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The cultivation process is divided into two Parts. Each Part consists of "Units", and each Unit is broken down into steps.
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Part 2 : Unit 5 : Fruiting and Harvesting Mushrooms
This is both the most nerve racking and rewarding step of them all. If everything has gone well, your monotub should be incubating for about 10 days now. Using a flashlight, you can peek through the clear plastic to see how the colonization of mycelium is going. Once it has fully covered the entire substrate with a snow-white blanket, jeweled with lots of tiny dewdrops, it’s time for the “fruiting process” to begin. Basically, this involves gently introducing a flow of fresh air, and bringing on a very slow process of evaporating the moisture on the surface of the mycelium. These conditions spark the fruiting process of the mycelium cake, where tiny knots start forming on the surface of the mycelium. These knots turn to mushroom pins, which in turn, become fully grown mushrooms – all within the space of a few days.
The video markers above 👆🏼correspond to the the various Steps in this Unit. Click on them to skip to a Step.
Pace the tub in an area which has indirect light. In the next week or so, FAEFAE – an acronym for Fresh Air Exchange. Allowing fresh air into the monotub. This in turn induces fruiting. in the tub will start evaporating the water inside it. This evaporation will trigger baby mushroom pinning on the surface of the mycelium. If the sides and lid of the tub become totally dry, spray them with some water using the fine-mist spray, although this should not generally be needed until the first flush.
The video markers above 👆🏼correspond to the the various Steps in this Unit. Click on them to skip to a Step.
Use a cutting board and knife to chop off the substrate-covered base of each mushroom, and gently brush off any substrate residue, until you have a pile of clean mushrooms. Do not wash them as this will reduce their potency!
The video markers above 👆🏼correspond to the the various Steps in this Unit. Click on them to skip to a Step.
Place freshly picked and cleaned mushrooms on the trays of the dehydrator. Very large or chunky mushrooms should be split in two to facilitate drying. Once in, run the dehydrator at temperatures around 95-100 F for between 12-24 hours.
Over the drying period, occasionally inspect the mushrooms by touching and bending them. They are considered “bone dry” when then snap on bending. Once all mushrooms have become bone dry they are ready for long term packaging.
Next Unit: Managing additional flushes. Learn how to rehydrate and feed your mycelium cakeA description for a colonized layer of bulk substrate which has been overtaken by mycelium and solidified into a consistency of a cake. so that it gives additional (up to 3-4) magic mushroom flushes. Love your cake, and it will love you back.
7 Responses
Hi!!! Thanks for this tutorial!!! One question how much weight can you make out of this same set up? I just bought the same following your instructions… Thanks you so much!
I have a question about a second fruiting. Since there are many more mushrooms left, can you let them grow and pick the second batch after initial harvest? Or should you only harvest the first fruiting and then toss the remaining spores that need more time since they are farther down in the substrate? Thanks in advance.
Good question. I find that for me, this depends whether the growth in the tub is even or not. In tubs with even growth of the mushrooms, where they are mostly the same shape and size, I usually harvest them all, then clean the substrate from remaining undeveloped pins (to avoid the rot), and then re-inject with liquid. Sometimes the tub grows unevenly, and then it’s more of an ongoing process of picking and rehydrating than straight flushes.
Helo,
Very nice instruction. Thanx. I was just wondering, you say “be careful not to let any water droplets fall on the surface of the mycelium”. If there is a lot of condensation and dropping of huge droplets mycelium… what is the down side of it? How to go about afterwards? I guess a thic layer of mycelium formes instead of fluffy small pins…
Thank you! Water can suffocate mycelium if it pools on top of it, and usually prevents the area covered with water from pinning. Also, pools of water on top of the mycelium may indicate that your CVG substrate was over hydrated, so you can dial your water ratios better next time around.
Hi funguy, so I have made it this far and what an adventure it has been, my compliments to you! I have a couple of questions if you don’t mind? Coming into FAE, the tubs are humid as the walls and lid are all misted up, although not to the point where there was an impending chance of water droplets from the lid falling onto the cake, does the humidity of the tub need to be such that you, can visibly see signs of water droplets on the cake surface for pinning to occur. All of my grown is Tomentose and not Rhizomorphic, every guide seems to be Rhizomorphic growth so i can’t seem to find a baseline comparison.
Many Thanks
Thank you for the kind words. This is a good question, and your observations are correct. Usually some really fine humidity droplets appear on the mycelium, some classic examples can be found in the various pinning pictures on this page for both rhizomorphic & tomentose growth, you can click on the images to enlarge them and zoom in. I’ll add some image captions as well for better clarity. I was happy to see the followup message saying you had success!