I know it takes patience, results may vary, and I'm not racing to the end or anything, but, ball-park, when everything is average, how long from innoculation to edible fruit? A range would be good from maybe average soonest to average latest.

Don't worry, when I get different results I won't come back and complain, lol. I just want an idea of the time it may take.

Thanks

Pup

Depends on a number of variables...strain? spores? LC? temp? rh? medium?

5-10 weeks for appearance of fruit(s)

8-10 realistically

starting from spore, 1 month is on the fastest end and 2 months is on the slower end.

personally i think alot of people who are new have a hard time because they are using the pf tech. My advice is to skip it altogether, and go straight to grains, my preference is wild bird seed, because its effective and widley available. It is so much more worth your efforts to use grains.

Best of luck, its an amazing hobby!

I completely agree with the statement about the pf tek.

I thought I'd give the PF tek a go since I've never done this before and it sounded like an excellent good place to start. I plan on moving onto more advanced methods and would love to eventually grow some pan cyans - I just didn't want to put the cart before the horse. I'm not in it to make money and I'm in no rush.

That said, I truly appreciate the input and can use all the help I can get!

Fwiw, I started with grain to bulk sub and had great results...it's not that hard as long as you read up on what you should be doing at various points and have the patience you mentioned. Imo, sterility is important, but is often overstated, as is the difficulty of non-pf methods.

I've never done pf...here are some shots from my first grow. Give grain/bullk sub a shot on your next round, I bet you won't be disappointed

I'm currently attempting to grow pan cyans in cubie conditions and will be posting pics if it's successful.

Don't forget that you can also crumble your Pf cakes to bulk. I find that an easy way to increase yield, and you don't need a pressure cooker. The price of big pressure cookers around here has kept me from doing grains.

But I think it's a good idea to just start with cakes, and than move to bulk on your next grow. It is very easy



Nice, that will be my next project too. I will use a monotub as fruiting chamber. I once grew some pans (see my avatar) in a shotgun terrarium. Growing pans is overestimated. The yield is pretty small though....

Ok, I'm diving into the reading and am going to take it in steps. Next grow will be either crumbled cakes in bulk substrate OR the grain plan. My continuing thanks!

If you know of a trusty tek using grain I'd love to know - if not... it's back to the shroomery

I do my grain (wild bird seed) as follows:

1) Measure out half of the total desired final volume of spawn in dry wbs (the grain will expand in the initial soak, then slightly more in the simmer and slightly more in the PC)

2) Put it in a pot and cover with water (until there's at least 2-3 inches of water above the wbs)

3) Allow to sit for 12-24 hours

4) Stir wbs in water, collect and discard any 'floaters', but don't worry too much about them

5) Pour off water, add fresh water, stir water/wbs

6) Repeat step 5 until water is relatively clean and the majority of grit/dust/dirt/etc is removed from wbs

7) Simmer wbs for 10-15 minutes while stirring occasionally (start timing once it begins to simmer)

8 ) Pour off wbs into a strainer and mix the seeds thoroughly every 5-10 minutes or so. This process is called 'steam drying' in the mushroom forums, it ensures that there is no excess moisture in the grain and that the grain does not stick to itself excessively. You'll know it's done when only a few grains stick to a spoon inserted into and removed from the wbs and there's no more steam rising from the wbs

9) Load wbs into your pint/quart jars (~3/4 full) and PC for 90 minutes on 15 psi

10) Once they cool, your wbs spawn jars are ready for inoculation

(Do you put a dry layer of verm on top like PF jars?)

After the jars are colonised and cosolidated they're bithed onto a bulk substrate like poo?

Thanks for the help Snoz!

No verm, just wbs. From what I understand, the verm serves as a contam barrier in the pf tek?

I use tyvek for the same purpose.

For my jars, I drill a hole in the center of the lid and use RTV-silicone to create a self-sealing inoculation port (needs a day to dry). I then use a thumbtack to poke 6-10 holes around the rim of the lid (to allow gas exchange).

Once the jars are loaded, I put the lid on, then cover the lid with a piece of tyvek (I cut up USPS express mail envelopes, they're a free source of tyvek in the US) and screw the band on. Then they go in the PC. The RTV-silicon creates a bump in the tyvek, so you can tell where to stick your needles when it's inoculation time, even though you can't see the hole.

When the jars are colonized/consolidated you can birth to your choice of substrate...I generally use coir/verm (and a smidge of lime), but manure works too.