Uncolonised chunk, no pins.

i have a 5l bottle as a growchamber, it was halved, cut from the center making it so the top opens up like a dome, ive made 6 air holes and patched them with micropore tape, after mixing 260g grain myccelium with roughly 1.5k wet coco, the coir went thru tyndallization (i know the ratio is off the charts) ive duct taped around the cut, and foiled the bottle to protect substrate from light. its been 14 days, and there are no primordia popping so far. ive looked under the foil and found this bare chunk of substrate. my last attempt was the same, it stalled and the chunk never colonised, it was trich, but then i made many mistakes and it wasnt surprising. so the questions are:

1. should i be concerned? is there anything i should do now?
2. using this bottle method, how exactly should i introduce fruiting and increase fae, wouldnt the micropore taped holes be enough?
3. should i mist it by opening the bottle cap and spraying it down? i know i shouldnt mist directly at the substrate, but ig as far as theres no pooling its ok?

it completely stalled, the chunk hasnt colonised any more, the top is still the same way it was 4-5 or even more days ago

Hey Theus!

After mixing grain with coco coir we need to close all air vents (with scotch or smth similar, airtight) and wait for full bulk substrate colonization.

Depending on the ratio and temperature it takes from 3 days to 3 weeks. Your ratio is about 1:6, so your cake might need ~10-20 days for full colonization. At this point we don't need FAE!

Note! The thickness of the cake should be 3-6 inches (or 7-15 cm), no more!

Only AFTER full colonization we provide FAE - remove scotch and cover air vents with breathable tape or micropore tape. At this point we wait 10-20 days more for pinning.

Overall from mixing grain with bulk = bulk colonization (10-20 days) + pinning (10-20 days) = 20-40 days

So, your cake is still in this timeline :-)

What shoud you do next?

1. Take a photo like here

   

   And show me the top layer of your cake again. Don't afraid to open the bottle for taking a good quality photo

2. Show me the bottom of the bottle (bottom view of the cake)

3. Use a marker to circle the area on the bottle where there is no mycelium. In this way (3-5 days later) we'll know for sure if the mycelium stalled or it spreads very very slow.

   As an example (but on the jar) here

   

If we see the growth under the line (3-5 days later) it means mycelium is active :-)

4. Have you read this guide before? Bottle-tek or how to grow mushrooms in plastic bottles

Hello, thanks for your answer, friend. Yes, this is the tutorial ive been using as the basis. The cake is about 10-12 cm tall, I really restrained myself from opening it to air contaminations all that time, but for the sake of the photo I hope it didnt do much damage. When I opened it it smelled perfectly mushroomy, with pleasant myccelial aftertones, altough the air from inside felt warm, as if stagnant. It also feels very moist, and that chunk seems very wet too. Since I already have a micropore tape on and for fruiting it is advices to be patched, I was guessing what else should I potentially do for introducing fruiting conditions later.

Wow, the cake on the top looks perfect!

There are already tiny knots. They will turn into nice primordia within the next 3-5 days ;-)

Open the plastic lid from the bottle and put a cotton disk on as a protective filter (see attached photo). This will increase natural air flow.

And open the bottle at least 2 times/day for 1 minute for additional FAE. Don't afraid to open it, buddy! Once the top layer is fully colonized the contamination risk is low.

Also don't forget to mark the uncolonized area with marker.

And show me your cake in 2 days, okay? I'll check it again ;-)

Sure, I will, already marked it too. Should I cut the tape around the center to open the bottle and then put it back every time? And do I really need to keep the foil on at this point? Also, should i start misting it, or only if it dries up?

Great!

Up to you - remove the tape (or scotch) partially to open the bottle -> keep it opened for 1 min -> close the bottle -> put the same tape/scotch back.

You can remove the foil.

You don't need misting unless the walls of the bottle are dry inside. I'd skip misting for now. After check up I'll tell you whether it needs misting or not ;-)

Hey mate, I hope im not being too pesky with all these questions, but Id like to ask a few. Ill sens you pix regarding the main bottle 2morrow, but am i doing it right that I open the bottle fully, pulling the dome up for 1 minute, or should i just take the tape off and leave a seam exposed?

1. These first 3 pics is a 3 day old bottle, 1:1 ratio, it was slowly colonising, but exactly 1 day ago it fell 4 meters down on the floor, all kernels ended up on the top, casing layer gone, but after that it as if supercharged and started colonising really fast. Im afraid it might form an overlay soon, im thinking of fruiting it, but there is that huge uncolonised part from picture two, on the side its uncolonised aswell, i assume on the inside too.

2. pics 4&5 is a week old 1:2 bottle, it fell too but it all stayed intact, relatively fully colonised.

how should i proceed with them? i didnt want to open it for a better photo yet, but im guessing the week old one is pretty much ready for fruiting?

Hey buddy!

Both bottles are fine.

1. I'd wait ~3 days more for FULL colonization (bottle 1, pics 1-3). After fallen the mycelium was spreaded throughout the substrate, so it's even beneficial :-)

2. Bottle 2 (pics 4-5) is ready for fruiting conditions. Go ahead!

P.S. Always glad to help 🙌

Hello, friend. Great news! It grows, but moreover - there are pins, I didnt see them until now. How should I proceed with misting? Also a pic of another bottle

Hey buddy!

Such great news, well done! My prediction was 3-5 days, but the cake needed only 2 days for pinning :-)

Also nice mycelium spreading at the bottom area 👌 Now we know for sure that chunk isn't stalled, right? ;-)

You can lightly mist the walls of the bottle, but try to avoid misting on the mycelium directly. And mist every 3-4 days. That's more than enough!

The 2nd bottle is ready for fruiting conditions, go ahead 🚀

Waiting for new updates 🤞

Hey mate, its going well. Should I keep doing what Im doing during fruiting, opening it twice a day for 1 minute is enough fae right?

Hey buddy! Could you pls show me your cakes (and pins ofc) and bottles? ;-)

It’s hard to tell whether FAE and misting are enough without seeing photos 🙃

Btw, what's the strain?

hey, there u go. its a cube variety. theyve got these white cracks? on the cap, i assume its a tad dry?

ah its mckenaii, is it actually a cube, is there a scientific name to it?

These aren't cracks, it's actually fuzzy mycelium on the caps due to lack of FAE. There are also some fuzzy feet (fluffy base of the stem). This happens because of a lack of oxygen. That's why I asked you to show me the photo :-)

More info and examples here: Why Mushrooms too Leggy, Fuzzy Feet and White Dots on Caps

Now they produce more CO2. So try to increase FAE and open the bottle 3-5 times/day if possible. Mist the walls of the bottle once/day or once in 2 days.

That's should be enough and your shrooms will be happy!

Please, post more photos as they grow, day by day or even few times a day. At this stage they change soooo fast! And it's so amazing to watch others' success, not only issues ;-)

Scientific name (species) is Psilocybe Cubensis. McKenaii is a strain (like sub-species), but it's not a scientific naming.

Walk through this visualization of the most popular species and strains here: Phylogenetic Tree

And in this Tree you can also find your McKennaii strain with its ancestors (open the graph) and photos

Hey, cant make pix right now, but the tallest mushrooms are almost leaning on the side of the bottle, I think they might be tilting, bending to the point of fresh air? I think very soon they will start to be right against the bottle's wall, and the caps havent even started opening yet. Maybe I should like fan it with a piece of paper or something?

You don't need to fan it too hard! Otherwise, it can dry out the environment and cause Bruising

It would be better to add more air holes.

Another even better option is to create about 1cm (1/3 inch) gap in the bottle, around the cut line (just leave the bottle slightly opened after FAE) and cover it with one layer of micropore tape. This will increase gentle passive air flow

For now let them grow as they grow. The next flushes after rehydration will be better ;-)

Okay, I guess I should harvest them all, even the smallest once the cap opens up on one or a few mushrooms and the veil tears, and not wait until each mushroom reaches their peak maturity picking them separately. But as for rehydrating, should I just take every mushroom and its stem off without exposing the underneath of the top layer of myccelium, pry the cake out of the bottle, wash and soak it in a container, or straight up pouring water (how much exactly, is there a way to calculate?) can be enough? What would you recommend to be done for rehydration relative to bottle-tek?

Hey, friend, well, what do you think, are they pretty much ready for picking? On one of them I think the veil has ripped, should they open the cap its go time? I actually feel sorry for picking them now lol, all this time watching them grow, caring for them, feeling like a proud dad xD.

Congratulations, proud dad xD

They are already ready for harvesting!

You don't need to wait for torn veil unless you need spore prints. So you can pick them any time – small, medium, right before torn veil or right after torn veil.

Regarding rehydration you can soak the cake right in a bottle. Just pour water and make sure the cake is submerged in water. You don't need to remove the cake. And you don't need to measure an exact volume of water.

Leave it to soak for 2-4 hours, remove water and provide fruiting conditions as before.

All these write ups will be useful to look through ;-)

When and how to pick mushrooms

How to dry and store mushrooms

How to make spore prints

Rehydration

Btw, do you have scales? It would be interesting to know how many shrooms you got from this flush and this cake :-)

Hey buddy, that batch wss roughly 30g dry, for some damn reason the dehydrator took 20 hours on 40 celcius. After rehydration the cake shrunk, and it really started sidepinning, especially in many clumps pic related. Should I move the cake to a tub without air holes, or this is ok?

Good job! 👍

30g dry = ~300g fresh

Hmm... Idk why your dehydrator is so slow or lazy lol

Side pinning isn't a problem (check out Side and bottom pins

Yes, you can keep it in a bottle or put it in a bigger tub and cake will fruit from the sides freely. It's up to you :-)

If you put it in a tub, remember to provide FAE and mist the walls of the tub. You can also create a few mm gap between the box and a lid and cover it with micropore tape as a protective filter -> this will help with natural airflow