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Hey all, I am excited to be here. I have been stalking this site for a few weeks now and learning a lot and willing to learn a lot more. Last Friday, April 26, I inoculated 4 quart size rye berry jars (I ordered them pre sterilized along with 4 bags of sterilized substrate). I made sure to use my bathroom for inoculating the jars. I bleached everything, Lysol, 91%alc wiped on everything. I wore gloves, only my underwear, and created a still air box to use to prevent any unwanted particles that may have been floating around. Today is Tuesday, I have not seen any growth yet but am very anxious and planning on not looking till Friday again. Temp in the closet where the jars are is 79 degrees. I feel I did everything very clean, however my only worry is when I had the jars and substrate shipped if they got too hot and could effect moisture in jars. If all goes well I will shake jars at 25% mycelium colonization in jars and then decide on a Tek to use for fruiting. Any helpful and supportive comments are welcome and appreciated.

So on 2/4 I spawned 3 quart rye berry jars to bulk (verm, hpoo, calc, etc), temp @ 80 degrees. The sub is kinda thick and I made it a tad above field capacity (PE like moisture). I uncovered to take some pics and it looks like the Myc is working its way thru the sub (joy).... My question is when should I case it? when the entire surface is covered? or can I case it now?

First inoculated about 60 days ago. Sat at temps around 82-84 degrees. Never shook them. Looks like the bottoms are slow to cover. I’ve heard PE are slow to colonize. Wasn’t expecting to get this far. So....should I wait for the bottoms to cover or are they ready? The middle looks thick and covered. Sorry my camera sucks! I have 3 jars like this. Since PE is a moisture lover should I dunk them after I birth them?

First inoculated about 60 days ago. Sat at temps around 82-84 degrees. Never shook them. Looks like the bottoms are slow to cover. I’ve heard PE are slow to colonize. Wasn’t expecting to get this far. So....should I wait for the bottoms to cover or are they ready? The middle looks thick and covered. Sorry my camera sucks! I have 3 jars like this. Since PE is a moisture lover should I dunk them after I birth them?

In 16 days (10/26) I have to go away for 10 days (26 days). I don't have anyone to manage things while I'm away. Based on the condition of the jars should I: 1) Transfer to bulk "before" I leave for 10 days - I'm thinking this would be just enough time for colonization of the substrate and once I get back I could start the fruiting process? 2) Refrigerate the jars now - to slow down colonization, and transfer to bulk when I get back (would that work?). Help!

The bottom pic shows what they looked like BEFORE I shook them. The top pic is a day after I shook them. My question is, were they too colonized to shake? I’m now reading that if you shake them when they are more than 40% they may not recover. Ugh.... but if you don’t shake them you won’t see contams that may be infesting the middle....

... quite nicely with no visible contamination. I bought 2 tubs: 56Qt 23x16x12 in. and a 90Qt 29x13x18 in. The jars are 3/4 full. All the tek im reading says once the jars are fully colonized I need to mix it with pasteurized horse or cow shit and some say mix with Verm, etc... So my questions are: based on how manny jars I have (4) which tub should I use (I’m guessing the smaller one) and second what’s the ratio of substrate to colonized rye berry I should provide? I’d like to grow all 4 jars in a single tub if possible? Should I mix verm (and anything else) in with the hshit or use only hshit? How deep should the substrate be based on the # of jars I have? Sorry for the dumb questions... I’ll post some pic of the jars....

I have been working with Rye berry grain for about a year. I by organic in 50lb bags off of Amazon. This last bag has been more failure than success. The grains are dry when I put them in the jars, but after I pressure cook and add agar of spore solution, they turn into a clumped up mess and often turn green. What can I do to prevent this? Maybe rinse them before and after the soak?

Tub 1 (big blue) Golden Teachers , 3lbs rye berry, Select Bulk Casing mix . 6/23 - made monotub (layered, colonization) 7/3 - add Pre-Pasteurized casing mix 7/7 - started misting (5 pumps straight up) and fanning (for 60 seconds) twice a day. Humidity 90 (wrap top with plastic wrap to help increase humidity) no light Temperature 72-77 Need to drill holes at the substrate line Can I drill 3/32" FAE holes every two inches? If I drill 1" holes how many and do I fill them with Polyfill? How do I know if it to wet or not wet enough? How do I know if it's fully colonized? Should I be misting and fanning? Leave alone? Any suggestions on this tub? Tub 2 (mini GT) Golden Teachers 1 lbs rye berry & 2.5 lbs Pre-Pasteurized Mushrooms compost 6/30 made monotub (layered) 7/7 - started misting (5 pumps straight up) and fanning (for 60 seconds) four times a day. Humidity 90 (wrap top with plastic wrap to help increase humidity) Temperature 72-77 7/9 Uncovered FAE (free air exchange holes) -Added light (12/12) How do I know if it to wet or not wet enough? How do I know if it's fully colonized? Any suggestions on this tub? Tub 3 (big clear) Puerto Rican's , 3lbs rye berry, Select Bulk Casing mix. 6/30 - made monotub (sandwiched, colonization) 7/7 - started misting (5 pumps straight up) and fanning (for 60 seconds) twice a day. Humidity 90 (wrap top with plastic wrap to help increase humidity) no light Temperature 72-77 Need to drill holes at the substrate line Can I drill 3/32" holes every two inches? If I drill 1" holes how many and do I fill them with Polyfill? Should I add a Pre-Pasteurized casing mix (light)? How do I know if it to wet or not wet enough? How do I know if it's fully colonized? Should I be misting and fanning? Leave alone? Any suggestions on this tub? Tub 4 (mini PR) Puerto Rican's 1 lbs rye berry & 2.5 lbs Pre-Pasteurized Mushrooms compost 6/30 made monotub (layered) 7/7 - started misting (5 pumps straight up) and fanning (for 60 seconds) twice a day Humidity 90 (wrap top with plastic wrap to help increase humidity) No light Temperature 72-77 7/9 Uncovered FAE (free air exchange holes) How do I know if it to wet or not wet enough? How do I know if it's fully colonized? Should I be misting and fanning? Leave alone? Any suggestions on this tub?

Part 2 thanks GT Day 13 of colonization (6 days wax paper) added a light layer of Shroom Supply casing. Temp. between 77-83 Why is it taking so long to start pinning, Is it the temp or is there something else I should be doing?

Hello, I would like to share with you how I have prepared RYE seed for many years and it works for me. It is a SOAK and SIMMER tek. but I feel it takes no more time then the No soak no simmer tek and with rye IMO NSNS is a very bad idea... to get the right moisture content you must hydrate rye before you load in jars and PC. Rye is not cheap, I get mine for $1.70 a LB. or $45 for 50 lb. but it has its benefits over other grains. The reason I like rye as a sub: you can just pour the 100% colonized rye in a pan( with no other sub) let grow a few days, then case it and let it run the casing and then fruit, it think this makes it simple, and you can also use it as a spawn in bulk. Rye seems to easily let large varieties of molds and fungi grow on it, better then other grains.(it is packed with nutrition) Things you will need Large pot Rye seed (I use 3 lb. at a time, it fills 7 Qt jars.) Cooking spoon Colander Lets go. Rinse rye to get out some of the twigs and dust. Fill it will water to cover the rye by a couple of inches and sit on stove and SOAK for 12-24 hours. Next day you put stove on High and bring to a boil, once boiling reduce to a simmer Depending on how much rye you have you will simmer for 20 to 30 min, stirring every couple of minutes til the first rye seed burst. I believe the seed burst is a indicator of Full saturation of the Rye seed.(only a few seeds should burst , but you just saw the first). I also eat the seed as it cooks, I can tell the point at which it is full saturation. Hard to explain the texture... till you try it this way and taste as you go to get a feel, its hard to describe. Burst seed From Left to right DRY RYE, 12-24 soak, half way thru simmer, Rye seed Burst Once Simmered, pour in colander Rinse off with cold water to stop cooking.. let the rye sit and drain for a 1 1/2 hours I mix it up every 30 min to move trapped water to the outside to drain. when you touch the rye seed, it should not leave water on your hand. Load the rye into your Jars and PC for 90 min at 15 PSI Shake the Jars after you take them out of the PC, This will mix the rye that is dryer on top and wetter on rye bottom to even out moisture content (only have to shake once after PC). Inoculate with you favorite Specimen.