so now that i know my spores werent dead i'll start a journal on how this came to be.

i used cracked corn, mixed with some vermiculite, 4 half pint jars, some tin foil and a broken pressure cooker. i somehow ruined the seal, but glued it back in..and steam shoots from the sides and i can never quit get the 15psi weight to whistle no matter how many 13lb wieghts i balance on the top. after 3 or 4 i thought it would be a hassle to stack any more weight. i only had it at a full boil for maybe 25-30 minutes and it was rising temp for about 15-20 minutes. maybe less the time frame is fuzzy.

i let them cool, and in front of my o3 machine, reaching inside a tupperware, i innoculated the jars with those old clumpy discount spores. i put them in a plastic container and put a small black trash bag around it and rubber banded the end. i checked on them once during the next week that went by. nothing. i left them alone for a few more days until i heard scuffling in the drawer. i went to see what had grown and i found my weasel tearing open the plastic bag and ripping the tin foil covers to shreds...

the weasel was contained after a short battle and the i inspected the damage. w00t some growth spots. so i turned on the o3 machine and shook them up a little in front of it. for the next few days i did the same about once a day. they're making progress, about half colonized and i dont see any sign of infection. im not sure if the o3 machine is doing this or if its causing it the grow more slowly, but it all seems well for now. id say the substrate in 1 jar is about 1/2 colonized, the others between 1/3 and maybe 1/4 colonized. ill show some pics when the time approaches.

ive found mixed ideas about o3 (ozone) machines so im kind of using this as an experiment of using one for your all purpose sterile enviromaker. this machine isnt a cheap model tho. it has a brown box that a fan the size of a nice desktop fan, a filter on the back where it intakes air and a remote control to use every feature. it can be set to clean an area 0-50 sq meters, up to 2500 sq meters, and to sanitize an area the setting is even more powerful.
on lower settings it producing a safe amount of o3 to keep the air clean without causing any problems or throat aches. in a bed room on a medium setting it can be botheresome. when i look at the jars without the tin foil lid, i put it on that sanitize setting and check it out. having it on for a few minutes isnt going to hurt anything, but i wouldnt want to fall asleep in a room with it at that setting.

i didnt pre sterilize any outside area from what i was directly working with. the tupperware and other stuff was spray with 99% isopro. and my hands were cleaned and alcohol washed.

as soon as these jars are colonized i will pasturize (if not sterilize) some thistle seed and vermiculite and see how that works, create a liquid solution for saving the strain and fruit the rest of the mycelium under a perlite/peatmoss and oystershell mix casing.

i'll take pictures of everything soon enough.

btw, before this sparks a debate-- dont post here and say 'o3 machines are dangerous' or something. i've read all the petty arguments already and i'm working on understanding the more complicated ones. when i get the liquid culture all worked up, i will do a control test of the same substrates (which by that time i should have some compost to use) and i'll do a control study in a traditionally sanitized atmosphere and fruit them for comparison. i want to find out if using my o3 machine on a desk in front of me is good enough for working with. it would really put this thing to use and save me a lot of preparation hassle.

i'm starting a journal called "experimental techniques for boomers" that we should all contribute to. it doesnt need to be experimental to put it in the journal. if we have a technique we want to try, we can link to it from there and make it a staple to find the techniques we've all tried. it is also the place to post comments for this and other experimental journals.

anyone trying to experiment with this should read up on the information on shrooktalk.com and shroomery.org to see what others have done.

so i took pictures of my jars and made a casing. i might make some more casing mix tomorrow or ill try to fruit my other two cakes with dunk and roll tactics.

heres a detailed pic of one my of finished cakes. they all look like this



http://www.rollitup.org/marijuana-pics/index.php?n=6100

you can click the link to zoom in on the details.

http://www.rollitup.org/marijuana-pics/index.php?n=6124 closeup
heres some colonizes cakes. ^


http://www.rollitup.org/marijuana-pics/index.php?n=6125 closeup
two of them were crushed for casing. the white you see sticking out is after 1 day. ^
the mycellium is really pretty


http://www.rollitup.org/marijuana-pics/index.php?n=6126 closeup
heres my other two cakes.. they looked less sexy than the other two. ^
so i rolled them around a bowl of water then rolled them in vermiculite. i'll race them against the casing.

the casing looks like this now. i cut off some pieces from the side to innoc some new jars. i put the tray into the fruit chamber to give it fresh air and instead of pinning it just filled up. so now i put an airtight lid on it to try to initiate pinning.

http://www.rollitup.org/marijuana-pics/index.php?n=6226

heres the fruiting chamber before i put the lid on the casing. 1 on my cakes it showing a pin now. and its gotten a little bigger. i want to take a pic but i dont want to open the terrarium right now.

http://www.rollitup.org/marijuana-pics/index.php?n=6227

some of the mycellium under the scope. not the best pictures but ill do better when i have specific isolates to show

http://www.rollitup.org/marijuana-pics/index.php?n=6228

i made some new jars. 3 were made by putting a tiny piece of a specific rope in each one. 1 of them has a 3x3cm chunk and the other has one 3 times as big. two jars i decided to innoc with some old spores of some mystery strain i got from a friend. it was a year old when he gave it to me, and ive been letting it sit around for like 2 monthes on a shelf. im labeled them so i can take pics of how quick they develop. i have other jars waiting right now that innoc by mixing mycellium in sterile water, shaking it up and injecting water into the cakes. i think some of them have chunks of myc in there with them + inject.

im still using the 1 1/2 feet space in front of my o3 machine as my clean environment. in a room where i smoke bowls and cigarettes. in a room with a ferret. its all worked out so far, i didnt think it was this easy to do without all the extra effort.

i have some new spores on the way.. john allen strain. i can wait to see how this turns out. if these old spores work then thats 3 strains ill have to work with. soon ill have to do some agar dishes and build my perfect strain. that is if i get that far.


http://www.rollitup.org/marijuana-pics/index.php?n=6233

http://www.rollitup.org/marijuana-pics/index.php?n=6234

ok i took pics of little penis anyway. its on the cake to the right in both pics. the little lump on the left cake is just a dried piece of corn kernel that didnt get colonized. soon both cakes should be covered in tiny little penises.

other pins came up while i took a nap

http://www.rollitup.org/marijuana-pics/index.php?n=6251

everything is pinning now. it all worked out so far. lets see how they finish.

http://www.rollitup.org/marijuana-pics/index.php?n=6314

i wonder if this casing will produce more than the cakes. i have a total of 20-25 pins on both cakes and maybe 50-70 pins on the casing made with 2 cakes. kickin ass and taking names. 1 cakes not doin so well. only like 4 pins so far.


http://www.rollitup.org/marijuana-pics/index.php?n=6348

ok.. so my cakes didnt produce much.. 1 produced almost nothing and another made a nice attempt. the casing is doing well.

dried from cakes

http://www.rollitup.org/marijuana-pics/index.php?n=6400



http://www.rollitup.org/marijuana-pics/index.php?n=6398


http://www.rollitup.org/marijuana-pics/index.php?n=6399
i love the way that partial torn veil looks

pretty good man.