Cases still not fruiting!!

[Coschi]

Well,

Spores innoculated, incubated at 26 degrees, colonized nicely

around 30%

at 100%

this was all broken up, cased with 50/50 of verm/peat and put back in the incubator until it looked like this

this took about five days

i stopped at this point because after waiting days it didn't colonize the casing any further, and i thought they'd definitely fruit because previously i just cased and put straight in the fruiting chamber

this is from last time, as you can see shrooms came up but no mycelium has colonized the casing

so they've been in the fruiting chamber for over a week and no pins yet!

perhaps it's too cold, where they sit it must be no more than 15

do i need to regulate their temp ?

they look pretty wet too.. lots of water blobs on the top, maybe humidity is too high?

umm...

is it too far gone or can i recover them ???

[Coschi]

Bumb !

come on ya bums i know someone out there can help with this !!!!

[naja naja]

too cold, get that temp up to around 24 decC. Put it in a warm spot, lik ontop of ur fridge or above ur TV unit. Heat pad and thermostat if u got it.

Looks like Mex, which can fruit aslow as 50Deg Faranheight (u can tell I'm not american carnt u) I'd get that temp up.

[soma_seeker]

it's just hit winter where i am and i'm experiencing significantly slower growth rates at a similar temperature to your's

i hate winter....

[Coschi]

Yeah i'm definitely not a fan, all my plants are struggling a little too

ok, well they've been sitting in this cold temp for quite some time now (around a week)

is there a chance they're fucked or will they be fine as soon as some good temps come ?

I might have to setup an incubator type deal for them, it's the only way i'm going to get their temps up

[ENtiTY]

Heya SPhinx

Tried to reply to this thread earlier but the nets been temperamental at work, so has work for that matter hehe. I laugh now its the weekend

Any who, yeah the low temps are your problem, cases will be fine once you get the temps up. On a positive note shrooms are supposed to be more potent when they grow slow so if you do get them to fruit they should enable one to see through time If your south of QLD winter pretty much puts a spanner in the works for cubes, unless your a dedicated grower and knock together some equipment to compensate

Keeps us all posted Sphinxy baby, looking forward to some perdy pics!

[Hyphal]

shrooms are supposed to be more potent when they grow slow so if you do get them to fruit they should enable one to see through time

Any links to this interesting information Hazza?

To warm your casings, just put them in a cupboard with a 75-100W lightglobe and that will raise temps considerably... Or get a small oil heater like THIS ONE and put it in the room with your project.

[Coschi]

Thanks fellas, glad to hear you think things are still ok

Harry, i'm liking the possibility of these extra-potent fruits !!!!

Well i've setup two of these:

i used the same thing as the incubator, and now have the same deal going for the FC

i've noticed the temps aren't that high though, sitting around 20 degrees even though i have the heater set at 29 degrees C .. not a prob i'll just turn it up BUT what a bugger, i used sticky tape to hold those top tubs down, lots of work in that! bah

they've been under this setup for a few days (today is the third)

looking forward to see how these go it's getting mighty humid in there, but i think i need to up the temp

thanks for the tip everyone, i'll get a pic of the latest setup and see what you think

[Hyphal]

Just be cautious with that set up - keep up LOTS of FAE... otherwise it should work withouth a problem. Don't forget the light bulb in the cupboard either - you'll be amazed how much you can increase the ambient temp in a smallish cupboard with a 100W lightbulb.

[Korky]

if the tape is holding the tube tub down due to boyency try adding some weight in the inner tub to sink it.

[Coschi]

what is FAE ??

cupboard space isn't an option

[ENtiTY]

Can't remember where I read it Hypha . Was on Corroboree and it was a veteran member, was why I took note. I will rack my brain, got a feeling it was Rev. Not 100% sure though.

[immanuel]

Haha. I just had the exact same experience as you are having Sphinx! I had my cakes sitting at 10-15 degrees on average for about two or three weeks, and they were going SO SLOW! Only two out of five cakes had pins (with about 1-2 pins on each of the two cakes), I thought the others had died, because there was NO growth.

I have the cakes in poor-men pod's, and after some reading on the nook, I decided to buy a thermometer and wrap them up in an electric blanket. Well I did so, and there became a constant temperature of around 22-26 degrees inside the blanket where the pods were. I only wrapped them yesterday, and nothing much had happened when I misted them this morning, but this afternoon I got home and opened up to mist/fan them and they had gone crazy! Every single cake had at least 2 pins, with the more developed ones getting what looked like 10+ pins on there. And the old pins had shot up and were heaps bigger than before.

I'm amazed at how much difference a slight increase made. Can't wait to see how yours go Sphinx!

[tonic]

what is FAE ??

Fresh Air Exchange, very important. You don't want Co2 killing the mycelium.

[Coschi]

ahh cool

lol mardy, yeah i've been worried for ages, and i'm well WELL overdue for a nice shroomey experience

i really hope to see some change soon, i think they're still too cold so i'm going to have to pump those heaters up..

tonight!

re FAE

is this only an issue once they start fruiting?

(woops, meant to post that. nnnnnnnno editing been done)

Edited June 19, 2007 by naja naja

[naja naja]

they won't even start to fruit without FAE. it's one of the triggers along with light.

[Hyphal]

This could be the other reason you have no pins.

You should be exchanging the air within the fruiting chamber at a minimum of once an hour, though its recommended you do 4 exchanges per hour for optimum, healthy, contam free growth.

[Coschi]

jesus how the hell am i meant to keep that up ??

unless i relocate the project to the work office

ehhhh no i don't think so :|

what you think?

i've been fanning really well twice a day

[immanuel]

unless i relocate the project to the work office

ehhhh no i don't think so :|

LOL.

I fan mine 2-4 times a day, i've got school to go to, so obviously I can't do it once an hour either. What I reccomend doing is putting a couple of holes (1-2) on each side of your tupeware box, just above the perlite level (this will be at the bottom). Then the same again, but at the top of the box/on the lid, I think lid is best (not too sure). Thus, the fresh air can sink in through the top, and push old CO2 out the bottom. Since I have poor man pod's I just did this, but with one hole on the top and one of the bottom in each bottle. Only problem is, when I go to sleep and wake up in the morning or come home from school, there's only a few water droplets left on the sides. I'm assuming the fact they're are any droplets at all is a good sign, but I like to see lots of droplets. So misting can be a problem. But on the shroomery growth parameters (http://www.shroomery.org/8484/What-are-the-optimum-P-cubensis-growth-parameters) it says 2-3 fans a day is fine.

Hope it all works out.

Edited June 19, 2007 by mardybum

[medicinedan]

You should be exchanging the air within the fruiting chamber at a minimum of once an hour, though its recommended you do 4 exchanges per hour for optimum, healthy, contam free growth.

Totally overkill in my opinion. It depends on the total volume of the growing container. I have frequently left a growing container with 15litre volume for days with no FAE, with minimal negative effects. I have also observed the following; several cased mixes thrown into a big zip loc bag, (guess 3litre capacity) never given FAE grow shrooms quite long and fat. They were left to rot and die, still no FAE, there was a large second flush all quite big specimens, then left to die and rot in the bag with still no FAE, there were subsequent 3rd and 4th flushes which were half contaminated by this time. My point is don't get to fussed about FAE, its fairly overrated. Most important factors are temp and humidity IMHO.

Remember the more FAE, the more you lower humidity so if you do 4 exchanges per hour I expect you must have a heated water reservoir for humidity. I recommend once- twice a day is sufficient. Don't over complicate things, if the temp and humidity is right they will grow.

[Hyphal]

Totally overkill in my opinion.

I agree, but that is still the optimum conditions - you would way too much of an automated greenhouse for anything like this.

As mardy said above, the best way to get lots of fresh air to your babies keeping while keeping the humidity up is to make some holes in your tub. Its not a bad idea either to cover them with micropore cloth tape, mainly to prevent insects (fungus gnats) and otherr contaminates getting in.

If you keep a small fan running in the room on a timer (say for 30 mins every 4 hours) blowing in the general direction of your tub this can eliminate the need for fanning entirely.

[Coschi]

Umm.. lol ok ummm.. ok

wtf is this?

i just saw this this morning

they looks like funky pins but they have no dark heads ??

by the way for fanning i use a fan for about 20 seconds blowing down on the container.. good?

well internal temps are at 24 degrees which is cool (day four now)

one bugger is the topmost tub (see pic at the bottom) is getting mighty humid, to the point where it looks like it's raining (lots of wet spots, almost like puddles, on the casing) bad?

does it look like they're getting enough light?

[soma_seeker]

hi sphinx,

from the look of ur setup i would think they need considerably more light, perhaps thats what caused those strange pins.

i don't mean to hijack the thread, but it seems like a valid place to ask this question....

for my new grow i'm going to need a heat source, what do you think is a better solution - using a baby oil heater or wrapping the fruiting chamber in an electric blanket??

(bearing in mind i would NOT be leaving either heater or 24/7 due to the amount of electricity it would consume)

cheers people

soma

[Coschi]

Thanks Soma

Yeah i was thinking the same bugger small victorian homes really don't give you much room to play with

perhaps the office isn't such a bad idea lol perhaps not

as for you, i'd say why not do what i'm doing?

it's cheap and a 100W heater is fine for keeping temps regulated in 30L water (althouth 150W would do it more efficiently)

best thing about these heaters is that they switch themselves on/off to regulate temp, so they're quite efficient.

electric blanket could in fact be your worst bet as far as cost efficiency goes

i think oil heaters suck the juice pretty well too, so again not very cheap if on for lengthy times

but don't quote me on any of that

[soma_seeker]

cheers sphinx,

yeh i use that setup for my incubator and agree they work well. my FC however is too large to place inside another tank (and i don't really want to use a smaller one).

i think i might just go for the oil heater and leave it on overnight and off during the day.