Shrooms Cake vs Bin

[I<3Molly92]

Oh didn't know you were very new at this, perhaps your question should have given that away. Or not.
Cakes are known to be fit for first-timers and with good reason.
But green, your tray doesn't have to be that much bigger than a cake volume-wise. It wasn't for me, I used aluminum oven-trays.

My advice to make a tray from a (would be) cake is from own experience that evolved over a couple of grows although not a huge number.
I think that switching from cakes to trays to monotubs for instance is a natural process, heard about a lot of people doing it like that.

if u do a tray method how do u sterizile it? or keeping it from getting contamination? do u still use jars with the tray method?

 

[cherberbear]

Really like the sound of crumbling the cakes......

Going try next time around,

Thank you

 

[Solipsis]

if u do a tray method how do u sterizile it? or keeping it from getting contamination? do u still use jars with the tray method?

You start with jars either way, whether it's filled with seeds or ryeberries or a more compact substrate that yields a cake. When the substrate, whatever it is, is colonized then it is resistant on it's own to contamination (the fungus makes antibiotics I think), though that doesn't mean minimal contact with your skin and airdraft etc is not prudent. And still wash your hands before handling it, hopefully you understand the necessary precautions from common sense - basically just keep it clean when there is unavoidable exposure.

You fill a tray with colonized substrate and the important point is to get a neat flat form and nice horizontal bed to put the casing on.
Tubs are good for the same reason, they are pretty much oversized trays... although it is probably pointless to make them with a huge depth relative to the surface area. I suppose you can consider the depth a reserve for nutrients but you need a proportional surface area.

It's good to make the mycelium (colonized substrate) into a tray as quickly as possible as well and do it in a room with least exposure to mold and other shit.
Like I said it is resistant... so it will not spoil that easily, bacteria and mold cannot germinate easily without getting killed by your mycelium and by casing it you prevent new contaminations from entering thereafter. (That is why it turns out well in less than ideal circumstances but as a rule you always want to work as near to sterility as possible.)

But: the more you break the coherence in your substrate the more it will weaken your mycelium. Birdseed and rye etc they keep pretty loose, at least if you shake them during colonization... but cakes are very coherent, they are one single unit. One organism connected with all those hyphae (hm don't think those ones) / mycorhizal links / rhizomorphs?, you sort of wound it temporarily by breaking them. I probably covered that topic enough by now

 

[lawlbear]

Coco peat its is then. Quick question then after then, After i put some water into the coco peat and lay it down on the bottom of the container I lay the crumbled mycelium cakes on top and thats it?


If anyone in the future is interested here is a nice mix for the Coco Peat (with instructions)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bOTuAFoeGTM

 

[Damien]

You know I was looking into bin growth and its pretty amazing. Only problem is in all the forums i'm reading everyone is suggesting to crumble the cake after the birthing process and put it on manure. Wouldn't that get smelly though? If thats the case can you replace manure for something else like coir?

You would probably be surprised. It never even really smelled that bad when we would pasteurize it in the house. My brother started doing all this and I eventually got into it with him. You should have seen my face when he told me he was boiling horse crap in our kitchen. :D

We also have some horses around here so it was free and plentiful. If I recall correctly (it's been a while since I've done any of this) it's best to get dried horse poo.

 

[lawlbear]

nvm found my answer.

you just have to colonize some vermiculite like normal. then crumble it and place ontop of that mix in video. once thats done let it recolonize again (10-14 days) then your ready for fruiting. (10-14 days) then just mist and fan as required. takes 2 weeks extra to yield production but well worth the wait

 

[Solipsis]

Now that you mention it, generally there is a field-capacity (júst wet) casing layer placed under the colonized substrate as well as on top. Seems my story had some holes.

You could argue that if you are crumbling to trays anyway you might just as well take the opportunity to 'spawn to bulk' to some degree i.e. you mix with some uncolonized substrate as an extra kicker.
There is the increased risk of contamination the more uncolonized substrate you mix in though. Nothing comes for free.

 

[lawlbear]

I'll play it safe for now since it's my first batch, but i'll def try that on my second batch =]