Casing suggestions for a newbie?

[otismofo]

I somehow ended up with some partially used spore syringes in my fridge. It piqued my interest so I decided to grow mushrooms for the first time.

I made it past stage one. I have 4 pint jars of uncontaminated mycelium colonizing on WBS. (4 other jars doomed to contams by whomever handled the spores before me.) Two jars will be ready for birthing in two days or so. The other two jars look like they have a week or two to go.

My set up: GHETTO because simple is as simple does and I'm not loaded on funds to invest in a hobby project.

I've got a big opaque plastic storage bin with two opaque kitty litter pans sitting inside of it. The bottom of the tub is gonna have perlite soaked in H20 for humidity. The kitty litter pans will be placed on top of the perlite. I'm gonna use the kitty litter pans for the casing. As I have two strains, I'm using two pans to keep them seperate (I want to see the difference in growth patterns.) Icut a window in the lid and covered it with plexiglass to let light in.

I do not want to use coir. it's hard to find in Hell and I don't have enough time to order it online.

I'm interested in using the straw tek, however, I'm not sure if the WBS cakes can be ground into a fine powder like the PF cakes since all the teks talk about are PF cakes. I want the myc to colonize the new casing so I can get better flushes from my few jars.

Any advice from seasoned mycophiliacs would be much appreciated.

[Gretchen]

Spawning to poo is always great with wbs...you can case or not case it....what you are doing is spawning to bulk with straw or poo (or a mix). This is a substrate that will undergo spawn running-then you can case it (casing material is non nutrious layer on top of the colonized spawn medium)...or not case it. For casing a mix of verm, oystershell, peat and or coir can be used.

Use the following ingredients to create the casing material. Then substitute it into any casing method.

* 7.5 liters peat
* 3.5 liters vermiculite
* 4 liters fine washed sand
* 2 liters calcium carbonate (finely crushed oyster shell)

The recipe is originally from Growing Gourmet & Medicinal Mushrooms, by Stamets.

Use the following procedure to create the casing material. Then substitute it into any casing method.

Ingredients:

* 10 units peat
* 1 unit calcium sulfate (gypsum)
* 1 unit calcium carbonate (chalk)

Procedure:

Use calcium carbonate to adjust pH of peat.

Mix dry components - add water slowly, when water can be squeezed out to form brief rivulets, then proper moisture has probably been achieved.

A 75% moisture content is ideal and can be tested by measuring the moisture lost from a sample dried in a hot oven.


Or if you can find it....some Walmarts carry it...Jiffy Mix...a seed starting mix....


GOOD LUCK!

[AnotherDimension]

You can grind up wbs and make a pf tek cake with it, but you have to adjust the water level cuz it will be a lil dry with the 2:1:1 ratio of Verm:BRF:water
But I have wbs and thistle seed versions of the PF tek with Albino Penis envy colonizing em, but it is slower then the BRF.

It would be helpful if you knew whether they were cubies, Pans, Azures or Psil Psan cuz they all need different things. The cubies are the easiest and more the likely what you got. Some people get azures cuz they are so strong but don't realize you need wood and 50-55 degrees to fruit, that is why I asked. Gretchens suggestion is the best. Casings work great or you can spawn to poo or straw and poo and wait til you see pins with heads that turned color and then case with verm or verm/peat (need to check ph if using peat.....but I do a late casing with just verm that I wet 1st and microwave and it works great.:eek:

[otismofo]

It's been 2 days and I have thick fuzzies pokin through the surface and I know nothing has gone wrong yet. I covered those with more sterized soil that I had portioned out into ziplock bags for future use. I haven't started putting light on them yet but I am fanning.

I'm a little hazy on where to go from here. I have a hygrometer and a thermometer in the FC. It is a little chilly in there but the humidity is perfect. Again, any suggestions?

[AnotherDimension]

Don't keep adding soil. When you case, case. If myc shows up leave it alone for now. In cubies I am finding that since light causes pinning it is better to not case until after it pins though some shrooms wont pin if not cased....but I do a late casing and have had really good results for a straight verm that I microwaved for a casing.