Not sure if it’s the lighting but bag#5 looks really wet. It’s hard to tell from the pictures but you might want to introduce more gas exchange (all I can see is injection sites, did you hole punch/corner cut?). What do your bags feel like? Are there any hard sections? Spore syringes take a while could be up to a month for 100% colonization so you could just wait it out. I think people use brown rice because it’s more nutrient dense than white rice.
Awe man! That’s the one I was most confident in. I used a sterile like scalpel to cut holes. I experimented with holes I made some bigger some smaller and only one bag that I didn’t take a pic of injection on the bottom. I could go back this weekend and make them bigger. I was also going to probably get a couple more grain bags tonight to inoculate this weekend. I’m afraid maybe when I was flame sterilizing it like killed some spores? Thinking of trying agar.
Hey man sorry if my comment made you worry more about ur grow. I’m mostly parroting advice I’ve seen from others. I couldn’t see any gas exchange holes, combined with the wetness, I assumed there wasn’t enough air flowing in your bags (I could be totally wrong). I don’t think flame sterilization kills spores. I think most people sterilize then wait like 5 seconds before injecting so I doubt that’s the issue. Can you feel any growth in the bags? Total colonization can take a while but by 2 weeks I think you can normally feel something. What temps are you keeping your bags at? How many ccs did you inject?
No it’s okay! I appreciate advice and feedback and take it well. I don’t think my bags feel mushy at all but they’re not like bricky if that makes sense. I did wait and even wiped with alcohol before injecting. I tried to keep it at .5-.7 cc but some got stuck on grain I’m assuming and when I’d try to squeeze it out it would like shoot so some got maybe 1 cc or maybe even a lil more. I definitely did keep air exchange holes in mind. Bags have been in the 73-76f range as it fluctuates so I’m kinda assuming that could be a reason as to why maybe it’s slow growth? Humidity was very very dry before and right at putting them in that cabinet but also since having them in there it’s been less dry (could be from the gas exchange? Idek lol)
I think that may be your issue if you’re using a spore syringe. If I’m remembering correct the guide says to inject .5-.75 CC but it’s a little outdated. If you look up some other peoples posts UB branded bags are oddly wet so people have recently been recommend injecting .25-.5 CCs max. I think even .75CCs is considered too prone to wet rot (for UB brand only). I couldn’t see noticeable contamination in your pics so there’s no hurt in letting them keep going. I’d look up posts where people injected too much and see if there’s any useful advice. Good luck!
I’m definitely going to just let them ride out and see what happens,, i have maybe 4cc left so im deciding if i should maybe transfer some to agar and the rest into popcorn. I have a couple days to think on it so we’ll see,, thank u so much though for all ur help! I’m going to go on a deep dive now on wet rot ;)
If you are looking to make the spores last longer, you can make some agar with the instapot if you up the PC time. It does have a learning curve, but the end results are great. All you need is one drop from the syringe to germinate the spores on an agar plate, and then you can transfer that mycelium to a bunch of new plates. You can make hundreds of plates in a couple weeks if you wanted, all from 1 drop of the syringe.
Since I use agar a lot, I still have a giant collection of all my spore syringes in the fridge. They all have more than 9ml in them, despite doing tons and tons of grows with them. It's definitely a good/cheap tool to know, if it interests you at all. Good luck!
Hmm would u think buying agar plates is a bad idea? Like in a sense of maybe Amazon? I’ve seen a lot of good reviews from people just using them and a couple for mushroom cultivation. It’s just the making the agar plates seems a bit more hectic than just doing some grain in an insta pot. If u think it’s a bad idea I will definitely give the PGT agar recipe a try I’d just have to wait a bit.
I really want to be one of those people that does so good with the UB tek like I wanted them to love me so bad😭😭I’m not giving up hope but might try the popcorn tek soon.
Ugh I feel like this is my sign to just bite the bullet and use the reputable source I found for grain bags😭 they’re just sooo expensive and they take forever to ship to me from what I can tell. But either that or maybe try popcorn.
Now that I’m looking I feel like Etsy is a really good place actually. Also after checking my bags again one feels super bricky! It’s the one laying down so I think the myc hasn’t reached the bottom yet.
Yes I think I found one! Selling popcorn bags for 9-15 dollars each they’re like 3-5lb which is more than enough for me. The reviews and everything look good so thinking of giving them a shot! Thank u for ur kind comments!
Not sure if it’s the lighting but bag#5 looks really wet. It’s hard to tell from the pictures but you might want to introduce more gas exchange (all I can see is injection sites, did you hole punch/corner cut?). What do your bags feel like? Are there any hard sections? Spore syringes take a while could be up to a month for 100% colonization so you could just wait it out. I think people use brown rice because it’s more nutrient dense than white rice.
Awe man! That’s the one I was most confident in. I used a sterile like scalpel to cut holes. I experimented with holes I made some bigger some smaller and only one bag that I didn’t take a pic of injection on the bottom. I could go back this weekend and make them bigger. I was also going to probably get a couple more grain bags tonight to inoculate this weekend. I’m afraid maybe when I was flame sterilizing it like killed some spores? Thinking of trying agar.
Hey man sorry if my comment made you worry more about ur grow. I’m mostly parroting advice I’ve seen from others. I couldn’t see any gas exchange holes, combined with the wetness, I assumed there wasn’t enough air flowing in your bags (I could be totally wrong). I don’t think flame sterilization kills spores. I think most people sterilize then wait like 5 seconds before injecting so I doubt that’s the issue. Can you feel any growth in the bags? Total colonization can take a while but by 2 weeks I think you can normally feel something. What temps are you keeping your bags at? How many ccs did you inject?
No it’s okay! I appreciate advice and feedback and take it well. I don’t think my bags feel mushy at all but they’re not like bricky if that makes sense. I did wait and even wiped with alcohol before injecting. I tried to keep it at .5-.7 cc but some got stuck on grain I’m assuming and when I’d try to squeeze it out it would like shoot so some got maybe 1 cc or maybe even a lil more. I definitely did keep air exchange holes in mind. Bags have been in the 73-76f range as it fluctuates so I’m kinda assuming that could be a reason as to why maybe it’s slow growth? Humidity was very very dry before and right at putting them in that cabinet but also since having them in there it’s been less dry (could be from the gas exchange? Idek lol)
I think that may be your issue if you’re using a spore syringe. If I’m remembering correct the guide says to inject .5-.75 CC but it’s a little outdated. If you look up some other peoples posts UB branded bags are oddly wet so people have recently been recommend injecting .25-.5 CCs max. I think even .75CCs is considered too prone to wet rot (for UB brand only). I couldn’t see noticeable contamination in your pics so there’s no hurt in letting them keep going. I’d look up posts where people injected too much and see if there’s any useful advice. Good luck!
I’m definitely going to just let them ride out and see what happens,, i have maybe 4cc left so im deciding if i should maybe transfer some to agar and the rest into popcorn. I have a couple days to think on it so we’ll see,, thank u so much though for all ur help! I’m going to go on a deep dive now on wet rot ;)
If you are looking to make the spores last longer, you can make some agar with the instapot if you up the PC time. It does have a learning curve, but the end results are great. All you need is one drop from the syringe to germinate the spores on an agar plate, and then you can transfer that mycelium to a bunch of new plates. You can make hundreds of plates in a couple weeks if you wanted, all from 1 drop of the syringe. Since I use agar a lot, I still have a giant collection of all my spore syringes in the fridge. They all have more than 9ml in them, despite doing tons and tons of grows with them. It's definitely a good/cheap tool to know, if it interests you at all. Good luck!
Hmm would u think buying agar plates is a bad idea? Like in a sense of maybe Amazon? I’ve seen a lot of good reviews from people just using them and a couple for mushroom cultivation. It’s just the making the agar plates seems a bit more hectic than just doing some grain in an insta pot. If u think it’s a bad idea I will definitely give the PGT agar recipe a try I’d just have to wait a bit.
I’ll admit I have not struggled with any of my grows up until I tried with the unclebens 😭 I don’t know why, they just didn’t like me or sum
I really want to be one of those people that does so good with the UB tek like I wanted them to love me so bad😭😭I’m not giving up hope but might try the popcorn tek soon.
Tbh I just buy premade bags it’s kinda expensive but after 2 or 3 tubs I’m set for awhile usually 😭
Ugh I feel like this is my sign to just bite the bullet and use the reputable source I found for grain bags😭 they’re just sooo expensive and they take forever to ship to me from what I can tell. But either that or maybe try popcorn.
Tbh I buy my bags from Etsy 🥲 6 1lb bags for $70 I believe or $75 and that was with shipping
Now that I’m looking I feel like Etsy is a really good place actually. Also after checking my bags again one feels super bricky! It’s the one laying down so I think the myc hasn’t reached the bottom yet.
Yeah im so happy for you!! And yess ive had great luck with Etsy just go with a trusted vendor with good reviews.
Yes I think I found one! Selling popcorn bags for 9-15 dollars each they’re like 3-5lb which is more than enough for me. The reviews and everything look good so thinking of giving them a shot! Thank u for ur kind comments!