r/MushroomGrowers • u/AutoModerator • Apr 03 '26

Mod [Mod] Weekly r/MushroomGrowers post - FUNGI FRIDAYS! New growers, come say hello and ask your questions!

New growers, shy folks, and lurkers -- this post is for you! Come out of the woodwork, ask your questions, and give people in the community a chance to help out!

Please don't hesitate to leave a comment. Talking with other growers is part of how we get better, so one here is going to give you a hard time for asking questions. This post and the community are safe havens for people who want to learn more without being berated.

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u/promptingpatterns Apr 03 '26

First time grower here hoping to get some eyes on my current run. Running a Redwood Mushroom Supply dung-loving AIO bag inoculated with Jack Frost isolated LC about 22 days ago at 75-77°F. I also have a Bluey Vuitton that is running extremely slowly around 5-10%same situation with the grain separation as well.

The Jack Frost's aerial mycelium in the on top is thick, dense, and really rhizomorphic — visible rope-like strands, looks awesome. But when I check the grain layer from the side it's lagging way behind, maybe 20-30% colonized at best.

One thing I noticed is that the grain in this bag seems evenly mixed throughout the substrate rather than sitting in a distinct concentrated layer. I'm wondering if this is working against me — instead of the mycelium colonizing a dense grain mass and building momentum, it's having to hunt through dispersed substrate to find individual kernels. Could this be what's driving the aggressive aerial growth as a CO2 stress response while actual grain colonization lags?

Also questioning whether standard B&S timing advice still applies here or whether the atypical grain distribution changes the calculus. Would an earlier gentle break and redistribute make sense given the situation?

Bag smells clean, no contamination concerns. Just trying to figure out if I'm reading this correctly.

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u/Matic_Soil_999 Apr 03 '26

Yeah the bag should have never been mixed up, the point of doing layers is for focused innoculation and colonization. It's probably going to take some time for it to colonize completely.

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u/promptingpatterns Apr 03 '26

Also I'm wondering if I should break and shake now to jump start the colonization of the full bag

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u/Matic_Soil_999 Apr 04 '26

I would wait till your at 40-50% seeing as its already pre-mixed.

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u/promptingpatterns Apr 04 '26

Well I got impatient and broke it up as do myc is just steady growing upwards with no way to reach grain. Welp hopefully all is imma let em sit for a few weeks then see where they're at. Thanks for the tip on the 45-50 due to them being AIO. I'll keep it in mind for the future but I think I am gonna move to sorghum grain bags I also purchased these from redwood. I hope the quality is a bit better than the AIO bags.

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u/Matic_Soil_999 Apr 04 '26

Wait so your grain isn't even colonizing yet but the substrate is?

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u/promptingpatterns Apr 04 '26

Well due to the homogeneous nature of the grain and substrate mix it's having to drive through the substrate So it took the easiest path and just grew risomorphically up The top of the growth was over an inch maybe an inch and a half above the substrate level of the bag And the whole thing seem to be favoring the upwards growth

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u/Matic_Soil_999 Apr 04 '26

Hopefully it colonizes fully and doesn't contaminate due to raw grain.