Well, I've commited to it basically. I'm going to order a syringe with spores. HEre's my big question. Is it as simple as injecting the spores into a substrate? (i.e. rice cakes). I've read many places that just injecting them into a few places on a rice cake will cause them to grow as long as it is a damp environment. If there is anyone with experience growing, please share, and share much. I am committed, but I don't want to waste my time. P.S. Grow kits are out for me. One for money reasons, and two because of the shipping of a large package like that to my house.
Grow kits are gay. Its cheaper to do the BRF. Also I cna tell you while they are colonizing keep them warm not damp. Go to www.shroomery.org for more info
Whenever I hear people discuss growing shrooms, they always talk about rice cakes. I don't believe you can use rice cakes as a substrate (although I could be wrong). What I believe you're refering to is PF Cakes, which are a mixture of vermiculite, brown rice flour, and water. After you prepare the mixture in a 1/2 pint widemouth jar, you must sterilize it by using a pressure cooker, if possible. If not, simply steaming them in a pot should do the trick. Afterwards, you need to inject approximately 1/4 cc of the spore solution in each of the four holes you made in the lid of the jars. Then place the jars in a warm (80 degrees F should be perfect, give or take a few degrees), dry place. After a little while you should notice a white substance growing on the substrate. This is mycelium and this is good. If it is any other color, the jar is most likely contaminated, and you should discard it as soon as possible. After a few weeks (anywhere from 3 - 6ish) the entire jar should be completely covered in mycelium. This is good. At this point, wait another week to make sure the inside is completely covered as well. This will help to protect the cake from contaminates. After the entire jar is colonized, birth the jar into your terranium by simply removing it from the jar. Be sure to scrape off the top layer of vermiculite, too. Your terranium should maintain a temperature in the mid 70s, although shrooms can grow in temperatures as low as the high 60s. Your relative humidity should be high. Anywhere from 90 - 100% should do the trick. Within a few days you should begin to see the jars starting to pin (a little bit of indirect light will help speed up this process). The little "pins" you see are the beginning of mushrooms. Within three to five days, these pins should mature into full grown mushrooms which you can then pick. To pick the mushrooms, pull them off the cake with a slight twisting motion. Do not cut them off, this could leave pieces behind which could contaminate the cake. Remove all the mushrooms, and all the mushroom aborts (smaller pins that failed to mature for one reason or another). Note, most the aborts, unless rotten, can still be used, keep them. After you have removed all the aborts and mushrooms from your cake, you can simply place it back into the terranium to fruit again (this would be your second flush). Within a week, the mushrooms should be mature and ready to be picked again. You can continue to go on to third and fourth flushes, but after that, the cake is pretty much exhausted and can be discarded. However, if you want to start an outdoor patch, you can keep the cake and use it for that. Well, thats a brief synopsis of growing mushrooms. I'm sure I left out some important details, but bear with me, I'm high and I've never grown mushies before in my life. For more information on innoculation, syringes, terraniums, different substrates, or basically anything related to mushrooms, check out www.shroomery.org. Terrific resource for anything you'd need to know. Just getting ready to get my shrooms going. Within the next week or two, I should have them started. Good luck with your grow if you do decide to pursue this. Also, feel free to PM me with any questions. I'm not too experienced, but I've got a decent amount of knowledge on mushies.
How much you get per flush depends on how many cakes you have. On average, a cake can yield anywhere from three to seven dry grams, depending on many conditions. It's like growing pot, you can't just say exactly how much you'll get, it all depends on how much you put into it. And yes, you can get your own spores. When you are ready to harvest your shrooms, you can pick your biggest, best looking shroom, remove the cap, and place it on spore printing paper to make a print of the spore. You can then scrape the print into sterilized water, mixing it around carefully, and suck it into a 10 or 12 cc syringe, making you self sufficient for life.
^^^ Good luck with your mushrooms. If I can recommend one thing, read everything and anything you can come across on www.shroomery.org. You will not be disappointed, and knowledge can only help you.
can you get spore prints and spore printing paper locally, or just offline?...or can i make my own paper, and can i buy like an 8th of shrooms and make my own print with one of those shrooms? and ill read up on shroomery...thanks
The PF TEK its all you really need folks... Once you get your first grow out of the way you might want to look into more complex setups, like the Poor Man's Pod. Also look up The Dunk TEK, as it is very very easy to do and can increase flushs 10 fold.
You can get spore prints locally if you know someone who grows shrooms. That's how I'm getting mine. Ordering them would probably be easier though. And you can't just buy an eighth of shrooms or whatever and make your prints with that. The shrooms need to be fresh. Yup, good call. I've got the Poor Man's Pod setup, just gotta get my prints lined up.