Wow, this is all really helpful. How much is a good, yet cheap pc and where would I go to purchase one? The only reason I ask about the pellets is because I already had gotten some for the poppy seeds that came.

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My First Grow Journal:

walmart carries them for around 25$. if you have thrift stores or second hand stores, check them for old canning pots. they'll be huge like a big boiler, but with a clamping lid with a rubber seal. the good ones have a pressure gauge on them.

i paid 40 for my autoclave, which does the equivalent of 28 half pint jars in one go (i use 1 quart jars). it's awesome, and was found in a thrift shop

Thanks, will def. look into getting the pressure cooker. Also, I'm wondering if these jars would do ok, even though not tapered.

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My First Grow Journal:

those will work great for grain, not so great for cakes (if you're trying to keep them intact). if you're going to case cakes, no problem; you can break them up with a fork to get the myc out of the jars. i use the non tapered jars myself, but i'm using corn (really great grain, once you figure out the kinks; don't follow the corn teks, as most are bad advice.... too much water, or not enough soaking, etc....)

So I could grow cakes, break them out with a fork into a casing tray and just top the mycelium with some 50/50 peat/verm mix?

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My First Grow Journal:

plainly stated, yes.

casing layer needs some prep. mix it up 50/50 (i like more verm, less peat), then saturate to field capacity (water should drip out when you squeeze it, but not pour). then heat in the oven at 170 for one hour. allow it to cool, then make your casing. cover the casing with foil, and place in the incubator for three days. then fruit. it helps to mist the casing after applying the layer, until the layer is glistening, but not soaked. once in the fruiting chamber, fan and mist several times daily, and in no time you're plucking mushies daily . my casings never follow the flush rule; they grow clusters, which mature at different times (multispore). after the first big flush, i have small daily flushes, with a bigger flush about every 4-5 days.

sorry for rambling, it's late .

try some coco coir if you can get it in your area.. it does not contaminate or pack tight like peat. i case my cakes with 75/25 coir, verm and i get great results! i cased 48 1 pint jars of pan cyans and got well over 1 lb of dried shrooms and all i did to prep my casing is mix the verm and coir watered to field capacity and put in the microwave for 10 min and let it cool just a bit and case.

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HYOCTANE

http://www.rollitup.org/hallucinator...l-p-cyans.html

Alright, thanks everyone for this information!

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My First Grow Journal:

No pics or anything yet? What's goin on!

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Counting and breathing, I'm leaving here tomorrow.

Sorry, I checked them last night and still no mycelium growing in them. No contaminants either, but I really still need that thermometer as I have no idea what the temperature is in here.

Actually, this morning I might have seen a little something that might be mycelium, but it def. too small to get on my crappy camera.... damn I need to find that battery.

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