growing shrooms off my used promix.

[lordbudly]

i already had a plan of attack, and it was, make a cake, and grab a tupperware, fill with peat, add stuff to peat, colonize peat. get shrooms. but im not sure what i want to use for my spawning cake? maybe...... wild rice? all i have, and i havent found vermiculite or brown rice powder, anything you reccomend? i know where to get bird feed, i live in a small town with not many towns nearby so my selections for growing anything are kind of limited, i heard birdfeed with sunflower seeds picked out is pretty good

 

[79towncar]

Lord, Coco is a great substrate.. It's readily available and works just as well as horse manure.. A Coco, coffee and verm mix is an amazing substrate.. Alot of people who use monotubs use that mix.. Peat is a non-nutrious substance hence it's not good for a substrate.. Peat should be used for a casing instead.. You can also use wheat straw for a substrate if you have a source for that.. Also forget brown rice flower jars.. If you don't have a pressure cooker then you may want to start off with that, but the best material to use for spawn in mmy opinion is rye grains.. They are the preffered material for spawn.. Most commercial spawn you buy is made from rye grains.. Some people use wild bird seed and some people even use popcorn like Johny has shown.. Whatever works best for you.. But for new cultivators I always reccomend rye.. I wrote up a few tutorials for somebody else in another thread and if you want them let me know.. Monotubs are very easy.. Johny has a good thread here so you can also use his as a template.. All in all growing mushrooms (especially Cubensis) is very easy.. All it takes is being sterile and learning the basics...

 

[johnyhash]

Hey lord if you have a pressure cooker go with the wild birdseed, soak it for 24 hours before simmering. the sunflower seeds float to the top so its easy to scoop them out with a strainer. What kind of jar filter do you plan to use??

 

[79towncar]

i already had a plan of attack, and it was, make a cake, and grab a tupperware, fill with peat, add stuff to peat, colonize peat. get shrooms. but im not sure what i want to use for my spawning cake? maybe...... wild rice? all i have, and i havent found vermiculite or brown rice powder, anything you reccomend? i know where to get bird feed, i live in a small town with not many towns nearby so my selections for growing anything are kind of limited, i heard birdfeed with sunflower seeds picked out is pretty good

You need to do alittle more reading.. Peat is not a good material for a bulk substrate.. It's mostly used for a casing material.. You need to 1st determine how you want to make spawn.. I reccomend bird seed since you have access to that.. But if you use that you have to pressure cook jars of it.. If you don't they will just contaminate.. After you pressure cook the jars you have to innoculate them.. So I guess you will be using a spore syringe?? After that you have to wait until the jars fully colonize.. Then you need to pastuerize your bulk substrate and mix your colonized jars (spawn) with your bulk substrate.. Since peat is not an option what do you want to use as a bulk substrate?? I reccomend a Coco, coffee, verm mix..

Then you can use a Johnyhash style monotub to fruit in after it fully colonizes.. Are you going to use a casing?? You don't have to I don't reccomend it.. It dosen't make you get much more yeild wise and it suspends your harvest for as long as it takes for the mycelium to grow through the casing.. A casing can be helpful for new growers since it helps keep ideal conditions inside the monotub.. Anyway revise your plan.. Decide what you are going to use for a substrate and decide if you will case or not.. You can ask me any other questions if you need.. Goodluck!

 

[lordbudly]

so i cant use a peat and coffee grounds mix? i was hoping to do it like johnny since i have tons upon tons of unmixed and mixed peat full of perlite only

 

[79towncar]

so i cant use a peat and coffee grounds mix? i was hoping to do it like johnny since i have tons upon tons of unmixed and mixed peat full of perlite only

I don't know how well it would perform since peat itself is non nutrious.. Johnys peat was Promix right?? That has addatives in it to give the peat nutrients.. Mushrooms need nitrogen as well as many other nutrients to grow.. If you have alot of mixed peat try an experimental grow using it as a substrate.. But at the same time do a traditional grow with the proper substrate this way if the peat mix fails to work you aren't fully shit out of luck.. If the peat does work use up what yo have and then switch to a traditional substrate.. Keep the unmixed peat as it is.. You can use that mixed with vermicullite as a casing material later if you want..

So mix up 2 monotubs.. 1 with a traditional substrate and the other one being your experimental peat.. Grow them out as normal and see what happens.. Then if the peat works use it all up and if it doesn't you can use it for plants or garden or whatever.. I suggest Coco, coffee and verm to use in your 2nd monotub.. I can give you a detailed tutorial that covers ingredients, preperation and pastuerization.. It's in my opinion one of the best substrates out there.. Also it's very easy to prepare and very cheap.. You can build each monotub for under $10... Then each monotub can yeild you 4-8 ounces..

 

[johnyhash]

Hey towncar the promix i have used is nutritional from the dead roots not other additives, one of my best flushes every came from only using old spent soil with leaves and gypsum. Now i like to add poo.

Lord using ur old peat with dead roots, coffee grinds, and hashed leaf for bulk sub sounds like it will work great.

 

[lordbudly]

how about mg fertilized peat, i have a smaller bag of this i havent used since its, mg, and fertilized and i decided to go with a bale of un fertilized for a soil mix, mmm?

 

[lordbudly]

and what do you mean by jar filter, yes i do have a pressure cooker and i planned on sterilizing the jars before innoculation

 

[johnyhash]

Hey lord if your buying the substrate for growing shroom you should probally go with something like towncar said, I only use the mix because its free after using it for growing, it also has great texture and the dead roots are good food. Try and get manure or some coco like towncar said.

I wouldnt want to grow shrooms off mg soil, something about about them growing off a monsanto product is just too fucked up. There is cheaper better alternatives.

A jar filter is just that its a filter that keeps contams out while letting your jars breathe. I use micro pore tape over the innoculation holes, but there is many differnt types of jar filters to choose from. You should visit mycotopia or the shroomery to see the diferrent types of jar setups, they are pretty simple.

 

[lordbudly]

i have access to cow manure, already composted when sold, and i believe home depot also has some mushroom compost

 

[79towncar]

i have access to cow manure, already composted when sold, and i believe home depot also has some mushroom compost

That mushroom compost from Home Depot is not what you think.. It's not ment for growing mushrooms.. It's actually compost that was already used to grow mushrooms.. So it's spent compost usually deprived of all it's nutrients.. If you have access to manure I assume you have acess to straw?? If so you are set.. If not you could use straight manure but it's smelly, messy and taboo.. You should never use fresh manure.. You should use old composted manure.. So you seem to have a good material to use.. You should use it as an addative tho.. Use it mixed with straw or Coco and you can stretch your substrate a looong way... You will still have to pastuerize.. I also reccomend using some gypsum.. You can also use hydrated lime in the mix but it's not necessary..

 

[lordbudly]

could i get away with peat verm gypsum for my bulk and wild birdseed as my spawn ? shipping is always killer and i can get all of the above within a decent drive

 

[79towncar]

You gotta get that peat idea out of your head cuz.. Peat is for a casing not a substrate.. Use a different substrate.. I don't see what the big deal is.. Peat is non-nutrious, that is why every single experienced mushroom grower (including commercial growers) don't use peat as a substrate.. Use something nutrious.. Use either horse manure, wheat straw or Coco.. Those are the 3 best... Again peat is a casing material not a substrate.. I don't mean to be rude I am only trying to help... But I don't know how to get it to sink in... Yes some people may have had some success with peat, I've even heard of people growing shrooms off of old ripped up t-shirts, but it is not a good nutrious substrate by any means.. Ask any commercial mushroom farm what they use peat for...

Get some Coco online.. It's very cheap and in the top 3 in terms of substrates.. Put it this way when people use Coco they STILL add other nutrients to it.. And Coco is a nutrious substrate.. Your proposing using a non nutrious substance and think you can add in all the nutrients.. It's not a good platform to work with... Using peat inside your substrate is like using old carpet inside your substrate.. Both non nutrious.. You will get much better yeilds and much better performing mushrooms by using the correct substrate.. Again I appologize if I sound rude but I really only want to help.. I've provided plenty of advise for people on this forum and while I am not an expert I do think I have a good handle on proven methods...

So what happened to the cow manure you said you could get?? Did that fall through?? Also have you looked for wheat straw?? Wheat straw is very cheap only about $5 for a 100 pound bail and you can make over a dozen 66 quart monotubs with one of them...

 

[lordbudly]

i can get the manure, but peat verm and gypsum was brother bears tek, i was hoping it would work because i could do it locally, i will check my only feed store within a decent range, but last time i went there i didnt remember much, its about the size of one of the smaller 7-11's

 

[lordbudly]

is there something i missed with brother bears tek? 79
what strain would be best for a beginer?
some b+ is what ive chosen so far, classic shroom color, looks to be the northern lights of shrooms, easy, resilient, $23 shipped from hawkseye

i just looked and you said you can use straight manure, the manure is moooo nure from any local gardening area around here, already composted, this would work? if i can find straw i can get a first grow started with this maybe?

i know u say no peat no peat, but could i maybe , just maybe, possibly, in some universe, use a little peat to help with the consistency of almost pure cowpoop composted?

 

[79towncar]

is there something i missed with brother bears tek? 79
what strain would be best for a beginer?
some b+ is what ive chosen so far, classic shroom color, looks to be the northern lights of shrooms, easy, resilient, $23 shipped from hawkseye

i just looked and you said you can use straight manure, the manure is moooo nure from any local gardening area around here, already composted, this would work? if i can find straw i can get a first grow started with this maybe?

i know u say no peat no peat, but could i maybe , just maybe, possibly, in some universe, use a little peat to help with the consistency of almost pure cowpoop composted?

Yea you can use alittle peat to bulk up your substrate but don't use more then about 15% peat inside your substrate... As far as strains go.. All Cubensis are the same.. All those "strains" are mostly vendor hype.. To get those particular characteristics you need to isolate thoe specific traits.. Think of it like this when you buy some Black Widow from Mr. Nice you know in order to get your plats to look like the ones pictured you must use process of elemination and isolate specific growing traits.. So you won't see much difference between "strains" that are Cubensis.. The only exception to this is Penis Envy.. Penis Envy from it's constant inbreeding and it's passed on mutation looks and performs differently then other Cubensis.. I DO NOT reccomend Penis Envy for a 1st timer... It's growing cycle is much slower and it puts out alot of mutations that a newbie may think are normal growing traits..

I would reccomend B+ they are nice.. Also if your gonna use a vendor use Sporeworks.com.. Hawkseye.com is good but Sporeworks has better veriety and they have a mycologist on staff who does customer service on the Shroomery... Also there genetics are impecable.. Plus they usually give you freebies and the shipping is very fast.. But Hawkseye is a great company also they both are very good companies so you can't really go wrong with either..

I reccomend getting strains that are known for solid thick stems... Alot of strains have hollow stems and it kills your yeild.. So go for strains like B+, Z-strain, PF Classic and there are others.. Also you might want to try and pickup an Albino strain.. They grow completly white after you isolate the characteristic.. It's really cool having all white mushrooms... Isolation is pretty complicated but I can give you guidence.. It's done inside petree dishes with agar media and a small amount of mycellium placed on the dishes.. Then when they grow out alittle you have to isolate and transfer some rhyzomorphic mycellium to other petree dishes.. Isolation can be fun but it is very tedious and time consuming.. Not to mention you adventually have to fruit out all of your isolates to find your perfect strain...

As for your substrate you can use straw.. But you should really use manure and straw together.. Straw should compose about 20-40% of the total amount of the substrate.. Gypsum is great for your substrate as well but you dont need to go overboard... Alot of people don't even use gypsum.. It's always advisable to use vermicullite with your substrate because it helps the substrate maintan proper moisture content... I'm not sure about the manure you are talking about.. Can you provide me with a link or a picture of the product and some information about the product?? If it's already composted It sounds like it should do fine but I could check it out for you and make sure it's 100% perfect.. Anyways get back to me keep the questions flowing and READ READ READ, I can't stress that enough..

P.S. If you would like I can give you some very well written imformation about general mushroom growing VIA PM.. So if your interested let me know..

 

[lordbudly]

http://www.moonure.com/ heres the manure

im checking the feed stores tomorrow, if no straw a something 1 part peat to 5 parts manure? thinking 1 quart peat, 5 quarts manure, and 2 quarts spawn
in a 66 qt sterilite clear tote

when i asked what strain you would recommend was exactly what you said, no hollow stems and such

 

[79towncar]

Yea you could use that mix.. I'm not 100% on that manure.. I've never heard of anybody using it.. You can't get Coco?? Try that manure tho and see how it turns out.. Manure is a good substrate but Coco is just as good and can easily be gotten at PetSmart... Is that manure the only substrate available to you?? Or are you just using it because you heard somebody say that manure grows the best mushrooms.. To be honest the only good thing about m anure is the price, when it's free.. But if you are going out and purchasing something pick up some Coco Coir blocks instead.. But if all you can find is that manure give it a try..

About your strains question... Can you re-word that I can't make it out.. If your asking for a strain to use I'm saying that it doesn't really matter when using Cubensis.. They are all the same, there really is no such thing as "strains".. If you want specific characteristics yoiu will need to isolate them..

 

[ganjapool]

I don't know why I haven't tried this before.
I always use coco coir with some verm and cow manure with gypsum
The manure that you buy is very fine, I don't think it alone would be good for growing shrooms.