DOSE:

Mushrooms

Cost Effective, Time Efficient, Yield-Improving Tips
That Can Save Your Colony
By Spookydeeds

This is a report outlining my conglomerate knowledge of these little mycological wonders that we know and love so well. Although I don’t necessarily condone the cultivation of illegal substances, this is a guide that will protect you from the trial and error nonsense that everyone deals with the first few times around. The object of this writing is to congratulate the individuals who have had the common sense to begin their own colony in the first place. A noble effort is worth something, so since you have made it this far and have displayed some basic levels of intelligence I am blessing you with this veritable bible of information on how to…

 Salvage a withering first attempt
 Maximize sterilization effectiveness
 Keep overall cost down without sacrificing yields
 Speed colonization with innovative inoculation and incubating techniques
 Simplify your grow chamber while creating an ideal environment
 Distinguish between good TEKs and bad ones

At this point I feel the need to reiterate the necessity of a good head on your shoulders. This stuff is not easy and it’s not fast. You need to learn and grow just as the fungus does. Know your own limitations and respect what you are doing. You are, in essence, “creating a microcosm, an entirely different little world of which you are the lord and creator.” -Lord Spookythoughts (a dear friend of mine)

READ THIS PORTION BEFORE PROCEEDING:

Credit where credit is due…
-PF and the PF TEK, follow this procedure like it is the Holy Scripture. No matter what the other TEKs say, this is a sure-fire recipe that is well thought out and does not need any experimenting. The most reliable and valuable source of spores anywhere.
-The PF Inner Reservoir TEK, same as above. Read this TEK and use it when mixing new substrate and preparing new jars. This TEK is available on the PF web site: www.fanaticus.com
- Lord Spookythoughts has been a true friend of mine for years and has pioneered the interest in this realm. Without Him, I may not have taken this journey.
- My beautiful fiancée who has been an inspiring fountain of ideas and improvements on the topic. I love you babe, always will.


Now, on to the magic part…

The following tips are for 4-8 oz. Jars. Larger should not be attempted for time efficiency. Always work under sterile conditions and obey the laws of air particle contaminant reduction outlined in any well-written account like PF TEK or OSS and OERIC, etc. (Obviously you have had some experience with sterility having gotten this far.) If you are having trouble with this concept or are living with someone disgusting, just devise a small lab box as such…

LAB BOX
Cut one side out of a cardboard box (the lid flaps) so that you can look down into the box. Next, cut the opposite end out so that the box becomes a rectangular sleeve. Stretch plastic wrap over one of the opened sides to create a window. Secure the plastic wrap by taping it WELL to prevent air from entering that side. Now, on a more broad side of the box between the two openings, cut two holes just big enough for your hands to fit through and make them about six inches apart. Hot-glue the tips of two LARGE (to ease insertion of the hands) rubber cleaning gloves to the outside of the holes so that the gloves are inside the box. Place any work on a clean table and spray the inside of the box with disinfectant aerosol. Place the box over the work quickly and you have a sterile, draft-free workspace.

Problems with condensation dripping on the mature cakes can mean water damage or even contamination. When the cakes don’t get enough water, they wither and the flushes are weak. These can be remedied by a few simple alterations in the substrate preparation.

SUBSTRATE PREP
When filling new jars, the few drops of water that are left in the bottom of the jars after washing should be covered with just enough dry vermiculite to soak it up. This can be achieved by shaking the small amounts sideways in the jars to observe the sticking of the vermiculite to the moisture. Any vermiculite that still slides around should be discarded. When substrate is loaded it should be light and fluffy. Some settling is needed but not much. This can be achieved through lightly shaking the jar sideways with every 2 or 3 scoops of substrate. This will create a semi-settled but airy jar. You will notice from the sideways shaking, the form or shape of the substrate will be slightly smaller cylinder than the sides of the glass jar. This is good. This will allow for some expansion room when inserting the marker tip for the inner reservoir. Any leftover room between the inside wall of the glass and the substrate is also good because it will act as a buffer in preventing some water damage from “invitro” water condensation problems. When the cake is birthed, it will have a small layer on top of just vermiculite. This will act as a contaminant barrier from dripping condensation and will filter and feed the inner reservoir it is connected to.

Let’s review a case of a boy named Johnny. Johnny had a wonderfully large colony of cakes growing inside jars. They were about one-quarter of the way colonized when Johnny suddenly had to clandestinely transport them to another city. When the jars were exposed to extreme low temperatures and some light for extended periods of time, they stopped growing and some even fell victim to contamination. Johnny was very sad. He didn’t have any other spore syringes or sporocarps (mature specimens with spore-bearing caps) to make them with. He wanted to speed the process a little so he wouldn’t have to wait as long as he did before. He also doubted the success of his colony to produce any other specimens. Johnny was very lazy and very poor. He didn’t know what to do. Then he remembered something that his friend had told him, “any part of this substance at any maturity level will produce ‘offspring’ (an incorrectly used term since they reproduce asexually)”. This is what Johnny did.

MYCELIUM WATER TEK
To reduce waste of the partially colonized jars, use a jar that is HEALTHY but has slowed or halted growth. Do these parts as quickly as possible under sterile conditions: unscrew the lid of the jar with the healthy mycelia. Sterilize a knife over an alcohol lamp and then let cool. (This alcohol lamp is made by dropping some isopropanol onto and overturned shot glass, then ignited. After a few lightings, the alcohol will burn out and only water will remain, damp off with a paper towel and reapply isopropanol.) Drop about 12 of the cake onto a clean plate and severe with the knife. Put a few big drops of sterile water (about 1-2 cc’s) on the inside of the lid to feed the cake. Screw the lid back on tightly and leave the half-sized cake invitro, and in 12-16 hours of INDIRECT sunlight per day. In about one week the mycelia will have continued healthy growth and will be fluffy and white on top. Prepare one new jar with only one hole in the lid and masking tape covering it. Fill this jar 34 with distilled water and two small nails or screws. (SMALL NAILS OR SCREWS, and make sure they are aluminum or other rust-free metal) Lightly screw on lid and band to allow hot expanding air to escape. Sterilize just like substrate jars (for one hour at 15 psi) and let cool. MAKE SURE TO FOLLOW THE STERILE TEK FOR THIS PROCEDURE, STERILE TEK IS DOWN ON THE PAGE A BIT, VERY IMPORTANT! You need to get your hands on some syringes, now. I got some from a friendly pharmaceutical assistant doing a work-study at his school. I think the PF spore syringes are blunt-tip with a 1 12 inch, 16 gauge pipette. These are perfect. The idea is that you need a large capacity (10-cc) syringe with a large and long needle to prevent blockage while drawing in material. Boil some distilled water and draw into the syringes a couple times to clean the inside, squirting out after each draw, then draw a full 10 cc’s and left to cool to room temp. Sterilize a spoon with an alcohol flame and let it cool. THIS NEXT PART WOULD BE A GOOD TIME TO TRY THE LAB BOX AT THE BEGINNING OF THE ARTICLE. This needs to be done cleanly and quickly. Take the band off of the water jar but not the lid. Take the healthy white mycelia out of the second jar and take a big spoonful. Transfer it to the water jar and replace the lid tightly. Agitate until the chunks of colonized substrate are dissipated into the water. Sterilize the needle tips in the alcohol flame and let cool. (Dip it in another shot glass of isopropanol and shake off, this works.) Uncover the hole on the water jar and insert the needle. Push out water to stir the liquid, wait a few moments for partial settling and then SLOWLY draw 10 cc’s for each syringe. Recover hole immediately. Make sure that the needle tip extends below the level of the floating vermiculite and into the mycelium water. If syringe clogs, push out slightly and then draw slower, this may need to be repeated depending on the gauge size of the pipettes. Syringes wrapped in foil and refrigerated will keep for about two months. When inoculating, shake to ensure mycelium distribution throughout syringe.

So what of this faster colonization business? Well, the last tip was part of it. Mycelia are maturer than spores and although it doesn’t keep as well, it colonizes faster for that reason. I have seen an eight ounce jar colonize 100% in less than two weeks from mycelium water. These are a few more helpful tips to speed the process.

INCUBATION CHAMBER AND SPEEDY TIPS
- Poke and inoculate five or six holes in the lid of the jar as opposed to the PF recommended four holes.
- Inject small amount of mycelium water to preserve the water to substrate ratios in the jar.
- Sterilize the needle each time you inoculate a new hole in the lid. EACH TIME.
The Incubation Chamber: Fill an empty 32 oz. Gatorade (or similar) about 75% full with distilled water. Add one cap full of hydrogen peroxide. Insert a fish tank submersible heater into the bottle so the water level is displaced to the necessary height on the heater. Place this inside a medium to large sized Styrofoam cooler. This will provide radiant heat as opposed to dry heat, which robs the air of moisture. Put all inoculated jars into the cooler and cover with a sheet or spray paint it black as Styrofoam is easily penetrated by light. These jars should not even be viewed for at least two weeks unless some experimentation results and observation notes are desired. They need complete darkness. Insert a thermometer through the Styrofoam lid and wait as the heater rises to proper levels. When the heater seems to be regulating a constant temperature of 86 degrees, you can stop adjusting the heater dial. The temperature inside the jars will be slightly higher requiring a lesser temperature but the heat will be most intense at the top of the cooler, where the thermometer is, giving a balancing effect to the invitro temperature readings. Keep an occasional eye on the temperature to ensure reliability. This sounds trivial, but will make a world of difference, so just do it.

So what if you are as poor as our friend Johnny and you blew your last ten bucks on a submersible aquarium heater? You can’t afford a pressure cooker and boiling in the pot keeps tipping the jars over midway through the process, throwing off the water ratio in the jar? You can’t just put the jars in the pot because they will get too hot and the glass will break? The jars also keep getting contaminated after the sterilization process? How come? What can you do? How frustrating is that? Check this out…

STERILE TEK
Use a boiling pot with a lid that is either heavy or seals somewhat and is domed. Virtually every pot with a lid that even fits will fulfill this requirement. Clean the pot and the lid. Pour about 1 inch of distilled water into the bottom of the pot. Next, tear 12 inch by 12 inch square (or close to it) of foil and another one similar in size. Even the two pieces to each other and set the ready-to-be-sterilized jar in the middle. Fold the foil up along the edges of the jar and bloom them outward at the top, like a vase shape. This will provide for temperature buffer to prevent from cracking the glass, while heating properly, while keeping moisture away from the lids and inside the jars, while maximizing the space in the pot. After bringing to a boil, reduce the flame or stove heat to minimal. This should still hold the water at reflux (bubbling) while keeping the pounds per square inch low inside the pot. Do this for one hour. (Note: use MASKING tape to cover the holes. Anything else will curl and decompose in the heat.)

While these jars are heating, take a plastic grocery sack and place it inside another one to compensate for any holes in the sacks. Spray the inside bag with disinfectant aerosol and rub the insides together, evenly coating with antibacterial agent. When the jars are done sterilizing, spray two oven pads with the same stuff and grab each jar out of the pot, recovering it each time. Make sure that the lids are still loose and put about four or five into each double-sack thingy. Tie the handles ONCE (you need to get them out later) to close air in and give a sterile environment for the jars to cool in. While they cool, the air inside the jars is contracting, drawing outside air inside. If the air is sterile, we have no problems.

Last but not least, you cant afford an aquarium big enough to house all of those lovely rhizemorphic cakes and your plexi-glass drip shield keeps falling down into the grow chamber and the daily waterings are depressing and blah… blah… blah…

COST EFFECTIVE GROW CHAMBER
There are a few principles that every grow chamber must have covered; high humidity, sterile ground water for cake feeding, a drip guard, contaminant protection, etc. The easiest and least expensive way to achieve this is by purchasing a large Rubbermaid-type storage bin. Boil enough perlite in distilled water to cover about one half inch of the bottom of the container. Then boil some vermiculite in the same fashion. Cover the perlite with the thicker layer of vermiculite and spread evenly. Twist all cakes until burying about 18 inch of the bottom of the cake. This will feed moisture through the lower vermiculite contaminant barrier and through the inner reservoir and up to the top contaminant barrier, keeping the cake hydrated for massive flushing. Next, put two sticky pads (square adhesive foam pads from 3M or whatever) on one of the shorter sides of the rectangular walls. They should be placed at about the imaginary level of the top of the shortest cake. The plexi-glass should be cut to fit so that one edge is pushed into the foam pads and the other edge rests on the top end of the opposite wall. It should be, lengthwise, large enough to create at LEAST A 20-DEGREE ANGLE. It should also be cut, widthwise, so that there is about 12 to 1 inch on either side between the plexi-glass and the inside long walls of the container. 18 inch weather-strip foam tape can be applied around the top edges of the container to form a seal with the lid but is not necessary. A Kaz heating pad can be purchased from any Wal-Mart-type place for ten or fifteen dollars and should be placed under the Tupperware on the lowest setting. If condensation does not appear on the insides of the container, turn the pad to the next highest heating level. This will cause the water to evaporate and wick through the perlite, soaking the vermiculite and the air with moisture.

So that is it. Every little trick I have gathered has been given to you. Remember to use your head and respect the existence of these little dudes. Whatever love you give them, they will give to you in return.

Exp Year: 2002	ExpID: 13552
Gender: Not Specified
Age at time of experience: Not Given
Published: Mar 29, 2007	Views: 496
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Mushrooms (39) : Not Applicable (38), Cultivation / Synthesis (31), Preparation / Recipes (30)