Grow Checklist.. What am I missing? Need Bulk Substrate Suggestion

3 spore syringes of Golden Teacher
4 bags of yellow popping corn
91% Rubbing alchohol for sanitizing area and tools to be used
Pint and Quart Jars
Pillow stuffing (polyester)
Clear large storage tote
6qt Pressure Cooker
Nitrile Gloves

Thinking I could get 3 quart containers or 5-6 pint containers in the presure cooker at a time.

Will probably do 9 quart jars 3 different batches with 1/3 a syringe each. Just 1 batch at a time.
I'm wondering what a good bulk substrate to add the inoculated jars to would be. I have heard horse manure and I have also heard coco, and also straw....

Anybody have any experience or suggestions to bulk substrate



From what I understand I do it like this..

soak the corn (in spring water) for 24 hours. Then simmer 1 hour. Strain for at least 30 minutes. Add to jars about 3/4 full. Add a lid with a filter cap or a cap with a hole and polyfill(pillow filling). Wrap tin foil around the whole top of the container. Pressure cook for 1 hour at 15 pounds of pressure.

Cool.

Inoculate.

Keep at 85 degrees somewhere dark.

After 10-14 days your jars should be inoculated and have white growth throughout the corn.

Once all the jars are inoculated you add them to the bulk substrate and then let that inoculate for another 10 days.

Once fully inoculated, you give them light, high humidity, and fresh air exchange. Once these conditions are met mushrooms should start pinning up.



I'm curious about amount of light needed and which bulk substrates work best.

I still need to research how to clone or reproduce spores or mushrooms.. one step at a time... but gotta learn quick cause I jumped the gun and ordered the spores syringe before I even knew the full ins and outs. its still in the mail so no worries yet still have a little bit of time.


Whats the shelf life on a spore syringe? Anything I can do to extend the shelf life?

First of all do not use that much out of the syringe in each jar. Each syringe should do a dozen jars putting too much is worse as it messes up your moisture content all you need is a few spores.
What you have there is all you need to get the jars started oh some lysol spray it all in the air before you inoculate
I would start out with trays instead of a large bulk substrate I like the aluminum ones with the plastic lids I NEVER get contams in those even after 4 flushes. As for the substrate itself I like composted cow manure straight or with some coco coir.

shake your jars. As farmer green says, start with grain. Next time try a manure vermiculite mix. I hate the stuff but straw is trickey and I wouldn't suggest it till you have done a few grows.

and 85 is dangerous, stay down a bit, the organism produces its own heat

farmergreen007 said:

First of all do not use that much out of the syringe in each jar. Each syringe should do a dozen jars putting too much is worse as it messes up your moisture content all you need is a few spores.
What you have there is all you need to get the jars started oh some lysol spray it all in the air before you inoculate
I would start out with trays instead of a large bulk substrate I like the aluminum ones with the plastic lids I NEVER get contams in those even after 4 flushes. As for the substrate itself I like composted cow manure straight or with some coco coir.

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Good info. Thanks

I'll look for those pans.

Good to know that cow manure also works. I think I will mix in about 1/3 composted cow manure with 2/3 coco coir and mix in some gypsum too.

To sterilize the manure I will flush it with several gallons of boiling water and then I will place it in a clean potting container and cover until it is cooled.
Same thing with the coco coir. Then I will use gloves and then spray area with lysol. After everything is clean I will mix the coco and manure with some gypsum(calcium based soil conditioner). Probably just 1 cup of gypsum to 1 bale of coir to about 1 gallon aged composted cow manure. After mixing I will cover the container, change gloves, and respray with area with lysol. Finally I will change gloves and add the inoculated popcorn cakes.. I will break about 2/3 of them in a thin layer over the top and then mix it in with the top couple inches of substrate. The leftover 1/3 will be used to top dress the substrate.

As for temps it will probably be ambient temps of 70-80.

canndo said:

shake your jars. As farmer green says, start with grain. Next time try a manure vermiculite mix. I hate the stuff but straw is trickey and I wouldn't suggest it till you have done a few grows.

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Thanks for reminding me I forgot to add that part... So after inoculated i store in a completely dark place like a drawer. Then with lights out I open jar and shake jars 2x per day until the jar is completely white.

BeastGrow said:

Thanks for reminding me I forgot to add that part... So after inoculated i store in a completely dark place like a drawer. Then with lights out I open jar and shake jars 2x per day until the jar is completely white.

Click to expand...

I understand lots of people start grain but I don't understand how that would help me if I will eventually work with coco tek. Is it much easier or something or just more documented?

First i wouldn't use popcorn. I don't know why everyone here uses it. I would use hard red wheat. Myc loves it. Don't open your jars to shake em. Fill them about 2/3 full and when they are about 25% colonized then just shake them once. Do not shake them 2X per day. You will kill the myc by the second time you shake them and your project will fail before it barely starts. Do not flush cow manure compost to sterilize it. Just put it in an oven bag, seal it, and make 2 holes and cover with micropore tape and pc it for 90 minutes at 15 psi. Why not try a tek that is tried and true instead of trying to put one together yourself? Here is a dubtub tek that works great:
http://www.shroomology.org/topic/8670-6-quart-dub-tub-mist-and-fan-bulk-tek/
I have been growing for a little while now and i still use this tek sometimes. If you follow the directions to the T I guarantee you will have more boomers than you know what to do with. Just please try it before wasting time and money on a failed attempt. Because to be honest it sounds like you are going to fail with the plan you have now. I'm not trying to sound like a dick. I'm just being honest for your own sake. I like to see people grow shrooms. Not make a thread that is 25 pages long with a bunch of "What am i doing wrong?" questions.

BeastGrow said:

Thanks for reminding me I forgot to add that part... So after inoculated i store in a completely dark place like a drawer. Then with lights out I open jar and shake jars 2x per day until the jar is completely white.

Click to expand...

Don't shake that often I only shake mine 1 time or 2 at the most they will actually be ready quicker
To stylize your substrate get it all mixed up and the moisture content right then put it in jars and PC it all together
Boiling water will not strylize it only leach out the nutes
Don't layer mix it all together 1/3 spawn 2/3 substrate dump in the trays I told you about put the plastic lid on and when it is all colonized take the plastic lid off

Or what maddog said it will all get you to the same place.
Using corn as spawn does not have all the nutes wbs (or rye grain esp) but it will colinize super fast and is cheap and easy to find that's why it is used by a lot of people starting out

Got a run of Penis envy going in WBS right now .cant wait to spawn to 50/50 verm/black kow will post latter.....Maybe I missed it but are you making L/c's(live cultures?) theyreally speed the process up

these are around 11days in styrofoam cooler in pot box

MadDog607 said:

First i wouldn't use popcorn. I don't know why everyone here uses it. I would use hard red wheat. Myc loves it. Don't open your jars to shake em. Fill them about 2/3 full and when they are about 25% colonized then just shake them once. Do not shake them 2X per day. You will kill the myc by the second time you shake them and your project will fail before it barely starts. Do not flush cow manure compost to sterilize it. Just put it in an oven bag, seal it, and make 2 holes and cover with micropore tape and pc it for 90 minutes at 15 psi. Why not try a tek that is tried and true instead of trying to put one together yourself? Here is a dubtub tek that works great:
http://www.shroomology.org/topic/8670-6-quart-dub-tub-mist-and-fan-bulk-tek/
I have been growing for a little while now and i still use this tek sometimes. If you follow the directions to the T I guarantee you will have more boomers than you know what to do with. Just please try it before wasting time and money on a failed attempt. Because to be honest it sounds like you are going to fail with the plan you have now. I'm not trying to sound like a dick. I'm just being honest for your own sake. I like to see people grow shrooms. Not make a thread that is 25 pages long with a bunch of "What am i doing wrong?" questions.

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Thanks for the head up guys.. I still have a lot to learn only a few hours into research so bear with me.

First I will see if I can find some of the wild bird seed... is Pennington the only brand that works good or is there a certain blend I am looking for? Then if you would be kind enough to link those pans you use I would try to find those too. Then if I find those I will return the plastic tote and the popcorn.

Like you said I will try to PC the substrate first.


I still need

Pans
Wild BIrd Seed
Oven Bags
Lysol

I have:
face masks
91% rubbing alchohol
pressure cooker (only 6 quart digital).
I already have some half pint, pint, and quarter jars.. I will do quarter jars if they fit.
Drill bit for making holes if necessary
Nitrile Gloves
Coco Coir (CocoTek) 5kg pressed bale
Composted Cow manure (just about as much as i want)
Spore Syringe of Golden teacher


Where would i get red hard wheat? Never seen it.

BTW GOLDEN TEACHERS are an awesome experience!! Best of luc
PS There are several spawning mediums and TEKS out there for bulk find which one makes ya happy

farmergreen007 said:

Or what maddog said it will all get you to the same place.
Using corn as spawn does not have all the nutes wbs (or rye grain esp) but it will colinize super fast and is cheap and easy to find that's why it is used by a lot of people starting out

Click to expand...

Sounds like nutrients are not necessary during spawning only during pinning/flushes... A flush is a round of mushroom fruiting? Pinning is when the mushrooms grow up out of the substrate? Still a lot of new terminology for me to learn.

BeastGrow said:

Sounds like nutrients are not necessary during spawning only during pinning/flushes... A flush is a round of mushroom fruiting? Pinning is when the mushrooms grow up out of the substrate? Still a lot of new terminology for me to learn.

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Yes, but what causes pinning is a absence of nutrients the mycelium has to digest it along with a little bit of light(thats what casing is for)that why you wait a week after your jars are fully colonized

WHODAT@THADOR said:

BTW GOLDEN TEACHERS are an awesome experience!! Best of luc
PS There are several spawning mediums and TEKS out there for bulk find which one makes ya happy

Click to expand...

Thanks Took advise on that strain from a respected grower on these forums.

Which TEK do you like? Is coco, manure, and popcorn difficult or something? I have seen great results from this simple technique... I found when growing MJ its best to emulate a successful grower... surely the same applies to mushroom...

I like this TEK i chose because it sounded very simple.

WHODAT@THADOR said:

Yes, but what causes pinning is a absence of nutrients the mycelium has to digest it along with a little bit of light(thats what casing is for)that why you wait a week after your jars are fully colonized

Click to expand...

In that case when using Coco, Popcorn, and manure.. What ratios should I use? how much colonized popcorn? and what ratio of manure to coco?

WHODAT@THADOR said:

Yes, but what causes pinning is a absence of nutrients the mycelium has to digest it along with a little bit of light(thats what casing is for)that why you wait a week after your jars are fully colonized

Click to expand...

EXample like they said take your WBS after fully colonized wait a week spawn to pastuerized substrate ....50/50 mix,pure vermiculite(REZ TEK) straw whatever you choose...mist lightly let run through....the mycelium will chase the water if you let it dry out a little thus speeding up the process.....then case.(peat,vermiculit layer) DO NOT add anything after this!!!!! cover pan with foil let sit in 80 degree room 3-5 days then off with the foil into the incubator