im worried about moisture content in my corn tek?

donmagicjuan said:

ive never seen ph in a mush grow, is it supposed to be neutral?

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6.8 - 7.2 is optimum - PH is a very large factor in the proper growing of mushrooms. The more basic the better as a general rule becuase there metabolic processes make the substrate more and more acid until finally the substrate is the perfect PH for competitor molds - which is usually why you will begin to see Trich late in the 2nd or late in the 3rd flush - this is why you want to put some quick acting basefying ingredient in your casing and also some slower acting leachant in there as well- that is if you are intent on 4 or more flushes or want to guard against trich. Long ago I simply opted to quit at flush 3 and battle the trich as it came up rather than put oyster shell and such in my casing but I've been known to really bruitalize my casing with strong base substances even to the point of inhibiting mycelium for the opening flush - I really don't know if I gained any advantage.

donmagicjuan said:

one thing i am worried about is my corn cake falling apart like rye when i go to dunk it. will fully colonized corn fall apart when handled?
i like paul stamets, where can a total beginner go to learn(hopefully a movie) facts not just teks about shrooms?? im like a sponge and theres a new bong in my life!!!

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If your "cakes" are falling apart you are doing something wrong - this mycelium is very tenacious and "knits" very quicly to form what looks like a big cheese that is actually somewhat difficult to break up and at a certain point impossible to crumble. You are best getting Stamet's books, they are fairly easy to read and will give you a fine primer on growing a large variety of mushrooms, only some of which are hallucinogenic as he gave that up long ago (most avid micophiles do- as all but the mexicana are not that challenging to grow)

thanks again for all the tippij, check out my new hotplate, now i dont even need somebodies kitchen i can go right in my room! one question would be about the plastic lid on the glass jar. will it survive a pressure cooking do u think? my corn is soaking im doing this easy tek just for this 2nd round of mine
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=msUoZPVk-yY

donmagicjuan said:

thanks again for all the tippij, check out my new hotplate, now i dont even need somebodies kitchen i can go right in my room! one question would be about the plastic lid on the glass jar. will it survive a pressure cooking do u think? my corn is soaking im doing this easy tek just for this 2nd round of mine
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=msUoZPVk-yY

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From the looks of it i doubt your plastic will survive - there is a list online somewhere as to the heat resistance of different kinds of plastic,check it out, most plastics are marked somewhere as to the type of plastic it is (I suppose for recycling purposes).

no dice it actually says 158 f on it so tin foil it is fun snow storm activity!!

i just used my hot plate to heat up my hash oil pan way easier right in ur room im glad i bought this!

So the corn was soaked and cooked the final kernal could be squished if u really pressed it but was otherwise hard does this sound right? I have heard corn will colonize faster than brf? Im excited but its my first corn run!!

I spent about 6 months growing mushrooms a few years ago. The only substrate I tried was wild bird seed, I had decided on it after doing alot of reading, and comparing different techniques. I feel like I had great success, I was able to grow several different strains, and got a good yield from most. I typically got 3 flushes before I started having contam issues, and then I would just recycle the tray. I did float my slabs of myc between flushes to try to impart some more moisture, but like canndo said I didn't really notice them absorbing much of the moisture. I have relatively detailed instructions of my whole process in my journal. It goes from about page 5 up threw page 30-40, I included details from makeing the syringes, to the whole process of the preparing the grains, and finally making the casings and fruiting them out. I also took my own spore prints, so I have 10-15 stored away for my next opportunity to enjoy the world of fungus growing.

So is the boiling more to kill contams then softening the corn? Things seem blank in one jar and ok but slow in the other. They are big jars idk know im still paranoid worried about my moisture content!?