Starting fruiting in a monotub - Brown Rice Spawn from agar and syringe

Hi, I have 2 species, one white ape I moved on agar and then to brown rice jars (2 jars of that) and one brown cubes also moved to sterilized brown rice but straight from a syringe spores...

Out of these I had a slow growth but now getting ready to move them to a tub for fruiting conditions. I have some coco coir, but not sure if I should pasteurize/sterilize in instapot, or just order sterilized substrate from ebay or sth, becuase I'm not too confident in the whole substrate technique (to get it to high field cap). What would you suggest? I want to do high ratio of 1:1 or close to it with my rice to substrate ratio.

It's my second time moving from grain to tub and the first resulted in trichoderma, so would love some tips on how to set up tubs in the most optimal way, thanks in advance. Kubz

Hello and welcome! I saw your post in another thread here

But let me add my two cents here, and I want to make sure you got it right ;-)

I'd suggest to make a coco coir substrate by your own. It's an easy step, which doesn't require absolute sterility. It will be cheaper and (more important!) you can control its field capacity, all the ingredients and treatment process.

Check the Spawn to Bulk section in this guide: Making small simple mushroom cake, Spawn to Bulk, and Casing

For pasteurization – put all dry ingredients in pot and add hot boiling water. Put the lid on and cover the pot with towel or blanket to retain heat. Let it sit for 8 hrs and slowly cool down to room temp.

For sterilization – fill the jars with substrate and sterilize them in instant pot, or pressure cooker or even in the oven for 1 hour and let it cool down slowly to room temp.

1:1 ratio is good for the start.

Regarding trichoderma – true pH adjusted casing layer is one of the prevention measures, but it's an optional step for growing cubes.

And my questions:

Let me know if you need help with calculations for preparing the substrate for your 2 (or 3) jars. Are you going to make just coco coir substrate or CVG (coir + vermiculite + gypsum)? What is the volume of your jars? Do you have a pressed dry coco brick or another type of coir?
You already know how to test your substrate for proper field capacity (moisture level), right?
Let me know if you're going to use casing (check Casing section in the guide) and I'll guide you on this.
Just wondering, you said you moved spores on agar and used agar for grain inoculation. Did you use agar only for spores propagation or did you work on isolating the culture?

Regards,
Shroomok

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