Fill the tub with perlite so that it is approximately 5 cm deepsitting just below the lowest holesand add enough water so the perlite becomes moist, but does not float on a layer of water. You dont want flavors, you just want the pure Uncle Bens brown rice. Many of these items can be bought from hardware or garden supply stores. Leave your bags alone until around day 5-7. To start, youll want to close any windows, turn off any fans, heaters, or AC that move your air, and find a relatively small and clean room to begin. Some jams come in wide mouth jars so keep an eye out if you cannot afford the more durable canning versions from homeware stores. Your options are 100% Coco coir, or a Coco coir & Vermiculite mix, or the CVG mix (Coco, Verm, and Gypsum). The tek is straightforwardyou inoculate satchels of pre-cooked rice (conveniently pre-sterilized) using a spore syringe. Colonization Of Substrate & Introducing Monotub Fruiting Conditions. I squeeze my coco to field capacity over my bucket, then add each handful at a time. Virgenu sells a kit based on the PF Tek that includes all the equipment you need to go from colonization to fruiting. You are more likely to succeed by shooting the spores directly into a trash can full of dirty diapers. Fluctuations in temperature will slow down growth and give contams a chance to beat the mycelium. In addition to this guide, we have tons of free videos on our YouTube on mushroom growing. Table 1: Overview of different growing conditions for various mushroom species [2] I only use 100% Coco coir, and its been great. Above 79/80 degrees, and it may be too hot and will contaminate as mycelium cant grow in that heat, but bacteria can. You still need to add a Gas Exchange hole in the form of a corner cut or a hole punch. The conditions: There is some debate as to whether or not you should let your mycelium colonize your substrate first or put the tub straight to fruiting conditions (light, FAE, misting, evaporation). There are two choices here: some teks recommend snipping off the top corner of the rice satchel, injecting the spores through the hole, and then sealing the hole with the micropore tape. You could eat it from the bag with a fork if you wanted to. Use the shotgun fruiting chamber to fruit the mushrooms when using this method. Theyre much more tall than then are horizontal, which is what you want. For more information, please see our I use a home depot 5 gal bucket with lid. While it is optional, a Still Air Box is highly recommendedit also makes cleaning more manageable. **You do NOT need many spores to enter your bag; all it takes is a few. Mushroom Fruiting Timelapse and Harvest/Dehydration. 2021 DoubleBlind Mag | Privacy Policy | Refunds. The most obvious advantage of Uncle Bens is convenienceyou dont have to prepare jars. But, if you want the best growth, you should consider finding a way to incubate your bags: Some people use heat mats, but many find them to be overkill or poorly distribute the heat. Mushrooms need regular fresh air, so remember to use the lid to fan the container at least twice a day. This is an easy, beginner-friendly Tek, that you can learn the basics of mycology and growing your own mushrooms with. I don't even lift the lid to exchange airflow. Dont get Uncle Bens Basmati or Uncle Bens Quinoa with Garlic. The plastic in most plastic storage tubs is brittle, so rather than trying to cut holes, heat a medium-sized tin can (a medium-sized 800g/1kg peach tin or tomato tin) till it is hot and then being careful not to burn yourself, cut two holes in the plastic with a placement where you think your arms would feel most comfortable. (Tek stands for Techniquea term commonly used within counterculture citizen science projects.). I only use 100% coco coir as my substrate, pasteurized with the Bucket Tek. Psylocybe Fanaticus, shortened to PF, was the business name of Robert Billy McPhersonaka Professor Fanaticuswho pioneered a method of mushroom cultivation called the PF Tek. I find that knockoff brand bags, like Aldi or Safeway, have less water and therefore have better results. At the bottom of each post will be a summary in bold. You will need either ethanol or isopropyl alcohol which can be obtained from pharmaciesor methylated spirits, which is a standard supermarket product. Now, youre on to creating the perfect climate for your monotub: Let your tubs colonize the surface 75% before introducing fruiting conditions. At the bottom of each post will be a summary in bold. Basically, Uncle Bens Tek (also sometimes called Spiderman Tek, since Uncle Ben is the name of a character from the Spiderman comics) is in some ways a variation on the famous PF Tekboth feature an initial colonization period on brown rice in small containers before a separate fruiting stage. Mushroom growing forums serve as great incubators for developing new ideas. Using your fingers, smooth the surface out. . Its essentially a plastic tub that has tons of holes in it as though someone shot it a lot of times with shotgun pellets, hence the name. You will, of course, need spores. Bon Voyage! Once it recovers, it will explode in growth and will likely 100% colonize within days. You want the rice to no longer be stuck in a cake, but free-moving and soft. You are simulating the fruiting phase that occurs in nature. As with any mycology technique, cleanliness is key. In PF tek and most other teks, either a pressure cooker is involved, or Tyndallization, which is very wasteful of both time and energyalthough effective. Before you begin, you may need to set up some equipment. Personally, though I had success going straight to fruiting, I often dried out my tubs before they produced pins (baby mushrooms) because my air is so dry here. Theres no one right way to grow mushrooms, but having support is helpful as you shop for supplies and attempt this for the first-time on your own**. Uncle Ben Tek Contamination; 10 year . Drop your temps down from colonization temps (75-79*F), to fruiting temps: 72-76*F. Instead, I went with the first method: I let my bulk substrate colonize, 50-75%, until I saw "primordia", "knots", and a few "pins", then introduced fruiting conditions. Its a lifelong journey thats joyous and empowering. The mycelium will colonize from the top of the satchel, where you injected the spores, down through the rice. The Uncle Bens Tek[i] is not a technique belonging to Uncle Ben (Now known as Bens Original). Boil gallon of water. They score 5 stars over 21 reviews. The other option is to pierce the top of the satchel with the syringe, inject the spores, and then seal the hole with micropore tape. You DO NOT want standing water, or for it to be soaking wet on the bottom. Then add the BRF and mix wellyou want to coat the wet vermiculite particles with BRF and Gypsum uniformly. You need to get your spores into your Uncle Bens Bags while introducing as few contaminants as possible. "It looked like a fun, easy way to start a batch of mushrooms, but my experience with Uncle Ben's has been mixed," says Brian, a 33-year-old in Virginia. After shaking, give it a day to recover from the shaking. This is the tek we decided to teach in our course on how to grow mushrooms as we find its the easiest for first timers. Sometimes it's good to learn from your own mistakes, other times it's enough to learn from others. Wide-mouthed glass canning jars for the PF Tek can be bought brand new from homewares stores or catering suppliers, as can Mason jarsor you can collect and reuse glass jars with matching metal lids. Save my name, email, and website in this browser for the next time I comment. Once your bag is 20-30% colonized, you should break up the mycelium chunk and shake vigorously to redistribute your mycelium. Take your lighter and flame sterilize the needle until its glowing red hot. USA Shipping. Read this Tek on surface conditions, for the love of god. Many people use 6 quart Shoebox tubs for Shoebox Tek. You will soon get mushrooms. Light only tells the mushrooms which direction to grow towards. Recommended varieties include Golden Teacher and B+. The essential items for this tek are the satchels of pre-cooked rice, spore syringe, 70 percent alcohol, micropore tape, the flame lighter, and optionally, a Still Air Box. Find a warm, dark place in your home to put your bags, that is free from extra humidity and mold (under a kitchen sink or in a bathroom are both terrible ideas). To be clear, whether you choose the PF Tek or Uncle Bens Tek will affect the first stage of the process: inoculation. Check out the Chip Clip Method from u/ThisIsMyShroomAcct. how to make a chi ball visible for beginners Keagy's Best Price Plumbing Rather than tap the cake, you can spoon out the colonized substrate (rice / vermiculite_brf+gypsum) into a clean bowlhence why you can use mason jars or ordinary glass jars, too. The substrate is sterilized in wide-mouthed canning jars by steam sterilization, tyndallization, or pressure cooking, with a layer of dry vermiculite as a filter to keep out competing bacteria and fungus. Monotubs: At least 2-4 tubs. Most of the hard work has been done for youall that remains is cleaning your area, and possibly making your spore syringe. If your mushrooms begin growing too tall, you can toss a bag over it or do a dub-tub method. UPDATE: Many users find that brand-name Uncle Bens bags are already too wet, **so for brand-name or already-moist bags, I definitely recommend no more than 0.5cc per bag. A little water is ok. Heres a video of my pins the day before they were ready to harvest. Some have gloves physically connected to them so once sealed the contents remain sterile, but with caution and good technique this is not altogether necessary. The conditions. )rice sticks together really well, and the dense clumps can inhibit both water movement and airflow, both crucial in terms of colonization. Finally, you will want to harvest your tub, rehydrate your substrate (as mushrooms are 90%+ water weight), and prepare for a Second Flush (More on that in Part 4: Harvesting). To do the uncle ben tek proper one must open the bag from the corner and either inject spores or mycelium into the rice and close up the bag with micropore tape. Because Uncle Bens Tek is so simple, there is a lot that cant be precisely controlledso thats one reason why yield is hard to predict. Youve come to the right place! If you feel passionate about your interest and feel you are going to be doing a lot you could invest in a 22 litre Hawkins Big Boy, or lab grade autoclave. Its not the end of the world if it is, though. Yield varies greatly, with some growers reporting huge harvests and others getting nothing at all. Privacy Policy. 1. You need a pressure cooker to reach the proper pressure and temperature to kill any mold spores or microbes. Wait a few seconds for it to cool, insert into the satchel, and gently inject 1 to 2 ml of the spore solution. #6 Virgenu 12 Jars Mushroom Growing Kit. By adding more liquid you throw off the amount of moisture. Youll need to take some water, a 5 gallon bucket, and rehydrate your substrate with boiling water to pasteurize it. All bags were successful and I hope that yall try this out too. Part 2 of the Uncle Ben's Tek is all about inoculating and colonizing the Rice Bags. Check for contamination. Youll know because the whole rice bag will turn rock hard and youll be able to see that the whole mass has turned white through the window at the bottom of the bag. instructions: break up the rice in the bag with your fingers. Buy these spores from a trusted vendor online. But, some clever Redditors came up with a few great ideas to prevent contamination: The most obvious one that I started using: The Chip Clip method. Uncle Ben's Tek is a death sentence for spores. These processes increase physicochemical ac- The food which get digested in proper time cessibility of micronutrients and decrease the without disturbing the balance of Dhatus and . The Substrate. By using a hole punch to add your air holes, you open even less of the bag up to contam chances. All of these methods can be learned, but most require utmost sterile technique, and use of a pressure cooker to sterilize. Spiderman Tek aka Uncle Bens Tek (which we chose to teach in our course): Glass Wide Mouth jars with metal lids for PF Tek, Glass Mason jars or recycled glass jars for bulk grows, Pressure Cooker, or large cooking pot with lid. The essential items for this Tek are clean wide-mouthed canning jars with metal lids, a spore syringe, brown rice flour, gypsum, vermiculite, 70 percent alcohol/methylated spirits, the flame lighter, micropore tape, and optionally, a Still Air Box (which we show you how to make above). Well teach you the basics of both in this article. Fool proof. Could be the best method yet! It will need some way to introduce airflow. Uncle Bens), the tek we teach in our beginners course on how to grow mushrooms. The other reason is that Uncle Bens can be used for almost any Psilocybin cubensis strain, and possibly other species, plus the method can be paired with any bulk substrate method, and all of those choices will influence yield. Drop your temps down from colonization temps (75-79*F), to fruiting temps: 72-76*F. Instead, I went with the first method: I let my bulk substrate colonize, 50-75%, until I saw primordia, knots, and a few pins, then introduced fruiting conditions. Pour water slowly over the vermiculite that you have in a large bowl while stirring with a spoon. A Still Air Box (SAB) (Optional but highly recommended). There are several stages to the mushroom growing process: inoculation, colonization, harvesting, drying, and storing. The techniques involved in growing magic mushrooms have come a long way in the last 60 years, from Roger Heim growing Psilocybe mexicana for Albert Hofmann to Oss and Oerics (aka Terence and Dennis McKenna) Psilocybin: Magic Mushroom Growers Guide. There is now a range of accessible books by authors such as Stamets, Peter McCoy, Tradd Cotter, and Dr. K Mandrake and Virginia Haze, the teachers in our mushroom growing course and the authors of The Psilocybin Mushroom Bible.. Make sure you clean the satchel as you have everything else. When you can see mycelium at the bottom of the bag, break up the clumps a bit and then wait a week to ensure full colonization. Notes on particular items: Sporesthere are a variety of websites that sell spore syringes, or you can make your own from a spore print. This is good. My preferred tub is in the Materials section below. Spawning to bulk in a Monotub is easy and will get you bigger yields for your spawn grains. Enter pre-cooked rice in a bag. Keep an eye on your tubs now. At this stage, you will need the coco coir, perlite, and a suitable fruiting chamber. Once again, we will not be using this method for Uncle Bens spawn grains (though you can experiment with it!). (It's the equivalent of seeds for mushroom growers). Pick by pulling gently from the substrate, being careful not to pull up too much of the substrate or mycelium. I rehydrated them for about 22 hours before placing them in the fruiting chamber. Your colonized spawn grains already contain all of the nutrients required to fruit mushrooms, but the grains are 100% colonized by mycelium and wont be contaminated. Break it apart as finely as you can. Take your micropore tape, and tape over the open corner in a way that holds the corner-hole open to create a gas exchange vent. This is because once cooled, you can always squeeze the extra water out of each handful of coco coir when adding it to your tub. Video of some time lapses that I've done Ask Question Download Step 1: Supplies to Begin To begin growing your own mushrooms you will need the following for the PF tek: If you dont have an area with a stable temperature, say on top of your fridge or near a heater where it is always warm, you may need an incubator. wipe down your scissors with alcohol or another disinfectant. This is not needed for the Uncle Bens tek, but it is for PF tek. Put the lid on, and let it sit HOT for hours until cooler to the touch. Fungi need specific environmental conditions to fruit, a change in CO2 levels, regular fresh air, and a constant humiditya closed environment where these conditions can be maintained is essential for triggering the fruiting process and maintaining a constant environment. Colonization is occurring, half of bottom seems to be doing well Day 59 (12/31/2019) - No Pic but update Stalled @ 50% colonization It's clear that it stalled and did not fully colonize This could be due to lack of air exchange or moisture Last ditch effort - cutting slit in bag and spraying in additional water Day 78 (1/19/2020) - Update Pics [ii] SettledNomad (2021). If you feel hard colonization about 20% worth, break it and shake it! Some people use aquarium water heaters and make a kind of water bath, often using two tubs. Optional: If you want to add vermiculite, its a good idea. Also, when deciding how many bags to do, check how big the bags are (it will say so on the front) and how much spawn youll need for the second-stage method youll be using. Moisture? We now have more than 1000 people from around the world growing mushrooms with us in our course, and our five mycology experts are available to offer live support and hold your hand every step of the way. This one is a compromise between price and quality. In this scenario, crack/fan your tub more frequently, and it will dry that pooling up. Looking for a reputable spore vendor? Uncle Ben's will now be known as Ben's Original. Show more Show more How to Grow Mushrooms from Start to Finish. Using a heater to maintain temperatures can increase colonization speed. Once inoculated, you need to keep the jars warm while the mycelium growsskip forward to the mushroom incubation section for more information. You could opt for a mushroom grow kitbut growing from scratch can be a lot more rewarding and cost effective so thats what well cover here. Shroom cultivation has been around for a while, and there are many methods (known as Teks) for creating colonized spawn grains. The rice company hydrates and cooks the rice, sterilizing it in the process, and then seals it in sterile pouchesall you need to do is inoculate the bags. a. You don't need a pressure cooker. Make sure you use a thermostat controller to maintain a constant temperature. Stick your sterilized syringe into the cut corner of the bag, only as far as the needle reaches inside, and squirt 0.5cc (half of one mL) of the shaken spore solution.