'Edible' Fungi Grow Log :)

[chilli]

I tried the PF Brown Rice Flour and Vermiculite technique last night and must say the preparation of the substrate was actually very problematic in terms of volumes.

I used 500 mL containers. Measures out 3/4 full container three times for each of the 3 - ie. 375 mL x 3 = 1125 mL of Brunnings vermiculite.

Then I soaked this with about 400 mL of water and strained off.

Then I added the brown rice flour in bits just coating the surface of the top of the vermiculite and folding it in and repeating. After several spoon fulls the mixture was taking the consistency of dough! Some areas were beginning to get together like a bread almost. So i just kept mixing till it was sticky but still coming apart fairly easily.

I think I must have added about 250-300 mL of BRF and any more would have turned it into a bread

Spooning this stuff out had a bit of a sticky feel to it. I fear that I might have used too much water or too much BRF but it all spooned out nicely into the containers and there's plenty of air space. After sterilising in the microwave there was quite a bit of moisture on walls of the containers but I didn't worry so much about this.

The leftover material was put into a shouldered jar with tyvek filter and drilled lid ala proper PF style (except no tapered jar). I am planning to case that particular jar by breaking up the contents in the jar and pouring out.

Sounds like too much BRF went in, but its hard to tell because of the inexactness of your measurements... try measuring them exactly, and there shouldn't be any problems. I've found the ratios on this tek: http://www.fungifun.org/English/Pftek to be quite good, although I usually use a little more water than it recommends.

[user1]

How is your casing tray going?

yeah... what happened with that klue?

[user1]

Bump.

Really good basic beginner's guide using minimal gear.

Edited March 2, 2011 by user1