Damn, nice pics Shaman. SWIM actually just ordered the Ecuadorian

Well thank you. Good luck to you also. Yeah the PMP i couldn't pass up. So cheap to make and works absolutely wonderful!

SWIM took a picture of one of the cakes..being sort of new to mycology n' all..does this cake look out of the ordinary (as far as mold goes)? I know theres several types like green/blue/cobweb, and i really dont see any of that, but for someone with a little more experience than SWIM..does this cake look alright?

I think so. It's really hard to tell from the pics. I see some blue/green spots, keep an eye on them, if they grow and a q-tip turns green when you wipe it on a spot you've got mean green. My guess is that it is just bruising.

Handle them as little as possible.

What do you have the cakes on. I've never seen a set up like that before.

Check it out!!!
http://www.shroomery.org/9047/Poor-Mans-Pod

I followed this guys setup...Cheap...and VERY effective! The brf cakes are sitting directly on the Hydraton (aka LECa...expandable clay aggregate). All you do is get a 60 qrt tub..fill it with 4 inches of LECA (get at any hydro store). Fill the tub with 3 inches of water or in other words.."an inch from the top of the LECA". That will hold humidity at a constant 95-100% for quite a few months! And i have a 70 gal fish tank air pump hooked up to 2 bubbler wands which are underneath the LECA, and they create quite a few bubbles which come torwards the top and the cakes "wick" moisture from the LECA! and it creates fresh air also which makes its way to the top of the tub, and their is acouple pre measured holes at the top where the stagnant air can leave. Its sooo simple, and the yields are amazing.

Non stagnant air + high humidity + good temp = MUSHIES!

They look perfectly healthy to me, but as acolon mentioned, if any of the blue/greenish looking areas actually smudge off, then you may have a problem. Although, with the quantity of cakes in your setup (which, correct me if I'm wrong, appears to be aerated hydro-corn;?; likewise, I have never seen/heard of using that as a bedding medium, but keep in mind that innovation is what makes mycology such a wonderful pastime - there are no set "standards", if you will, for right or wrong ways of practicing, only what works for the individual in practice :-] ) you can be basically 99.99% sure that if one is infected, then all are infected. Additionally, any time you may have suspicions of infection, give it 12-24 hours before taking serious action (such as removing cakes or substrate completely) because the most common types of infections that you might encounter, such as the infamous "green refrigerator mold", will, in most cases, appear and dominate practically overnight.

A few other "malicious mycological mold" pointers:

-9 out of ten times, an infected cake/terrarium/etc. will smell like rotten ass, and not like fresh, beautiful, delicious carpophores. This is true even before one may notice visible infection.

-If you've removed one cake from your terrarium/bioenvironment that is definitely infected, it is safe to expect the good chance that exists of others from the same environment being infected.

-I like to think of cakes similarly to how we refer to their initial growth phase, colonization. Essentially, a fully colonized cake is a colony. Many factors contribute to the health and strength of the colony, and therefore the cultivator may benefit from keeping in mind that the heartier, more vigorous, and more rapidly-colonizing the cake is, the better chance it has of defending it's colony walls against unwanted breach.

Aspire towards peace!

DMTtripn2Space: ha! looks like you beat me to the punch answering acolon's inquiry about your setup. I'm very familiar w/ the substrate (;-]), only have never seen it used in the myco-world.

Oh, and thank you, btw, regarding my photos. I am simply here to spread the knowledge, wisdom, understanding, and love that I have seen in my days.

Yeah, the stuff is called Hydraton. Its sold at most hydroponics shops in HUGGGE bags. But it holds mositure like a champ! But yes instead of setting the cakes on jar lids like some do with the little bit of perlite wetted, you can just directly stick the cakes on the Hydra.. I ran all the Hydra through a strainer with a water/hydro peroxide mix to clean the Hydra the best I can.

Plus before i started this i cleaned the whole tub with soap and water, then sprayed it down with 95% isop alco and sanitized it

No problem, and the same as i. I try to spread what I can haha. I just wanted to do afew of these before i do like 20+ brf jars...to see if i got this down right. But i think next I am going to try the casing method.

Lookin good!

..oh yea dude casing is the way to go!

No question. The only way to improve one's mycological talents is through personal experimentation. Book smarts are literally meaningless in comparison to experience, as it took me nearly 8 months of trial and error to get the hang of it; this was after almost 2 years of planning and studying, at which point I had a false sense of confidence.

And, yyeeeah, casings! :-] When you get to this point, the feeling is similar to that of having just graduated from high school. The skies open up to limitless possibilities. Obviously, though, this is something that cannot be rushed, but rather just simply happens. Best of luck with your studies, and feel free to ask me about anything related to the wonderful underworld of mycology. 'Nuff blessins :-)

DarkShaman

of the

Blakk Skrollz Tribe

Yeah, will have to learn how to do that! Have read a little on it, but not too much. It just looks more convenient to me.

Thank you DarkShaman. I will keep you in mind for sure. But SWIM is pretty confident in his mycology learning abilities

And here I am just starting with the B+ strain.

Equadorian sounds more fascinating, but from what I've heard, B+ isn't too bad.

SWIM has had him some B+'s before from his buddies setup. They are a nice mushie indeed!

SWIM has found..and heard from a few very good mushy growers..(and hes done it himself) IF you do find some contamination...get a Q-tip..and then get some hydrogen peroxide..get the q-tip soaked in hydrogen peroxide and dab the infected area...DO NOT USE THE SAME Q-TIP FOR OTHER AREAS...get a fresh one and do the same...this DOES kill any contamination..and SWIM has used it before to save batches...just keep your eyes on your cakes..but if they get too bad...game over

another thing you can do once you kill the infected area with hydrogen peroxide is to cover that area with salt...this will keep anything from growing there..and its a 'decent' way of stopping contamination

Thanks Jorkest for the helpful info!! SWIM will definitely try that if things take a turn for the worse. But after the 4 days being in the chamber so far it looks to be possible blue bruising. Did use a dry q tip to swab the area and nothing came off on the q tip. But we will wait and see brothas!

SWIM enjoys the Creepers and is looking forward to trying some Amazonians. SWIM isn't incredibly fond of the Cambodians (maybe his own fault on most counts, to include visions of Pol-Pot and the killing fields...ugh!).

Anybody ever try the Lipa Yai's?? I heard they were pretty good....SWIMS got a syringe of those, and wants to try those for his mycology experiments

some newly domesticated transkei's first flush on corn to coir/verm - its an isolate and 16 fruit had been picked when the pic was taken