Hyphal

Thanks Amulte - if someone is going to go to the trouble of putting such a thing into PDF format, I wouldnt mind going through and cleaning it up a little first. Sounds like a good idea though.

One more thing on that note - I deliberately made NO drug references within this post - this is purely a guide to growing any dung loving mushroom you can think of - its up to the individual what they do with such information.

Thanks Ace - what is Gomao's site? I truly am a noob around here.... I did it at home sphinx - I wouldn't ever use a work computer for such things. I hope it helps, thats the main reason anyway - it feels really good to know if I help out just a couple of people, then its more than worth it. Good luck!

Thanks Green - good luck and post back your results! Gotta make the most of these sudden bursts of creativity - they are few and far between... Thanks man, good karma to you too.

Edited first post to include why not to use cow poo.

Thanks heaps guys! It took me long enough to write... Steer clear of cow poo if you can - its much denser and not as mycelium friendly by the time it has passed through 4 stomachs (it becomes quite 'gluggy' and tends to stagnate easily)... I hear you say "but this is where such species as cubensis grow naturally". This is true, but its rarely you will see a cow pattie completely consumed by mycelium, and it isn't nearly as ideal as horse poo.

I put together a post on this one for you and everyone who needs some help with this Sphinx - check it out and it should cover all you need to know - If not, ask away...

Almost dude, dont use corn when using the pf tek - you need specially designed grain jars, with little filter lids for gas exchange. Stick with your normal PF tek to get full colonised jars then spawn with these...

Well you CAN go straight to a corn/poo mix, but this is going to smell a bit funky when you pressure cook and the mix takes a bit longer to colonise... but your right, you can do this no problem at all. As discussed above, you can also get away with sterilising grain by steaming but your success rate will be low. You might get a few jars to colonise but this isnt efficient, and can be a waste of grain.

You can happily use straight horse poo, but it works much better if you mix it 50/50 with chopped straw. Steer clear of cow poo - after it goes through 4 stomachs it tends to be too dense and just doesnt have the right fluffy consistency.

You actually have to either slide your colonised grain out of the jar first, then crumble it by hand - or spoon it out (if the jar has a shoulder and the mycelial mass doesnt slide out). You wont be able to break your grain up inside the jar. Thats exactly right sphinx - but you can use pf style jars or whatever you want - any healthy culture of mycelium. Corn, Wild bird seed or rye crumbles a lot easier than pf jars, but you need a pressure cooker to do the grain jars.

The only thing missing from that list is - Spawning.... Once you have a fully colonised pf jar or grain jar, you can fruit it the ways you said above - either birth, or case it. And yes, if you have a fully colonised grain jar you can then transfer that to other grain jars to make more colonised jars. But - what I meant by quadrupling your mycelium was - spawning to a manure based substrate. There still is a bit of confusion Sphinx - you DONT case with manure - thats really bad news, its like putting a massive hotel for contaminations on top of your grain. But, what you can do with a colonised jar (pf OR grain) is crumble it into tiny little chunks - and mix these chunks through some pasteurised poo mix, then allow this mix to AGAIN fully colonise. The result is a container of colonised poo mix - THEN case this with a non-nutritious casing layer (no nutrient so that there is no hotel contams to set in) and then fruit....

I really mean no offence - and that wasnt directed at you in any way... I meant it to Harries suggestion of changing grains - thats not targeting the root of the problem IMO. In my studies on the subject colonised grain is primarily used for spawning - although yes you can fruit directly from grain and it does work very well - you can also quadruple your amount of mycelium by spawning. If you are capable of colonising grain jars - then you've done the hardest bit - spawning to a poo based substrate is much easier.

Im still curious as to why everyone fruits directly from their grain - isnt the main idea behind colonising a jar of grain so that you can spawn it to a more nutritious bulk substrate?

It more often than not performs well, but there is definitely a lack of nutrients in a brf/verm style pf jar. Theres a LOT more goodness in a horse poo/straw mix, and will never fail you potency-wise. If you do use a dessicant chamber to dry your friends, always fan dry them first for a day or two before putting them in the dessicant chamber to finish off the job. Dessicant is available in bulk, for cheap, at the pet section of any major supermarket - look for 'silica' based kitty litter. Alternatively, spend a couple of bucks and get one of these - Dehydrator. The 'Snack Maker' middle of the range version has three temp settings and the lowest temp is ideal.

No one could ever guess a strain name from the pics sphinx, looks like its just going to be one of those life mysteries.... Your casing layer still looks a little dry but really thats a good result - especially if you grew them from a spore print and not a clone or an isolate. Your potency could be due to a few reasons - the first and foremost though is probably the substrate - lack of nutrients is a major player, and brf just doesnt have a heap of them. Try spawning to a nutrient enriched substrate next time. Another things is how they were dried, you should be drying them directly under a desk fan, with the air blowing across the fruits. Nice pics man!

Looks ideal - Good luck... Make sure you keep those jars in the dark!

Strange - the photo doesnt clearly show them and its a bit tough to identify them as subs or not - their caps arent at all wavy, they almost look like cubensis...? I would be careful with those specimens, get better pics for a better ID before you eat any.

I didnt realise people were so keen on sub prints - I have a heap from last season sitting around.... They are not very dark and would need to be grown on agar (may not be 100% sterile)... (awaits barrage of PM's...)

Very interested Creach! Sounds great....

Sounds perfect to me mate.

Nice haul there Komodo, was that last year? And was that from Balingup?

This is one of the biggest Ive seen yet... Strain was PE6 -

Im curious as to whether we are all posting at the same time and perhaps you missed my post before Harry. I second your notion -

Temp is definitely the biggest contributing factor to growth speed. Cubensis will grow well outside of the parameters, eg you can get fruits in 16C weather - and jars will colonise at 18C - but things will move very slowly. 20C is too cold Harry, they will grow but at that temp you will notice things will slow right down. 24-25C is optimal fruiting, 28-30C optimal colonisation temp.