionally helpfull. There is alot more, this site is a gold mine of information, thank you all for the help, and thank you hippie for the superb site.

I will keep you all updated.

http://forums.mycotopia.net/grow-cha...ngle-tubs.html
http://forums.mycotopia.net/mushroom...substrate.html (BB Tek - A complete walk through; spores to LC to jars to bulk substrate)

http://forums.mycotopia.net/mushroom...-strategy.html (Casing Pinning Strategy)

http://forums.mycotopia.net/fungi-gr...me-dubtub.html (help me dubtub it.)
http://forums.mycotopia.net/grow-cha...ub-merged.html (vented rubbermaids aka 'monotub/double tub' [merged])

http://forums.mycotopia.net/rez-effe...-grow-log.html (Rez Effect Grow Log)

[Hippie3]

very nice
well-written too

good luck!

[kocos]

Good luck man

[camMyco]

Nice wirite-up Stoney, looking forward to seeing the fruits.

[winkst]

Nice pics everything looks very clean. Good luck

[prism1234]

Very nice I send good vibes

[oibchip]

Nice setup you have there!

[stoney]

Thankyou, I'm having fun writing this. These dub tub setups are great, I love how easy they are. I can use all the good vibes you can send! I haven't done a casing before so I keep second guessing myself. I know everything will happen in due time, but damn its hard to wait!

[stoney]

There is something wrong. I think I have been overwatering the casing. There has been very little growth in the past 5 days. I think I have been overwatering the casing layer. When I pinched a small piece of the casing about a half a drip of water came out.

I've been trying to find info on what to exactly look for on a 50/50 verm/coir casing as far as moisture content goes. Most of the information I find says that I will learn with experience, lol, I must say I am learning. I dont think it is contaminated yet because I dont smell or see anything funny. I am gonna try and dry it out a little.

I turned the tub so the polyfil holes are lined up with the hepa filter so it will blow directly on the holes. The hepa filter was also turned up to 30 mins every 3 hours, instead of 15mins every 3 hours. I also put the lid ajar for extra evaporation. Beyond this I dont know what to do, I hope all is not lost. Here are some pics , it is really hard to see the mycelium growing on this picture, but it is there (not very much though )


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[stoney]

looks like letting it dry for 24 hours did the trick. I wiped all the condensation off of the lid, left the lid ajar, and turned up the hepa filter up. The middle is still too wet, but the sides are great, and I think the middle will be better when the condensation builds back up.
I put the lid back on all the way, so it isnt ajar anymore. There is also new growth today. I can see fluffy mycelium poking its head up.

I hope all this doesn't delay fruiting too much; but I shook my jars today, so they wont be too long before they need to be cased.

[Dimitrius]

You might try putting a small oscillating fan in there on low, and not pointing directly at the dubtub. You could set on top of your HEPA machine. Nothing fancy, just small and oscillating; like 6-8" small.

You could also make more polyfil holes....for next time round. Maybe two on each end, top and bottom.

Lookin' good man!

[stoney]

The mycelium is looking really good, it is really popping up in a lot of places. I noticed after I let the casing layer dry out the edges of the substrate and casing are shrinking away from the wall of the tub. Should I put some coir/verm in the gap? I can see the substrate on the bottom and I am hoping mushrooms wont pop down there where it is hard to get them out.

I am going to read up on some microwave sterilization teks, because I don't really want to pc the casing material right now.

[PsychoDrogue]

i personally wait until after the first flush before i start adding anything in that gap. see if a dunk fixes it first. dont know if it hurts or helps either way though.

[stoney]

Ok PsychoDrogue I will not do anything, thankyou for the advice. Here are some pics of the gap, and the whole casing. I took 2 pics of the overall casing, one has the flash, and one doesnt. The flash can be deceiving since the vermiculite is shiny.

[PsychoDrogue]

yeah. it doesn't look any worse than mine come out on a regular basis. as long as its not drying out down there.

[Lazlo]

It's drying out or it wouldn't be separating from the sides of the tray. With vermiculite it's hard to tell whether it's drying up or not. That's why it's good to use coir or peatmoss mixed in with it. You can see whether or not these products start to dry out easily.

With vermiculite I could tell whether or not it was drying out with my spray bottle. If you mist the casing around 6"s above it and vermiculite moves around on the surface, it's drying out. Personally i'd mist the casing rather well until it's nearly saturated. Then keep the CO2 high in the tub to speed up casing colonization and then follow this from the point you're at. Good luck.

http://forums.mycotopia.net/mushroom...technique.html (A simple casing technique.)

[stoney]

I think the sides are pulling away because I had overwatered it originally, then I let it dry out to a good moisture content. I've had it in the fc for 10 days I should be seeing pins any day now.

Lazlo you are right I am sure, I am just too anxious on this grow to wait another 1-2 weeks on top of what I've waited already. After this grow there will be a pretty constant supply of substrate so I will be able to take your advice on later grows when I am not dying of anticipation.

[eatyualive]

Originally Posted by Lazlo

It's drying out or it wouldn't be separating from the sides of the tray. With vermiculite it's hard to tell whether it's drying up or not. That's why it's good to use coir or peatmoss mixed in with it. You can see whether or not these products start to dry out easily.

With vermiculite I could tell whether or not it was drying out with my spray bottle. If you mist the casing around 6"s above it and vermiculite moves around on the surface, it's drying out. Personally i'd mist the casing rather well until it's nearly saturated. Then keep the CO2 high in the tub to speed up casing colonization and then follow this from the point you're at. Good luck.

http://forums.mycotopia.net/mushroom...technique.html (A simple casing technique.)

yeah i agree. your bulk sub is either too dry or the moisture level is low. you don't generally see this unless the sub is drying out. generally after a flush this happens. your coir looks a bit dry it should be a dark chocolate color as opposed to a reddish brown lighter color.

it may just be the picture or the vermiculite content that is throwing me off.

[stoney]

that picture made it look alot worse than it is, that picture looks like a desert. It is like you said, the dark chocolate color. I take a pinch of the substrate once a day and I get a little moisture pop up between my fingers.

[stoney]

is it ok if i inject water into the substrate layer?

[Lazlo]

Can you see any mushroom mycelia popping up through the casing?

Keep the CO2 high in the tub, or it will take the casing an eternity to colonize and it looses water as well. No fans or whatever running near that dub tub right now.

[stoney]

I am kinda confused because in this post http://forums.mycotopia.net/fungi-gr...-question.html (casing incubation question)
I was told to put it in the FC even tho only a littly mycelium showed.

[Lazlo]

First off, quit messing with it and take the advice I gave you. You're being impatient and that's going to get the best of you and your project. This stuff takes time man, be patient.

"There has been very little growth in the past 5 days."

That's not nearly enough time to start panic mode Vermiculite takes almost twice as long to colonize as does peat or coir based casing's. I told you need to saturate the casing nearly, keep the CO2 levels high until mushroom mycelia starts to pop up through to the casing's surface, patch accordingly until mushroom mycelia is evenly spread across the casing's surface, water the casing until it's at field capacity (maximum water holding capacity) and then introduce the project to FAE's using your fans or whatever with that dubtub rig.

Did you not read the link I posted at all? It's about as explanatory as it gets imo.

[Lazlo]

By the way; keeping the CO2 levels high means not to mess with project much. Take a look at it once a day after you start to see mycelia crawling up through the casing's surface for patching purposes. Just leave it alone for a few days. I'll bet you a 100 bucks if you leave it alone for 5 straight days without opening the project or having any draft going in the room that mycelia will start to show up on the casing's surface by then.


Be patient.

[Lazlo]

Something else; get saturated vermiculite in those gaps as well.

Incubate that project for 5 days after that iand 'd be willing to bet you'll start to see mycelia on the casing's surface or close. Just follow that link I gave you. Don't sell yourself short on this project. You can learn a ton by this experience, or loose a ton by being impatient.

[stoney]

Lazlo I thank you for the expertise. I know the best thing would be to do what you are saying, but things arent looking too bad over here. I have been seeing alot more mycelia, and the casing layer really does seem wet enough. I did take your advice and fill in the holes with field capacity vermiculite. I saw my first pin yesterday, today I am seeing alot of very very small pins popping up ( around 20), they are too small to take a picture of, I will wait a day or two.