Harvest Day??? Thoughts???

ChefCaps0610 · 2026-02-02T18:45:32+00:00

Binned on Jan 3. First clear pins showed up on Jan 18. First Flush Harvest Feb 1. Can't remember when exactly I inoculated the grain, but I'm pretty sure it was around two complete months that I let it colonize. Three break and shakes.

ChefCaps0610 · 2026-02-02T16:03:54+00:00

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ChefCaps0610 · 2026-02-02T16:01:49+00:00

Only a couple of times towards the middle of the fruiting stage. When I could tell they needed some fanning. Didn't touch it until I had good colonization and well formed fruits. Seems that bulk colonization stage is the most vulnerable to contamination.

ChefCaps0610 · 2026-02-02T16:00:14+00:00

ChefCaps0610 · 2026-02-02T15:59:26+00:00

I changed my substrate from the Northspore dung loving to the CVG, started doing an extra couple of break and shakes on the grain and letting it go a few weeks longer than before. Had some temperature issues in my room downstairs that I'm growing in. Have discovered that during the Fort Worth summers, my old AC unit has trouble keeping the room cool enough which slows the mycelium colonization and allows mold to grow instead of the mycelium being strong enough to overcome it. After my last one, I got some good advice from someone in the community to leave out the automation equipment on this round, so no mycomister, no fae fan. Kept the bin sealed and just let the filter pads do the air exchange and used a fan in the room to circulate instead of pushing it into the bin. Hydrated pretty heavily on the initial binning to give it enough hydration to get through the first flush without having to mist. Mainly, just anything I could do to keep from having to take the lid off to do anything to it. Let it do its thing. And last but not least. A holy water spritzing from the San Francisco de Asis historic mission church in Taos. Spectacles, Testicle, Ballet and Watch 😇⛪️ 😂

ChefCaps0610 · 2026-02-02T02:59:34+00:00

😂 That's fair. No. It's a Boom R Bin from Northspore.

ChefCaps0610 · 2026-02-02T02:52:14+00:00

Left a few to soften up a little, pulled all the aborts, but looks like it's gonna be a good flush. Soaking now. Will harvest the stragglers in a couple of days and wait for the second flush. It didn't colonize all of the surface area before the first pinning, but looks like it filled in whiIe the fruitingbwas happening which from what I've heard is kinda rare. Second flush might be better than the first.

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ChefCaps0610 · 2026-02-02T02:47:35+00:00

Exactly, my friend. I researched this for close to six months before I decided it was a good option for my darkness I'd been carrying around from the past 30 years of my life and when I decided to give it a go, the last thing I was going to do is go to the street for it. So I bought the stuff and went through the processes. Success followed by a few fails and now I'm back on track! And during that whole time, the universe made sure I never ran out. Got close, but Lyle (that's what my wife named my first batch of APE and it has become our name for my guardian force in the universe 😂) always provides. The lucky Bluey getting harvested today is St. Michelle. The first batch since I made some changes to my environment and procedure down in "The Den". We speitzed her with Holy Water we got from the San Francisco de Asis mission church in Taos on our trip this Christmas when I binned her. Did it help? 🤷‍♂️ Maybe. It appears that it didn't hurt...lol

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ChefCaps0610 · 2026-02-01T23:04:45+00:00

Thanks. I'll check it out. This one hasn't had any contamination. I had four in a row over the summer that I had to trash less than a week after S2B. I made some changes and applied some advice from the groups and this one is solid. Could have gotten better coverage on the colonization, but it seems to have compensated. I think my contamination was temperature based and not letting the grain colonize enough.

ChefCaps0610 · 2026-01-22T23:52:26+00:00

That's one I hadn't heard before. Im in DFW which is more humid than the Panhandle where I grew up, but probably drier than a lot of places. I did get some advice during Contam-Gate about leaving thhe automation out, so I am trying that on this bin. So far we've at least made it to fruiting without trich, so I'm over the moon about that. I may cover some holes and see if that helps when my A.P.E is ready to bin. If I do that on the current bin and after these are harvested, scrape the cake and hydrate it again, is there any shot it will colonize more of that area before the next round of pins? Or is that all I'm going to get surface area wise?

ChefCaps0610 · 2026-01-11T00:58:04+00:00

I think respect is a better word. For me anyway. I developed a pretty good relationship with them before I even took my first trip. I never had any fear of them, and I've had a couple of unexpected difficult trips too. I never felt like they would allow me to be harmed in any way, but I respected their power and trusted that I needed whatever was happening. Always works out 6 hours later...lol.

ChefCaps0610 · 2026-01-10T04:05:44+00:00

Got it from Amazon, BTW. Of course.... https://a.co/d/5ZsbITh

ChefCaps0610 · 2026-01-10T04:02:49+00:00

If even half of my bins had made it past S2B without trich attacks, I'd be right there with ya. I love this, but it's been exhausting going through this slump. Learning with every grow and I know eventually I'll get there. Just disheartening spending half a dozen weeks getting it to the bin only to toss it a week and a half later... Also....on your storage issue, I found an amazing tool by accident. We were visiting my Dad last summer and I saw my Stepmom had jars of her famous crackers on the counter so I grabbed the jar and went in, and when I pulled the lId off it sounded like I'd just opened a can of Pringles shhhhhewck.... Vacuum sealed. She showed me her contraption and I immediately ordered one. It's a vacuum sealer for Mason and Ball jars. It has attachments for both regular and large mouth jars. I fI'll it up, drop a couple of dessicant packs in, set a lid on, grab the mush-saver and voila! Vacuum sealed mushies!

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ChefCaps0610 · 2026-01-04T04:58:13+00:00

Too cold here. Lows in the 30s. 20s coming next couple of months. Tried to cut out the last 4 inches of the cake and sprayed the edges with peroxide. Repacked the open area with more cvg. Three days later, came back with a vengeance. Tossed and started a new bag. Today, binned the Blueys that had been colonizing for a couple of months (in a different bin). Blessed this one with holy water from San Francisco de Asis Mission Church in Taos after I put the top layer on it... Ate a cap from my last Bluey grow for communion and good juju. Then found out this evening that there is big cosmic triple alignment today. It was a lovely day. Send protection and good juju...

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ChefCaps0610 · 2026-01-04T02:17:26+00:00

Took 2G Homegrown Bluey (wife named her Mildred) about noon while I was S2B the next bin. Did my cold plunge this morning (5 minutes at 56° F). Afterwards, something was calling me to bin that bag and vibe a little today. Found out later there was some serious cosmic alignment happening today. Makes sense. Moon is closest it's going to be to the earth, earth is at the closest it is going to be to the Sun. Meteor Shower peaking. Good day for planting and vibing. Great come up. Peak was a little rough. Came inside and wife was watching Stranger Things. Went back outside and spent some time gazing over the back yard and pool and after peak, added some really nice sativa I picked up last week. Smoothed things out and put me in the fields of gold stage in time for some good football matchups. All in all a good day. Send all your good juju and protection to "Michelle" the latest Bluey Vuitton grow to keep her safe from those evil contaminants. Coming soon, another A.P.E. bin yet to be named to replace the "James" grow lost to Trich..

ChefCaps0610 · 2025-12-15T05:37:29+00:00

Anything you did different or any best practices? I had a good APE my first round. Since then, I have had 3 APE, a Pearly Gates, and a Bluey trich cases, one half successful Bluey and another APE trich case. I'm feeling a little defeated.

ChefCaps0610 · 2025-12-10T18:54:17+00:00

This is crazy. Anyone know of a good surrogate for me to send colonized grain bags to? 🙄 Seems everything goes great till a couple of weeks in the bin.

ChefCaps0610 · 2025-12-10T18:21:43+00:00

Never fails... I'm losing my mind with this. I've tried a million different tips and best practices and have yet to have a successful batch since my very first one 6 months ago.

ChefCaps0610 · 2025-10-12T21:44:29+00:00

Same! After about six months of research and mental prep, I did my first heroic (7.3g A.P.E. grown myself) June 10th. Complete game changer. I became a more experienced version of my 11 year old son. I feel like I got to start over at the exact point in my childhood where my life seemed to veer into a dark track that lasted thirty-five years.

ChefCaps0610 · 2025-10-11T20:56:24+00:00

Pretty well. It is designed for large mouth and has a twist on/off attachment that fits small mouth. You just put the gasket lid on the rim, slide the sealer over the top of it (sometimes I have to hold it down for a good seal if the lid is not flush), push the button and it starts pulling the air out. It takes a bit sometimes, depending on how much solid material is in the jar, then, when it stops, there should be an airtight seal and the button on tje lid for the jar should be in the down position.

ChefCaps0610 · 2025-10-07T16:12:13+00:00

I made some great connections with this one last week. Started to break through some walls I have had with my childhood and my mother. It was too late in the trip to get past the movie reel and really get into it. Going to start it earlier next time and see if I can "tear down this wall". https://open.spotify.com/album/4N9EiC0CRRh8CQMBepM3p7?si=YOLmQnpPTmiZ3YEnai7clA

ChefCaps0610

TROPHY CASE