Bulk tek question:

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By Swilly (Swilly) on Sunday, December 23, 2001 - 02:42 am:

so im wondering if you could make up your subtrate and p.c. it then put it inside of the big ziploc zip up freezer bags and grow your myc. this way instead of buying the pollyfill bags or whatever they are called from mushroom people.com ? Anyone that might have any ideas or would tell me what they think please let me hear what you have to say!!! a friend of mine going to try it tommorrow with golden teachers hopefully he can get some feed back befor then!!
much love and merry x- mass,
Swilly

By quote: (Quote) on Sunday, December 23, 2001 - 04:09 pm:

no, they aren't air-tight enough to prevent contams from entering.
i've used oven bags with mediocre results.
best to get the genuine article if you want good results.

By Swilly (Swilly) on Monday, December 24, 2001 - 02:55 am:

THANX HIPPIE,
but i'll try myself since it's already done and post resuts for anyone wondering besides me!!!
much love, Swilly

By Karna (Karna) on Wednesday, December 26, 2001 - 08:09 pm:

Actually it will work on these conditions - you assure the grain is cooked perfectly and that colonization is complete by around the tenth day. I have used this method for a long time and the results are more consistent than oven bags. The only thing is you must ensure as I said fast colonization. I accomplish this by inoculating with colonized one pint cakes. The bags are ready to go in a week.
The other thing is you need to be VERY careful during the grain transfer post sterilization. I leave the bags open 1/3 to half of the way across. Not to worry, if you've done it right, colonization will occur so fast, contams will not have a chance.
The good thing about ziplocks is that even when left open in this manner, they will not allow moisture to evaporate out of the substrate like an oven bag does. The ziplocks hold all the moisture in and allow plenty of air ciculation. I like em.
Sometimes they even are forgiving of longer incubations. Here is an example -
On Nov 20, I inoculated 2 ziplocks. As of Nov 30, it was clear that they were overtaken by "wetspot" bacteria, the substrate being less than perfectly cooked. I forgot about them for a week and found them to be in quite a sorry condition at this time. I took them out of the cooler, opened the zip 3/4 of the way, and left them in my living room just like that. 1 week later, the purple dye from the zipper started running from the moisture giving the bag a rather startling purple hue. Around this time, I shook one of the bags to death, leaving the other one untouched. To my great suprise during the next week the unshaken bag COMPLETELY colonized, the shaken bag recovered to colonized halfway. What happened was by opening the bags, I was able to dry them out slowly to the point where the bacteria could not survive any longer. At this point, the mycelium just blasted off. What really puzzles me is that no other contams took hold despite the bags being left open in a very messy room. The bags were emptied into foil pans, dusted with CaCO3 and left alone fo

By Karna (Karna) on Wednesday, December 26, 2001 - 08:11 pm:

Post was cut off??
<contd> r a couple days. At this point they looked completely normal and were cased (christmas)and look like they will flush rather well. That's called salvaging.
Anyhow, good luck with your bags.