Tried PF method but I did something wrong...

Would appreciate some help with the PF method of cultivating. I found a video on youtube called: How to Grow Magic Mushrooms.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=er1i3M-w51E

I bought an electric pressure cooker that apparently only goes up to 9 psi, I'm not sure if this is the issue or not.

So I used vermiculite, rice flour, and distilled water. I put that in three 250 mL wide mouth jars, then put tin foil over the lids. I pressure cooked the jars on the highest heat for 1.5 hours. I waited for the cooker to cool down completely, then removed the jars in my sterilized bathroom and inoculated without a glove box. I did use lots of disinfectant spray and a lighter to sterilize the needle tip, everytime I inoculated a new jar. I also was wearing clean clothing, a mask, and latex gloves.

I then put the three jars in my black plastic container. I used a foot warming blanket and placed the container on top of it. I have a reptile cage temperature gauge next to the jars on the inside. It has stayed from 80 to 90 degrees in there. So far it has been 10 days of incubation and I have only seen one pin sized growth that is not spreading. It seems to me like the vermiculite is drying up in the jars, I can see that the vermiculite on the bottom of the jars isn't as saturated with water as it was before.

I'm wondering if I did something wrong. I would appreciate some input. thanks

 

It's a simple process, often botched by needless complexity. Youll see what i mean in time.
From ehat it sounds like, you need to wait longer or rethink your substrate.

 

The only things that come to mind are the spores were killed by excess heat; however you said you let the cooker cool completely, were the jars warm to the touch at all or were they room temp when you innoculated? That, or perhaps you cooked for too long...I know many tutorials say 1.5-2 hours, however, even using birdseed (a much dirtier substrate with more potential contams) I only cook for around 45min with great success, and that's even using full pint jars. Maybe your top verm layer (assuming you had one) was too airy or thin and allowed excess moisture to escape during cooking...or maybe you got a bad batch of spores, has happened to me before. You should definitely be seeing much more growth if none of these factors were in play.

 

Number 1: You need a PC that can get up to 15 pai in order to achieve the necessary 250f


number 2:you need to wait for at least 12 -24 hour after PCing before innoculating..... Even if the jar is room temp on the surface it can still be piping hot on the inside.

Number 3: the warming blanket is probably cooking your jars.... Just because the air temp in the box says 85f... The floor that is in dirct contact with your jars can be much much higher.

What were your ratios of rice flour, verm and water?

 

I agree with Grainpsilo on all points.
You would be better off boiling the jars in a large pot with a tight lid for a couple hours. You should really just get a real PC from walmart for $30 if you can. Set it to medium-high heat. When the weight rocks, turn it down a bit and PC for 1hr. Make sure you cover the lids with foil if they have inoculation holes.
The heating pad is a big no-no unless your room gets seriously cold, even then, don't put it on the bottom so it gets super heated, try on top of the lid or something. Even though the thermometer says 80',-90', the inside temp of the jars is going to be higher.
A glove box would prob help and the black plastic container is unnecessary. Ambient room lighting will work just fine.
Get them away from the heat and give it a few days to see if growth resumes, good luck.

 

A wise man :afro:

 

Alright well thanks for the tips. From what you guys are saying, I probably cooked my spores after inoculating them, because I thought the temp in the box had to be 86 degrees, I didn't think about the inside of the jar. So because I thought the jars needed to be warmer, I ended up putting the heating blanket inside the box, and wrapped around the jars, the temp ended up getting to 110 degrees so I just unplugged it and gave up for now. Also I got psylocibe cubensis in a syringe from sporeworks.

 

So do I need to sell this nice electric pressure cooker I bought and get one that gets to 15 psi? I was looking online everywhere and I couldn't find one that got to 15 psi that was any cheaper than about $80.

 

This is the recipe I used for the substrate: In each 250mL jar use 3/4 cup Vermiculite, 1/4 cup Brown rice flour, 1/4 cup Distilled water. I multiplied this amount by 3 and put it in three jars. I also put two nail holes, oppisite each other, on each lid. I put the rubber side up and put tin foil on every lid.

 

sterilizing temps cannot be achieved boiling water at atmospheric pressure. Water boils at 212 degrees F, you need at least a temperature of 250 .

To achieve sterility, a holding time of at least 15 minutes at 121 °C (250 °F) at 100 kPa (15 psi), or 3 minutes at 134 °C (273 °F) at 100 kPa (15 psi) is required.

 

Walmart has a great selection of pressure cookers and a 30 day return policy.

Buy one with a credit card.....use it for 29 days and return for a full refund.

That is how I got started

 

Thanks for the advice everyone. Looks like I will be making a trip to Walmart, even though I don't like contributing to that store. haha

Another question: What is the cheapest method to making a Glove Box?

 

Like this





Or you can just line a cardboard box with tin foil and use plastic wrap as the window