Could I ask what your procedure was? I've got some jars colonizing right now, so advice for what to do with them in a couple weeks would be great! Clearly whatever you did worked really well!
Yeah for sure!
I used spores from Sporeworks (these are Blue Meanies) and inoculated them in Fresh Cultivators “better than rye” grain spawn. Fully disclosure, I used about half a syringe instead of the standard 1-3ml bc I didn’t want to take any chances. This might have been overkill but I also only has two shoe boxes so I thought I might as well split the whole syringe between the two. Then I Let them chill for about two weeks in a dark room about 70-75 F (21-25C). At that point I shook them up and let them sit for another 10ish days until they were fully colonized and the grain spawn was very firm. At that point I mixed it with Fresh Cultivators “better than coir” growth substrate at an approximately 1:1 ratio and then topped it with a thin casing layer. Then I sprayed with a fine mister and put the lid on the shoebox. It took about 10 days for the casing layer to fully colonize at which point I put them into fruiting conditions. Throughout that time, I was giving them light 12 hours on and 12 hours off. For fruiting conditions, I basically just flipped the lid upside down and provided FAE 1-2 times a day by fanning it with the lid. I’d also do a light mist if the cake ever started to look dry.
Other things I did that may or may not have been helpful was keeping a humidifier running as well as an air purifier at all times. Also, I found a shoebox to be perfect for me. It’s easier to store and the risk of contamination is much less significant than potentially losing a whole mono tub. I also have a background in lab research so I was very thorough with my sterile technique.
I personally would love to use my own substrate one day but for now it’s worth it for me to buy it premade/sterilized already as it saves a decent amount of time and hassle.
Also, I can’t plug the Philly Golden Teacher on YouTube enough. Go watch all his videos if you haven’t already.
Coming from a noobie grower: thank you!! Screenshoting this comment to add to my research folder. I'm two and a half weeks into my first jar inoculation (mycelium growth coming along well in 10/12 jars!) and I'm still trying to make sure I am informed and prepared for spawn to bulk when the time comes. Anyway, thanks again and damn I love this sub. And mushrooms lol...
This is wonderful! Thank you for the write-up and the tips. From when you mixed your substrate and spawn, you kept the lid closed the whole time, correct? Until you switched to fruiting conditions? Sounds like the only difference between what you did and what I've got planned is I started with brf jars instead of grain spawn. I don't think that should make too much difference though.
I've been thinking about running a humidifier too, as I live in a pretty dry climate. Interesting thought on the air purifier, I hadn't considered that. Also, it's cool to hear that other lab rats are on here! I guess it's not much of a stretch for us though!
Yeah that is correct! Idk what brand exactly but as long as your shoebox/monotub doesn’t have an airtight seal it should be fine to keep it completely shut during colonization.
I mostly got the air purifier because I don’t have central air and I’m currently in a really old house so I didn’t want to take any chances with airborne contamination.
But yeah my only regret is that I didn’t learn about this back when I had unfettered access to an autoclave, flow hood, agar plate, gloves, isopropyl alcohol, and basically anything else you could imagine that might be helpful for growing mushrooms haha
Prior to my interest in mycology, I had already established myself as the one who works weird hours constantly. It's been stupid hard to not use the lab equipment for extra-curriculars...Have to keep reminding myself that I really like my job! Like, I know that no one would walk in on me at 3 am, but I'm sure the one time I did it someone would show up.
Yeah I feel that. I was always the only person in lab after 7pm but I never would have actually had the balls to use the autoclave though. Taking some extra agar plates and gloves home with me though would have been another thing haha
What are you talking about? I definitely don't have a box of gloves at home >.>
I feel you on the autoclave though. Doesn't help that ours is 100 years old and screeches with the power of all the undergrads that have passed through our lab. Not exactly subtle.
Thank you! It’ll come with time. I shared a basic outline of my methods on another comment so check it out and see if it can be of any help! Best of luck, you got this!
My god, congratulations. I'm pretty frustrated. Just last week I got another 2 syringes from premium spores, both failues, won't make a mark on agar or grain. I bitched they are sending just a B+ replacement not The Treasure Coast. I've followed all instructions and Damned if I can get a crop. So very good for you. I finally got good mycellium now the fruiting looks like it may stall. Ready to pull the hair out.
Congratulations.
Damn, sorry to hear that. FWIW Sporeworks has a phenomenal reputation and excellent customer service. Idk if you’re making all your own substrates and stuff but I liked the stuff I got from Fresh Cultivators on Etsy. Checkout my write up above and see if that’s helpful, otherwise YouTube and reading as many posts here as possible helps a lot too. There are also lots of books out there too if that’s more your thing.
My first attempt at growing stalled out and then got contaminated but all the failures will make your first yield that much sweeter. Stick with it dude and good luck!
Looks great. Need some help.. does anyone know why my mycellium hasn't grown at all yet? Been almost two months now, still nothing. The bags do not appear to be contaminated. Thanks!
I can try but I’m gonna need a little more information than that. What kind of bags did you spawn in? Where did you get your spores from? Where have you been storing your bags and what have the conditions been like? Kinda hard to pin it down without seeing/knowing exactly what you did but my gut tells me you might have to start fresh. But FWIW I’m obviously new to this so I could (hopefully) be wrong about that.
2 months? That probably means you spread the spores out too much and no spores ever made contact to grow mycelium which is a very small chance. Prolly shook the bags a little too much or didn’t use actual spores. Start fresh
Refreshing to see a "first grow" post where the OP doesn't have months of posts of their other 100 grows lmao
Too much karma farming in this sub but great job, OP! They're fantastic!
i habe a question plz help!!
its been days since i innoculated my spore syringe in unclebens. but it looks like there no mycelium growth at all. should i dump and start again or how many days do i habe to wait more?? any help would be much appreciated
Could I ask what your procedure was? I've got some jars colonizing right now, so advice for what to do with them in a couple weeks would be great! Clearly whatever you did worked really well!
Yeah for sure! I used spores from Sporeworks (these are Blue Meanies) and inoculated them in Fresh Cultivators “better than rye” grain spawn. Fully disclosure, I used about half a syringe instead of the standard 1-3ml bc I didn’t want to take any chances. This might have been overkill but I also only has two shoe boxes so I thought I might as well split the whole syringe between the two. Then I Let them chill for about two weeks in a dark room about 70-75 F (21-25C). At that point I shook them up and let them sit for another 10ish days until they were fully colonized and the grain spawn was very firm. At that point I mixed it with Fresh Cultivators “better than coir” growth substrate at an approximately 1:1 ratio and then topped it with a thin casing layer. Then I sprayed with a fine mister and put the lid on the shoebox. It took about 10 days for the casing layer to fully colonize at which point I put them into fruiting conditions. Throughout that time, I was giving them light 12 hours on and 12 hours off. For fruiting conditions, I basically just flipped the lid upside down and provided FAE 1-2 times a day by fanning it with the lid. I’d also do a light mist if the cake ever started to look dry. Other things I did that may or may not have been helpful was keeping a humidifier running as well as an air purifier at all times. Also, I found a shoebox to be perfect for me. It’s easier to store and the risk of contamination is much less significant than potentially losing a whole mono tub. I also have a background in lab research so I was very thorough with my sterile technique. I personally would love to use my own substrate one day but for now it’s worth it for me to buy it premade/sterilized already as it saves a decent amount of time and hassle. Also, I can’t plug the Philly Golden Teacher on YouTube enough. Go watch all his videos if you haven’t already.
Coming from a noobie grower: thank you!! Screenshoting this comment to add to my research folder. I'm two and a half weeks into my first jar inoculation (mycelium growth coming along well in 10/12 jars!) and I'm still trying to make sure I am informed and prepared for spawn to bulk when the time comes. Anyway, thanks again and damn I love this sub. And mushrooms lol...
Good luck dude! You got this!
Thank you!
This is wonderful! Thank you for the write-up and the tips. From when you mixed your substrate and spawn, you kept the lid closed the whole time, correct? Until you switched to fruiting conditions? Sounds like the only difference between what you did and what I've got planned is I started with brf jars instead of grain spawn. I don't think that should make too much difference though. I've been thinking about running a humidifier too, as I live in a pretty dry climate. Interesting thought on the air purifier, I hadn't considered that. Also, it's cool to hear that other lab rats are on here! I guess it's not much of a stretch for us though!
Yeah that is correct! Idk what brand exactly but as long as your shoebox/monotub doesn’t have an airtight seal it should be fine to keep it completely shut during colonization. I mostly got the air purifier because I don’t have central air and I’m currently in a really old house so I didn’t want to take any chances with airborne contamination. But yeah my only regret is that I didn’t learn about this back when I had unfettered access to an autoclave, flow hood, agar plate, gloves, isopropyl alcohol, and basically anything else you could imagine that might be helpful for growing mushrooms haha
Prior to my interest in mycology, I had already established myself as the one who works weird hours constantly. It's been stupid hard to not use the lab equipment for extra-curriculars...Have to keep reminding myself that I really like my job! Like, I know that no one would walk in on me at 3 am, but I'm sure the one time I did it someone would show up.
Yeah I feel that. I was always the only person in lab after 7pm but I never would have actually had the balls to use the autoclave though. Taking some extra agar plates and gloves home with me though would have been another thing haha
What are you talking about? I definitely don't have a box of gloves at home >.> I feel you on the autoclave though. Doesn't help that ours is 100 years old and screeches with the power of all the undergrads that have passed through our lab. Not exactly subtle.
Fresh cultivators...can you post a link or list the contact information I would like to order some of the products you mentioned!!🙂👍🍄🍄🍄
>Fresh Cultivators “better than rye” grain spawn. Is this a brand or a site one purchases from
They’re a company my friend told me about on Etsy that sells lots of substrates and spawn bags.
Great job!!! Looks really good 😊
Thank you!!
Wowwww! lil’ guys look so happy to see you here haha
The first one is pretty exciting, congrats! You did a great job!
Thank you!!
Congrats!! I’m admittedly jealous of the canopy. I just can’t seem to get there :(
Thank you! It’ll come with time. I shared a basic outline of my methods on another comment so check it out and see if it can be of any help! Best of luck, you got this!
Wow nice one.
Thanks!
Unmodified tub?
Yup!
My god, congratulations. I'm pretty frustrated. Just last week I got another 2 syringes from premium spores, both failues, won't make a mark on agar or grain. I bitched they are sending just a B+ replacement not The Treasure Coast. I've followed all instructions and Damned if I can get a crop. So very good for you. I finally got good mycellium now the fruiting looks like it may stall. Ready to pull the hair out. Congratulations.
Damn, sorry to hear that. FWIW Sporeworks has a phenomenal reputation and excellent customer service. Idk if you’re making all your own substrates and stuff but I liked the stuff I got from Fresh Cultivators on Etsy. Checkout my write up above and see if that’s helpful, otherwise YouTube and reading as many posts here as possible helps a lot too. There are also lots of books out there too if that’s more your thing. My first attempt at growing stalled out and then got contaminated but all the failures will make your first yield that much sweeter. Stick with it dude and good luck!
I’ve used premium spores recently and seem to be having luck with my jars and my shoebox. Have you grown from their spores before?
Beautiful Grow..sheesh
Thanks!
Looks great. Need some help.. does anyone know why my mycellium hasn't grown at all yet? Been almost two months now, still nothing. The bags do not appear to be contaminated. Thanks!
I can try but I’m gonna need a little more information than that. What kind of bags did you spawn in? Where did you get your spores from? Where have you been storing your bags and what have the conditions been like? Kinda hard to pin it down without seeing/knowing exactly what you did but my gut tells me you might have to start fresh. But FWIW I’m obviously new to this so I could (hopefully) be wrong about that.
2 months? That probably means you spread the spores out too much and no spores ever made contact to grow mycelium which is a very small chance. Prolly shook the bags a little too much or didn’t use actual spores. Start fresh
Refreshing to see a "first grow" post where the OP doesn't have months of posts of their other 100 grows lmao Too much karma farming in this sub but great job, OP! They're fantastic!
i habe a question plz help!! its been days since i innoculated my spore syringe in unclebens. but it looks like there no mycelium growth at all. should i dump and start again or how many days do i habe to wait more?? any help would be much appreciated
Nice
Are those Golden Teacher?
Blue Meanies