Hey everyone ! Been lurking a while and finally got around to trying out my first monotub. Gotta admit the bags I originally innoculated I thought were toast lol. I waited almost three full months before the bag took off. I made up a couple 32 quart monotubs with micropore tape since I didn’t feel like messing with poly.i decided to do the modified set and forget method. I’ve had great conditions the entire time humidity wise but now I’m questioning if my surface conditions are too dry or not and curious how things look to you mycologists out there. I’ve read a bunch of times that I need to have beads of water on the surface and the only moisture I have is running down the same side of my tubs and doesn’t seem to be hydrating the surface. The holes at the bottom of my tub are taped with two layers of micropore tape to limit FAE. Should I remove one of the layers now that the substrate seems mostly colonized or should I wait a little more? Should I hold off on misting or start ?
Just let her fruit and see what happens. Thats the way ive learned.
Thanks guys I’m just mabe overthinking this lol but should I wait a little more to introduce fae by removing one of the layers of tape ? Also should I lightly mist yet or at all lol?
And hey my name’s frank too 
Make sure ur temp is around 72-74f. Id wait another 3 or 4 days until u introduce some more fae. Looks like primorida are about to pop up
I did most of my runs with 2 layers
In fact I don’t think I ever used a single layer
Sometimes At the top I did single and bottom doubled
This one looks like it was doubled on both
Once fruiting, remember to flip the lids instead of clamping for Fresh Air Exchange.
If your fruiting chamber is clean, consider fanning them 1-3 times a day, this promotes evaporation and empties out CO2 buildup.
Good to know I may not have to worry as much as I’m thinking haha.
Yeah I’ll probably wait a bit longer so I see a more full coverage on the surface before taking off a layer and potentially misting
What strain was that??
Thrasher PE
I’m 4 days since introducing fruiting conditions and here is where I’m at right now. Looks like things are coming along pretty decent!??
yes that looks great
If you are going to clone I would grab a few from this area
What is the strain?
@Tom This is honestly my first two monotubs I’ve ever done and I definitely screwed up a bit at one point during the beginning and mixed up the labeling thinking that my bags of spawn weren’t going to colonize because it had been like 2 solid months with no sign of anything. I’ve narrowed it down to a few potential strains it could be lol …B Plus, stargazers, BHT and golden teachers. it was quite the learning experience because the company I bought the oat bags from sent me a contaminated bag off the start I immediately identified trichoderma and contacted them and they ended up sending me one replacement plus a freebie… When I inoculated the two that were sent to me I screwed up because one bag was successful and the other has contamination within a day or two after inoculation. What I ended up doing wrong was during the process of inoculating one of the bags the liquid culture had a larger piece of mycelium in it that got clogged up inside the needle and I couldn’t inject anymore and I was stupid and ended up taking the syringe out and tried to unclog the mycelium from the tip by pulling back on the plunger but all that did was introduce contaminants lol. Sure I flame sterilized the needle again thinking it was fine but as soon as I saw the contamination I knew I fucked up lol.
Also wondering if this looks ok?? I’ve had a lot of changes between colder (high 60’s and lower 80s temps) so there’s a little pool of condensation at the bottom of one of my other spawn bags…I should of already put it to substrate but just haven’t gotten around to it yet. And yeah I really do wanna get a clone to some agar I like how this strain looks and is filling in so far!
6 days since fruiting! This is where I’m at…one of the bins ( same strain as the other) has really taken off and is well on it’s way. Looking like a decent little harvest! Got a lot of random side pins here I’ve been having to give a little hand at growing upwards towards the substrate but lesson learned I will probably try to use 2 liners next time
Wowzer good job it looks like that first flush is going to be fat
Great strain too, name doesnt matter you have some nice genetics on your hands
I would be cloning these 3 spots
Put em to agar, wait 7 days do a second transfer of the most aggressive section and call it a day. Toss transfer 2 onto some grain then fruit them out
they look okay I would avoid transferring the really wet spots in the corners when it gets mixed with the sub
Hey man thank you for the tips and the link to the agar plates!! I’ve never cloned or done anything with agar do you have a specific Sop you recommend? I’ve seen people mention hydrogen peroxide…do I dip the small piece of mushroom samples into the peroxide before putting onto petri? When you say do a second transfer do you mean a second transfer to another petri plate ? As far as picking the most aggressive section of growth on the agar to use I’m sure that’ll be obvious ?