Growing Some Mushrooms in the Box

[tripleoptic]

Hey everyone, some updated pictures (sorry they're kind of blurry I was in a hurry).

I lost another jar to the blue-green mold but that was a couple of days ago (down to 8) and it has been smooth sailing since. I included some pics so any intrepid shroom growers will have an idea of what it looks like. The b-g mold sort of has a sandy texture, where the regular mycelium is very ropey so it's pretty easy to identify.

Most of the jars are 1/2 to 3/4 colonized at least externally. So hopefully they will be fully colonized by this time next week, which means in about two weeks I'll be birthing them.

Also, bumtildeath, very nice mushroom grows +rep!
If I have any more issues I'll be sure to PM you.

[incognito 420]

looks awesome man. i've been thinking about doing the same thing. what's a good strain for beginners to grow?

[tripleoptic]

Thanks man, it's been really neat watching things take off.

From the research I did, most cubensis strains are relatively easy to grow. It's the edible/food kind that get a little more difficult. (I actually plan on trying that next, maybe make some cash selling them to restaurants, the psilocybes are for me and friends)

The particular "version" of cubensis that I'm growing is called Hawaiian and I had a friend who had good luck with Ecuadorian cubensis as well.

[incognito 420]

what's the average yield per cake?

[tripleoptic]

Originally Posted by incognito 420

what's the average yield per cake?

For that I have no idea just yet.

The friend I'm sort of using as a reference ended up with about an ounce or two of dried mushrooms after 3 or 4 flushes and he had around 8 cakes as well. So doing that math that's a little less than one or two grams dry per cake, per flush. I imagine once you have some experience those numbers are easily increased.

Also the size jars you use is going to effect this as well, I'm using tiny 1/4 pint jars and will be increasing the size to 1/2 pint to full pint jars the next round.

[incognito 420]

right on. where i'm from shrooms go for like 60-80 bucks an 1/8. i'm just trying to crunch some numbers to see if the project is worth the time and effort and $.

[tripleoptic]

Holy cow! 60-80 and 8th?! I live in the southeast so you really don't buy shrooms down here, no one sells them.

So far on this whole project I've spent around $30 which is probably less than I would have spent in gas hunting for new shroom fields. The only caveat with growing them is the spore producers don't ship to a couple of states. Namely Georgia, California and Idaho.

[420smoker87]

Goddamn $60-$80 where you're from? I should move there and start growing man they're $10-$20 here, $25 if you're buying them at a rave. A QP goes for $250. Course I live in Oregon where they grow pretty plentiful.

[tripleoptic]

No new picture updates, just a few observations.

This is day 10 since inoculation and most of the jars are at 70 - 90% colonized which means birthing will be in a week or so. One advantage of small jars is the quick colonization, but I know my yields are going to be low because of them also.

I lost another jar to the blue-green mold, thankfully it was not a strong jar it was actually the least colonized of all. That brings me down to 7 good jars and 3 jars lost. Not too bad for my first try, and the rest of the jars are so full of mycelium I don't think I'm going to have too many more contamination issues. *crosses fingers*

I'm wondering if this mold could have come from leaving the jars sit overnight to cool after sterilization, since I've only had the problem in a few jars I doubt that the needle was contaminated. Any of the more advanced mycologists have any insight into that?

Anyway that's all I've got. I'm going to watch some football now.

Go Gators!

[Jellyroot]

Rock on, dude. I've been considering this myself in the long run. They look great so far.

[bigorange2]

You just said you have about 70-90% colonization, so at this point I would flip on the jars so that they're sitting on top of their metal lids. This makes the cakes easier to remove when they're done, as they tend to stick to the sides if you let the glass part be the end thats down on the little white rack you have there... Ive had cakes rip in half before when pulling them out because I let them get to stuck to the glass from not flipping it like I'm recommending you do right now.

Also, you are keeping those in the dark right?

[jcH09]

Originally Posted by stoner_lukas

Is there a reason you chose to use such small jars?

Looks good otherwise, though. Just remember to keep everything sterile. Hopefully you sterilized the syringe before you innoculated.

Well in this PF Tek method video I watched, the jars were about the same size. I'm currently growing some shrooms too. Waiting for them to colonize fully. They're at the same stage as the OP's pics.

[tripleoptic]

Originally Posted by bigorange2

You just said you have about 70-90% colonization, so at this point I would flip on the jars so that they're sitting on top of their metal lids. This makes the cakes easier to remove when they're done, as they tend to stick to the sides if you let the glass part be the end thats down on the little white rack you have there... Ive had cakes rip in half before when pulling them out because I let them get to stuck to the glass from not flipping it like I'm recommending you do right now.

Also, you are keeping those in the dark right?

Awesome, I actually ended up flipping them to assist with gas exchange because some moisture was accumulating on the sides, so I'm glad I did the right thing with that. And I just checked them out they're already loose and ready to go for when they get birthed.

And def. keeping them in the dark, I pull them out once a day at this point to check for contaminants but other than that they're in a dark semi-warm place. (about 80 during the day 75 at night)

Great day of football too!

[tripleoptic]

So we're hitting the final stretch of colonization. I figure by this time next week I will have moved the little guys from their jars and into the fruiting chamber.

The fruiting chamber has been the most time and labor intensive part of this whole project so far. It takes awhile to drill all of those holes. Any tips on how to sterilize it? I figure Lysol will do the trick but if someone has a better method I'm all ears.

Just a quick recap on costs...

Spore Syringe - $10
Vermiculite and Perlite - $8
Jars - $4
Tupperware for FC - $3.50

That brings me to a grand total of $25.50 for this whole project. I would have definitely spent more in gas money finding fields than I have here, though I'm sure I won't come close to what I would find in a field in just 30 minutes. But who cares these guys are for personal use anyway.

I had everything else which were common items like lightbulbs, large pot and a mixing bowl.

Anyway enough talk now for some pictures!

[ThePacifist]

This is epic man, how long is the entire process predicted to take? Like a few months?