I don't drain, but I also use a substrate of coir and verm only, so not much nutrition for the contaminants to colonize. I have however noticed that too much water and high temps don't get along. Summer over here has been brutally hot, and I got lots of tric growing after the first flush, while during the winter I had none despite the same moisture content. So for next year, I won't keep the water in the tub when it starts getting hot.

My grow has come full circle. I just birthed the first colonized cakes which I grew using a spore print from my first grow. This time around I am using 4 half pint pf cakes to equal amount coir for each shoetub.

Now you have the print and grow down you should try cloning to agar. Clones are the only way to get consistent results. Once you have a viable clone you can go straight to grain instead of BRF, WBS and Coir is amazing. I get 2oz. Dry per quart of spawn from my KSSS cultures (I've been taking a break for a few months, I have plenty so I decided to focus on DMT for a while.)

I've been growing mushrooms very successful for 3 years. I'm here to offer any assistance I can.

As to what Boing said about Trichoderma and temperature, the optimal temperature for Cubensis is 72*F, Lower than 70 favors Trichoderma and higher than 75 favors bacteria, bacteria also loves standing water. Trichoderma eats bacteria, that's it's main food source so the key to more flushes is no bacteria. Of course some cultures only flush once (My KSSS does just this but produces 2oz per quart or the same it would usually take 2 to 3 flushes to get in the first flush. After the first flush I'm money ahead to dump it before the mold sets in, they've never done anything useful after one flush. My AA+ take 4 flushes to get everything on the other hand.)

Pics from this grow. This was my first time starting from a spore print from previous grow (from when I started this thread). I love how this has come full circle. Lots of side pins I know. I wish it would pin like that all over the surface.

This jar from this round grew the dry vermiculite layer into the cake. There was nothing to dump out just a cake with fluffy mycelium at top with four dimples from the holes in lid.

Side pins are a result of ideal surface conditions on the sides rather than the top. Try "casing" with a 1/4" layer of coco coir. The mycelium will 'colonize' the coir buy that's ok. While your fully colonized cakes are extremely contamination resistant and are perfectly fine in the open air this results in extremely poor surface conditions, will dry your cakes out quickly and will result in small fruits, bad pinsets and aborts. (EDIT** I see you have an enclosure, are you just flipping the lid? How are you facilitating fresh air exchange?) Optimally the cakes are placed in an enclosure after being "dunked and rolled" most roll in vermiculite but I use coco coir, it results in better pinsets. At this point it's all about surface conditions.

Optimal surface conditions are present when the surface is in a constant state of evaporation. The surface will be covered in tiny droplets with no pooling or dry spots. Relative Humidity is a useless measurement when growing Cubensis. The yield is 100% contingent on genetics and surface condition with an emphasis on the latter. It took me a bit of practice to get it down but it's the difference between patches, sidepins and full canopies. One tip I can give is to pick up a "hair salon" style mister. It's super easy to get a perfect surface with compared to a regular spray bottle and they're cheap on Amazon.

Dirty T, these boxes are already a 50/50 mix of shredded PF cake and coir. Are you saying I should add more coir atop the mix of the two?

For fresh air I crack the lid when the majority of the surface area is covered in hyphal knots. Then replace lid with plastic grocery bag when mushrooms grow to top.

I love watching these grow!! This is my best looking tub yet!

I'd say, pick 'em a bit sooner - now you got spores all over the place! Otherwise, very nice

Those solid cylinders of mycelium are pretty exciting to look at. I’m gonna have to dedicate some space for a project like this over the winter. Good job Tony!

Nice! And that's a respectable yield for BRF and multi-spore inoculation. Shoebox tek for the win!

nice results <3

My biggest fruits yet.

Yield from first flush of first tub is 20 grams dried. I am getting closer to my goal of yielding one dry ounce per shoebox.

Looking good. The majority of growers aim for a goal of 1 quart of fruits per 1 quart of grain used but I'm pretty sure no one has come close to that ratio with a BRF Verm mix. I've seen people get as much as 7 grams dry per cake and considering the cakes are 33% grain and 66% substrate I would say that's pretty good. Yes, I was suggesting a thin layer of coco coir over the top after you crumble and mix.

One last note, whatever happens when the fruits drop spores, trichoderma usually comes after. Harvesting before the veil breaks prevents this from happening. In my experience after the veil breaks the mushrooms only put on water weight so there is no advantage to allowing spores to drop but the disadvantage is subsequent flushes may be hindered or ruined altogether.

Second flush. First box yielded just over 100 grams fresh. Assuming it looses the standard 90% water weight, I will have surpassed my goal of one dried ounce for this box, as the first flush from this box weighed 20 grams dried. Note that most of these fruits grew from side pins. Many aborts on the base of some. Only a few fruits from middle of box.

This next box though.... This is the one that gave us our biggest fruits first flush. This is my best pinset yet. Excited, hoping for good things.

Way to go tony! Looking groovy! FWIW, I have had many of my best flushes come on the third flush. And I don’t know if you do, but I personally like to save the aborts in a separate spot. So when I’m feeling real frisky, I like to eat just aborts, which for sure seem to pack more of a punch.

All hail the fungus!!!

That looks awesome!

One thing you may want to do is pick the mushrooms a little bit earlier, just before the veil breaks, so you won't have all those black spores on the substrate. From what I understand, once the veil breaks, the mushrooms don't really increase in potency any longer. It also makes for easier storage too since you don't have to deal with all those large caps.

It really is a learning experience, just getting each phase of the lifecycle right. One of the most fun projects I've ever undertaken.

Much love

In my experience the issue isn't that they 'stop' producing alkaloids after the veil breaks but rather they only increase in water weight. I believe the reason they are more susceptible to mold after dropping spores is the fact it is the end of the mycelium life cycle. I've done a ton of experimenting on harvest times, etc. I've also done some experimenting with prolonging the "consolidation" stage which resulted in stronger fruits, they become considerably stronger depending on how long you hold them in that state.

The pins from post #54.

I have exceeded my goal of one dry ounce for the first box, the 100 grams from post 54 dried to 12.5. If the box in this photo exceeds 12 grams dry then that is an ounce for each box. I am happy.

Got these ones before the spore drop!! So pretty and golden!! 210 grams wet!!!

Nice job! One dry ounce per shoebox is very respectable. You don't have a green thumb, you have a fungus thumb. Wahwah

How many BRF cakes are you using per shoebox, and what's the ratio of BRF to coir?

Sometimes a few of the earlier maturing shrooms are close to dropping spores, but you're not ready to pick the rest of the flush yet. Or you might have difficulty getting to the base to pick the early maturing shroom. In this case, I just snip the cap and leave the stem until later.