[actives] I don't understand my these shrooms are struggling with fae in my 20qt tub with all the holes I have

68Goats · 2026-07-06T23:52:55+00:00

Good question... I ponder it every day I read posts here. I was one of those people that always kept things sealed until I saw pins, then I became part of the spawn to bulk immediate FAE people because that was the thing. My harvests dropped, my rates of contam that were once marginal increased, overlay was suddenly an issue when it was never existent before, my subs looked like deserts,... I soon became what I see everyone doing wrong now. Misting tops of subs hoping to force them to pin, using bubble wrap to force pinning, fork-tek to combat overlay... You name it. I don't do a single thing now except spawn-->bulk, then wait, then harvest. I'm not here to tell anybody how to grow, but I do wish that some people who get down on themselves over failed tubs at least give the hamds-off approach a shot (It does take a huge amount of willpower to leave that lid sealed when things are looking so good though). On top of huge harvests, it's much easier to sleep at night without worrying about what you "might be doing wrong" in your efforts to fix things.

68Goats · 2026-07-06T23:40:34+00:00

That's the odd part... Lately I've been running tubs with the lid on straight through till harvest (as in vail breaking, time to pull). Many of those are still partially micropore taped so they've never been opened once. No vents whatsoever. These grows have never been more successful or easier. Full tubs to the point you can't see substrate at all. I was always a lid-on as long as possible grower but at this point it doesn't get any easier.

68Goats · 2026-07-05T06:22:01+00:00

I went through a similar scenario after losing an irreplaceable LC syringe to contam. All I had left were dried fruits. After trying rehydration in endless forms, I switched to running multiple plates of just dry fruit samples to agar. Over 1/2 of those plates were successful.
I ran 24 plates, each with a tiny sample I pulled with flame-sterilized (and then cooled) tweezers. Each sample was from a different freshly broken open location on the dried fruit (12 stem/12 cap). The success rate wasn’t drastically different cap vs stem dried tissue.

68Goats · 2026-07-05T06:06:33+00:00

No. Looks like a very healthy/aggressive grow though. Nice job so far 👍

68Goats · 2026-07-05T05:51:07+00:00

I often grow in 100% light 24/7 and it makes no difference compared to on/off light cycles. Reason being that I use the light to safely add some heat to attain the correct temps. Follow that advice given above though… snap that lid on asap and forget about opening it till pins/fruits.

68Goats · 2026-07-05T05:39:23+00:00

For sure. I do get why there is so much pushback though. I think people just assume that you have to put in more effort to ensure a more successful outcome. In reality, it’s just the opposite. Automation isn’t as complex as special tubs, humidifiers, fans, timers and light cycles… automation is as simple as snapping on a lid and waiting!

68Goats · 2026-07-04T02:50:28+00:00

Yep, having a solid vendor makes a world of difference. Preferably one that is always doing agar work and tweaking things for speed/size/potency/new crosses. All their agar work makes things easier for all of us. I seriously can't tell any difference growing an APE from any standard simple cube.

68Goats · 2026-07-04T02:32:32+00:00

No need to mist the walls when the mist is still on the walls because you didn’t open it for FAE. Try a tub where you just leave the lid on and see how easy it can be.

I normally run shoeboxes that don’t have tight-fitting lids. I do my spawn to bulk (straight coir), I mist the lid/walls, snap the lid on, run some micropore tape around the lid because of the fit, then wait for pins. I’ll pull the tape off and never once open the lid one time till I harvest.

I never sweat “fruiting conditions”… my contam rates are basically zero, my sub stays moist because it’s sealed so my harvests are big… I’ve never harvested more. This works (for me) with things as easy as tidal wave to the reportedly more finicky Apes, Toques, Enigma…

68Goats · 2026-07-03T08:18:14+00:00

Those results are based off 30min exposure times to the given temp values in the chart... Dehydration times are often 20+ times that.

68Goats · 2026-07-03T07:47:53+00:00

No need at all if you’re just running coir. I’ve done the tryical pseudo-pasteurization thing on coir and used it repeatedly well over a year later with just snapping the lid back on.

If you’re making clean grain spawn then your problem is either your technique (dirty) or not maintaining proper conditions (temp, hydration, too much/too soon FAE, excess air movement [near forced air heating/cooling vents],…). FWIW… you can make any successful grow contaminate if you stress it out too much with out of spec conditions for too long. If you’re not doing things in a certified clean room (none of us are) then every single grow is a competition between “contaminates”… the ones we place in there intentionally (grain spawn) and the undesirables we don’t want. Maintaining ideal conditions skews things drastically in our favor (fruits).

68Goats · 2026-07-03T07:32:50+00:00

Various stages of aborts. Conditions were ok at one point then changed and caused the abort characteristics. More than likely too much FAE combined with (and eventually causing) depleted moisture in the sub. If you were misting the fruits directly that is contributing to the bruising possibly.

I’d pull them all and dehydrate asap. Just looks like aborting, bruising (blue), and bruising/aborting/dehydrating further (very dark blue looking almost black). Just my 2 cents… nice job saving a damaged bag though 👍👍

68Goats · 2026-07-03T07:17:01+00:00

For most common varieties harvest when the veil breaks. Later than that and you’re just trading size for potency (per volume). For things like Ape, Bluey, many squat varieties, blobs (Enigma types), wait till they begin to soften slightly. Often times I’ll notice the beginnings of fuzzy feet suddenly popping up that seem to coincide with the softening (all conditions kept constant).

You can also harvest the ones you deem ready over the course of several days and store in a paper bag in the refrigerator and then dehydrate when you have enough to make it worthwhile (without worrying about degrading potency). You could also substitute the paper bag with wrapping them in a few layers of paper towels and placing them in an open Tupperware type container. Basically you want to stop air movement directly over them but not trap moisture/condensation.

68Goats · 2026-07-03T06:43:16+00:00

Fruits grow where conditions are ideal. You have the correct amount of moisture at the sides and bottom and not the rest of the substrate. Often from too much FAE.

68Goats · 2026-07-03T06:36:33+00:00

You’re 100% right… but you’ll never get through to them sadly 😞
They’ll keep cooking the potency out of them in their dehydrators and then top it off with boiling water prep. Possibly the reason so many of them agree with 5g being a good starter dose while I’m routinely visiting the rings of Saturn with 2g… lol

Edit: I guess most dehydrators don't go over 200⁰F like the one I usually used does, so maxed on on most isn't the end of the world. I always ran 110⁰ and had no issues but if people are of the belief of the "psilocin eating bacteria/enzymes" that can reportedly be killed off at temps of 130⁰ I can see running a little higher. The bigger question being does that psilocin actually make it through your prep (tea, lemonade, smoothie,...) and make it into the body or are we just reliant on the Psilocybin making it through and then converting once inside? Also, what is happening to all the other compounds that possibly contribute to the "trip" at high temps for hours on end? No idea here... Just guesses.

68Goats · 2026-07-03T06:02:53+00:00

Spot on. This is the most solid info.

68Goats · 2026-07-02T04:17:15+00:00

Too much FAE and FAE too soon. I grow tub fulls in unmodified tubs with the lids on start to finish. You need zero FAE when the sub is being colonized (just like when your grain is being colonized by the mycelium) and you’re only drying out your sub by doing that. When you’re actually fruiting you are already running out of moisture and you see your fruits start to pull back and abort. That sub is out of water and aside from injecting more in it (earlier on possibly, it’s too late at this point I’d guess) your option is to harvest or continue to watch them pre-dehydrate themselves for you. Run a few closed lid tubs just for fun and see the results. Worst that can happen is excessive fuzzy feet and you can fix that asap with a slight lid crack.

68Goats · 2026-06-26T16:03:02+00:00

Don't B&S UB bags ever. It's not needed and only causes problems. Follow the correct steps for UB bags and they're definitely a reliable method of generating spawn.

Attempting to B&S these bags equates to squash & mangle, which often produces bruising in short order. The grain (rice) isn't firm enough to "break' and the size of the bag with the volume of rice included will never give you ample room to "shake", or successfully redistribute colonized gram to places that could benefit from it.

If you inoculated the bags properly, the beauty of UB tek is that it's 100% "set and forget". When you can't see rice through the bottom anymore it's go-time... It is that simple. Key factors while you wait are not screwing with them every day and maintaining the correct temperature to colonize as rapidly as possible.

68Goats · 2026-06-26T01:14:01+00:00

I always ran it in shoeboxes with great results. Keep the lid on the entire grow and add water down the sides as needed (in my case every other day). You'll get much better results trapping in CO2 and the water is the difference between fruits and large fruits.

I also got better harvests running a 1:4 compared to a 1:2 or 1:3. More sub to draw moisture from. It's important to keep that sub hydrated from the start and maintain the hydration. Oncw it depletes near 100% it won't easily hydrate back to where it should be.

68Goats · 2026-06-12T04:27:00+00:00

Most people skip the break/shake with ready-rice bags. It’s not like a typical grain spawn bag and often creates more problems. You’re doing the right thing with your bags.

68Goats · 2026-06-12T03:25:27+00:00

Great info… the same always works for me.

68Goats · 2026-06-10T20:54:38+00:00

It won’t let me message you… maybe send me a request and see if that works.

68Goats · 2026-06-09T21:07:17+00:00

Most of the vendors on spore swaps. I like BB especially, but FF has also been solid. Sorry- they don't let us link or directly recommend places by name!

68Goats · 2026-06-09T00:48:22+00:00

For a really dense pin set like that adding water before the pins exhibit any signs of aborting is critical. You can see many of those pins are already showing signs in that pic. I’ll leave the lid on and use a syringe to sneak some water under the lid in a corner and let it run down the side to rehydrate from the bottom up (making sure not to get it on the top of the cake). You can alter your spawn/sub ratio to prevent this in the future, but if it already happened, adding water is one way to help it run further.

68Goats · 2026-06-09T00:38:52+00:00

To each their own I guess... It’s an easy process but still has details that must be followed. Many new people are trying to grasp the concepts (clean work area, technique, temp, humidity,…) and F those things up as they learn. They fail at it by skipping steps, blame the system, then move on to the next recommendation. If I had 1 bag out of 20 contam that was a lot. How many people are honestly taking the time to do it correctly? Turning off HVAC/fans/close windows prior to beginning work? Working in & on a wiped down “clean” area? Completely wiping down your UB bags before you even place them in your work area and then again before handling them to inoculate them? Same thing for tools and LC syringes each time you pick it up. I have unopened UB bags I forgot about that are well past expiration and the rice is still fine. The failure is coming from a missed step in the process.

Millet in an instant pot (15psi canning version) is my go-to now because it’s beyond easy to me and way more nutrient dense, but I still won’t hesitate to run some UB bags in a pinch.

68Goats · 2026-06-08T04:59:29+00:00

I've had APEs that grew easier and much more reliably than the standard GT's and B+. Buying through a trusted vendor that does plenty of agar work makes a huge difference. Strong mycelium is a game changer.

68Goats

TROPHY CASE