First Time Mushroom Grow B+. Am i doing anything wrong?

All this means is that your environment is perfect - patience.

canndo said:

All this means is that your environment is perfect - patience.

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Perfect! Just what I was hoping to hear. And hopefully ill see some of my first pins within the next few days. Im getting impatient.

Yup I was thinking the same thing. I'd expect some pins in the next few days. They look good. Nice work.

As for your next project, I prefer fruiting cakes as cakes. I don't feel like you gain much from trying to use them as spawn. Although it would be a good exercise in pasteurization. I'd keep the trays small and make a few in case it doesn't work out it won't necessarily be a total loss. I used aluminum loaf pans with clear plastic lids a few times and they worked out well. Did you have a substrate in mind? BRF cakes make poor spawn, they aren't like grains, so I wouldn't go any less that 1:1 spawn ratio. Meaning if you use four 1/2 pint cakes, you'll want to use no more than 1 quart of spawn.

sonar said:

Yup I was thinking the same thing. I'd expect some pins in the next few days. They look good. Nice work.

As for your next project, I prefer fruiting cakes as cakes. I don't feel like you gain much from trying to use them as spawn. Although it would be a good exercise in pasteurization. I'd keep the trays small and make a few in case it doesn't work out it won't necessarily be a total loss. I used aluminum loaf pans with clear plastic lids a few times and they worked out well. Did you have a substrate in mind? BRF cakes make poor spawn, they aren't like grains, so I wouldn't go any less that 1:1 spawn ratio. Meaning if you use four 1/2 pint cakes, you'll want to use no more than 1 quart of spawn.

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I have heard of folks taking their well tightened cakes to a cheese grater and claiming that they have so many innoculation points that their substrate is fully colonized in only a few days - sounds like a recipe for disaster contamination wise but that is what they say.

I think I see my first few pins on one of my cakes, but they are still very tiny right now. Hopefully more will be showing up shortly. Ill post pictures soon when they get a little bigger.

As for a bulk grow, the only reason I would be starting with cakes is because I dont have a pressure cooker so i am stuck sterilizing in a pot. Am i correct that you need a PC to sterilize grain and other substrates?

Also, thank you everyone for commenting with your tips and experience. It is very nice to be guided along the way and Ive actually gotten more help from my thread on RIU than i have from my thread on Mycotopia which is dedicated for mushroom growing so thanks again!

Yes a pressure cooker is needed to sterilize grains.

I came home to find water pooled on top of every cake and a blueish color on and around all or most of my pins! I got the excess water up with a paper towel but as for the shrooms i dont know what to do. Someone please let me know whats up with em and if theyre contamed or not! Thanks

richerdrocks said:

I came home to find water pooled on top of every cake and a blueish color on and around all or most of my pins! I got the excess water up with a paper towel but as for the shrooms i dont know what to do. Someone please let me know whats up with em and if theyre contamed or not! Thanks

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Your pictures are too blurry for me to judge.

Bluing indicates some type of damage. External is often from drying out, internal is often from the beginnings of an abort and it will then turn to mush or black. If it gets cold, the water can condense, humidity drops, you see it on the walls and cake, but the actual water that the mushroom can use drops. If you get a growth spurt during a dry time, or a constant breeze, bluing can happen.

External bluing is usually fine, as long as the environment is good and humidity is high enough. It'll probably keep growing.

Internal bluing, followed by mushiness (I put a glove on and touch) indicates you should watch it and any deeper color/mushiness demands a harvest, as long as the harvest won't destroy any side pins. Judgment call, you'll learn.

When I did cakes in the beginning, I aborted MANY pins before I got any decent qty of real shrooms.

Now I peel them off a bulk sub before they go into a rehydrate step (except PE, I leave those, they are the next flush).

I keep pins separate since the dose is usually 1/2 what a full grown shroom is, and can accidently dose too much if they are mixed. I occasional share the pins, but only with a STRONG warning.

It doesnt seem like the bluing is getting any worse. Do you think I should just pick off the blueish pins and let the rest of them that arent blue keep going? Because I am pretty sure that all the bluing was due to too much moisture because the day I found them all blue was when they had puddles of water on them all. So could i eat them even if they are blue or do you think they are contamed?

Leave them alone. The blueing looks to be from over spraying or handling your cakes. They should be fine. Any other color would be cause for concern.

can you fan your fruiting chamber too much? how many times a day should i exchange the air in the chamber?

Zaehet Strife said:

can you fan your fruiting chamber too much? how many times a day should i exchange the air in the chamber?

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The proper exchange rate is 2 to 4 complete air exchanges per hour. You can fan them too much if in the process you wind up reducing your rh to something below 90 percent.

hows everything going ?