I want to grow Psilocybe Cambodia during June in my room. Because its my first shroom grow I want to use pre-sterilized jars for convenience. Now cakes are the recommended for new growers, but these are the jars I want to get(http://www.mycopath.com/master-grain-jars-c-22.html), the substrate is loose so which method should I do? I want to start out with 2 jars and a grow bag. Does Cambodia like grain as a substrate?
Those are grain jars and the cambos will love it. But $12 for a single jar...... shit I am in the wrong business because that is maybe $1.50 worth of stuff.... what a rip off. Innoculate with a spore syringe and inccubate it at as close to 85F as you can. Once the jar is 50% colonized shake the jar to break up the grain and redistribute it throughout the jar to speed up the colonization to the rest of the jar. Then you can just pour the colonize grain into a container and let it re-knit for a few days and then case with vermiculite or coco coir. OR Make a bulk substrate casing which you will need to find some manure or straw. As for manure: cow, horse or worm castings are the best. As for straw you want wheat straw. If you need any help or have any questions just PM me.
Alright thanks for the info man. I can buy EWC from a store nearby, so how would I go about the bulk substrate method. Also would EWC work for outdoor cultivation or would I need hay?
I think I am going with the bags, as they are cheaper. I understand the whole inoculation and incubation process. But can they be fruited directly out of the bag? Or do I need some substrate or casing material? Thank you
I don't understand all the stupid sterilization bullshit. Put a few spoonfulls of alcohol in the jar, cap it loosely, shake it up so it covers all surfaces, turn it upside down and get the threads of both the jar and cap totally wet with alcohol, and wipe off the outside with alcohol. And rubbing alcohol just saved hours of work with a hot pressure cooker.
You should use the PF tek for your first time, it's the easiest to learn. http://www.erowid.org/plants/mushrooms/mushrooms_mmgg.shtml Also, you can learn a lot from the Shroomery. http://www.shroomery.org/forums/#c3
Because the substrate will be unsterilized, and everything needs to be sterile until full colonization has been achieved or you will start growing other things.
Start with a clean substrate, food grade rice flour and use alcohol on the vermiculite or whatever it is and allow it to dry before mixing. ....yeah, that's right.
Everything has spores in it, and all spraying lysol and shit in the air like all the tecs say to is going to do is poison yourself, and make your shrooms toxic. The idea is to give your spores the advantage over the other spores. If they haven't colonized the flour yet, they're probably not going to do it when it's already colonized by fast growing mushroom tissue. I could be totally wrong, never grown and it may be years until I do. But I don't plan to be using a pressure cooker if I ever do grow. I just don't see cow shit being a whole lot less hostile than a sterilized environment with food grade flour in it. And if it's REALLY a concern to you, in your clean room, use cookie sheets to spread out the flour for maximum drying speed, get a spray bottle and mask (you can poison yourself inhaling alcohol) and wet down your flower. Isopropanol really is wonderful stuff, and cheap. You can clean your toilet bowl with it, make hash with it, sterilize cuts with it, remove gum from stickers with it, clean bongs with it.... Great stuff for having to clean up before moving out of dorms to avoid a fee. 2 bucks worth of alcohol, and the place is SHINING.
So, everyone on the Shroomery has been doing it wrong for all these years ? I guess I'll have to give them the bad news.
Don't get a grain bag unless you plan on making a Liquid Culture to inoculate it. Spores will take too long to fully colonize and will stall before completing the task. Use grain jars, quart size, if you plan on buying them off the internet. Or use the PF tek, with pint size jars, if you plan on making the jars at home with out a pressure cooker. All you need for the PF tek is a covered pot on the stove. An to answer your questions: Grain bags do not need 'incubated'. When the mycelium is tearing through the substrate it is going to give off a lot of heat, as long as its sitting on a shelf in a 'room-temperature' room, it will be at optimum temperature. Incubating it will cause a bag to overheat if you don't know what you are doing, and should only be done if your room temp is below 50 degrees. Bags can be fruited from the bag, but i would not recommended it as its going to give you the least yield. I would recommend putting the brick in a shotgun fruiting chamber for your first grow. You could also break it up and use it as spawn to inoculate coco choir, or horse poop, but you might want to wait to try this method. Lastly when working with cubensis on grain or on bulk substrate, in a tray, or in a tub, there is no reason to ever case it.
Roor's method will work, just like not sterilizing at all will work, occasionally. But why you would waste all the time and money to have such a high failure rate is beyond me.
Thanks willy wonka. But what makes rye bags colonize slower than rye jars? can i use WBS bag? Here was my new plan, until you said it doesn't need casing in a tub, and I want input. Innoculate Grow bag After full colonization layer it on the bottom of small tub Case with 50/50+ Peat/Verm Casing Mix 3 Quarts to retain moisture. http://www.mycopath.com/5050-peatverm-casing-mix-3-quarts-p-5.html EDIT: please don't mention that this is too expensive and make my own jars, this isn't an option. This is my first grow and I want convienience and high success probability with pre sterilized materials.
You can get away with not using a pressure cooker when you are doing PF cakes (you can just boil them) but for grains you must use a pressure cooker in order to achieve the 15 psi needed to produce 250F steam necessary to steam sterilize everything throughly.