Time to get Mushing.....

[Taviddude]

Did you use a casing layer at all? Looks like there were a ton of hyphael knots that just never took off for one reason or another. Those mushrooms should get pretty big.

 

[TshirtNinja]

nah bro there is no reason to case cube's that are in coco substrate its just another place for contaminates. the yield wont change much. Now if i was growing sclorotia or others i might use a casing layer but here its just simply not worth it. Plus this is still only the first flush. The second flush should be much more pinning.

 

[Taviddude]

It's always been my experience that the first flush will always give you the most mushrooms and best pinset. The second flush is known for far less, but much larger mushrooms. You should get some bigguns on the second flush. Third flush will put off highly potent mushrooms. Potency goes up in cubensis as the flushes go on. Sclerota don't need a casing layer at all. You use a sclerota forming species, inoculate grain jars, put them in a dark place, and forget about em for 3-5 months. I've done a couple jars of sclerota with atlantis. No need for a casing layer at all with sclerota. Mushrooms are a different story. A casing layer is supposed to be non-nutritious. A mix of Peat, vermiculite and lime works awesome. The lime clicks the ph to discourage the mushroom fungus from colonizing it along with other airborne shit. It is non nutritious, so anything that lands on it will not grow. It actually acts as a barrier to contamination. The idea is to have your sub fully colonized and ready for fruiting conditions before you apply a casing layer so that it does not get colonized. A casing layer provides a micro-climate close to the surface of the substrate that is favorable for the formation of primordia. You will get a better pinset 99 times out of 100 using a casing layer. It is also a water reservoir for growing mushrooms to pull from. The yield WILL change with a casing layer UNLESS you are growing PE. PE needs no casing layer. It is mutated, and does what the f*&^ it wants no matter what anyways. I don't use them anymore because I only grow PE now, but ANY other cube definitely benefits from a casing layer. I commented before on how many hyphael knots your substrate seemed to have that just didn't take off for one reason or another. A good deal of those would have exploded with a casing layer. Even if you're running a tent with ultrasonic humidification it still isn't the same as a casing layer. Just telling ya Bro. I've been growing for years. Every way you can think of to grow, I've done it. Every substrate, just about every type of tek. I grow strictly for yield, and potency. There is a lot of misinformation on a lot of the mushroom boards nowadays. A lot of people talking shit they know nothing about. People are just learning to grow, and they get one successful grow under their belt and their all of a sudden experts on shit. Like they grew two tubs one with a casing, one without, and the yield was the same THAT TIME so a casing is useless. That's hardly scientific. There are a million reasons that could have happened. Anything has to be done with an isolated strain that performs the same. Then the experiment must be repeated with the same results a few times. in the case of a casing layer creating bigger yields, and better pinset I'm sure it would be unanimous. Maybe I'll drag up a few side by side grows. I know this has been a topic more than once, but in the end a casing layer always comes out on top for so many reasons. If you you forget to mist a cased sub, it's all good. Lowers contamination rate, creates CRAZY pinsets that could not be achieved without a casing layer, and gives mushrooms a reservoir of water to pull from as they get bigger. The only thing that limits a mushrooms growth other than Genetics is the availability of water which a casing layer will hold plenty of. A colonized substrate needs to be dunked under water to be rehydrated. It only holds a finite amount of water once it's colonized which is why when You get a bunch of big mushrooms the substrate shrinks to half it's size, and dries out even though it's in a humidity tent. A casing layer is not all the way colonized so it will always take water. I personally don't know of many seasoned growers on any of the boards that I'm either moderator, or council member at that wouldn't recommend a casing layer for cubes. I swear I wouldn't lead you wrong Bro. Just want to see you get crazy ass yields with some of the gnarliest pinsets ever seen. Only possible with a casing layer. Wouldn't lie to you man. I want to see everyone come out on top.
Sorry for the Chapter, but I try to be clear, and explain to the best of my ability what I'm talking about so people can understand. Trying to be as helpful as I can in hopes that when I get this weed grow started you can give me some feedback on that. I don't know SHIT about growing weed. NOTHING. I got the mushroom thing pretty much mastered. I can look at a sub and just now if shit is right, or what's wrong but I'm going to be flying Blind as hell on my first few weed grows. I've never had a green thumb to begin with, and I'm sure I'll be fu%#ing shit up as I go along, lol

 

[TshirtNinja]

lol we will simply agree to disagree. I learned from lots of reading and asking people that have done what i want to do and have great results. within a tub/shotgun chamber show that coco with a mix of vermiculite is the least contaminated bulk substrate and that casing is nothing more than a contamination zone which i honestly agree with. if i had hpoo or something else organic then maybe that would be different but bulk coco coir is not cased. depending on species is the flush count but honestly ive seen that second flushes on coir tend to be the biggest ones. if you need any assistance with growing weed hit me up as i do soil and hydro. gonna be tinkering with aquaponics here in the next year or two to cut down on nutrient costs plus to start a new meat source for myself with fish farming. i have been a farmer/rancher in my lifetime. feel free to throw in your two cents by all means though lol.

 

[Taviddude]

Thanks, I'm definitely going to need it.

 

[TshirtNinja]

what kind of setup are you looking at on your weed project maybe i can help.... i draw diagrams and whatnot in my spare time. describe what you want either dirt or hydro and i can help you set it up.

 

[TshirtNinja]

adding a new photo of this evenings grow. will try and post a photo the afternoon and the morning from now on.

 

[TshirtNinja]

here is the morning shot. The stems are THICK

 

[TshirtNinja]

Harvested today and got 164 wet grams from one quart of spawn and 3 quarts of coco/verm mix. This is the first flush so i figure i could pull a full oz per tray maybe lol

 

[realcarlos]

They're huge!

Apparently dry weight will be 1/10th