251 lines
15 KiB
Plaintext
251 lines
15 KiB
Plaintext
Psilly Simon's
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Mushroom Growin' Guide II
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I have tried several methods to grow mushrooms and have run into problems with
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all of them. The Oss & Oeric Method is good but the instructions can be
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confusing at times. I have found the "rice cake" method to also be very
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fruitless as I could not force any of the jars to actually produce mushrooms.
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Eating the mushroomless rice cakes didnt do anything but taste bad. What is
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needed is a set of step-by-step instructions that will lead to mushroom
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production. Mushrooms are not that hard to grow. You only need to know exactly
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what to do and when. I have put together this list of instructions to make the
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process a little clearer and more efficient to promote a higher chance of
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success. The key to growing is in sterility, patience and meticulousness.
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Out of my twelve jars only four were contaminated and Ive killed cacti!
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The basic idea is never to leave the jars uncovered for more than an instant.
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It is very easy to keep things sterile and grow successfuly if you use your
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head.
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The whole process is a combination of the rice cake and the Oss & Oeric methods
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and takes about six weeks. The main difference from the Oss & Oeric (O&O)
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method is that the spores are dropped directly on the rye medium instead of
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cultivating them on agar first. The reason for the agar step is to increase
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sterility and ensure only one strain of dikaryotic mycellum permeates the rye.
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However, with the direct spore method many strains are forced to fight it out
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in the rye allowing the strongest to dominate the jar and fruit. I have had no
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sterility problems with direct spore innoculation as long as a relatively
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sterile commercial spore print is used.
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There have been a few changes made to the MGG since the first one. Most are just
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simple ways to keep things sterile without having to build a sterile box. All
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of the equipment and the print should not cost any more than $100US.
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Equipment:
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Pressure canner: capable of sustaining 15 pounds. Size doesnt matter
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as long as you can do all the jars eventually. Canners
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which can hold 4 quart sized jars are avaliable at
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Caldor/Sears/Ames or any other sizeable housewares
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store for about $40US.
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12 wide mouthed, quart sized canning jars: During canning season these
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can be found at any grocery store. In the off season
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they are harder to find. Check some larger hardware &
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Housewares stores or flea markets.
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Spore print: FS Books has good prints. Check High Times for the address.
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1200ml whole grain rye: not animal feed! get it at a health food store.
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Rye is better than rice because rice gumms up the sides
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of the jars so you cant see whats growing inside it.
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1 bag planting soil: peat moss/pearlite/vermacilite mixure only(no dirt)
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Styrofoam cooler: large enough to hold all the jars
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Transparent/translucent plastic panel: You can either use plexiglass
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or good hardware stores carry panels to cover flourescent
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lighting units. These can be cut with scissors easily.
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Lysol spray
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Sandwich sized zip Lock Bags
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Anti-bacterial soap
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Heavy duty zircon encrusted tweezers (Zappa joke.Any tweezers will do :)
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Scraper: xacto knifes work well
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Flame source: lighter, alcohol lamp, etc. (candles burn dirty. Dont use)
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Saran wrap & tin foil
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1 gallon Distilled water
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Water spray bottle
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1) Wash the jars with antibacterial soap. Use a dishwasher too if you have it.
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It is not necessary to get real sterile just yet, just be neat.
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2) To 3 canning jars add 100ml rye and 175ml distilled water. Close the jar
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with the lid upside-down. The lids will remain upside down throughout their
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use. Keep the dome loose but secure.
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3) In a clean container mix some soil with distilled water until it is spongy
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to the touch and does not leek any water. The soil should be wet but not
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liquidy. You want "moist soil" not mud. Mix enough of the soil to loosely
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fill a canning jar. Do not pack the soil in, just drop it in the jar till
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its full. Screw the lid on loosely but securely.
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4) Place the 3 rye jars and the soil jar into the canner. If you can fit
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more than 4 jars in there go ahead, it will save you time. Just remember
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to prepare 1 jar of soil for every 3-4 jars of rye. Follow the directions
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for the canner to sterilize the jars at 15 pounds for one full hour. If you
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can, it is a good idea to let the steam build up a bit before closing the
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pressure valve. It is not necessary to use distilled water in the canner.
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5) When its done let the canner cool to room temperature. When it is safe to
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handle you can remove the jars and let them cool seperately. JARS MUST
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BE COOLED TO ROOM TEMPERATURE BEFORE CONTINUING. Store the soil jar some
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where clean and tighten the lid. Lightly shake the rye jars to loosen the
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rye.
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6) Repeat steps 2-5 until all the jars are done. You should have 1 jar of
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sterile soil for each 3-4 jars of sterile rye.
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7) Heres the tricky part. Most people complain about contamination but if you
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use this method to innoculate the jars you wont find it a problem. I used
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this procedure with my last batch of 12 jars and NONE of them were
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contaminated! The trick is to open the jar lids as little as possible for
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as short a period of time as possible. Also, try not to stand over the jars
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when they are briefly cracked open.
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a) Take a shower. Clean off a desk or table and sponge it with antibacterial
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soap. Spray it with lysol. Screw off the domes but leave the lids on.
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Wash your hands again with antibacterial soap.
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b) Ready the spore print. DO NOT TAKE IT OUT OF THE BAG!!! Flame the scraper
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and the tweezers until they glow then let them cool. The tweezers are
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used to hold open the bag while the scraper collects spores. The spore
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print never leaves its bag though. Dont spray lysol near open flames!
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c) When a visible clump of spores have been scraped off quickly carry them
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on the scraper to a jar. Anything you can see is thousands of spores. It
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doesnt take much. Crack open the jar just enough for the scraper to
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enter and drop in the spores. Close the lid and screw on the dome firmly.
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The lid should have only been cracked open for about 2 seconds; not
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enough to contaminate it. When all the jars are innoculated shake them
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until all the rye is loose and the spores are distributed. Loosen the
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lids.
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8) Place the rye jars in the styro-cooler, close the lid and wait. It takes
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about 1-2 weeks for the mycellum (fuzz) to permeate the jars. Small clumps
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of white fuzz will appear in the jars. When the growth is about 50% permeated
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shake the jars and let the fuzz grow again. I have found the Ott & Oss ratio
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of rye to water to be far too dry and take twice as long as 100ml to 175ml.
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This also uses less rye so the jars are permeated faster. It usually takes
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ten days. If, at any point, you see any non-white fuzz or non-rye gunk in
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the jar then it is contaminated. Dump it out. Theres no hope for it and it
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is not healthy to ingest. It could be fatal or worse. Be merciless. Thats
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why you did 12 jars, so you could sacrifice a few if necessary. Regular
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room temperature is fine for the whole growth cycle but dont keep them next
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to heaters or air conditioning. Although several sources suggest keeping the
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temperature at 85 degrees (f) room temperature is fine.
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9) When all the jars are ready take them out of the cooler. At this point you
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need to get 1.5-2 inches of the sterile soil onto the rye. This is called
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"casing". There are two ways to do this without sacrificing sterility:
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1: You can turn the cooler sideways, cover the inside and the opening with
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saran wrap, and cut two holes in the saran wrap over the opening to make
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a sterile work box. You can then transfer the soil to each jar in the box
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using the holes for your antibacterial soap washed hands. Wash the spoon
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you use to transfer the soil after every jar so that contaminates dont
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transfer from jar to jar.
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2: Close the rye jar lid tightly. Wash the outside of the lid with
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antibacterial soap and Lysol. Do the same with a soil jar. Take the
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dome part off of the jars but leave the lids on. Turn the soil jar
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upside down holding the lid on and place it on top of the rye jar.
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the lids should be facing against each other. Spray the area with
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Lysol then carefully slide the two lids away letting some soil fall
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through into the rye jar. Be careful not to let too much fall in.
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It may not be necessary to slide the lids all the way off to get the
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dirt to fall in. Slide the lids back on when the rye is covered.
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10) Cut the plastic panel to fit over the cooler. Wash and lysol the panel.
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Wrap each jar with tin foil up to the top of the soil. Remove each lid
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and at the same time place a zip lock bag over the opening. The opening
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of the bag should cover the opening of the jar. This way air can get in
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but it is still covered. The jars can be easily aerated by sliding the
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bag up and down over the jar slowly. Jars can be wattered by sticking
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the nozzle of the spray bottle in under the edge of the bag. This way
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the jar is never uncovered. Place all the bag covered jars in the cooler
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and keep the cooler in a clean location. I have found that these bags
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and sterilized soil are the key to sterility. The plastic lid really
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does not keep that much out. each time you open it all kinds of dust floats
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in. I have had NO sterility problems on jars which were bagged and used
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sterilized soil. NEVER take the bag off any more than just enough to stick
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the nozzle of the spray jar in there. Aerate the jars as described slowly
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so dust doesnt get sucked into the jar.
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11) At this point the jars will need to be sprayed with distilled water daily.
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You dont want it to be too wet though. After a week or so you should see
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the mycellum begin to clump together at the edges of the jar. They should
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clump together even more in the next week as they grow into the soil. Keep
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these misted with a fine spray of water. If they grow too thick you should
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spray them a little heavier to knock them down. Dont spray the soil too
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much as you might invite other molds. In two weeks from casing the mycellum
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from the rice cake will have grown through the soil and may start to break
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through the top of the soil. If this happens spray the soil a *little* more
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to knock them down. The cooler should get about 12-13 hours of light a day
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through the lid. Ambient room light is fine. Keep it out of the direct
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sunlight so it doesnt get too hot. Be on the lookout for any mold in the
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jars and be prepared to immediately remove them from the cooler. Mold can
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be very hard to spot so be meticulous. The most common molds to look
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out for are a green mold and a yellowish slime. If a jar is contaminated
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carefully check the jars it was sitting next to. They may be contaminated
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as well. For this reason it is a good idea to space the jars as far apart
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as possible in the cooler. Dont try to salvage contaminated jars; it wont
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work. If contamination is found wash off all the outsides jars with
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anti-bacterial soap, change the tin foil, and spray the cooler and lid
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with lysol before replacing the good jars.
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12) The first flush of mushrooms should appear in about 2-3 weeks after casing.
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each jar will continue to produce mushrooms for 40-60 days. Pinheads start
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off as tiny white dots and grow into what looks like miniature mushrooms with
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brown heads and thich stalks in a day or two. Shrooms grow from pinheads to
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full mushrooms in about a week. When the rim of the cap seperates from the
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stalk it is ready to harvest. Use tweezers to grab the base of the stalk and
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wiggle it out. It is also a good idea to fill the hole that is left with new
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casing soil. This will make the jars fruit longer. Pinheads may form
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below the soil near the glass and never break through to the surface. These
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can be removed and the hole filled with casing soil. After the first flush
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of mushrooms has grown and the block of rye has pulled away from the sides of
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the jar O&O advise digging out the casing soil and recasing the whole thing.
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Ive never done this but it supposedly makes the jar fruit longer.
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There are some changes which you will notice in the jar as it grows. You
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should expect these things to happen if the shrooms are healthy. These are
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some major changes in order of occurence along with some other random
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suggestions:
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1: After casing ropy runners will appear near the edge of the glass in the
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casing soil. These will darken in color into a yellowish brown as they
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mature. Dont mistake this for some kind of infection. I think it is
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just the color of the nutrients which the runners are carrying throughout
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the jar. Runners in the rye will stay white.
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2: Some pinheads will grow deeper in the jar despite the tin foil wrap.
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They seem to have no idea which way is up. Dont worry about it. If you
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dig in there trying to remove them youll probably contaminate the jar.
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Most likely they'll stop growing and revert back to ordinary mycellum.
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3: When the mushrooms first grow they will appear to be thick. When they are
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ready to open the stalk near the cap will shrink and the cap will get a
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little bulbous (fast and bulbous :) This is normal. Your mushrooms are
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not wasting away they are supposed to ger thinner.
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4: I *think* I have noticed a subtle difference in the way mushrooms respond
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to light. They *seem* to grow taller in the dark and thicker in the light.
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I may just be hallucinating though ;)
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5: There will be a thin line of darkening where the cap meets the veil just
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before the veil tears open. I think this is due to bruising. Shrooms
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stain blue when bruised. The streaching veil must bruise the edge of the
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cap a little.
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6: Most of the mushrooms grow near the edges of the jar. Some even grow on
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the jar itself! If clumps of white mycellum grow on the jar above the
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soil leave them alone. Some of the best mushrooms come from them.
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7: If the mycellum really overgrow the top of the soil I have found it
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very successful to just add another inch of casing soil. This may not
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be necessary but it works for me.
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So there it is. There are some good instructions on how to dry mushrooms
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without heat at ftp.hmc.edu://pub/drugs/psychedelics/mushrooms/grow.mushrooms,
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although I have not tried it yet. Basically you put dry rice on a tray, cover
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them with a paper towel, lay one layer of mushrooms on the paper towel, and
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cover them with another paper towel. Then keep the whole thing in the fridge
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for a while until the rice leeches out all the water. My guess is that you can
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just bury them in rice and put them in the fridge. Dosage is 50g wet weight
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and 5g dry weight aggording to O&O. A US penny weighs about 2.5g - build a scale
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and weigh them. Its about 2-3 fresh shrooms. Fresh shrooms are more potent
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than dried ones since the heat breaks down the goodies. This is why the rice
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& fridge method might be better. You can make spore prints on lens cleaning
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paper which is sold in any drug store. Just cut a square and leave the cap
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on it for a day. Do it on a sterile surface and cover it with something clean
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(like a clean drinking glass). Store the print in a zip lock baggie and keep
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it cool and dry (dont freeze it though).
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Send questions to: an56806@anon.penet.fi (Psilly Simon)
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