Probably failed grow?

I did multiple mistakes, starting with using AI for advice. I made a perfect substrate, mixed it with cococoir inside fruiting chambers, and double bagged them using trash bag, because AI told me it will keep higher temps, humidity and co2. This resulted in too high temps, way too much humidity and eventually - smothered and drowned mycelium. I only noticed it on day 8 and unbagged them. Then I spent 5 days drying them, which made them look bruised, dried, and yellow.

Then I decided to fork them and cover with bubble wrap, but now it kinda looks rough, and coir looks dry beneath (not brown, but a bit gray). I am misting the sides of the tub, around the bubble wrap, and venting every few hours, but it doesnt seem to be enough.

There are two chambers, the photos are in order - right after unbagging. Then after drying. Then after forking, and finally latest ones, made just now (with bubble wrap).

I don't see clear signs of contamination yet, and the smell remains the same, but not sure.

I am also using blue light led 12 hours a day. The chambers also got in built fans/misting/lights, but I decided to do it manually, because misting was making them too dry and it seems to be better used when the fruiting starts for real.

Anything I can do to save the mycelium or is it over?

Fixing mistakes is trickier, but we'll try. Looks like this is your very first attempt in growing, am I right?

I wouldn't rely on AI in questions of mushroom cultivation at all. It's hard to tell whether this is AI or your misinterpretation. Anyway, let's make a work on mistakes, fill some gaps in your knowledge and what have been done good as well :-)

TL;DR: The main possible issues are too wet coco coir substrate, imbalanced fruiting conditions, harsh drying. 'Unbagging' wasn't needed.

1. You mentioned you mixed 'perfect substrate' (which means grain spawn) with coco coir (bulk substrate) – this is the proper 'Spawn to Bulk (S2B)' step.

Q: The question is, how did you check the field capacity (moisture level) of your coco coir? It should be around 60%. Very wet bulk is the first possible mistake.

A good way to check field capacity (the moisture level in the bulk substrate) without soil moisture meter is to take a handful of substrate and squeeze it in your hand. If you cannot squeeze out any water, it is too dry. If a stream of water flows out when you squeeze it lightly, it is too wet. You should be able to squeeze the mixture as hard as you can and only have a few drops come out to get the field moisture capacity moisture level– this is ideal!

2. Although, at the very beginning your both cakes looked good and seemed like everything was fine.

3. After S2B mycelium needs time to colonize coco coir and the top layer of the cake. This required the same conditions as for grain colonization: no FAE (high CO2), no light, air temp. around 20-25C or 68-77F. Depending on the temperature and ratio of Spawn to Bulk it takes 3-14 days for bulk colonization. Once the top layer is colonized (~90%), it's time for providing fruiting conditions: FAE, light, humidity ~90%.

Q: How long did it take in your case for bulk colonization before providing fruiting conditions?

4. Using trash bag as a liner is not about creating higher temp. etc. It's more about preventing side and bottom pinning for even growth on the top. Check it here: Side and bottom pins. Also using a liner is helpful for mushroom cake rehydration (soaking cake in water for flushing), especially if you have average/big size cake: Rehydration

So, 'unbagging' wasn't required and this actually didn't cause the issues.

5. 'This resulted in too high temps, way too much humidity' - it's not due to using a liner. Most likely it's a problem with your fruiting conditions in the fruiting chamber. Also there may be excessive evaporation, condensation, that created high humidity due high field capacity in your bulk substrate - see #1.

Q: What was your air temp. in the fruiting chamber? What was the humidity? Did you use humidifier/spray at this point additionally?

Note: Automated fruiting chamber like yours is not a guarantee of proper fruiting conditions. And they won't be able to compensate for mistakes made in previous steps.

6. Some water drops on the cake is fine (photos 1 & 3), but excessive moisture/pooling creates more fluffy overgrowth. Then in combination with further drying we have overlay (photos 2 & 4): Overlay

7. You're right, your cakes don't have any symptoms of contamination and that's a good sign.

8. Fork tek - okay, bubble wrap - okay. But some adjustments are needed here!

Q: How long since forking and using a bubble wrap?

Enough for now.

Answer all my questions and I'll tell you what to do next

0. This is kinda my first grow? I bought all-in-one bags just before that - one bag fruited prematurely, but I managed to collect something out of it. Second bag I accidentally cut, released too much moisture and it spend 2 months doing nothing, then tried to fruit, then got moldy and slimy, so I threw it away.

1. I bought pre-made jars of coir and grain, pasteurized and at field capacity. I used a glovebox, sterilized everything very thoroughly with ethanol and flames, inoculated myself. Grain colonized in week or so, and jars looked amazing. 8 out of 8 grain jars very white and pristine.

2. I washed the chambers, mixed the coir and grain 1:1 (2 jars coir, 2 jars grain).

3. I put the chambers inside big trash double bags (AI told me it will help to prevent light, collect co2 and increase temps), and tied the ends with rubbers.

4. I checked on day 3 and 6, and then removed the bags on day 8. The temperatures were too high - thermoteters showed anywhere from 25c to 27c, I overdid it with the heating pads, I should've just used room temp (21-22c in my room). I did not use any additional spray or humidifier at all, according to hydrometer - it was 92-98%% humidity.

5. There was a lot of moisture on top of the mycelium, huge puddles and droplets, so I decided (AI and reddit told me) to ventilate them. I spent 5 days using fans and opening the door, so they ended up looking bruised, yellowing, dry.

6. I decided to fork them, the layer below the mycelium looked brown and very dry, then I covered it with bubble wrap. It has been less than 2 days. I checked them today - nothing has changed, coir appeared a bit dry, but not brown anymore - just gray/black. I misted the edges around the bubble wrap. I also put blue led lamps, and vented them 3 times for a few minutes during the day.

7. There are two more chambers, which I just put into fruiting, and trying to avoid the same mistakes. I removed bags earlier, venting them, not misting them because they appear very moist, and they share the same blue led lamps. I've included the photos, in case I am making a mistake there as well.

8. Right now all 4 chambers are at 21-22c, just room temperature, and 90-98%% humidity.

Oh, heating pad – you didn't mention it before. Although, even at 25-30°C, during bulk colonization, mycelium can deal with it. But heat pad might create excessive evaporation.

Don't panic, it's not failed yet!

Let's do the following for your forked cakes:

1. You need clean drinking water (or chilled boiled water) and a syringe. Fill the syringe and drip-by-drip rehydrate the cake. Squeeze water out of the syringe in trenches created by fork, but try to avoid pooling water on mycelium areas that weren't removed by fork. Just to give you a general idea:

   

   ~50-100 ml of water should be absorbed. Let the cake absorbing water and sit for 10-15 minutes uncovered.

2. Spray water on bubble wrap – just a few sprays.

3. Cover the cake with bubble wrap. The film can come in contact and touch mycelium, don't worry about it!
   

   

4. Remove bubble wrap twice a day to introduce fresh air and check the mycelium.

5. Hopefully in 4-7 days we'll see pins 🤞

If that doesn't work, we'll go with plan B ;-)

Regarding your 2 new cakes:
They both look good! Try to reduce humidity to 90-92% – very-very slowly, within a few days. Use fan gently (about 10% of the power), but for longer and/or more frequent. Don't use it in full power mode. Or keep it opened for 10-15 mins 3-4 times/day without using the fan at all.

Mushrooms do need humidity, but they also need some evaporation from the top layer – such condition triggers fruiting and prevents overlay on the areas with fluffy-puffy (tomentose) mycelium.

Do you know what type of fan in your chamber (diameter, CPU)? Is there any kind of protective filter in the box for filtering the incoming air? Or it works as exhaust fan?

I believe we'll make your cakes fruit! Keep me updated, please :-)
Let me know if you have any questions

I used heating pads on a lowest setting, just trying to keep 25c air, but sometimes it would go higher, if the room got heated because of PC.

There are 2 fans in chambers - one pulls air, another push it out. They are 4cm in diameter, and they have flaps to prevent dust going in. When you switch the chamber on - it starts misting if internal hydrometer is below 80% and the fans work every minute, then stop, then work again. It tries to keep the 90% moisture level, I think. It's a cheap Chinese "shroombox", a bit shoddy, but it does have in built lights, mister and fans, its made for fruiting, but I wanted to try to use it as a monotub as well. Ill try hydrating the coir with the syringe. I am not sure how moist it is on the inside honestly, right now hydrometer says 97% in one chamber and 93% in another, but it could be just top air level, after I misted the insides.

The overall look with fans.

I've checked underneath the bubble wrap - one chamber was a bit dry, so I added like 10ml water, but the second one was flooded from me misting it earlier around the edges. I actually removed the water on top with the syringe. It was literally a puddle. I think both chambers are wet now, after misting earlier. Water just doesnt want to go inside the coir. Not sure if its because its still wet, or the top layer is too dense.

One of the fresh chambers, seems to have started yellowing a bit. Anything I should do about it? I still haven't started misting them, because I see a lot of droplets on top. I have been venting it few for a few minutes. Also - I noticed that my room has very high co2 levels, when I close the window, around 3000ppm. Should I buy oxygen in a can and use it when venting to help the shrooms?

Some yellowish or metabolites are fine. You can read and check photo examples here: Mycelium metabolites But after drying water drops/pools the mycelium can turn to overlay. Check this guide: Overlay

Let's quit using your automated setup for pinning period and switch to manual adjustments, okay? I don't have enough info on your setup, I haven't tested it and I have no idea about its outcome.

I trust my visual assessment without sensors (water drops on the mycelium and the walls of the tub, room temp., mycelium quality and its changes etc.)

What should you do next:

1. open the tub 3-4 times/day for 5-10 mins and just leave it opened. Don't use fans or smth else for fanning!

2. don't mist the tub, don't spray water on the mycelium directly, don't use humidifier

3. room temp 20-25C is fine

4. you can use light 12/12 hrs

NOTHING MORE!

Regarding your CO2 question – see the next post below ⬇️

Room CO2, CO2 level for mushroom growing and CO2 sensor calibration

Check my previous post ⬆️

Regarding your question about CO2:

1. 3000 ppm is an extremely high CO2 concentration for YOUR health! You should ventilate your room before sleep, after sleep and at least 1-2 times more if you stay in the room during the day. YOU do need oxygen even more than your mushrooms!

2. Normally outdoor CO2 is about 400-500 ppm. Your room CO2 should be up to 1200 ppm. Above 1000-1200 ppm you can feel drowsiness, yawning, poor concentration. It doesn't matter whether you have a sensor or not. Even if it's cold outside, ventilate the room!

3. CO2 level for mushrooms within 800-1500 ppm is fine.

You don't need to buy oxygen, you have plenty of it for free!

3. What type of sensor do you use? Have you calibrated it? Cheap ones are extremely inaccurate, especially CO2 sensors.

4. How to calibrate your sensor and how to know if it works +/- okay?

• Take the sensor outside. After 5-10 mins the readings should be around 400-450 ppm.

• Then bring it back into the room.

• Slowly exhale air from your mouth directly into the sensor.

• A few seconds after exhaling the air, the sensor readings will gradually change: 6500–> 9000–> 10500–> 13700 ppm – this is a normal reaction for a high-quality sensor. If the reading is significantly lower, your sensor is inaccurate.

• After a few seconds of reaching the maximum value of ~13700 ppm, the readings will gradually decrease: 13700–> 10000–> 6500–> to the CO2 level in the room.

Here is a video example provided by TechGuru @mrZimm – this helped me a lot while we tested my sensor.

Note: room CO2 level is 1500 ppm

I am not using automated anything for those fluffy chambers at all, just opening them like you said - 10 minutes, every few hours, and letting them dry. Just worried they might dry too much and I will have to fork them as well. Not misting them, not adding water, not touching them at all, apart from venting.

I have a decent air purifier think it's pretty accurate. Double pane windows and thick lining basically turn the room into a sealed chamber. But yeah - I opened a window a bit again, its down to 1100ppm, its just that I am also a bit worried about my succulents, don't want them to get cold air.

But also good news, I think - the worst looking chamber started pinning. Small shrooms and dots appeared, so I removed the bubble wrap and using constant fae/misting built in chamber, its the only one where I am using automation right now. I am not even using in built white light, just manually added blue light lamp for all 4 chambers.

Second forked chamber seems more dormant, so I hydrated it like you suggested, with a syringe and keep it covered with bubble wrap.

Now open new cakes 3 times/day for 5-10 mins, okay?

Could you pls show me that cake with pins and knots?

CO2 in air purifiers is not the main sensor. It requires initial calibration and it should be calibrated from time to time anyway!

I am opening them 3 times a day. Basically - when I wake up, every 3-4 hours, 5-10 mins. Humidity on hydrometers goes down to 70%, then I closed them again and it goes back up to 95-97%%, but it seems to be slowly drying droplets at least.

Air purifier has a separate base with a sensor, it was calibrated, I can recalibrate it now again.

I can already guess those side pins are going to be an issue, there is probably more on the other side. I didnt even see them before making a pic, hopefully I didnt drown them with the syringe.

Great! Some rehydration and blanket-tek with bubble wrap works. Don't do anything extra right now and please, try to be more patient ;-)

Your mushrooms are fine, you didn't drown them and side pins is not a problem. Take a look: Side and bottom pins

Yes, recalibrate your CO2 sensor

Just to update. The mushrooms are growing, though not a lot of them, most are side pins. Other forked chamber seems dormant, I keep spraying around the edges and venting under the bubble wrap.

The fluffy ones are slowly drying, but nothing else so far.

Thanks for the update!

1) Fruiting cake. Do you complain? You have side pins, moreover–pins on the top, which is a great success after so much stress. It could have produced no mushrooms at all, but you have them ;-) I'd be grateful to get at least such fruiting.

2) Dormant cake. Only 2 or 3 days passed. It needs more time. As I said in one of the prev. posts we need about 4-7 days. If nothing happens, then plab B. Don't spray it and cover the cake completely with film - even from the edges, okay?

3) New cakes. Cover the fluffy ones with bubble wrap as well (on top and sides) as I described and showed in the prev. post here

Waiting for updates 🤞

1. Just obsessing and worried. The white dots on their caps I assume are just leftover mycelium?

2. I just cut out larger bubble wraps and covered all 3 chambers completely. Will update in 2-3 more days, hopefully something happens.

Whenever I learn a new thing, I keep obsessing about details, I am sure next grow I will know enough to stop worrying. Especially if this one succeeds. Thanks for your patience and help.

1. Yes, you're right, it's just mycelium on the caps.

2. Nice! Waiting for the news, hopefully good one(s)🤞

Look! Even if something doesn't go as you expected, it doesn't mean that everything is going wrong. It's a living organism and it can develop in its own way.

You shouldn't act immediately, especially if there is no signs of contamination. If there is nothing green, gray, yellow, pink, red – there is nothing to worry about. Although, even with contam cases you have time...

If something questionable you have plenty of time to figure out the issue and after all, you can ask me BEFORE doing anything.

It's easier to prevent mistakes (i.e. guide you) rather then troubleshoot already progressing issues due to your overthinking and unnecessary actions.

Keep calm –> think –> ask –> clarify if needed –> act –> profit... or repeat :-)

Mushrooms don't need extra! Very often neglect approach and simplicity is much better than hypercare. Take it as a fun journey and don't waste your energy worrying. Hurry-scurry is counterproductive. Mushrooms love patience ;-)

Exactly one mushroom showed up lol

Do I remove the bubble wrap anyway and start fans/misting?

Not yet! There will be much more soon ;-)

Keep it closed under bubble wrap and let's check it again in 24 hours, okay?

Sure. The other chamber now showing a decent amount (around a hundred) of shrooms as well of various stages. A bit worried that the misting thing isn't powerful enough to keep the humidity, but otherwise - not bad for a small tub.