CompletedDay 27started 12 Jun 2026finished 09 Jul 2026

First Grow - GT & B+

Broke Boi Tek to Monotub (Maybe dubtub)

Cultivator

mushroonaj

Specimen

B+

Entries

13 entries

1. Day 1

   12 Jun 2026

   Temp 25°C

   Preparation & Inoculation - June 4th & 5th

   1st Grow - B+ and Golden Teacher from SporeStock

   Method: Broke Boi Tek with modified lid

   Spawn: Brown rice

   Substrate: Coco Coir

   Note 1: modified lid but flipped it for better GE, unsure if micropore tape on inside of jar lid will cause issues. Wasn’t considering this as I flipped lids…

   Note 2: I live in South Florida and it is Summertime. Ambient temperature in our living room is somewhere between 78-80 at floor level. Husband does not want me putting mushrooms in our bedroom, and our bathroom is too humid, so will do my best with using the living room floor as a base. Plan on getting a fan in the near future, but it will not be running all night… So… still on the hotter side. May need one of those cooling misting fans that runs on batteries.

   - 3 jars B+ - 2 jars Golden Teacher (GT)

   6/4 - Sterilized jars and grain, let cool overnight

   6/5 - Inoculated grains in SAB, about 1 cc per jar in middle of grain. Syringe did not touch rice, as rice was too low in jar for contact. Left lids upside down for GE, and put another micropore tape on the outside of the lid. When isolating, some LC got on the top of the lid of two jars of B+. Wiped with an alcohol wipe before placing tape over the holes. Not sure if that will affect the spawn. Moved jars into a 12 qt tub underneath my desk for colonization. Ambient room temperature is between 76-80 at floor level. Higher side at night, lower during the day due to a/c from bedroom. (See Note 2)

   *Check grains in one week* - avoid bothering them

2. Day 5

   12 Jun 2026

   Temp 25°C

   June 10th

   6/10 - Inoculated 3 jars of GT with unmodified lids and put syringe on 3 sides of the jars instead of in the middle like I did the last batch.

   The 6/5 jars only look furry in the upper middle portion of them… I’m unsure if I should do a B&S on them or let them sit… I think when in doubt, do nothing, so if it still looks the same 6/12 when I officially check them I’ll just leave them alone for another week and let the myc do its thang.

3. Day 7

   12 Jun 2026

   Temp 25°C

   First Official Check of June 5th Grow

   6/12 - Fully checked the 6/5 jars (I’m going to name them J5s); the J5s are looking great! The bottom of 4/5 of them have myc on them, and the one that doesn’t have myc on the bottom still looks healthy. I MAY see some contam on one jar, but it could also be one of those black pieces of grain that just hasn’t gotten fully covered. I’m going to my mom’s house for the weekend, and when I get back on Monday I’m going to do a break and shake. I feel like that’ll be a good time for it.

   I haven’t checked the J10s since it’s literally only been two days, but the J5s have given me some confidence. I can’t wait to introduce them to some substrate! I’m getting one of my buckets from my mom’s house so that when the time comes, I have enough room to hydrate my coco coir, which I got from the pet store, and will hope for the best.

4. Day 8

   13 Jun 2026

   Temp 25°C

   The Initial B&S

   I did a B&S on one of the J5s but it had hardened so much that I feel like I didn’t move much around. I saw a lot of moisture at the bottom of the jar after the shake, and the coloration concerned me. I left it alone and will monitor closely.

   I did an early B&S on the J10s after this, as I’ve seen some folks say they do it as soon as they see mycelium growth. I did this to make sure the grain didn’t chunk together like the J5s. Hopeful that they'll recover and spawn faster.

   I’ll be back home in a few days, and will check on everything once I’m back. I’m sus of that one J5 I shook up… will keep a close eye on it. The other J5s look good, but I didn't bother doing a break and shake on them as I figured they've also caked together.

5. Day 11

   18 Jun 2026

   Return Check

   6/16 - They look good! The J10s I shook up are colonizing fast! There’s one jar of a J5 that’s looking a little sus… There's some wetness at the bottom of the jar and I see bubbling as well, but it's all concentrated at the bottom. The top looks good.

6. Day 12

   18 Jun 2026

   Experimenting with Separation

   6/17 - As my own little experiment, I separated the top healthy looking myc and put it in some coco coir I hydrated the day before. I had a little bit too much in the container (I used a shoebox sized container) so I put some coir in the jar to fill in what I removed. If anything, this will give me experience in seeing what contamination looks like in real life in the jar. In the shoebox, I’m hoping that I got the healthy myc and it’ll colonize well and produce healthy mushrooms.

7. Day 13

   18 Jun 2026

   J5 Shoebox Check

   6/18 - The shoebox is looking good! The myc is already starting to colonize the substrate and I don’t see anything out of the ordinary as of yet. I’ll wait a day or two more before introducing FAE and beginning the fruiting stage. I know folks say you can start immediately but I want to wait and see a bit more. I think as a beginner I’m taking more caution.

8. Day 14

   19 Jun 2026

   Checks & S2B Updates

   6/19 - I had another jar that looked wet in one corner of the bottom, but the rest was 100% colonized, so I removed the colonized portion and left the wet sus looking portion at the bottom corner. I put the colonized spawn into substrate and patted it down so the sides are tight. 
As for the first shoebox I s2b’d on 6/17, it’s looking so good and it’s colonized the substrate so quickly that I decided to introduce FAE. I misted it a little bit so there’s some beads on the surface and side walls and turned the lid upside down. I was watching it yesterday and it was growing so fast! I’m honestly amazed at how to mycelium just grows and colonizes, it’s truly fascinating and makes me want to learn even more about fungi and mushrooms.

   The little jar of B+ I put the extra substrate into is moving slowly, as expected honestly. I’m not expecting much from it except for experience. The other 6 jars - 3 J10s and 3 J5s - are colonizing the grain well! 3 of them are at about 80%, 1 of them is 95% colonized, and one of them is 100% colonized!

   Since I have the day off today, I’m going to start a third shoebox with the 100% colonized J5 GT. It’s nice to see one that got to 100% without any wetness like the first two, so I’m really hoping this one colonizes the sub strong and fast! I’m also gonna sterilize more grains to make another spawn jar for this GT, since it’s done good - very good! 100% at two weeks doesn’t seem bad to me. I know folks say they can get theirs to 100% within a week, but I’m in no rush so two weeks is great to me!

   K so progress:

   5 spawn jars still colonizing Shoebox 1 (Name: Murrieta) - S2B 6/17, introduced FAE 6/19 Shoebox 2 (Name: Pearla) - S2B 6/19 Shoebox 3 (Name: Raechelle) - S2B 6/19

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9. Day 17

   27 Jun 2026

   S2B the first J10 + G2G

   I moved one of the J10s to coco coir, as it was 100% colonized. It’s looking amazing! I’m super proud of my progress so far, and watching the mycelium progress has been such an awe-inspiring process that it’s made me appreciate everything in the world so much more. It’s amazing what life there is out here, and how much we don’t ever think about. It’s also made me consider the sacredness of the mushroom and its properties, and I don’t enjoy seeing folks who just jump in without doing any research and then get upset or frustrated at their results. These creatures should be honored, and I’m learning that patience is key as well as being okay with not getting the desired outcome. It’s been a great experience overall - I even hesitate to call it a hobby because of how much it’s changing me from inside.

   I saved some of the myc from the J5s I S2B 6/19 and put it to some colonized grain, so we’ve got some grain to grain colonization going on now. Those are the G1s.

10. Day 21

    27 Jun 2026

    All J5s are S2B!

    I’ve sent the last two J5s to substrate, so now all five J5s are S2B. The first three, Murrieta, Pearla, and Raechelle, all have hyphen knots and I’m SO EXCITED! This process is truly amazing to see with my own eyes. I’d never considered mushrooms could be such fun creatures to grow!

    I did a B&S on the G1s - the grain to grains - once I saw some mycelium spreading in it. I think doing that early break n shake is ideal for grain, as it keeps it from bulking together and seems to reduce excess moisture that could lead to contamination. This is preliminary guessing just from my limited experience so far, but I’ve got to say that the ones I did the early break n shakes on looked much better than the ones I let sit until they got to 30% or whatever. So I believe I’ll keep using that technique until I experiment more later on and find something more effective.

    The last two J10s are fully colonized, but I’ve honestly got so much going on right now that I’ve put them in the fridge for now. I’m likely going to wait until I get my first flush from the J5s to S2B the last two J10s. I also want to note that the J10s colonized much faster than the J5s, and they looked much less sus that the J5s did. I was able to B&S them as soon as I saw myc growing, and that seemed to speed things up a ton.

    K so progress:

    2 J10 spawn jars in fridge 2 G1 spawn jars colonizing

    Shoebox 1 J5 B+ (Name: Murrieta) - S2B 6/17, introduced FAE 6/19 - hyphal knots present Shoebox 2 J5 B+ (Name: Pearla) - S2B 6/19, introduced FAE 6/22 - hyphal knots present Shoebox 3 J5 GT (Name: Raechelle) - S2B 6/19, introduced FAE 6/22 - hyphal knots present Shoebox 4 J10 GT (Name: Jukebox) - S2B 6/22, introduced FAE 6/24 Shoebox 5 J5 B+ (Name: Jenifer) - S2B 6/26, introduced FAE 6/26 Shoebox 6 J5 GT (Name: Bonita) - S2B 6/26, introduced FAE 6/26

    All shoeboxes are getting FAE, even the 6/26s. Let's see if there's any difference between letting it colonize the sub for a few days vs. introducing FAE right away. Most folks say there's no difference, so I honestly don't expect much of a difference.

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11. Day 22

    28 Jun 2026

    First Pins!!

    WE HAVE PINS! On two bins!

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12. Day 24

    01 Jul 2026

    Pin Growth

    I'm honestly so proud and shocked at how my first grow is turning out, no issues whatsoever so far! I see so many posts from new growers dealing with contamination and whatnot, and I know it is just a natural part of the process, but it's so vindicating to know that all my research and careful handling and attention to detail is paying off in these beautifully growing fruiting bodies. The B+ J5s (Murrieta and Pearla) are taking off!

    The GT J5 (Raechelle) I S2B on the same day as the aforementioned J5s has now moved from hyphae knotting to some teeny tiny pins as well! (Not pictured).

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13. Day 32

    09 Jul 2026

    First flushes

    WE GOT SHROOMS! I got two flushes, but the canopies were very uneven so there were a few big ones and then a bunch of smaller ones. I mostly harvested the bigger ones, trying to catch them before they dropped spores, and am still harvesting throughout the week as they grow. Even the ones I s2b on 6/26 are pinning, so I think it's safe to say that this was a successful first run! I have 6 tubs all flourishing and it's great! I'm waiting to move so that I can inoculate a different strain, but so far the B+s are coming in long and strong and the GTs are a little slower but still coming in great! Pictures are the first flush I harvested - maybe a little too early but since my canopy wasn't even I didn't want any to go to spore. Besides, the smaller ones still pack a punch.

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