@Cc, the bags in the photo with built-in filters and injection ports are ready-made bags that you can buy on platforms like Amazon or other marketplaces in your location.
Okay, got you! Give me a couple of days, and I’ll show you how I make my DIY bags and notify you here. I’ve already shown one example in a forum post here https://shroomok.com/forum/mushroom-cultivation-report/2/day-to-day-reishi-growing-diary#post_3 but I can share more alternatives — including how to replace all the items I use, plus options for safe inoculation both with and without a DIY injection port (especially if you don't have laminar flow hood or still air box) ;-)
Yes, you can make an "all-in-one" bag with grain and coco coir. However, I prefer to inoculate grain only. After it’s fully colonized, I mix the grain spawn with pasteurized or sterilized coco coir.
I have more questions about the bags. The photo looks like the grain on the bottom with coir on top? Do you add them both to the bag and then pressure cook the whole thing? Thank you for this amazing write-up. Everything perfectly clear except how to prep the bags.
@Alec, all the items on Amazon are also for reference to give an idea on what components you can use.
Ziplock bags are NOT heat resistant, you can't use them for sterilization in a pressure cooker (see the next step). Unless they are made of 5PP plastic or... heat resistant roasting oven bags :-)
No, it's not a fruiting block!
Here (step 4) I'm talking about jars/bags for grain substrate (step 3). Which should be pressure cooker sterilized (step 5). And then inoculated with spore syringe or liquid culture (step 6).
After full colonization (step 7) with mycelium we can use grain spawn in jar/bag for making fruiting block/cake (step 8). You can get mushrooms from the grain spawn jar – PF-tek – but this is less productive method.
In your case you can use any glass canning jar with a metal lid and 3-4 layers of micropore tape or waterproof breathable tapes (they are available at any pharmacy).
P.S. Go through the guide step-by-step to have a full picture of the growing process – https://shroomok.com/articles:grow-mushrooms-at-home-guide
I thought you were telling us how to make our own bags? That was the shortest paragraph on the page, and it only says to buy your choice on Amazon.
Would I just use a ziplock bag, a hole punched covered with micropore tape? I'm on Guam, so shipping anything from anyone can be difficult and/or expensive. Micropore (or gauze, bandaids, whatever) is commonly in the first aid aisle, and ziplocks are everywhere, even here.
In my head, fruiting the block is just slicing the bag and fruits will sprout out of the cut. Then flip the block and cut the other side. Do you think that's accurate?
Years ago, in Memphis, I planted P cubensis in the flower bed in front of my ground floor apartment for humor. They grew. They were eaten by something. It was slugs. so, remember to use safe slug bait around the outdoor fruiting area. The slug bait solved the problem of slugs.
Also, if growing sclerotia, view the jar at harvest under a fluorescent black light. The sclerotia fluoresces much brighter than the mycelium.
Has anyone experimented with supplementing the grain media with tryptamine HCl and tryptophan? Syrian Rue seed? ON agar media, both P cubensis and mexicana show a slowing of growth when the concentration of tryptamine HCl is 25 mg/100 ml of water. At 25 and 50 mg/100 ml of water, the center part of teh mycelium colony turns bluish. In Rye grain, mycelium colonization is rapid up to 150-250 mg/100 ml of water. 500 mg/100 ml of water in agar greatly retards growth. The center of the colony turns dark blue almost like contamination. I have not had any samples analyzed for potency yet. I sell Tryptamine HCl if anyone is interested.
1) 2 holes –> one for injection port made of butyl rubber plug or silicone sealer (for inoculation), another – for a separate air filter (for gas exchange in the jar and also for steam flow during the sterilization process).
2) 1 hole –> 2-in-1 –> injection port + air filter made of bactericidal breathable tape.
We'll make inoculation through this one hole covered with tape on the Inoculation step here https://shroomok.com/en/wiki/Inoculation_without_glove_box and this breathable tape also will work as an air filter for gas exchange and for steam flow during sterilization.
You can make 2 separate holes if you want; no problem, it won't be a mistake.
@Chad you can dry them in a food dehydrator if you have one. If not – you can use fan, heat fan, oven, heating radiator or just leave them to dry naturally. Here is the guide with all the examples and useful tips https://shroomok.com/en/wiki/How_to_dry_and_store_psilocybe_mushrooms
@hehue let's imagine you grow mushrooms using the same approach, same substrates, and same colonization & fruiting conditions for ALL strains. It doesn't matter whether you're cultivating Golden Teacher or Tidal Wave – genetic quality will play a major role.
To put it simply-roughly:
If you use MSS, multi spore syringe made of spore print, for inoculation – it always generates many random genetics in one space. How is this possible?
Shrooms need only 2 spores (like Male + Female cells) –> they both propagate –> have love (cross) and exchange with genetic information for reproduction = mycelium producing (this is actually called strain) –> then it multiplies and spreads all over the substrate.
BUT! When you use spore syringe, there are billions of spores and they can create massive amount of such couples. They will compete with each other for nutrients and suppress each other. Eventually, a few winners will prevail, but they will spend a lot of resources for fighting.
Therefore, when you see that mycelium and mushrooms on the same cake look different, and the speed of growth is different, and there are areas with no mushrooms at all – it means that mycelium was produced by different couples in same place.
Like GT here https://shroomok.com/en/wiki/File:golden-teacher-first-grow-ever-0c00ad
Or GT here: https://shroomok.com/en/wiki/File:nice-golden-teacher-fruiting-8fe457
However, you NEVER know and can't predict the final outcome from multi spore cultivation – it may be great, may be average, may be poor.
Completely different story is when you use ISOLATED culture, mycelium created by only ONE couple of spores. Culture isolation requires spending plenty of time (from several weeks to several months) of work with agar (selection and isolation by transfer from agar to agar) or cloning on agar.
In such case, mycelium has no competition; it spreads evenly throughout the substrate and forms perfect mushrooms—as beautiful as the ones typically seen in ads photos. Or, for example, as this isolated GT here: https://shroomok.com/en/wiki/File:Bottle-tek-mushrooms-ready-for-harvesting.jpg
The truth is: you will NEVER get that kind of result from multispore genetics, no matter what kind of strain you have ;-)
GT from all the stuff i got (tidal wave and APE) has grown the worst somehow. after month+ i only got one decent grow, 20 little primordia and 3 early fruits.. while APE is already full of tiny mutant balls and tidal wave had 20 shrooms
@Cc, the bags in the photo with built-in filters and injection ports are ready-made bags that you can buy on platforms like Amazon or other marketplaces in your location.
Okay, got you! Give me a couple of days, and I’ll show you how I make my DIY bags and notify you here. I’ve already shown one example in a forum post here https://shroomok.com/forum/mushroom-cultivation-report/2/day-to-day-reishi-growing-diary#post_3 but I can share more alternatives — including how to replace all the items I use, plus options for safe inoculation both with and without a DIY injection port (especially if you don't have laminar flow hood or still air box) ;-)
Yes, you can make an "all-in-one" bag with grain and coco coir. However, I prefer to inoculate grain only. After it’s fully colonized, I mix the grain spawn with pasteurized or sterilized coco coir.
How to make jars with substrate for mushroom spawn
I have more questions about the bags. The photo looks like the grain on the bottom with coir on top? Do you add them both to the bag and then pressure cook the whole thing? Thank you for this amazing write-up. Everything perfectly clear except how to prep the bags.
How to make jars with substrate for mushroom spawn
@Shroomok thank you for the answer and also for the great written material on this subject, it is very very helpful
Inoculation without glove box
@Alec, all the items on Amazon are also for reference to give an idea on what components you can use.
Ziplock bags are NOT heat resistant, you can't use them for sterilization in a pressure cooker (see the next step). Unless they are made of 5PP plastic or... heat resistant roasting oven bags :-)
No, it's not a fruiting block!
Here (step 4) I'm talking about jars/bags for grain substrate (step 3). Which should be pressure cooker sterilized (step 5). And then inoculated with spore syringe or liquid culture (step 6).
After full colonization (step 7) with mycelium we can use grain spawn in jar/bag for making fruiting block/cake (step 8). You can get mushrooms from the grain spawn jar – PF-tek – but this is less productive method.
In your case you can use any glass canning jar with a metal lid and 3-4 layers of micropore tape or waterproof breathable tapes (they are available at any pharmacy).
P.S. Go through the guide step-by-step to have a full picture of the growing process – https://shroomok.com/articles:grow-mushrooms-at-home-guide
How to make jars with substrate for mushroom spawn
@MyName, no problem! You can use a spore syringe right away ;-)
Inoculation without glove box
Hi!
What would happen if I don't wait for 24 hours for spore rehydration and inoculate straight away?
Inoculation without glove box
I thought you were telling us how to make our own bags? That was the shortest paragraph on the page, and it only says to buy your choice on Amazon.
Would I just use a ziplock bag, a hole punched covered with micropore tape? I'm on Guam, so shipping anything from anyone can be difficult and/or expensive. Micropore (or gauze, bandaids, whatever) is commonly in the first aid aisle, and ziplocks are everywhere, even here.
In my head, fruiting the block is just slicing the bag and fruits will sprout out of the cut. Then flip the block and cut the other side. Do you think that's accurate?
How to make jars with substrate for mushroom spawn
swear thats golden teacher n not b+
Cubensis B+ mushrooms
Years ago, in Memphis, I planted P cubensis in the flower bed in front of my ground floor apartment for humor. They grew. They were eaten by something. It was slugs. so, remember to use safe slug bait around the outdoor fruiting area. The slug bait solved the problem of slugs.
Also, if growing sclerotia, view the jar at harvest under a fluorescent black light. The sclerotia fluoresces much brighter than the mycelium.
Has anyone experimented with supplementing the grain media with tryptamine HCl and tryptophan? Syrian Rue seed? ON agar media, both P cubensis and mexicana show a slowing of growth when the concentration of tryptamine HCl is 25 mg/100 ml of water. At 25 and 50 mg/100 ml of water, the center part of teh mycelium colony turns bluish. In Rye grain, mycelium colonization is rapid up to 150-250 mg/100 ml of water. 500 mg/100 ml of water in agar greatly retards growth. The center of the colony turns dark blue almost like contamination. I have not had any samples analyzed for potency yet. I sell Tryptamine HCl if anyone is interested.
Long term mycelium storage on agar slants
@daniel, so glad this was useful!
Still Air Box for Mycology
@Dario, there are 2 options:
1) 2 holes –> one for injection port made of butyl rubber plug or silicone sealer (for inoculation), another – for a separate air filter (for gas exchange in the jar and also for steam flow during the sterilization process).
2) 1 hole –> 2-in-1 –> injection port + air filter made of bactericidal breathable tape.
We'll make inoculation through this one hole covered with tape on the Inoculation step here https://shroomok.com/en/wiki/Inoculation_without_glove_box and this breathable tape also will work as an air filter for gas exchange and for steam flow during sterilization.
You can make 2 separate holes if you want; no problem, it won't be a mistake.
Any option will work. The choice is yours!
How to make jars with substrate for mushroom spawn
Why first there are photos and instructions about two holed lids but then you make only one hole?
How to make jars with substrate for mushroom spawn
@Chad you can dry them in a food dehydrator if you have one. If not – you can use fan, heat fan, oven, heating radiator or just leave them to dry naturally. Here is the guide with all the examples and useful tips https://shroomok.com/en/wiki/How_to_dry_and_store_psilocybe_mushrooms
Hillbilly mushrooms - another Bag Tek harvest
How do you dehydrate them while like that??
Hillbilly mushrooms - another Bag Tek harvest
@hehue let's imagine you grow mushrooms using the same approach, same substrates, and same colonization & fruiting conditions for ALL strains. It doesn't matter whether you're cultivating Golden Teacher or Tidal Wave – genetic quality will play a major role.
To put it simply-roughly:
If you use MSS, multi spore syringe made of spore print, for inoculation – it always generates many random genetics in one space. How is this possible?
Shrooms need only 2 spores (like Male + Female cells) –> they both propagate –> have love (cross) and exchange with genetic information for reproduction = mycelium producing (this is actually called strain) –> then it multiplies and spreads all over the substrate.
BUT! When you use spore syringe, there are billions of spores and they can create massive amount of such couples. They will compete with each other for nutrients and suppress each other. Eventually, a few winners will prevail, but they will spend a lot of resources for fighting.
Therefore, when you see that mycelium and mushrooms on the same cake look different, and the speed of growth is different, and there are areas with no mushrooms at all – it means that mycelium was produced by different couples in same place.
Like GT here https://shroomok.com/en/wiki/File:golden-teacher-first-grow-ever-0c00ad
Or GT here: https://shroomok.com/en/wiki/File:nice-golden-teacher-fruiting-8fe457
However, you NEVER know and can't predict the final outcome from multi spore cultivation – it may be great, may be average, may be poor.
Completely different story is when you use ISOLATED culture, mycelium created by only ONE couple of spores. Culture isolation requires spending plenty of time (from several weeks to several months) of work with agar (selection and isolation by transfer from agar to agar) or cloning on agar.
In such case, mycelium has no competition; it spreads evenly throughout the substrate and forms perfect mushrooms—as beautiful as the ones typically seen in ads photos. Or, for example, as this isolated GT here: https://shroomok.com/en/wiki/File:Bottle-tek-mushrooms-ready-for-harvesting.jpg
The truth is: you will NEVER get that kind of result from multispore genetics, no matter what kind of strain you have ;-)
The magic of Golden Teacher mushroom
GT from all the stuff i got (tidal wave and APE) has grown the worst somehow. after month+ i only got one decent grow, 20 little primordia and 3 early fruits.. while APE is already full of tiny mutant balls and tidal wave had 20 shrooms
The magic of Golden Teacher mushroom
cute
APE mushroom no spores
@Scythianman yes, ready!
Mushrooms can be picked as soon as they open their caps, or just before opening
Tidal Wave fruiting
So when they look like that they ready for picking?
Tidal Wave fruiting
You picked them way way, way too soon!
Yeti magic mushrooms