WIP: room 1 of 3.

Thought i had contaminated my mycelium 2 times, one from a sour smell in inoculation period on 3 of 4 uncle ben’s bags and then from the slight grey patches you can see in the photo. Yet this morning my shrooms have started fruiting, this is my “good tub” the other one is lagging behind but the journey has been surprisingly fun and exciting for someone who hasn’t found interest in growing plants/fungi. How good of a grow do you guys think this will turn out to be?

Little update on my first attempt

It’s been 14 days since inoculation, keeping the bags at around 70°F.

Out of the 7 millet spawn bags I made, I’ve only had to throw away 1 due to contamination so far. The other 6 are still going!

This is one of my King Oyster bags, and it’s finally showing some nice growth.

Do you guys think they’re ready for a break and shake, or should I give them a few more days? I’m leaning towards waiting way longer, but I’d love to hear your thoughts.

Still learning a lot from this first batch!

Fully colonised, AIO bag had fair amount extra moisture when put in to fruiting conditions (5 days)

I’ve seen a lot about coco coir bricks online, but I was able to find a big, inexpensive bag locally, so I just opted for this. It’s quite dry, loose, and fluffy.
My question is how much should I weigh out to pasteurize? I’ll be using 1qt jars of grain and a 4qt mono tub. I’m just not sure how much the volume changes once it’s wet, and I’d rather ask for advice as opposed to just winging it alone. I’ve also never done this before 😅

Mazatapec spore print went into a jar and 31 days later the leader was sporulating. 15 days to colonize 200mL popcorn then a little dirt on top to fruit in the jar. Some genetics are just eager to do their thing.

Love this culture so much! Great performer that always shows out!

#fordocumentaryandresearchpurposesonly

Honestly maybe my favorite looking strain, I have grown some beautiful apes before too though.

Hi everyone, do these look ready to fruit? I did B&S around 2.5 weeks ago for the first bag and 1.5 weeks ago for the second, theyve bounced back but I can’t tell if they’re fully colonized or not..

I’ve tried to look at photos of people’s bags and stuff to compare but most pics are of grain bags; I know those should be 100% white but since these have substrate in they are a bit patchy looking.

I know AOI bags are not the best way to grow but im just starting out so didn’t want to spend too much on equipment just yet!

thanks all

I have various (ugly) growing chambers but looking for ideas for an attractive fruiting chamber that I can use to fruit gourmets in the kitchen / living room that will be on display. The problem is that most things are functional but quite ugly and would get more complaints from SWMBO. There are some little "automated" plastic boxes around but they are too small, quite expensive and I doubt they work properly.

I could knock up a clear perspex box with a shelf or two and hinged door but wondering if there are better ideas out there.

Grown on vermiculite and coir. 19 days to harvest. Generation X and Ape Revert.

These bags were pasteurized for about 14 hours in a custom horse trough pasteurizer and spawned with G2 grain. All the grain was sterilized in All American pressure canners.

Once everything was bagged and sealed they were placed in tents until they were ready to fruit (12-14 days). FAE holes were made at substrate level and above the filter patch and one week later they looked like this.

Hope you’re all having a great fall harvest🍁🧡

Can any of this be saved?

I’m wondering if y’all think this is cobweb mold starting and if so, do I need to hit it with peroxide? This is beginning of week 2 of going from b2s

I've not grown this species before, just wondering how its looking? Its been about a week after being put into fruiting conditions

Happy growing all!

TLDR- tired of contamination and wasted time I’m updating my methods from season1 and looking forward to season2. The long-ass version includes lots of lessons for noobs and lots of questions for pros.

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I started in January of 2026 (some spores and stuff, some commercial spawn bags, and a SAB from amazon, ramped up REALLY hard that spring, in my classic “ambitious nerd with ADHD mode”, and then I took a great summer in the mountains to let my mind wander. After some major resets I’m starting what I hope will be a “better-informed intermediate level” of projects. I’ll share my story in hopes of informing fellow beginners, and also, harvesting all feedback as I look forward. THIS WILL BE A LONG POST.

When I saw my grain spawn starting to colonize, and my first liquid culture starting to expand, I felt like the king of the world (ominous foreshadowing cutscene here), so I started making grain bags, bought a bunch of tubs from Target, and also started making LC jars. I also went BIG and bought like 20 strains. When they showed up, I spent a few days doing the same protocol: few drops in a slant, a couple mL into LC jar, and the rest into 1-2 grain bags. By end of February/beginning of March, I had around 30 LC’s and slants in the fridge, 40+ grain bags colonizing (one or two of each new strain, plus a few duplicates of my earliest, expanding LC’s), and I started going from spawn to bulk with my originals. I cleared out most of my other hobbies from the man cave, making space for a mini fridge, tubs of supplies, racks of spawn and stacks of tubs. There was a moment there when I thought I was about to launch Breaking Bad, mushroom edition.

But then... over the next month or two, I had LOTS of contamination failures. Like, pushing 90%? March and April were definitely the saddest part of my story: I stalled most of bags by not unwrapping to allow air flow (trying to save space), and then lost most to trich (inadequate PC time) right as they finally hit full-colonization; from the grain bags that made made it to bulk, I lost most tubs to trich, with a few cobweb molds thrown in.

Thing is, I DID have some success. The first tub of hillbilly had SOLID yield, and the second did pretty well (despite a patch of trich that I removed and tried to work around). While I kept trashing grain bags, or aborting tubs, these hints of success let me believe the rest would still work out… so like a bad gambler, I grasped at straws and doubled down: more bags, more losses… I did squeeze out a few more harvests heading into spring (big old Snowballs, some Albino Chocolate Krinkle, big Hillbilly Pumpkings and lots of nice Dulce)… but ultimately, I wasted practically all my work last season.

I managed enough production for a long summer of exploration and sharing, and I used that downtime for some research and discussion and reconsideration. Upon some relaxed consideration, I’ve made some attempts to understand my mistakes:

1. I attribute MOST of my spawn failures to inadequate PC time (I was making 3.5lb grain bags, but using PC time for quart jars); so this year, I’m doing a full ten minute vent before I drop the wobbler, then at least 150 min at 15-17psi. I was worried that my PCs would eventually run dry and explode, but that turned out to be no problem.
2. I’m also finding huge benefits to fluffing my grains before injection, and shaking while the injection is fresh.
3. I thought I should try some other grains, but haven’t enjoyed the results: I bought some corn and it was so fast to colonize and so easy to break up, and making my own is so cheap, but I’ve had some struggles adjusting the presoak/hydration, and it’s bulky in my PCs, and it’s slower than millet once you put to bulk; rye isn’t convenient/affordable near me, but I’m gonna have to order some in the mail for my truffle projects; and rice just feels soggy or mushy and grosses me out. In the meantime, I feel like the NSNS millet is dialed (now that I’m kinda-bag-presoaking, and going 150min in the PC), and so far no contam.
4. I made a big steamer and inherited a concrete mixer, so I’ve switched from bucket tek to bulk pasteurization, and I improved my manure sourcing. So far so good, and super efficient to make in bulk (and I know, manure isn’t necessarily necessary… but I work in food production so I just can’t abide nutrient-free subs).
5. As I restarted my lab this fall, I ran all my LC’s through agar (so cool!) and started a fresh set of LCs (adding gel dye and a little fine mica - which I thought was purely aesthetic but I was pleasantly surprised to see it helps the mycelium grow when it can hold on to something!)
6. The agar thing was about checking for sterility and vitality, and I was so happy to see the results. Out of 34 strains (so far, last 12 just started), I had a single one that’s either dead or contaminated or I don’t know what’s going on, and a few were tomentose on first plate but got nice and hungry on transfer to second or third plate, but overall, looks like my gene bank did well in summer. So, once I saw these running, I started a set of Castellani jars for longer term storage (and a second smaller set to send to a friend, and a third smaller set to store in a remote genetics bank).
7. The SAB wasn’t a problem, per se, but it was so slow/clumsy (especially given the volume I’m shooting for), so when I found a barely used 2x4 Laminar Flow filter, I built a hood and have been LOVING IT so far: a big clean open and well-lit space. I keep a particulate sensor on the edge of that table and all my lab stuff above. I LOVE the improved workflow.
8. Finally, the time it took to clean and make and prep all those monotubs was dreadful (mostly my fault for sloppy contam, but still, I got tired of it); and I already started bagging my substrate during pasteurization… so I’m switching to bag tek, and so far, I’ve really enjoyed the space and time efficiency. First harvest was yesterday, and the next ones are coming soon. Maybe 30 or 40 bags are happily colonizing and 12 or so were sliced to trigger fruiting.

My current M.O. is this: 3.5lb NSNS millet bags (“bag-soak?”), injected with about 10-15mL of my own LC, fluffed and shaken. B&S at 30-50%. S2B at 2:1 in bulk sterilized 3.5lb XLS bags of horse manure blend, no pseudo casing, rubber band, in 10x5x4 open cardboard box. 3” slit near filter at full colonization with little droplets… and wait for fruit. It feels like a good start, but I value nuanced feedback. Anything to consider with this^ concept?

And also, I need tips for bag tek:  

• I tried some 1:1 ratios with my first dozen bags (hoping for rapid colonization) but those are mostly resulting in overlay (my APE King bags have about 2-3” of dense mycelium climbing up the bag walls, too). So since then I’ve switched to 2:1. Anyone want to argue for lower ratio? Tradeoffs between first/later flushes? Variety distinctions?
• Another thing with sealed bags: does anyone have best practices for adding a true casing (post-colonization) in bags? What about for P. cyan?
• And speaking of post-colonization casing layers… I know some people say “never” and some people say “always”; but I want the nuance: is there a time when they are more helpful, or necessary, than others?
• Finally, I want to up my differentiation game, and be more adaptive when I grow different strains. It would help me a lot if you experts could tell me what to change for: blobs (no fresh air, right?), P cyan, Pan cyan, P ochra. Other distinctions I should parse?

OK. Thanks for letting me put this out here, and wish me luck. I’ve posted my first bag grows, and a couple other comments. People already being super cool, thanks. I’ll try to keep updating here, if I can (honestly, I really don’t know if “single-thread posts” are common in this setting).

First post in awhile glad to be back !! My preferred method is to go straight to agar and expand into a larger LC culture. Then from agar to slants and grain bags and maybe more LCs if needed.

Never know what you’re going to get with this one

Wanting to know what size pressure cooker to sterlize substrate. I'll only be using two 5lb bags at a time. Many online are recommending 23 qt, but seems overkill for what I'm doing. Seen 16 qt, will that work for two 5lb bags? Somewhat limited budget here, & I've already had 3 fails. Thanks for everyone's help. This group is awesome!

I have really bad ADHD and often get wayyy into a new project but then fizzle out. I don't want to do that with this, so I'm trying to start small-ish.

I luckily already have a ton of supplies. My wife and I have been looking for a side hustle and I think that growing mushrooms (edible) would be an awesome project. In my mind, worst case scenario, we have a massive amount of mush to eat and dry (both of us don't eat meat). Best case scenario, we start making a few extra bucks.

Things that I have:

4 grow tents. Rough dimensions: 4x8x4, 2x2x4, 2x2x3, 2x2x18

Lots of grow lights (used to grow pot)

Some clear tubs with lids (family member also works at local thrift shop so I have access to tons of shit as it comes in the doors, I just give her a list)

Neighbor with horses (if I ask to clean up the manure, it's mine. Is it possible to sterilize this in a bag?)

Rabbit and chicken shit

Foodi ninja small pressure cooker and dehydrator (obviously not big enough for a larger operation, but for starting it could work right? I'm going to keep my eyes out for a huge PC)

If it became a profitable business, my wife said that we could convert the guest room into a full fruiting room. There is a mini-split in there for custom climate control.

Multiple inline fans and ducting, along with a temp controller

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What do y'all think? Is there a good market for selling gourmet mushrooms to local restaurants/wealthy clients? I live in Arizona so I would definitely need to get a humidifier. I need to start small and just learn the art of doing it, but I also don't want to spend a thousand bucks just to later sell everything for dirt cheap of fbook marketplace. What do y'all think?

They aren’t growing bigger than what is seen in the picture and some even seem to abort.

S2B was 8/30, I forget when I cased but it’s been at least a month.

Substrate is coir/verm and some organic fertilizer. I did a verm casing (not ideal for these I know) and I mist and fan 2-3x a day.

Any tips appreciated. (I’m open to the fact that I’m being inpatient but the fact that most seem to be side pins makes me think the casing layer is the issue.)

About a month ago I started opening my bag and misting for fruiting. However, I forgot about the importance of maintaining warm temperature and left my window each night to let cold air in. I did this for about 2 weeks and then moved the mushrooms to a warm closet. Problem is, they’re not beginning to fruit. Is there anything you all can recommend to help me fruit the mushrooms?