But...horse manure or straw is a lot cheaper than BRF.

hey, i have a question that from hindsight seems silly i didn't ask before.

since i am doing this all from LC; could i just spawn with the LC instead of colonized BR/verm?

Of course. Healthy mycelium will grow...wherever it will grow, without having to grow on "something special" first. The issues are:

1) It's ideal to put it on/in something it would LIKE to grow on (and from my short experience, a proper horse manure mixture has so far provided the FASTEST colonization I've seen. I can't see you getting a substantial, fruiting colony by adding a few mls of LC to a coir/verm mix. There's got to be stuff for the LC to "eat."

2) If the actual quantity proportion of the amount of LC vs the amount of substrate is TOO disparate (i.e., you have only a tiny bit of LC--a couple of mls, say, and a HUGE amount of substrate--say a large monotub filled with horse manure substrate) then it will take a very LONG TIME for complete colonization--and run the risk of some contaminant taking over, instead of your mushroom colony.

The way it's "usually done" is to colonize a decent quantity of "seeding spawn" (often actual seed--prepared as a substrate), and then that colony material is used to spawn a larger quantity. Again, I don't think this is expensive (getting pre-prepared seed and substrate, and just adding your LC). It's simple, cheap, and easy. If you have good LC, it's the way to go, IMO.

i still plan on using brown rice/verm as the base, possibly with coir in addition.


its a fairly small tank, and my LCs consist of two quart jars about 2/3 the way full (plus i am going to start some more LC today)

so seeing as how using a large amount of LC is totally possible for me, this is doable, yes?

Yeah, that's WAY more LC than you need--as long as it's healthy. I'd probably use about half of one of the jars (are you talking about, say, a 10 gallon aquarium tank for the chamber?).

You can use rice/verm--but I'd perhaps save some coir to layer on a thin (1 cm) casing on top, after the mycelium has really filled in well. Some coir is good as a substrate, too (because it will hopefully keep the colony "open" enough to allow water to get it), but TOO much isn't so great (IMO), because I don't think much of it is actually consumed by the mycelium. It acts more as a physical structure on which the mycelium rests, than actual nutritious substrate, IMO.

Of course you'll want to start with everything sterile, including the substrate. The need for that doesn't change. And that's the reason I don't mind buying pre-prepared and sterilized substrate--to save the trouble of figuring out how to sterilize bags of bulk material in a pressure cooker. Things like horse manure and straw can be "pasteurized" rather than sterilized, but I think you're gonna have to actually sterilize RF/verm.

Of course you'll also want the tank more or less "sealed" while the mycelium is colonizing.

probably closer to 5

and i plan on having an airtight seal at all times (unless it needs humidifying, but so far i have had good luck with keeping the tanks at 100%)

First: I'm still learning all this stuff myself, so...I don't want to give the impression I'm an expert--but I am very interested in every aspect, and try to learn all I can.

I'm just now growing a BEAUTIFUL and intense first flush on a monotub--so rewarding.

But I took a hint from all the pre-prepared substrate/spawning bags I've purchased (from different vendors) and they ALL have a small filter on them, to allow for air transfer. So, even when spawning, I've always left at least 1 small filter hole (somewhat proportional to the size of the chamber) that I've plugged tightly with the typical "polyfill" pillow stuffing. It allows air exchange without transfer of floating mold spores. I think it allows for faster mycelium growth.

It is accepted that mycelium can withstand a lot of CO2 that's generated, but still, it seems virtually everyone has arranged things to allow for at least a LITTLE air exchange.