Watering experiment, input needed.

[benknoll]

yo
I made a rye grass seed casing with verm. (I've been doing these for a while...its time to move on). its a texan casing, and holy crap, it started pinning almost right after I picked flush one. tex recovers like a porn star. but anyway, last flush I took 10 cc's of water and just squirted between pins but not on them, soaking the verm. is this effective? its not totally arid, as in: in need of a dunk, because the last flush was small, but I want these pins to make it becasue its a decent set.
thanks

[roc]

I have done the same with much success... I just inject a couple of syringes of water.

[nomoreusmc]

I've done the same

[highflyer]

Im one that disbelieves the conventional wisdom that misting pins will kill them. You should be able to lightly mist a casing with pins with no ill effects. Its even possible to dunk casings with pins as long as you dont plan on recasing. Just fill the tray they are in with water from the edge of the tray. Let em sit overnight...

Your method however is definately the safest way. Only use the above methods on a trial basis until you are comfortable in your procedures.

[~Hippie3]

Its even possible to dunk casings with pins as long as you dont plan on recasing.

very true, i've done that many times.
cakes, too.
my observations are that most of the time
one can mist pins.
but i do back off when the pins are very small,
less than 1/2 inch or so
then once they hit the 1/2" mark
i resume misting

It's very strange but true that you can dunk a casing with small pins and they thrive, but if you mist those same pins they abort. My small pins abort after misting even in a greenhouse with massive air exchange. Of course it should go without saying if you're misting fruitbodies, get the bleach out of your mister.

Misting has always worked for me as well unless, like the above advisors suggest, the pins are really small. I have had good success with both dunking and misting straw logs that have decent pin sets. Good luck, bra!

[~Hippie3]

i suspect that the real killer of tiny pins
is not the water per se,
but the forceful impact of the droplets
on the fragile mycellia connecting the pin
to the substrate,
which would also explain
why a dunk,
being full immersion
so the natural bouyance of the pin
helps support it,
does little or no harm.

[destroy_erase_improve]

ive used a lil spray bottle thing. it has a lil thin straw like nozzle that allows me to squirt a very fine line of water wherever i want it, its treated me good so far. i think youll be fine, and your method should be effective

[highflyer]

Originally Posted by Hippie3

i suspect that the real killer of tiny pins
is not the water per se,
but the forceful impact of the droplets
on the fragile mycellia connecting the pin
to the substrate,
which would also explain
why a dunk,
being full immersion
so the natural bouyance of the pin
helps support it,
does little or no harm.

This is exactly my belief as well. I misted things with pins for quite a while with no ill effects. The trick is to got a very fine spray, and dont hold the bottle close to the tray. If you keep it gentle they will be fine.

[benknoll]

very cool, thanks

[bassplar99]

Hey everyone,

Well, I recently had an idea to turn into an experiment in here for casing watering. This is very similar to the reservoir idea for the pf tek. I have been going to the local flower shops and greenhouses with spring coming and have been seeing a lot of watering spike systems for watering plants while out of town. Some are gel and some are ceramic with a wicking system. I have included pics of both systems and plan on potentially preparing a comparison between the two. The control would be a regular casing. The experimental trays would be trays with one gel spike and one ceramic spike. Any input or ideas to help this be a better trial woudl be appreciated. Or if it is a bad idea or has already been done please let me know that too. Thanks.

[CamboMan]

man i've never even thought of that before. seems like a good idea to me. keep us updated!

[bassplar99]

Will do. I already noticed one thing I typed wrong. For this to be a valid experiment I will have multiple specimens of the control and test.

[the_chosen_one]

Hhhmmm. Interesting. Can't wait to see more!

[BuckarooBanzai]

Can't comment directly on using the spikes, but FOAF has had nice results mixing the gel crystals with substrate/casings. A spike like this might give folks who are paranoid about toxin uptake from "straight" crystals the ability to use them.

Sounds like an experiment is in order...

[Foster]

Hello ya'll, I got a ? I know its probly answered somewhere in her,... but I cant find it.----- Is ther any benefits/downsides to watering outdoors with casting/poo/compost/guano teas? liitle help from some of u experts would be appreciated greatly.

[golly]

For the purpose of rejuvinating an aging patch...? i have not seen any reports on that but it sounds logical that some benefit could be gained...
Don't think it would have much effect on a newly spawned grow though..

[~Hippie3]

i wouldn't, the manure tea would surely draw flies and maggots
as that's their preferred breeding habitat

[Foster]

I was thinkin maybe it would speed up colonization of substrtate as the various particles attach themselves throughout the caasing and substr8. at least hoping ,..as the fine sifted castings seem to be a little to compacted and growth is realllllyy ssslllooowww. but, its still alive so its workin better than my attempt at innocing my whole truckload pile of castings the worm guy gave me. oh yeah one more question for ya. ya ever tried magic worm food? does it help? will worms eat my myc and grain? ther r a few in the spot i setup( no they were not in my castings)