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Very cool, I read alot about the PF Tek on erowid a few years ago so I'm really happy this section of the forum was created I'll be watching closly Abbie keep up the great work, I'd love to do this as well some day.
Yes, I wiped the top 1/2 inch with a dry paper towel and added dry verm. And, no contam'd jars. Those jars are the B+ and PE. The cyans on the other hand look pretty dismal. Hardly any colonization at all, but looks ok, no contams. Middle of next week I'll be making a monotub with the six B+ and PE jars. One half B+ and the other half PE in the same monotub. Should be interesting.
Be sure to let those jars sit an extra week after full colonization to ensure that the middle of the cake is fully colonized, your cake will flush faster and better. Also make sure to try not to expose them to light or they start to pin. I would also suggest using perlite in a shotgun fc instead of a monotub. That way you wont lose everything if you get contams. Each cake can be kept separate. If you haven't seen it already id suggest watching "Lets Grow Mushrooms" on youtube.
OK...tonight I built two small monotubs, B+ in one, PE in the other. I mixed pasteurized coco coir/coffee/verm/gypsum with ground up BRF cakes. The two tubs are covered with a thick blanket and I'll let it sit for a couple weeks. Each tub has a trash bag in the bottom. I used 6 quarts of bulk substrate and 3 half pint jars of BRF spawn per monotub.
Sounds good, Abbie! Pics? Or did you not take some for sterility purposes? I know it's near impossible to take pics when you're trying to be sterile, unless a friend with a camera is with you...
I think my coco bulk substrate will be fully colonized in about 2 weeks also...
What are you using for air filters in the monotub? Does the mycelium still need FAE while its colonizing the substrate or is the air that is in the tub fine?
that half B+ and half PE tub is gonna be interesting. that one thing i love about growing mush is that you can experiment around with different things and see results relatively quickly
Looks great, Abbie. Nice and simple design. Are those light brown chunks the crumbled up BRF cakes?
Quad: You still need some fresh air exchange when you're colonizing a bulk substrate, but not much, you don't need a fan on them. And 79towncar said having a high CO2 level will help colonization, so having a minimal FAE is desirable. Also, that you still want to avoid contams at this stage (he said cobweb mold is possible, and that's whitish, like mycelium...)
Are you misting at all? I had to mist my substrate almost daily, but that was when I had the vents in my dome all the way open. The coco does tend to dry out quick.
Are those 10 gallon tubs? You've got a good 2-3 times as much substrate as I do, so I envision large yields for you; something along the lines of one of Brother Bear's harvests, where he's got mushies on newspapers lining one side of a room...
Let's keep our fingers crossed for good potency. I wouldn't want to have to choke down an ounce of shrooms for a decent trip...
It doesn't say anything about misting, so I'm not doing it. The tek just said put 'em together, add bulk sub, add spawn, cover and wait. So, I guess that's what I'm doing, lol.
These tubs are the same size as regular Rubbermaid tubs, except around the top third is removed. So, yeah, they are a bit smaller. I cut 6 holes instead of 8 like the guy does in the tek.
Thanks for your response, that's the same link that 79towncar gave me. One of the better mushie tutorials i've seen, it was very thorough.
The Cyans, though slow, look free of contams, which is the most important thing i guess. Aren't Cyans supposed to be harder to cultivate than cubensis? Maybe that explains the slow growth. I hear they're more potent though, so hopefully that makes up for it. Kind of like a haze compared to quick-finishing hybrid...