The substrate I attempted tp prepare is a mixture of verm and brown rice flower. I heard you could just use normal brown rice and grind it with a coffee grinder if you don't wanna go out and buy the flour. Well the rice I used was already sort of moist, it was like a 90 second add water instant rice. When I ground it there wasn't a powdery flour like texture, more like a little finer than couscous if you've had that before. I was not thinking about how this would affect the coating of the verm when I used it. It's been 4 days since innoculation and no signs at all of mycelium. I used all of my syringe on these jars, do you think that if they don't grow it is because of the rice consistency? I know it is supposed to coat the verm and I don't think it did such a good job. I don't even know why I'm posting this, just hoping someone will say, "I always used that kind of rice, it will probably grow within a week". That'd be awesome....

I bet it'll still work if the moisture content is OK. Only one way to find out- wait a bit and see if they colonize. 4 days is nothing. It can take a few days longer than that. Try to not look at them for a few days (yeah right...)

New to growing?

Should be fine! Be patient! Mushrooms love patience.

Mycelium! A good sign.

Should I take the foil off now? I still have the micro spore tape on there. But there is a hole from inoculating. Don't wanna risk contam. Any tips?

Why not leave it on just to be on the safer side.

Good luck!

Do you sterilize perlite?

You can in the oven if you want... but considering you're wetting it down, and leaving it to steam in a plastic box with some holes means that it's not gonna stay sterile for more than about 10 seconds. But considering it is non-nutritive it doesn't provide any excellent place for bacteria and other unwanted fungi.

You're putting fully colonized cakes/blocks in with it and once that cake is fully colonized it is infection resistant much moreso than when it was colonizing.

Will cakes contam? Yes indeed, but if all goes well and one is careful, it shouldn't be before the 3rd or 4th flush in my experience.


On the question of the foil - like someone said - if you have a dry verm later at the top (under lid) - and the jars have not been dropped or knocked around - take that foil off. The holes in the tape will not matter. There needs to be some gas exchange involved in the process.

From that picture it looks like you have some nice ryhzomorphic myc rolling - good luck!

Also, a small tip - Although plenty of folks get those tall jars to work -next time around use the short, squat 1/2 pt mason jar (not as easy to find). They tend to colonize quicker and contam less. It just eliminates that much more chance for failure IMO.

Thanks

Nice one, you got a germination. I have used brown rice smashed to bits in a blender. I did not get it quite to a flour consistency, more a gritty powder, but it worked almost as well as brown rice flour. I saw almost because those jars all stopped colonizing at about 85%, where the flour jars were all fully colonized. I did 6 of each in the same grow. I cut off the uncolonized parts and fruited as normal and they produced a plentiful harvest.

Good luck and let us know how it goes.

All 4 are showing mycelium. Time to play the waiting game. Do I need to remoisturize the substrate at any point during colonization? Misting the micro spore tape? I just want some healthy colonies

Nope, leave them on a shelf and handle them as little as possible.

Check them gently every couple of days after 8 or so... they won't be colonized before that.

Right on! they look good

Last update, I just can't stop admiring.

I gotta leave these guys for a weeks and when I return they should be beautiful and healthy.