Growing Some Mushrooms in the Box

[tripleoptic]

Hi all,

I know a lot of people around these parts love mushrooms, and I do too. The only problem is I hate to pick them because I'm not a fan of being in cow fields. So I've gone without for about 5 years now because of my dislike of cow fields and refusal to pay anyone for them. Well, a friend of mine turned me on to growing them in jars using spore syringes. So I figured what the heck why don't I try it, it's pretty cheap to get started and I can grow them from home. So I figure I'll keep a little journal similar to other grow journals.

Using the PF Tek method, these are pictures of the mycelium growth in a few of my jars at a week since inoculation.

[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.

[tripleoptic]

The quarter-pint jars were a bit of a mistake in retrospect, next time I'm going to get either half-pint or whole-pint jars. This is just an experimental run to see how the whole process works.

I was religious about sterilization though, I followed the sterilization process according to the PF Tek videos exactly. I don't want to see trichoderma or any other sort of bad molds.

[reggaemylitis]

yea once its fully innoculated u should break one up and add it to another group of large sterile jars...

[enkianderos]

Using whole rye grain is great for exponential inoculation like that. Just make sure to shake the jar regularly so the rye doesn't stick together as the mycelium spreads. Once all the pieces of rye are covered in mycelium you can use a few grains for every new jar. One to 20, 20 to 200. You have more than you know what to do with very quickly. At that point it is advisable you begin converting refrigerators into incubation chambers with temp regulated lightbulbs on the bottom lol.

I love mycology!

[d.m.t dreams]

Originally Posted by tripleoptic

Hi all,

I know a lot of people around these parts love mushrooms, and I do too. The only problem is I hate to pick them because I'm not a fan of being in cow fields. So I've gone without for about 5 years now because of my dislike of cow fields and refusal to pay anyone for them. Well, a friend of mine turned me on to growing them in jars using spore syringes. So I figured what the heck why don't I try it, it's pretty cheap to get started and I can grow them from home. So I figure I'll keep a little journal similar to other grow journals.

Using the PF Tek method, these are pictures of the mycelium growth in a few of my jars at a week since inoculation.

i am actually thinking of growing and making money of them.
how long do have to wait for the shrooms to be ready to eat?

[enkianderos]

its really variant. The particular spore, whether it is a dikaryotic or monokaryotic, how much solution was used, temperature during incubation phase, quality of grow chamber. Too many variables to give a direct answer.

You should assume somewhere in the range of 30 to 45 days, though when done right the turnaround can be in the mid twenties.

[bigorange2]

Originally Posted by enkianderos

its really variant. The particular spore, whether it is a dikaryotic or monokaryotic, how much solution was used, temperature during incubation phase, quality of grow chamber. Too many variables to give a direct answer.

You should assume somewhere in the range of 30 to 45 days, though when done right the turnaround can be in the mid twenties.

This much is true.. I prefer to use more inoculant, as this increases the rate of colonization dramatically, but is more costly if you're buying prints or syringes, which later on you dont do because you'll learn to be self-sufficient..

Good luck man.. You can message me if you need tips

[tripleoptic]

Originally Posted by bigorange2

This much is true.. I prefer to use more inoculant, as this increases the rate of colonization dramatically, but is more costly if you're buying prints or syringes, which later on you dont do because you'll learn to be self-sufficient..

Good luck man.. You can message me if you need tips

Even though I am a rookie I can agree with more solution having an affect on how quickly the mycelium colonizes. I also have a friend growing and he was much more conservative with his spores than I, using similar sized jars. I have seen plentiful mycelium in a week. He didn't really see anything until nearly two weeks in but that could have been due to a variety of reasons like spore quality, sterilization etc as well.

On a sadder note, I think I saw some blue-green in one of my jars...

Should I just cut my losses with that jar or can the mycelium overtake the blue-green? It's already far-far away from the other jars.

[Vapor Mind]

Looking forward to your shrooms grow journal. Always wanted to grow shrooms just never got around to it.

[Stile]

Originally Posted by tripleoptic

Even though I am a rookie I can agree with more solution having an affect on how quickly the mycelium colonizes. I also have a friend growing and he was much more conservative with his spores than I, using similar sized jars. I have seen plentiful mycelium in a week. He didn't really see anything until nearly two weeks in but that could have been due to a variety of reasons like spore quality, sterilization etc as well.

On a sadder note, I think I saw some blue-green in one of my jars...

Should I just cut my losses with that jar or can the mycelium overtake the blue-green? It's already far-far away from the other jars.

Toss it.
The mycelium may cover it, but it will still be there

[bigorange2]

Originally Posted by tripleoptic

Even though I am a rookie I can agree with more solution having an affect on how quickly the mycelium colonizes. I also have a friend growing and he was much more conservative with his spores than I, using similar sized jars. I have seen plentiful mycelium in a week. He didn't really see anything until nearly two weeks in but that could have been due to a variety of reasons like spore quality, sterilization etc as well.

On a sadder note, I think I saw some blue-green in one of my jars...

Should I just cut my losses with that jar or can the mycelium overtake the blue-green? It's already far-far away from the other jars.

Definitely throw that one out and be on the lookout for it in other jars now.. I've never seen the psilocybe mycelium beat a contam, that I can remember anyway.

[tripleoptic]

Thanks for the advice guys I went ahead and got rid of it.

Hopefully the rest of the jars will be okay. They all look really good right now and have shown growth from the pictures I took this morning.

The one I threw out was not one in the pictures, probably why I didn't catch it earlier.

[TnNORML89]

Been thinkin about startin up a mushroom grow myself. I'm sub'in to see your results, if you encounter any problems or have any tips be sure to post em!

[bumtildeath]

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