Strain: PC Redboy
Substrate: 50/50 manure/straw

*questions in red*
..all good things start with some grain..


grain becomes one with shit..


darkness prevails for 2 weeks..


alien things grow..

the sub in this tray is colonized with fluffy, cottony myc:


..but the sub in this tray is colonized with very rhizo myc. does anyone know why there is such a diff in the two trays?? everything was kept exactly the same- spores, innoc date/method, incubation, colonization, substrate, environment, etc):


here's a side by side comparison. the one on the left is rhizo, and the one on the right cottony...weird..


happy baby pins:


i was using this Towel setup before to increase humidity, but i removed the towels later cuz i thought that it was inhibiting shroom growth by keeping the temps much cooler due to water's high specific heat capacity:


i didnt want the towel to become a vector for contam, so after 2 days of using the towel setup, i sprayed the towels with a lot of concentrated bleach water...bad idea.. As you can see from the pic, the myc on the sub bruised blue, and was damaged somehow..maybe due to bleach vapor?? I'm pretty certain that the bleach water did not make direct contact with the sub; however, the towel full of concentrated bleach water was suspended above the trays, and another towel was underneath the trays..

are these shrooms safe to consume?? i think they are, but i would still like to hear your opinions


the pin growth kinda slowed down *i think* (it could be genetic tho), but still matured within 5-6 days after pinning.

back on wit da jugg like a mofo:




a small number of shrooms showed odd growth... their stems just tore apart (vertically) naturally as they were maturing. the stems also look weird... any thoughts on this?? They look mutated.. could be a genetic defect, but i think the bleach water did this. but i've never grown Redboys before so this could be normal (?)
are these still edible even if they could be mutated? :



first flush wet yield: ~766g


yeeeee
<3

so beautiful. I love how rhizomorphic your myc looks growing on the straw. and the substrate with whole straw really looks nice. Makes me want to try using whole straw instead of pellets. But pellets are just so handy...

anyway, beautiful mushrooms!!! What is the volume of your substrate in one of these tubs? Have you tried casing your tubs and did you notice a difference?

cheers
Enoon

^hehe, yea that myc looked even more crazier, ropier and rhizo in person. looking at it always put a smile on my face.

I think straw and pellets are more or less the same. but pellets are indeed very handy and i think they also have a little higher nutritional value; but sure do experiment around cuz its fuuun. i've been wanting to grow using pellets, but i still have a decent amount of straw and coir remaining

Idk what volume those small tubs are. you can prolly tell the length and width of it from the pic; and the substrate was ~4 inches deep.
I've never cased any of my grows so far, cuz its not really required for Cubes, esp when straw/coir are included in the substrate.

Congratz on the fine harvest Phantastica
I've grown cubes that looked like that, so I wouldn't worry about it! However I don't know if the bleach has entered the mushroom and if it is harmful in that case! It would be a shame with such beautiful mushrooms! What are you going to do?

Ayyo Kodama You're right, its nothing to worry about. People at Topia said that they're safe to consume as well. Personally i dont think too much bleach has entered the shrooms, cuz like i said in OP, i dont think any bleach water made direct contact with the sub since it was only in the towels and the terrarium walls. Its prolly just the bleach vapors, and *maybe* tiny bleach water droplets that caused the myc to damage. However, there could still be some bleach remnants in the shrooms, but i dont think theres too much of it. from the degree of blueness of the sub, it looks like only a little bleach water might've gotten in. The sub was only slightly bluish, and fruits still sprung up within 5-6 days after pinning, which is typical. So, i dont think it should be an issue, cuz if the amount of bleach water in the sub was toxic, then shrooms wouldnt grow.. but the only way to find out is munching on the lil fuckers..which will take a while cuz im so darn busy with my classes..

p.s. someone at Topia said that the odd shroom growth (vertical tear in the stems) was prolly from a contam called Verticillium..but idk how exactly this contam functions, cuz there were no telltale signs of contamination, unlike with other species of contams.. but its safe to consume so that shouldn't be a problem either.

Ahhh great! No worries then! I just looked it up and apparently it's a commen problem with plants as well! A fungus it seems. I can't find information on how to avoid this "nuissance", but it doesn't really matter, in terms of effects, as far as I can understand.
I've had this kind of growth quite often actually.....I hope it won't be a problem with my current grow. I'm in the process of spawning some Pan Cyan (jamaican) and I'm thinking if they get infected with Verticillium, I'll be experiencing some very weird grow due to their delicate nature! It's my first try with Pans so I'm quite excited We'll just have to wait and see.....

hehe best of luck with the Pans! do report back on your grow. I'm also in the process of spawning some Pan Cyan (hawaiian) for the first time! exciting indeed what sub are you using?

Thank you And right back at you! I am going to use a mix of straw, horsemanure and vermiculite for sub! If everything goes according to plan in the first steps, I'll be sure to report back I'm having a little trouble keeping the temp in the 28-30°C range so maybe I'll have to invest in a heating mat and try again But I'm hoping I won't have to of course!!