well, i was on the shroomery, looking at a tutorial for growing, and under one of the steps talking about vermiculite, it gave links to different providers of the substance. BUT, it ALSO gave links to providers of perlite, under the same step. I took this as saying either vermiculite or perlite can be used in the substrate. So when i went to walmart and no vermiculite was available, i picked up some perlite. I then proceeded to make my cakes out of perlite, inoculate them, and they are currently sitting in my room. after i did this, i realized that almost every single tutorial used vermiculite. NONE used perlite. Then i later found out perlite is used pretty much only for humdifying your FC. So now, i ask you all, is anything going to colonize with the perlite?? should i just throw the cakes out? or is there a possibility that they will colonize, since the perlite retains water just like the vermiculite. your thoughts, please. oh and i have a bag of vermiculite on its way from ebay and some b+ spores on their way too. hope to do it right this time
yeah unfortunately youre screwed...on a side note, vermiculite is not the only thing that will work despite what some may say... I have used the miracle gro potting soil made of peat moss many times and have had just as much if not more success than using vermiculite.
muahhahaha they're growing!!!!!! haha didn't think they would, but oh well. cant complain. hopefully they'll keep going up close the white stuff is ropy, i think its called rhizomorphic? so im pretty sure its mycelium
I'd say leave 2-3 jars with pearlight and start over on the rest. It should work the same, It's just harder to tell when the jars ar fully colinized. Nice pictures though J.C
It will probably colonize the perlite-brf mix and maybe even fruit, but I don't think much will come of it. Perlite probably won't retain the ideal amount of water, which the fruit bodies need to grow large since they are approximately 90% water. I think that this will be the case because perlite is crystalline, so it does not actually absorb the water.
alright so, they have colonized some more, and I'm wondering if I can just remove the cakes, and only put the parts that have mycelium into a casing. Would this be possible. I would have a casing layer with vermiculite and peat moss probably. Suggestions? Oh, and the cakes have colonized a lot more since those pics, so keep that in mind.
* Vermiculite: This is a product that can be found almost anywhere garden supplies are sold. I buy mine at either a K-Mart or Wal-Mart garden department and a huge bag costs under $4.00. Its purpose is to retain moisture and help keep the soil from becoming too tightly compacted. If at all possible I recommend you purchase the "course" vermiculite instead of the fine type. If you can't locate any vermiculite where you live I recommend substituting it with perlite which is much easier to find.
I can't imagine why perlite wouldn't work. It's pretty similar to vermiculite. I mean the only reason the vermiculite is even there is to provide a place for the nutrients to sit, mycelium to grow, and mushrooms to fruit. It's airy and light so the mycelium can grow through it. So is perlite. I could imagine perlite cakes breaking during birthing if you aren't careful. Vermiculite is VERY hard to find here. I went to 6 stores before I found it, and it was only one type. I got some strange looks when asking for it as well. What the hell is wrong with people. =( seeing rhizomorphic strands = heathy mycelium. It's so cool to look at the ropes up close. One of my jars was contaminated by green mold. Nasty looking shit. It so happens that I knocked one of the jars over on one of the days I was viewing them. That layer of dry vermiculite on the top keeps the substrate sterile while allowing some air exchange through the inoculation holes. Obviously when the jar was tipped, the substrate was exposed and when I turned it back, substrate must've gotten mixed in with it. When I opened the jar, I noticed the mycelium was growing all over the top of the vermiculite layer. Give contamination just a seconds chance to get in there and it will. -- Long pointless rant. Don't tip the fucking jars over!!! =(
haha I went to walmart today and asked about vermiculite. I got a weird stare and a "huh???" too. haha
