Nice little mushroom harvest tonight. Into the dehydrator they go at 1665F for 24hrs.
The bigguns are a clone I took from a Maketi variety originally from Faht. I call it Dick Keti Clone. Still working on stabilizing them. The others are FP+ (beautiful colors on their caps ā I love how light they are) and X7X+, an interesting and strong variety that you can actually trace back quite a ways.
I wonder if I could just hang some colonizing bags or put some jars into my tent for the CO 2?
Multispore (MSS) will always be just that. Lots and lots (and lots and lots) of variety. So much so that in a small shoebox, one mushroom might be very different in potency from the one right next to it. There are millions and millions of spores in that syringe.
Please, save your money and never buy Uncle Bens. Itās ridiculously expensive compared to grain and about as good an idea as trying to germinate your seeds in your cats litter box. I just donāt recommend it when there are so many other ways that are tried, true, cheaper, more effective, and will save you time, money, and frustration. I could yell this until Iām blue in the face and someone will still do it and swear by it ā and at that point, I wonāt stop ya!
Agar isnāt needed, but any serious grower will be using it. I regularly see people scared off by it. Itās just an extra step, and itās frankly the most important step to never skip. It adds a few weeks to a month and has more benefits than I could list. Donāt fear the agar! Itās how your LC is made as well.
Youāve injected Uncle Bens with MSS and never had an issue with contamination? I would seriously doubt that. Why? Multispore is guaranteed to be dirty. Period. I make them and the way that theyāre made theyāre not and never will be sterile. If nothing else, injecting MSS into Uncle Bens isnāt respected in the community ā and for good reason. You are much better off with PFTEK if you donāt have a pressure cooker, or just going to a grain of choice and saving money if you do. Youāll be happier with your mushrooms!
Iāve done it! Not sure if it made a difference but they had to go somewhere!š¤·š¤£ @Bronek89 what he said 
. @Coffweed well said my friend. I agree 100% just could never put it as elegantly as you did.
Dude i have done it all. Use to have jars of liquid culture and stacks of monocultured dishes in my fridge Iām just saying that if you want a easyvway to get started uncle bens isnāt a bad way to start for minimal investment. A bag of sterile grain from a supplier like Northspore is $20. A bag of uncle bens is a buck. I guess I donāt care what other people think of me on how I get my sterile grain and neither should anyone else. Obviously if you are growing mass amounts of mushrooms for sale then yes investing into being able to make your our sterile grain would be worth it but if you are just wanting to grow a couple shoeboxes a few times a year it doesnāt make sense.
A 50lb bag of oats is less than $20. Brown Rice Flour, Vermiculite, and water, would also run you about $20. Either of those options will supply you for growing vastly more shrooms.
If producing your own BRF with a coffee grinder is too much of a pita, pre-milled brown rice flour is widely available and very inexpensive. Hydrated brown rice flour mixed with vermiculite is the superior comparative media.
Please read this link:
UB is just not a good idea ā if you insist on it thatās on you.
You may reasonably expect a man to walk a tightrope safely for ten minutes; it would be unreasonable to do so without accident for two hundred years.
Even if Uncle Benās pouches were immaculately sterile, spore solution isnāt. Spore syringes are not sterile, although some are admittedly cleaner than others. Even if an UB pouch has been inoculated with clean LC, or an agar wedge without having first cross contaminated the bag while opening it, youāre still left with a bag filtered by micropore tape:
Whole cooked rice is a terrible choice for spawn;
Noobs looking for a hassle free approach to cult shouldnāt be attempting a back door hack for spawn production;
Even if fruited straight from the rice pouch without use as spawn, fruited grains produce meager results at best, especially when inoculated with spore solution.
PF tek is the only appropriate entry level tek. There is no comparison, thereās no contention, thereās no competition.
So, I would argue that it does make sense and is absolutely approachable for a new grower to run a PFTEK. I did years ago.
Again Iām talking about just wanting to grow a minimal amount. Not everyone wants to grow pounds of mushroom every month. Wtf would I want to buy 50 lbs of oats if I want 1 or 2 shoeboxes of mushrooms.
Shroomery is filled with a bunch of pretentious psyduedo āmycologistsā. I have inoculated probably 20+ uncle bens packs since I stopped making my own and have never had a contamination. I donāt care if you believe me or not, I have no reason to lie, I donāt work for uncle bens rice. Iām just saying the cheap and easy alternative to try to grow mushrooms works. By all means if you want to get into agar work and make 100 jars of sterilized oats go for it. But you can also spend 20 bucks on a syringe and $1 on a bag of rice and give it a try.
I think I laid out clear reasons against Uncle Benās that are sound, backed with good reasoning, and not hard to do. It has nothing to do with growing, as you said, lbs of mush every month.
Also, saying The Shroomery is filled with a bunch of pretentious people is no different than ripping on Overgrow ā there are lots of good, smart, and very knowledgeable people in both of these places.
New growers can spend their $20 on a syringe and about $10-20 on the proper way for any new grower to start. Thereās no reason not to do a proper PFTEK in my humble opinion.
Youāre welcome to keep walking your Uncle Ben tightrope, I have no more to say if whatās already been said hasnāt gotten through to you. Hopefully it gets through to others though ā just trying to share quality information.
Youāre more than welcome to your opinion ā even if it doesnāt make any sense to me.
I havenāt spent alot of time on overgrow but I havenāt had any negative interactions withbanyone. Shroomery is very dofferent, lots of belittling of people and different teks. Yes thereās good knowledge there and I learned alot from the forum but I left that cesspool years ago because of the elitism thatās represented there. Growing mushrooms isnāt rocket science, itās one of the easier things to do yet god forbid you grow them a different way .
Iām glad the OG community is strong! My point being the internet has lots of walks of life. There are good folks over at The Shroomery too, just as Iām sure there are some great people here and also some total wackos.
Hereās to hoping your coffee is as strong as your weed, and your mush and garden are plentiful! Truly, all my best and to us learning from each other and keeping open minds.
To each their own. We all have our methods and things we swear by. What works for me might not work for my neighbor. Both sites have great people who are well informed and share that info. Even some will help guide you through the whole process with either.
I personally had great success with pf Tek for first grow and didnāt cost very much. It was big flushes but I got to see the whole process of mushie life and how long it takes to fruit. Through all that I believe pf helped with my grain grows. Even wbs(wild bird seed) is stupid cheap but happy I did pf first. Now if uncle Benās was bigger when I started I might have started there and might be an advocate for ub.š¤·. One thing I have learned is you can argue āsemanticsā with anyone who has a different methodology and it will never end. Best thing imo is thatās interesting idea Iāll keep that in mind. Yes itās placating but stops arguments. We are all in here to learn and share so take it for what it is.
Pushing up the lid! Iām going to harvest this shoebox tonight. A clone of Maketi Iām calling DKC (original genetics from Faht).
Chopped:
Hi everyone. Coming back here I had several problems as a first-time sailor. Starting with the super-resistant PP pots that I heated with high heat in the pressure cooker and melted them all. Then I used PP vacuum bags and something similar happened. Some bags stuck together, some tore and were later contaminated by some other fungus.
but there were still 3 jars and 3 bags left
waiting for complete colonization but itās going. note Iāve never done this before and I find it very fun
Youāve got the bug! A lot of just leaving it alone. I canāt recommend enough learning some agar work ā hold on to those genetics and good luck!
Iāve yet to melt something in the PC/autoclave but am paranoid about that usually use glass mason jars. You can check the plastic type, you want at least PP5.
How do you plan on spawning that when fully colonized? If letting it grow off the cake, check out a humidity chamber, if going to bulk (less recommended unless you have completely clean spawn) break it up into coir/verm (no gypsum or other things needed). 900g coir, 385g verm, 5000mL water ā bam. Done. I use an insulated bucket and boil the water then let it cool for a day. You donāt need to do the boil part but I find it helps my brain.
Hey coffweed, thanks for the tips, about the agar, I had some doubts about the agar, and when I got the spores I opted for syringes, (long before posting my adventure here) because most of the texts I read on various forums suggested this for beginners, so since everything is new, I went with something that was there step by step.
Iām reading and rereading the text that was on shoroomery.
Itās a little hard to believe the PP5 labels lol, it ended up happening, I left it on high heat, and the water dried up, thatās why the problem. I hope it doesnāt happen again. Ajahahaha
About the spawning, I still donāt know exactly how to proceed, Iāll probably set up a chamber for this, and Iāll use your recipe that you gave, can I use a mold with coconut fiber and vermeculit?
So, that recipe is only if youāre spawning to bulk.
If you have cakes that are colonizing Iād probably just let them grow in a humidity chamber (dead simple, get a tote, ezdial some holes (or donāt and just mess with the lid to let some air flow), fill the bottom with a few inches of water, add a rack to keep your cakes off the water, and once theyāre fully colonized ā dunk them (12-24hr soak in water), roll them in vermiculite, and put them in your humidity chamber then leave it the fuck alone!).
Make sure to take some swabs or spore prints and set yourself up for your next grow once you get some fruit. I can always send some spores as well or you can go to a sponsor like Mushroom Man.
Be careful with your pressure cooker. Those things can do serious damage. If you did run it dry make sure it didnāt warp.
What pressure were you running it on? How much water did you add to start? Did you vent it for at least 10 minutes as well?
My pan is simple, it doesnāt have a pressure gauge, I actually forgot to turn the heat down when it reached the pressure, that was the mistake, but it took time, I know itās not normal for it to smell burning, even if Iām a novice Thatās it, lol, everything is under control
Also make sure the lid is PP5. A lot of those containers the body is PP5 but the lid isnāt. Just fyi! Also I agree with @Coffweed about the agar itās really easy. I use condiment cups for agar work great. The bottoms are pp5 but not the lids so cover with foil and the kids donāt melt! Ask me Iāll hook you up with the process.
Water tubs are a great FC for cakes, and exotics too. Semps, pans, whateverā¦
Very easy to set up.
Iām retired and bored with growing cannabis.
So, in the middle of a RSO fueled night, I decided to start growing mushrooms. Ordered my stuff and some syringes from @MushroomManMycology. Used @420noob ās referral code, we all win 
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Iām sure Iām gonna have questions. Iāve read the whole thread and learned a lot, letās see what happens
Donāt forget the Hitchhikers Guide To The Shroomery ā itās a solid read. Also, if you need anything feel free to ask.
