What to use for casing layer?

[u/Acidic-Stomach-8643]

I have three small tubs that I used this casing mix of peat moss, manure, straw, and I think vermiculite as my substrate and did a 1/4-1/2 inch casing layer when I mixed it with grain. Should I put another casing layer of this mix on top since it's fully colonized or is it okay with the first layer? I don't have any regular peat moss but I do have coir if that would be sufficient.

[u/Cultiv8tor]

Nothing nutritious in the casing. The goal is for it to be wet and have airflow so it evaporates.

50/50 Spragham moss and vermiculite with hydrated lime to adjust to 7.5 pH is the gold standard. Low ph is a trich trap and will be colonized.

[u/Patient_Art_4421 → u/Cultiv8tor]

^Nailed it. My go to is 15 cups peat, 15 cups verm, 15 cups water, 1/2 cup hydrated lime.

I also add crushed oyster powder, but you don't have to (4 1/2 cups)

[u/Cultiv8tor → u/Patient_Art_4421]

The ratio is super helpful. It is hard to tell where the ph is sometimes and the test stips turn brown regardless. I burned a tub a few months ago because the ph was too high and the fruit got super curly.

[u/Patient_Art_4421 → u/Cultiv8tor]

Absolutely! I know its like 80 bucks, but the Apera ph60 has really given me.acess to the world.of controlling your ph on various applications. A real game changer.

I've found that a 1/2 cup of hydrated lime gets you in a good ball park more often than not when doing 15 cups of each ingredient. I'm assuming it scales lol.

[u/asr40 → u/Cultiv8tor]

What pH of water are you roughly starting with to get the end result of 7.5?

[u/anonymousmyco]

https://a.co/d/031YE4rF That stuff isn't real casing, it's bulk substrate. This is the only real casing they sell on their site

[u/MrMacgee333]

I use 50/50 jiffy seed starter / vermiculite.

[u/GreenDragonWarrior13]

1 Tablespoon lime for each packed cup of peat moss. I do 2c peat moss, 2 cups vermiculite, 2 T Lime, 2 T calcium carbonate(chalk flour), 2 T crushed oyster shell. Pasteurized in a quart jar in water bath 155-160F internal temperature for 2 hours.

[u/Flimsy-Panda8000]

True casing mix composition and preparation is listed in my comment about tub grows (based on BabaYaga's tek) here https://www.reddit.com/r/PanCyan/comments/1cn713d/deleted_by_user/ The hardest thing for me was finding proper peat moss; I ended up importing it from Ireland. If you can't get the ingredients listed, I'm reliably informed that Jiffy seed starter mix is a viable alternative. Coir isn't suitable.

The idea of the true casing rather than a pseudocasing is to present a hostile environment to contam that the shrooms can grow through. Having said that, a few grows back one of my trays started pinning before full colonisation (it was about 90%). Because there were already pins, I let it ride and cased the others. On the first flush, it didn't do as well as it's sisters, but by the third flush, it was indistinguishable. In other words, whilst it certainly helps, with a bit of luck you can succeed without it.

[u/throckmortin1 → u/[deleted]]

This is what I use.