Popcorn mushies

[Dan_kNugs]

I innoculated my popcorn kernals on Saturday, and I don't see any mycellium growin' at all. Pinhead, how long did it take for it to show up on your popcorn?? I was very very sterile during the whole process, I even bought some lysol spray just in case (i love the stuff now). Well I just hope that I didn't do somethin' wrong, 'cause if this works out I'll be gettin' mad mushrooms.

There's a little bit of water at the bottom of the jars..should I try to get rid of this, or should it be ok??

 

[Pinhead]

Well it took a week before i saw any growth in any of my jars. All of the different substrates seemed to start at about the same time but the popcorn started to colonise the jars the fastest .I now have a brown rice jar which seems to have caught up-its day 17 and I have 2 jars almost complete, one popcorn and one brown rice. The BRF and vermiculite jars are taking the longest.

When i did my jars there was a bit of water in the jars but not a massive amount so you will probably be alright

I think i have some pictures somewhere so i will try to post them so you can see what my popcorn jars looked like just after inoculation.

 

[Dan_kNugs]

Whew, thank goodness. I'd love to see those pics, it'd be great.

Yeah, there is only a little bit of water..so that's cool. If/when the mycellium starts to grow I'll post again. Thanks a lot pinhead.

 

[Pinhead]

Im afraid the pics are gonna have to wait. My scanner has gone balls up and cash is short at the mo'.

All funds are going towards another terrarium so looks like it may be a while before i can post some pics.

" Yeah, there is only a little bit of water..so that's cool. "

If there is still water then turning the jars upside down to let the water run into the vermiculite layer may be a good idea.

All my jars a reeeal close to 100% now. Next weekend is gonna be their birthday!

Cant wait for the party

 

[Dan_kNugs]

It's been 8 days, and they are still showin' no sign of mycellium.

 

[Pinhead]

Coupla' questions then:
What temperature have you got them incubating at?
Did you get the spore solution right down to the popcorn or is there a chance that it got shot into the verm layer?
I know i have one jar where one side hasnt shown any growth cos i dont think i got the syringe deep enough when i was inoculating, but the other side is ok.

8 days is quite a long time, but dont give up hope

I am incubating at around 30-31 degrees and it took 7 days before i saw some growth. So hopefully you will see something pretty soon.

Keep us informed.

 

[Dan_kNugs]

I don't have a vermiculite layer, 'cause I am plannin' on puttin' the popcorn in a casin'. My temperature is around 70 F. I've got a heatin' pad, I'm thinkin' about usin' that.

 

[Pinhead]

I'm planning on casing too, the verm was just there for an extra protection against contamination.
Im pretty sure that its the temperature thats slowing down the myc forming in your jars, you want to aim for something more like 28-30 degrees ( 84-86 degrees F). So yeah, definately get that heating pad out and you will have some lovely looking myc in no time

 

[Dan_kNugs]

I put the heatin' pad under the jars..it seems like they are gettin' very warm though, and there is a lot of humidity in the jars. Is this a bad thing?? Should I loosen the lids a little more?? I've never cased before, and I hope this goes real well. Thanks for your help.

 

[Pinhead]

I noticed that my jars got prett hot too, especially when the myc was growing cos it's exothermic. Aparently the temp in your jars will be a couple of degrees higher than in your incubator so bear that in mind. The temp in my incubator is usually arounf 87-88 so guess its close to 90 in the jars.
Thermal death will occur if you go anywhere over 106 degrees F. So just keep an eye on your thermometer and you cant go wrong

My jars were the same with a shit load of humidity infact they kinda looked wet. I was kinda worried about it but they are still doing fine. I have some brown staining on some of the jars but im pretty sure this is just from the excess water and not contam. Any way i dont think it is going to have a massive negative affect.
Im not sure about opening the lids, sounds like a good way to get some sort of contamination into your jars. Depends on your setup and how sterile you are though. IMO I would try giving it a bit longer before I started opening the lids.
Hope this helps.

 

[Dan_kNugs]

Thank you. I will wait a few more days, and If I see nothin' happenin' then I'll go out and try to find some rye.

 

[Pinhead]

I wuz just checkin' out some stuff over at the shroomery and i came across this:

http://www.shroomery.org/index/par/23311

" Why do I need a porous (polyfill, filter disk) lid when using whole grain? "

" Mycelium growing on grain in jars needs some gas exchange. In order to achieve this the jars have to be either fitted with a polyfill filter or a filter disc, or the jar lid must remain loose and covered with a piece of tinfoil. A filter of some kind is preferred though since the contamination problems are less compared with a loose lid. "

Sounds like you had the right idea in the first place. My apologies for the misinformation.

 

[Dan_kNugs]

Rad dude. Thanks again.

 

[Dan_kNugs]

Sad to report that my experiment has been a total failure. I had 9 jars, and none of them grew any mycellium at all.

 

[ratakaberu]

don't give up man, the more u [censored] up the more u have examples of what not to do, gives u clues about what goes wrong in u'r process. The more we [censored] up, the more we are experienced, the more we share, the more we learn.
respect and resistanzia

 

[Dan_kNugs]

I had no idea what went wrong. I just will never use popcorn ever again. Next time I try I'm goin' to try rye..and also a couple BRF cakes, 'cause at least I can have success with the brown rice.

 

[Pinhead]

Man, I am really sorry to hear the news

I kinda liked the idea of the popcorn cos its so easy to get, we have a cupboard full of it here. I had everything at home, all i needed was some spores and that was it, nice and easy. From what i had read i thought it was a pretty reliable grain to use.
All my popcorn jars are ready to be cased now, my only problem is finding the time. I've just got a new job and it takes 12 hours out of my day with travelling and all. And saturdays suck too cos my mother is home, so its a bit hard trying to case with her wandering around the house all day. I wanted to do them last weekend but again i had the same problem.
I will find the time, take plenty of pictures and let you know how mine are coming along

 

[Dan_kNugs]

Did all your jars turn out?? I don't understand what I could've done wrong. Oh well..good luck gettin' some time in for your casing.

 

[drganj]

everytime i failed to make mycelium grow , it was because of too much water in the jars , maybe it was your problem too

 

[Dan_kNugs]

Thank you for the advice.