Just read the basic inner reservoir tek and I have a few questions about it. 1) Am I right in assuming that the hole is filled when you top up the jar with your dry verm barrier? 2) How sterile does the water have to be that you inject? Does it require, boiling the syringe, boiling the water, etc, etc, or can you be a little less anal? 3)Does using this tek replace further dunking? and finally 4) Is the tek worth it? I've seen the pics & they're great, but then I've also read about the possible higher instance of cobweb mold.

By Swilly mixalogist (Swilly) on Sunday, January 13, 2002 - 11:34 pm: The Nook

to try to help. 1.yes 2.i'd deffinetly use spring or distilled water and i always fill my syringe then put it into boiling water for atleast 15 minutes. 3.no 4.The tek isn't worth it in my opinion but that's just me!! You should't get cobweb mold if you have a steril grow chamber but then again it does creep up on you, i find that regular Pf tek works fine on it's own i prefer dunking it allowes me to get in my chamber and clean up and sterilize again befor putting everything back in!! My suggestion to you bro is try it out and see for yourself if you think it's worth it just do like 2 cakes and see what they do compared to the other ones. Try new stuff bro and don't ask others if it's worth it find out on your own . That's the fun way!!!

By Kevin Smith (Canshroom) on Monday, January 14, 2002 - 12:37 am: The Nook

Thanks swilly

By Jesseb (Jesseb) on Monday, January 14, 2002 - 02:00 am: The Nook

Kevin, I don't post much, so you may not take this to seriously, but I tried the IR tek for the first time on my PFC's and I really like it. No verm on top and the PF's are going crazy! I honestly have not seen my PF's doing so good. I put the hole all the way through the cake so that the excess water can run out into the bottom verm layer. When I shot them up with water I start at the bottom and slowly raise the needle up to soak all the verm in the hole. I think that it works very well. I still dunk my cakes for 12 hrs. Try it you might just like it.

jesseb

By Nugdumper (Nugdumper) on Tuesday, January 15, 2002 - 05:02 am: The Nook

Kevin Smith's Questions:

1. Yes, I reccomend using larger grade verm for the hole, and smaller grade for the barrier. The larger verm tends to hold a better hole when the mycelium colonizes.

2. The water you inject should preferably be bottled water, but I've used tap water and seen the same good results. And no way do you have to boil your syringe every time you use it, that is crazy and just plain wasting time. Especially when you are injecting once or twice a day. The cakes will suck up the water quickly, and will let you know when they have all the water they need to flush. Just wipe your needle with alchohol before starting on the cakes, use clean water, and don't handle the cakes. That is the best advice.

3. YES, Swilly, I don't know what procedure you followed, but I can keep a cake white for nearly 2 months, with no dunking required. The cake can constantly be fed a supply of water, but you don't get the contam risks of dunking. The cakes will begin to flush on a scedule when the hole is injected with about 1cc a day. I reccomend making the holes w/ the blunt end of a sharpy pen, this makes for a good sized hole. Some even say try multiple holes, but I would not completely bore through your cakes.

4. IMO this tek is very worth it. MUCH less hassle than dunking, much less of a contam risk, and the results are solid. The cakes flush healthy for as long as you keep supplying water, and they avoid contams. What I reccomend is birthing your cakes so that the verm end of the cake with the hole in it is facing upwards on your jar lid. The pretty white side will be facing down, but your cake will respond to light and fruit near the hole. No touching the cake, no double ended casing tek which adds contam risk, and best of all, its simple. And the Cobweb Mold crap is bs... I don't see how anyone could pinpoint this tek to cobweb. All contams will be caused by you handling the cakes, or eventual age... and they will often make it that long.


---Sorry about the rant, I just think that this is probably what the latest easy-to-do newbie tek should include. It is foolproof, much easier than dunking, and actually increases yeilds.

By quote: (Quote) on Tuesday, January 15, 2002 - 02:42 pm: The Nook

and if you eliminate the verm. from the hole, and just fill it with water, there's even less chance of contams, with no other negative impact at all.

By Kman (Kman) on Tuesday, January 15, 2002 - 04:45 pm: The Nook

I've been using perlite in the middle instead of verm or nothing. It will hold more water and release it slowly plus as far as I know its pretty damn hard if not impossible to get anything growing on perlite(contam). I have found at least with casings that the straight verm will grow over with mycelium thus defeating the purpose of the res. I say either perlite or just an empty hole, but I am no expert just my experience.

Posted by: Tyaga Nov 22 02, 04:06 PM GMT

It doesn't take a lot of extra time to make the reservoir when you are making up your cakes. I used to use the handle of a cooking spoon, about 3/8" diameter, and fill the resulting hole in the substrate with dry verm. This gives the added advantage of holding the water post birth. Plus you don't chance contamination drilling holes in your cakes. After birth I immediately used to shoot 10cc of distilled water into the reservoir. After the start of pinning I would then add as much water as the verm would take without overflowing each day. Always worked like a charm.

Posted by: ShroomVator Nov 27 02, 10:08 PM GMT

OK - I'm an atheist - I don't know how to spell Hallelujah, or whatever, sorry. Anyhow....I love the Drill Tek. I do this will all of my cakes now - every single one and its amazing. Its been done a lot before and certainly isn't my idea, but whoever invented it - I love it. I use a big 3/8" drill bit and drill 4 holes in my cake about 3/4 of the way in and fill them with water via syringe or plant sprayer twice a day or as much as they will take it. Its just fantastic. Less time than waiting for cakes to be dunked and I have found less contamination. I've done about 3 dozen cakes like this so far and I'm finding it much better for me than double-end casings or dunkings. For some reason, I tend to get contams with those. I sterilize the drill bit by PC if I have time and about 1/4 of the time, I have been impatient and just sprayed it with lysol then washed in very hot water. No contams so far, excellent yield and less vermiculite around to mess with things. This was worked especially well in Chronic Tek and Bulk Chronic Tek because it keeps the humidty high with the exposed well of water. Thanks to whoever came up with this.... Its funny, actually, but before I ever grew shrooms, when I was just a shroomer instead of a mycophile, a buddy of mine knew a guy in Texas who grew shrooms. I had never met this person or heard of him and the same was true for me from his end. My buddy had met him once, but somehow we got his number, my friend introduced me, and he coached me through the basics. This was before I had read PF Tek and after I had read MMGG. I hadn't found The Nook. He had no idea about the tek out there and told me he used perlite, a basic terrarium, and he drilled a hole in the cakes after birth, then filled them with water. He said he had never had any luck with 2nd flushes, let alone 3rd, 4th, 5th, and 6th. It works so well...even better for 4 holes...promotes very vigorous pinning. I should call him back and tell him all I have learned.

Posted by: Nanook Nov 27 02, 10:26 PM GMT

Hehehe Just be sure to give the cakes a rest from the water after a bit. You can waterlog and drown the cakes if you don't ease off at some point usually

Posted by: ShroomVator Nov 28 02, 06:18 PM GMT

Nan - how much do you think it takes to waterlog a cake - I'm not sure If mine are especially dry or what, but they seem to want all the water I can give 'em.

Posted by: shroomsrock Nov 28 02, 08:07 PM GMT

Instead of drilling my cakes, I just shove a straw down into them about an inch, then pinch off the end of the straw and yanking it back out. This cuts a 1" deep hole in em, and then I place another straw part way into the hole. This method seems to work well, so far. This next batch of cakes are going to get some of those really fat straws from Mc Donald's... that should give em all the water they could want!

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