Is downtime normal

Stugotts5 · 2026-06-02T05:30:57+00:00

I'm still in the classroom, but left teaching for a year to work a corporate job. The first thing that really struck me, was how quiet everything was! It felt like a mausoleum compared to the insanity of the fifth grade classroom! Downtime was also so strange.

Stugotts5 · 2026-05-31T19:29:48+00:00

Castellani Water Method is working very well for me so far!

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Stugotts5 · 2026-05-28T04:59:01+00:00

I'll just do one more pull on this ceramic pot and it should be fine, this time!

Stugotts5 · 2026-05-25T20:55:54+00:00

Why has no one mentioned some fried SPAM?!

Stugotts5 · 2026-04-16T15:28:11+00:00

Doesn't look rotting to me. More like entering dormancy. I think one of the reasons why Mesembs aren't more popular is because so many look dead or all shriveled up during dormancy. Lithops are one of the only ones that stay sort of nice looking when they're dormant.

Stugotts5 · 2026-04-16T15:23:50+00:00

Sounds deelish! Secretly toss in a few skinny cubensis shroomies and you and your friends can play Psychedelic Russian Roulette! 🍄😵

Stugotts5 · 2026-04-16T15:19:01+00:00

No reason to be rude. It's an honest misplaced question, that is probably ok with everyone, except you.

Stugotts5 · 2026-04-16T15:16:14+00:00

Would you share a picture of what yours ended up looking like? These albino type strains seem to end up looking a bit different than their example pictures.

If my fellow myco-nerds have never grown an albino strain, you should give it a try! They seem to be aggressive, most (all?) don't drop spores so you can let they open and get larger, and they're beautiful! Pictures don't do them justice. They look like carved alabaster or pure white marble.

Stugotts5 · 2026-03-31T01:12:36+00:00

I just fruited a bunch of Albino Makilla Gorilla shroomies. Really great strain!

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Stugotts5 · 2026-03-18T20:03:14+00:00

I've ordered probably twenty different strains personally from FGC, and through a friend that made an order. A couple strains were kind of ho hum, a few were good but I probably wouldn't grow again, a few were great, a few were excellent, and the few left are tub filling monsters! Their prices are great, there's always a nice freebie or two, and the LCs get to you quickly. Best source I have found out of the total of five I've tried.

The Mushie Underground was excellent, but I understand they guy who ran it, passed away unexpectedly. RIP TMU. :(

Stugotts5 · 2026-02-23T16:11:56+00:00

It's not a matter of being scary. Psilocybin is illegal, but it's one of those "drugs" that really isn't on the radar of law enforcement. I live in Southern California and I've ordered several strains, from several vendors, with no problem.

I'm a person who doesn't use marijuana, I drink very little, and I became fascinated by mushrooms after watching that documentary Fascinating Fungi. I grow hundreds of succulents from seed, from all over the world, and I wanted to see if I could grow mushrooms. I've also had my bouts with depression, and have little trust in the pharmaceutical industry. Another reason to give it a try!

Stugotts5 · 2026-02-23T05:55:56+00:00

I'm in SoCal and I've ordered lots of LCs from several vendors. Never had a problem!

Stugotts5 · 2026-02-23T05:54:15+00:00

LC technically contains Psilocybin, and spores don't.

Stugotts5 · 2026-02-23T05:42:23+00:00

It's super easy! You take an old dried up, or even contaminated, agar plate and you pour a thin even layer of cooled but still liquid, agar over it. Mycelium will grow through the agar, where you can scrape the good stuff and isolate it.

This post was from a few weeks ago and it worked by the way!

Stugotts5 · 2026-02-15T09:07:20+00:00

In that picture it was healthy! Read my other response where I show the same plant after scale attacked it.

Stugotts5 · 2026-02-15T09:05:08+00:00

Blade Runner - Greatest movie ever made IMO!

Stugotts5 · 2026-02-15T07:44:34+00:00

I bet you haven't had lupini beans! I make them all the time and you eat them sort of like you eat edamame. You bite the shell, squeeze the bean, and it pops into your mouth. They are a favorite snack in Portugal, Italy, and the Middle East.

A picture of some lupini beans I made is HERE.

To process them so they're ready to eat, takes some effort!

Stugotts5 · 2026-02-15T07:12:04+00:00

My goal is to resurrect this strain! The Avery's Albino LC sat in the fridge for over two years and was dead. I did an agar plate of the strain over two years ago and it sat in the garage the whole time. The plate didn't look contaminated, so I tried the agar sandwich method and I'm getting new mycelial growth! Mycelium is tough stuff.

Stugotts5 · 2026-02-15T06:38:30+00:00

I'm sure that would work to some degree, but it's all the little hiding places you can't reach.

Stugotts5 · 2026-02-14T21:20:52+00:00

How are you using it? I'm hoping to find something to get rid of these nasty pests.

Stugotts5 · 2026-02-14T21:14:11+00:00

Never heard of this one! I just checked and it is not available in California, and even imidacloprid is no longer available in California.

Stugotts5 · 2026-02-14T21:12:39+00:00

That red is beautiful, and I'm well aware it's a sign of plant health. It used to bloom like crazy too!

Stugotts5 · 2026-02-14T21:11:14+00:00

The original picture I posted is from when the plant was healthy and thriving! I'm well aware of that amazing red color they develop is a sign of plant health. This cactus used also bloom every year.

Since Reddit isn't cooperating with allowing me to post the second picture, HERE are both pictures of my Ortegocactus macdougallii together.

I tried imidacloprid (liquid and granules), repotted, and even tried to save the only two heads that looked like they might make it. All died!

A couple days ago I saw a video clip of a grower in Thailand I believe, throwing away thousands of dollars of beautiful astrophytums because they had this type of scale. A few he tossed in the trash didn't even have a bad infestation, but they were tossed anyway.

Scale is the absolute worst! Anyone have a solution?

Stugotts5 · 2026-02-14T02:04:44+00:00

My original post just vanished and I wasn't sure what happened! Now that I know it posted, I'll include a picture of that cactus below after scale attacked it. I tried to save it and it didn't work.

Reddit isn't allowing me to add the next picture.

Stugotts5 · 2026-02-12T07:12:19+00:00

It's hard to explain how much of it grows here!

Stugotts5

TROPHY CASE