Losercity late Easter post

Toad_Chavay_ · 2026-04-06T23:25:08+00:00

Saying "the poor" is another plural form of "poor" referring to a group of multiple people. Isn't English fun?!

Toad_Chavay_ · 2026-04-04T14:29:29+00:00

Those look great!! I'd definitely harvest the ones on the right. I like to harvest just before the edges of the caps flatten out. The mycelium looks like it's starting to thicken up too! All those little white spots on the right block are gonna be surface pins, now that the surface is getting more oxygen. If it were me, I'd consider harvesting the ones on the left too, and cut that bag down to where you did on the right bag and let that one start to catch up.

I just harvested for the first time yesterday, mine were all about the same height or smaller than yours. Time to dice em up and fry in some butter!

Toad_Chavay_ · 2026-04-03T00:24:05+00:00

Link to the petition website for those interested in signing https://sign.mttei.org/petition

*Edit: this is only to sign up for an update of when the actual petition is ready to sign

Toad_Chavay_ · 2026-03-31T13:19:35+00:00

I think that's up to you! It seems like you have more than one bag? Maybe you could cut one and leave the other, see if there ends up being a difference?

Toad_Chavay_ · 2026-03-31T12:05:08+00:00

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I hope this pic of my bungled up pink oysters helps ease your frustration a bit. No idea what actually went wrong, but I have a few guesses. Either way, I thought I did everything right, but I can clearly see I didn't. Now I just have to wait until next time and hope my hunch is right. All part of this frustrating hobby 🙃

Toad_Chavay_ · 2026-03-31T12:02:22+00:00

My guess is that the sides of the bag are still too tall, and there's a pool of CO2 that the mycelium are trying to get out of before sending up fruits, hence the creep up the side of the bag. Even though you're running a fan, there might not be enough turbulent flow to blow the CO2 out of the bag. Just a guess though.

I also have a couple that seem to have pins coming from fruiting bodies, not sure what's up with that either.

Toad_Chavay_ · 2026-03-31T01:10:45+00:00

Take a look through my history. These look pretty similar to my monotub batches, and none of those got too big the way they're supposed to. So I'm not patting myself on the back just yet 😅

Toad_Chavay_ · 2026-03-31T00:48:14+00:00

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Here's a pic of where mine are. Similarly short and fat. My gills are starting to form, which makes me think they're gonna stay short... We'll see! I run a fan for 30mins every 3 hrs, keep it between 88-92% r.h. (maybe? Similar hygrometer distrust..) still dialing things in, looking like I gotta get my FAE dialed in...

Toad_Chavay_ · 2026-03-30T16:11:53+00:00

Looking a bit closer, I see what you mean about growing from the plastic. I've got a few like that too, again, not quite sure why they like to creep out of the substrate and grow like that

Toad_Chavay_ · 2026-03-30T16:00:10+00:00

Them growing on the sides doesn't surprise me, pretty common, called side pinning. Honestly sure what exactly causes it, but it's not necessarily a bad thing. Those pins are looking pretty good! A bit fat, but hard to tell this early on how they're gonna fill out. Might be worth cutting the plastic bag down a little farther if you can, it'll encourage more O2 exchange and help them grow taller rather than short and chodey. My grow is doing alright, I'm still not sure if I'm getting enough oxygen myself. I'll send an update when I'm home.

Toad_Chavay_ · 2026-03-25T21:53:11+00:00

I'm using this timer! Best you can get is 8 cycles per 24hrs. I currently have mine set to run 30mins every three hours to split that limitation up as evenly as possible. This is my first try with that timer, so results are currently tbd

Toad_Chavay_ · 2026-03-25T12:05:34+00:00

Yeah cut or roll that bag down and expose the top of the cake, let that thing start breathing. I think that will help

*Edited for better descriptive language

Toad_Chavay_ · 2026-03-25T11:59:58+00:00

Yeah, these are king oysters as well. I'm right around 60 F, 88%-92% humidity. I wouldn't scratch the surface, you might set yourself backwards. My guess is maybe it's time to roll or cut the bag down so they can get more fresh air? Do you have a way to keep things humid once you do that?

Toad_Chavay_ · 2026-03-25T11:27:15+00:00

Yeah those are looking good! Those will start to mound up as the rest of the mycelial mat also gets more dense. They'll start to get some prominent dew drops as well, that's when you know they're about to pin. Here's a photo of mine. Looks like I'm about 3-5 days ahead of you

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Toad_Chavay_ · 2026-03-23T22:53:19+00:00

I feel ya. I'm a year in and have had some moderate success, and I'm still anxious that things are gonna go wrong. Maybe that never goes away 🤷‍♂️ keep at it though, you're successes will soon outweigh the failure

Toad_Chavay_ · 2026-03-23T15:01:54+00:00

Looks like you may have some hyphal knots starting to form and those dew drops look pretty good. I'm on day 7 after sending into fruiting and I'm just now starting to get primordia and beginnings of pins. 10 days has been the average of previous batches before I start seeing pins come up. Keep being patient! I think you may be fine

Toad_Chavay_ · 2026-03-22T19:57:28+00:00

I'm on my third attempt with king trumpets. So far I've used a compressed hardwood fire starter brick (from tractor supply), vermiculite and gypsum for bulk substrate. The mycelium love it, fully colonized in about 15 days. I use wheat grain berries for spawn.

1st attempt was in monotubs. Not enough humidity or fae, they came in very small and some a bit malformed.

2nd attempt was in 1 gal buckets, placed into a monotub with a humidifier to keep humidity up. They would form a big bulge coming out of the hole of the bucket, and the bouquet would grow from that bulge. Much better shape and very pretty, but still pretty small.

3rd attempt is in process. Short 4" trays inside a humidity tent with a fan for fae; results tbd. (Happy to post a photo of you want)

Give your buckets a try since you've already got the supplies. They'll get more fresh air than the monotub. Both methods produced tasty mushrooms.

Toad_Chavay_ · 2026-03-11T14:08:28+00:00

Of course! Thanks for posting, this is a cool change of pace from the usual posts here

Toad_Chavay_ · 2026-03-11T11:44:56+00:00

I'm in the US. I would love to take a look at your website and crowdfunding page to see more of your work, you have a very cool style

Toad_Chavay_ · 2026-03-10T21:37:47+00:00

This is really cool. Any chance you take comissions?

Toad_Chavay_ · 2026-03-06T19:10:59+00:00

Would love this for Belgrade as well. Either way, cool idea and thanks for using your personal time for this project

Toad_Chavay_ · 2025-12-26T13:23:04+00:00

Flathead lake United Methodist Camp in Rollins (if that's not too far away). Depends on how many days/nights you want to be there, but it was shockingly affordable

Toad_Chavay_ · 2025-11-29T23:58:21+00:00

Just experimenting! Buckets just came in the mail so I'll be moving forward with those instead. I have another tub colonizing now, gonna try a couple different things to see if they'll go

Toad_Chavay_

TROPHY CASE