First BRF cakes are fruiting!

[low_and_slow]

The poss. contam was why I didn't hit it with verm...in all honesty, I'm kind of curious to just see the difference experimentally. If I re-do this experiment, I'll throw a jar of verm in my cooker when I sterilize everything initially and use that as my casing...just dry verm in a mason jar, should get nice and clean after about an hour of steam

Edit: and yes, I grow with coir, good to know! I'll scrub up triple now and handle shrooms before plants to keep things cleaner.

 

[Ratatoskr]

That explains it, then. I thought it was unusual that someone so keen on cleanliness would get problems with trich so soon, but growing with coir will definitely do it. Trich is great for plants, unfortunately it can be the kiss of death for mushroom growers. Your harvest will be fine without the verm, just likely smaller. I always test my LC's on PF cakes, and I usually dunk before I put them into the chamber. I usually use a blend of water and ~5-10% peroxide to kill as many spores on the cake as possible. Make sure to change clothes between leaving your MJ room and checking your cakes, and adding peroxide to all your water (only after colonization) may help you steer clear of problems. Otherwise, your mushroom grows may be much harder than they would be if you grew in a different medium.

 

[low_and_slow]

good to know on the h202, I wasn't sure if that would damage the fruiting bodies or if it would be helpful...I'll amend accordingly.

 

[Ratatoskr]

It's safe to use at almost all stages of mushroom growth, as long as the substrate is colonized. It indiscriminately kills spores, so you don't want to use it before the spores you want have done their thing, but otherwise it's open season. I often use a dilute combo in the water I mist the tubs with, in my dunks for my PF LC testers, and in a higher concentration if I see the slightest signs of trich. I used to use coir in my tubs for the moisture content and speed, but I noticed I always got trich before my second flush was done. The peroxide definitely helped, but it was just easier and more reliable to just stop using coir.

 

[low_and_slow]

Were you sterilizing it or just using it out of the bag?

 

[Ratatoskr]

I was pasteurizing it, I don't like sterilizing my bulk subs (it can actually make it easier to contam if you're not careful). The results of the first flush were always impressive and it always fruited faster. It works great for mushrooms for the same reasons it works great for hydro growers. I tried sterilizing some coir in jars once, and it didn't seem to help much. It was a BRF blend with coir I was trying for experimental purposes, but 30 mins at 15 psi may not have been enough for full sterilization. For the way I grow mushrooms and what I like to accomplish, it was just easier to skip the coir after I learned about the trich.

 

[Ratatoskr]

To add to the topic of using peroxide for growing mushrooms, I have a friend who shoots 1-2cc's of straight peroxide into his freshly pc'd and cooled jars for grain to grain transfers. He just shoots the peroxide, shakes the jars, and waits a few minutes before he does his transfers out in the open. He does this on his cleaned kitchen countertop and he has a 90% success rate doing it that way. I live in the woods and have pets so I still always do my work in a glovebox, but it works well for him. You might want to look at the Peroxide Manual, it might be able to give you more info.