I know it's ok for the cakes to excrete some yellowish colors, but I just wanted to post on here to get other peoples opinions and find out the proper way to go about reducing temp/humidity in order to ensure this cakes success! Pic is attached Much love to all.

Hey everyone! I recently started my own grow after doing some research and I'm curious about the progress of my BRF jars. I inoculated them about 2 weeks ago and I haven't really seen much growth until recently. I'm trying to figure out if what I have going on is some kind of tam and I should just toss it or if I should wait it out

So the first pins that let me know it was time to dunk and roll have gone and grew up on me! ... it was just yesterday that they were so small and cute.. haha Well as this is my first time growing... I have more questions! First off these guys are B+ which I've seen can get big. I have a couple pretty thick ones and wanted to know about drying them properly.. I plan to get a dehydrator and soon.. but for now I've put them on a paper towel in front of a fan.. the smaller ones were done and the big guys just don't feel quite ready.. they feel hollow but not easy to snap.. more floppy. They have been drying nearly 2 days. I currently put desiccant packets on top of them as well as the fan. How will I know for sure when the big guys are done? Potency... I hear the smaller ones are more potent? The big stem shows its like 7 grams.. (I'm sure I'll still loose some) how potent is that guy compared to the smaller one. I plan to grind them up and make them into chocolate so I'll just need mixing them up anyway. I just can't imagine the big stem being all that would need to be eaten... sorry I'm used to just buying them ready to go so some questions may seem silly. Oh!.. and when picking.. what's the easiest way to get all the verm off? After the first one I picked I didn't get it all off right away it seemed to get nearly absorbed by the mush. So I ended up waiting and scraped some off after I started drying them. Thanks guys!

So if you had a few spore syringes that you purchased that have been sitting for a while what would you do first? Would you wait until you get your fh built to do anything if you didn't want to do a glove box? Would you try the pf brf tek in open air as sterile as possible, or you wouldn't risk it and just wait. Also what would you start with to try to preserve the spore syringes, agar, LC or the brf cakes as well as to check for contam?

Well I guess it had to happen sometime, my first case of what I think may be Trichoderma. So here's the scoop: I caught it when it was only on one cake and pulled that cake immediately and put it in a zip lock bag for further inspection. I dropped my rh down to the low 80's for a couple of days and increased my fae by fanning like every 4 hours or so. I started spraying with peroxide every 8 hours. It would appear that the mold is receding but I'm new to this and thus have no idea where to go from here. Should I just junk every thing, clean, sterilize, and start from scratch? Or, is there a chance I can beat the mold and emerge triumphant in the battle of the mold? I really need your expert advice, I had way more photos starting from day one that showed how bad it was at the beginning, and how much better it is now, but like a genius I deleted them so I only have photos from today. So here you go, enjoy some moldy photos!!

Pardon another noob question, I feel like I should know the answer to this... So I was out of town for a tad longer than expected and I come back to find that my GT have jizzed spores all over the cakes. Are the cakes ruined, or are they okay? And if they're not ruined, can I scrap spores off of them to use? Or are the spores contaminated? The first pic is the mushrooms before harvest, the second is the nekkid cakes after harvest.. Again, I'm new at this, so if you're super mean and condescending, I will run away crying. Or maybe just make a rude gesture toward the computer and fart in your general direction.

So I started out with 3 spore syringes and ended up with 12 jars the first 6 I used 2 syringes and only got 4 of the "Orissa India" and 2 of the "Creeper"! For the second batch of 6 I used 1 full (B+) syringe and got all 6 jars! ( First time using syringes ) So I just wanted to know how these look I know the one has a bit of black forming on it and was curious if this is normal? Also they seem to be colonizing different from others could this be because I let my vermiculite get to moist, or possibly packed to tight because it is so moist? Anyways here are some pictures. So these 2 pictures are the same jar the "Creeper" strain I can see 2 small black dots forming and was wondering if this is normal or some type of contamination? Any information or some advice would be helpful! Below are some shots of the "Orissa India" strain I think these ones are not doing to well due to the amount of moisture I left in the vermiculite. Once again any advice would be helpful I have been searching the forums but just would like someones opinion to put my mind at rest. These are the 4 jars I feel have to much moisture and compared to the other 6 are not doing as good. So below is the second batch I did I learned from the first one being more careful with syringes and to make sure the vermiculite is perfect field capacity! but anyways here's the rest of them! This one here is going a lot slower then other 5 for some reason. Thanks for all the help and getting me started on this great learning process but if someone could give me some advice that would be fantastic! Thanks, Knewfie! Stay Safe!

This is my first grow and I thought it was going well until I heard about cobweb contamination. Can someone identify if I do have a contamination? Thank you.

So I birthed a few cakes today and saw some clear node like things protruding out? No smell or anything. Can't seem to find anything about them. Has anyone else ever seen them? Can't get a clear picture but they are clear/transparent bumps.

I am going to post my thoughts on the necessary features a microscope needs to have!! COMPOUND MICROSCOPE 1. Oil immersion lens 2. 1000x plus magnification 3. Ocular micrometer eye piece 4. electric light source 5. controls to move stage mechanically 6. both a fine and course focus knob 7. standard interchangeable fitments If I have left anything out please add to the basic list!! Remember this is for the basic beginner microscope. Enjoy! PLEASE READ MZ's post below for other great options. I am going to get what he is talking about for sure!!!!

I made 15 jars (1/2 pint) cake by vemiculite and brown rice flour and water, BUT just 5 of them look good, one is contaminated and others are too weak. I keep them in 25 to 30 Centigrad and without sunlight. WHAT'S wrong with them? (sorry for my language, I'm Persian from Iran)

I'm curious if any members can point towards a reliable source to get presterilized spawn bags or jars ready to go? I dontmwant to take any chances with my first attempt and I have not pirchased a PC yet! Any info would be appreciated! Especially, info on spawn bags or jars ordered before and that had succesful grows. Thanks!!

So I recently started fruiting some cakes and have been pulling the mushrooms off as they mature. And everything has been going well. Until I dried them. This the presto dehydro. It sucks and is a huge waste. 1. You can't control the temp. (It gets pretty toasty) 2.there isn't even a power switch. 3. It's loud... Really, really loud. I have been putting my mushies in there for about two hours and they get to the point where they crumble when bent. But as soon as I take them out of the dehydro I put them into a pint jar rubber side of the lid facing up and also use a packet of silica and coffee filter to separate them (mushrooms and silica). After about two days they became softer again and turned bluish black. Do these look normal? They are effin' great to study still. Just not sure about the color. Sorry about the photo quality and the fact that my pictures are upside down.... Not sure why.

Ok Everyone, I hadn’t seen mention of this technique anywhere so I thought I would share it. It is something I discovered out of desperation, and was quite pleased with myself. So, many years ago when I first wanted to try to grow mushies I read a little bit, but being young and impatient I figured the best way to go was to just jump in. I bought an “instant grow kit” that came with a bag of chopped straw, a jar of spawn and instructions. I boiled the substrate, inoculated then put it all in an aquarium and proceeded to mist and fan etc. Sadly after a few days I noticed some ugly green specs starting at one end of the sub. I frantically began to read everything I could in an attempt to save my grow. Obviously, everything I read said it was just doomed, get it out of there and try again. Well, I am cheap and had nothing to lose, so here is what I did next. During my flurry of reading I stumbled across the PF Tek and decided to try a transplant to save the spawn I had. I quickly gathered the ingredients, made up the jars and when it came to the inoculation step I simply pulled out little clumps of spawn from the far end of the substrate in the aquarium and put them in the jars (I will expand on how I did this in the details below for perpetuating this grow). The Myc took, the jars grew through, began to pin, were birthed and produced lovely fruit. So, through naiveté and/or beginners luck I had saved my initial investment. It seemed so easy I saw no reason I could not continue to do the same thing to simply perpetuate my grow. So, here is what I did next (and initially to noc my jars) that is a little different than the original PF Tek..... When prepping the jars I obviously did not need noc holes as I was not working with a spore syringe. What I needed was a way to get live spawn INTO the BRF in a relatively sterile manner so that the myc could spread. So, the first difference is that I used heavy medical tape to tape the 2 piece jar lids together so they would behave as a solid lid. I presume that if you have solid lids you could just use those. The next modification is the one I am proud of... When filling the jars with the BRF/Verm I cut short lengths of a reasonable diameter drinking straw (from McDonalds). The lengths of straw were equal to the depth of the jar from bottom centre to lid centre (when closed). I placed the straw in the centre of the jar as I loaded it so there was a clear, unobstructed path from the top of the open jar to the bottom. After inserting the BRF/Verm mixture, I also added the top layer of dry verm as per the original instructions making sure the opening of the straw remained unobstructed. Then I closed the jars (not tightly) and steamed them as per the original tek). Once the jars were sterilised and ready to go I took one jar I had NOT birthed from the original run that had fully colonized myc in it and sat down in a clean, breeze free area (this would be a good time for a flow hood, or a glove box – neither of which I had at the time). I did what I could to sterilise the area with rubbing alcohol and alcohol flamed all tools I was going to use (TOOLS – Tweezers, sharp small pointy scissors, long heavy gauge nail). Next, I birthed the original colonised cake and set it beside me on a plate. In preparation I took the small scissors and clipped a little cube of myc from the cake and left it sitting on the cake. Then, one by one I took the new sterile jars, opened the top, quickly placed the myc cube into the straw hole using the tweezers, pushed it to the bottom of the jar using the nail and while holding it there pulled the piece of straw up the shaft of the nail and then both of them out of the jar. When I pulled those pieces out, the layer of dry verm on top simply collapsed into the hole, burying the little cube of myc in the BRF with nice clean verm on top sealing it shut. I quickly put the lid back on, cut a new little myc cube off the original cake, grabbed the next jar and repeated the above procedure until I had all my jars sitting with a little piece of myc from the original cake sitting safely in the bottom of the BRF and sealed shut again. Amazingly, all of these cakes took, colonised and were birthed (except one I held back to again repeat the procedure). In actuality, even the cake that I cut the myc pieces from went on to fruit after this procedure. I simply put it in the FC with my other cakes and it produced specimens even after this harsh treatment. I went on to successfully continue this cycle for some time holding one jar back at birthing each time to noc the next batch of jars. Even though my “sterile” procedures were barbaric at best, I only lost 2 jars to contamination over all my runs. As a further observation, I saved one jar from my last run (about 5 years ago) and recently tried the procedure again. Although the cake smelled nice and fresh and earthy when I opened it and showed no signs of contamination, the new jars did not colonise (although they ALSO did NOT contaminate) I was curious to see if the myc would just go dormant and still come back to life after all that time. Apparently it will NOT. In any case, I purchased a spore syringe and am about to attempt the REZ Tek for the first time, but you can bet I will be noc’ing a few good old fashioned BRF jars as back up, just in case. I would love to hear if anyone else had already tried this or anything similar. Would also love to hear if anyone tries this after reading it and has success. Just thought I would share as you guys have been so generous with me in passing along your knowledge and experience. Respect to the community.

Hey all, Tthis is my first time growing mushrooms and I've used the BRF tek with EZ-lids and a self-made incubator (styrofoam and a submersed aquarium-heater) to bake these p. cubensis cakes. They took a long while to colonize, +5 weeks if I remember correctly (maybe even 6-7) and one of the cakes allready had developped quite a big stool while still in the jars. The others were spotless except for some small pin formation. They are in the aquarium for over a week now (allmost 2) and they spawn at a different rate. One stool has allready opened up quite a lot as you can see. Could anyone give me an advise on when and how to harvest? Thanks in advance!

This guy got sick :/ So this was all done with some grains out of one of my better looking jars. I took the pieces that had the most complex looking growth to assume Im getting only rhizomporhic mycelium? Let me know what you guys think and when should I start slice and dicing these up into some jars? Ha ignore any other pictures I might have accidentally attached..

I dont claim this to be my tek, pretty sure theres some out there like this. If not then..well you know So during my search to make a fruiting chamber long ago I couldnt really find a Tek that suited what i wanted. Nobody wants a tote that looks like swiss cheese. So i came up with my own design somewhat. Best part is that its easy and if you need to use your tote for something else you can easly just tape the holes Materials Tote 60qt smaller w/ nice sealing top (i used 54) Perlite 1/4 Drill bit Drill of course( if you cant find a drill be creative a soldering iron works just as well) marker Humidity gauge and thermostat The Build Building this design is fairly simple and should take no time at all. So lets begin 1st) you want to have all materials ready and at your reach 2nd) you want to grab the long side of your tote and measure 1-2 inches of height from the bottom( this is the height your perlite is going to be) 3rd) once you have the height of where you want your perlite to finish & still on the long-side, find the center and place a dot measure 1 inch both left and right and put another dot( Repeat on the other side and then being to drill out those dots Repeat on opposite side) 4th) you want to be working on the short side now have the height of where your perlite finish (make sure it matches all around) find the center and place a dot measure 1 inch both left and right & mark it again. This time drill out the dots EXCEPT the one in the middle(marked by star). 5th) Still working on the short side find the edge of your tote(as shown above) and measure 1/2 or 1/4 from the edge inwards and put a dot do the same for the other side and mark( now drill the dots out and you should have this Repeat on other side ) End product looks like this. Time to fruit 1st) you want to give your perlite and tub a quick wash nothing to fancy, regular water fine. Once done pour your perlite in so that's its flat/ flush with the holes( shown below) 2nd) Once you have birthed your cakes and dunk and rolled(optional) you can now place them in the FC either on the jar lid or a piece of aluminum foil. Lastly) Mist the walls/ perlite/ and fan for about 60 sec then mist the lid of the tote and place it back on. Do this 6x a day. Once pins start showing (can range anywhere from a week to two) keep on fanning and misting.

I have some brf cakes that have some real strong rhizomorfic growth and was wondering if it's possible to cut sections of that growth to seed agar or wait and fruit them, then clone the best fruits to agar?

So i started these jars maybe a week or two ago and half of them were finished before the ones in these pictures. i figured with some time they would fully colonize then i would take things to the next step. Well i started noticing some stuff popping up. LET THE OPINIONS FLOW! Here i think it could be the mushroom piss that has just stained the myco but i dont know give me ur opinion Its like this all around the jar I figured instead of throwing these guys out i could use it as something we could all benefit from!