Greetings fellow humanoids!

I've done a LOT of reading on here and the shroomery before posting here, but it's my first time and I'm nervous so bear with me..

10 days ago I placed 4 BRF cakes into a SGFC (1/4 holes all 6 sides, 1.5-2" apart, 6" rinsed perlite, propped up on 1/2 pints). Initially, I only had 3 or so inches of perlite but once I realized i needed more (4 days) I added it. The cakes were left to consolidate for 1 week after full colonization and then dunk/rolled in verm before being placed in the chamber. Mist 3-4 times and fan 6-8 times a day, light on 12/12, temp hovers around 74. I live in a very dry climate and noticed that my chamber dries out rather quickly, so yesterday I added a double ended casing of wet verm to all cakes and placed a small humidifier near the SGFC in hopes that the cakes would retain more moisture and RH would go up.

The cakes began growing over the roll casing, and the myc looks healthy and white with some blueing from handling I believe. It has grown knotted and bumpy around the bottom of the cakes, looking sharp and spikey in some areas..

Here are some pictures:





Am I to just continue being patient? Or is something wrong with my setup?

Any and all hints or suggestions are greatly appreciated!

-monkey

From here, everything looks good so far. Don't panic!

Sometimes it takes a while for pins to appear but you did mention little bumps and knots forming on the bottom? These are typical signs pointing to the beginning formations of pins known as hyphal knots. My eyes aren't the best without me actually holding them in my hand but it looks like some knots are indeed forming.

The most important pinning triggers are:

* proper temp (approx 74-80 degrees...I have a little space heater to keep my grow room right at 77-78. If you use a heater don't point it directly at your box or they could dry out).

*Lighting. 12/12 schedule is perfect.

* Humidity. 95% or higher is recommended. AN important pinning trigger is the evaporation of water off of the cakes so when you mist make sure you mist into the air above the cakes and let it settle onto them. You don't want huge droplets forming, but you do want them nice and moist.

*Fresh air exchange (FAE): Always fan after misting. 15-30 seconds of waving the lid around is typically enough.

All in all, I think you are about to see some mushrooms, just give it a few more days. There are always a huge number of factors that could slow down your growth. Good luck and godspeed!

Thanks TGO for the quick response and encouragement! It's easy for me to doubt..

I will continue doing what I'm doing then and keep a close eye.



Is there anything else I could do to keep the humidity up? I have a hunch this is my biggest problem. It's super dry in there when I wake up to mist them in the morning? I taped up a few more of the holes that were particularly close together as well.

On paper, and from your pictures, your setup looks perfect. Where are the vents located in that room? Is there any direct airflow hitting your setup? If so, you may want to reposition your vent or the whole tub away from direct airflow. You could try covering more holes but it probably isn't necessary.

Besides that, keep that humidifier running on full blast and perhaps get the temperature up a few degrees. I think you'll be seeing little mushrooms in a couple days. My last batch of Treasure Coast mushies started noticeably pinning on day 12 I believe.

Mist, fan, evap, repeat

Again, these are all minor tweaks. Keep a close eye on them and keep us updated!

Ok will do thank you so much!

The humidifier is actually in the path of the vent now so if anything blows over there it will be warm, humid air.

I actually think I see a few little golden heads peaking out from underneath a few of the cakes...

You should get a humidity sensor/meter so you can keep the chamber over 95%

It can take much longer than 10 days.
Cakes could also be fighting of infections. Had it happen to me, that cakes would not pin for 20-30 days just to get one "emergency flush" in before going green. Not saying that this is what's going on...more patience.

IME Golden Teachers are notoriously slow growing. Patience needed.

Thanks for the replies guys! I will be getting a humidity sensor for my next grow i think, just to make sure it's dialed in.

But in more exciting news, all 4 cakes have started pinning like crazy! Small pins on the bottom of each and loads of them popping up through the top layer of verm casing I put on there. Ill post some pics once they get a little bigger

Awesome, glad to hear it! I thought they'd be popping their heads through soon, it is such a rewarding process! Looking forward to the pics!

Congrats on the success so far!

x2 on this.

That light looks really close and could be drying up your chamber unnecessarily. They don't need this intensity of light as they don't use photosynthesis as plants do. What they do need is a moist environment.

You could probably back the light off a bit or even not have it shine directly into the chamber to just provide some ambient light to your new friends.

I have quickly diagnosed your problem. You are using pf tech, an underperforming tech based on a substrate our mushrooms do not naturally grow on.

For overall better results refer to bulk or monotub methods.

This post is made in humor but has truth. The amount of bang for your buck with pf tech is not a high ratio.... Monotub is highly superior in terms of yield and some say potency. I've done both and for me pf is not the best at all. Not to say it won't work. It can but yield is often disappointing

^Even growing in the same size jars (i.e. jam jars) but using whole grains instead of BRF and verm outperforms by an order of magnitude.

I've done some research on the mono tub/bulk options and I definitely want to give grain a try... I chose the PF tek in order to learn as much as I could as it was the recommended procedure for beginners, and I must say I've learned much! Can't say I'm too worried about the yield, I began this project hoping for something but ready to face failure if needed...



I took your advice and moved the light back a bit, though it hardly gives off any heat. It's a daylight LED lamp.

Happy to say all 4 are looking good so far and I have 5 more that have been fully consolidated for about 2 weeks.

Awesome job smoothmonkey looking good!

Thanks man!

Last one just for fun...



After harvesting the first cake and I will definitely be looking into the grains for my next grow haha. Though, it is super rewarding and exciting to see my very own little fungus friends all dried up. I ate a few of the raw aborts too

Thank you all for the help and support.

Those cakes are looking reall nice.

Nice and full.


Great work.

Looks like you already got it working, but I'll leave my 2cents here anyway. I think you have way too many holes. Two many holes and the humidity will be low (ideally, you can see condensation on the inside of the box). Too few holes and the CO2 level will be high. The optimal number of holes is a delicate balance, but I'm sure you know this by now. I did this in a similar-sized container with around 10 holes on each side. Also, the location of the holes is also important. CO2 is heavier than air, so ideally the holes should be level with the base of the cakes so that the CO2 that settles to the ground will escape.