This may work. I have heard of others doing this by taking mylinated substrate from those Ball Jars and crumbling them into more substrate (that is pastureland or sterilized [one of the two]) and placing a casing layer on it. That seems to work, but again humidity is a important issue to pay attention to.



No problem MC. This is easy and fun, but misting everyday I must admit can be kind of a pain.

That's why SWIM is going to try his own version of the monotub tek.

I'm sure he can get me images for this site. He is off far away where it is legal so he'll have to forward them to me.

He is to busy to post them himself, and I would love to help others get their hands into a new hobby.

Damiana

Excellent post and pics , Damiana. Only 1 thing irritated me was that you didn't use a lighter or coin with the mushy photos as a size reference. A minor quibble on an overall fantastic post....keep on shrooooni'!!

thanks damiana,

your tek has helped me understand the growing process, and has led me to come up with some of my own idea's.
and wow, the pictures help a whole lot for people like myself who do not know what to expect, and look for due to lack of experience.

I plan to start my own grow soon, with my own tek/method, which is based on yours

great show!

just another question, in the first spawn bag, the bag is wrapped tightly around the substrate, is this necessary? or could i use an "incubator" style tub with the same substrate?, and add the liquid culture to the substrate inside the incubator?

thanks! hope im not hijacking your thread

I'm really not sure what you are asking exactly. Sorry. Can you clarify what an incubator style tub is?

My question to you is, how would you sterilize the substrate if its in a tub?

Just out of curiosity, why would you cut the tupperware for drying? Wouldn't it be easier to just pour the drying sand (or whatever it is) into the bottom of the box, or is there some specific reason this way is superior?

swim has never had much luck with a successful LC, however a few things learned would be:

too large of chunks of myc in the LC could clog the syringe

the more surface area exposed by healthy myc in the LC could result in better, or quicker colonization times


both of these could be remedied by putting a decent sized washed glass shard into your LC before pasteurization. give it a nice swirl when one notices the myc getting to large, and it will be cut up.

hope this helps

I think the name of the game is avoiding contamination through the entire process.
I've had so many unsuccessful indoor grows that
i've resorted to fruting outdoors exclusively. This is limited to the summer months only so careful planning is necessary.

The spawn bags are fantastic for the first phase because they are sealed from air exposure. the fruiting stage gets tricky once you have to allow for fresh air. The question really becomes where in your house is clean enough to prevent mold from contaminating the grow? No matter what an indoor grow is a tough challenge that takes alot of trial and error to perfect.
Mushroom growing is a satisfying and spiritual pursuit that's well worth the effort.

Strange and wonderful things happen when you align yourself as friend and cultivator of the mushroom.

Beautifully put

Can anyone comment on what the upper limit would be on the amount of substrate in the bag? Obviously your colonization times would increase, but is it possible to do a bag with twice as much BRF/vermiculite? Three times as much?

Does anyone know at what point it is no longer feasible to fruit in the bag, and you'd have to switch to crumbling the mycelium up in a bulk tub?

What is the goo on top of the jar?? Vaseline to seal from air?

@HumbleTraveler

Clear Silicone Waterproof Sealant

By Loctite

Quickly closes back so no contaminants in and nothing gets out. Its a seal.

Nope, this way is just what I came up with. The concept is the main point here, but if you think of a better way that's great!

Three inches or less in height is optimum in my experience. Otherwise the weight of it and size will be vulnerable to mold.

Ahhh solid idea...pun intended haha


Spawn bags: one with injector port and one without. I cant seem to find these on any sites. Any help??

Yea, eBay my friend.

SWIM sould have posted links to all supplies on original tek, but yea, eBay.

Search for 'mushroom spawn bag.' Injector port not super important if one tapes needle hole ASAP.

Thank you much

Can anyone post about results in using this tek? Seems to me it would be easy to contaminate.

Wanting to give it a shot though as I'm very limited in space.

i suspect the yields and practicality are evident already in this thread.

there are alot of methods to get fungi growing.....
not all are equal.

as appealing as bags my be in theory,
IMO they dont eclipes container teks,
and, they are contam prone due to bag pressure changes and handling.

im also not wild about the time needed for PC in bags.

I'm going to attempt this. But what about rehydrating the mycellium cake before birthing ? All modern variations of the of tek including grow kits utilize this as it's been found to increase flush size. As while the mycellium grows JTS depeltes the cake of water and needs rehydrated before birthing.

Would it be OK to fill the bag with water and let soak for 24 hours or pull the cake out and dunk before placing it into the other bag to birth?

I see no reasons why not. Just thought I'd add that.

Anyone know where the pictures went?