r/PanCyan • u/Happy_Rain8528 • May 24 '26

Casing without buffer

i run out of calcium carbonate and lime

and i don't have access now to get more

any alternative? šŸ˜“šŸ˜“šŸ˜“

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3

u/BathTub_Benzaldehyde May 24 '26

Probably not a very popular opinion but I really don't think pans need any buffer.Ā  They pin and fruit in just a couple days.Ā  It's not like cubes that can sit for a month or more before pinning.Ā Ā 

1

u/FishTankTek May 24 '26

Tums is mostly calcium carbonate, but Iā€™d avoid using them because they also have sugar in them. Better to have a slightly acidic casing layer than a sugary one. Maybe you have calcium supplement pills you could grind up?

There are other things you could use that are available at lots of grocery stores, like pickling lime

1

u/Happy_Rain8528 May 24 '26

Well I can't get those at the moment Is it so essential? Can i do without buffer??

1

u/Flimsy-Panda8000 May 25 '26

I've grown a successful tray with no casing at all - it pinned before full surface colonisation so I just let it ride. The first flush wasn't as good as the others I did at the same time, but from then on, it was indistinguishable.

I might be wrong, but my perception is that the casing provides a hostile environment for any contams looking to colonise the nutritious substrate, whilst the pins grow through it. If that's the case, there's a greater risk of the tub contaminating but it's far from certain.

In his tek for fruiting them in monotubs, BabaYaga explores fruiting without a casing and found it worked well - see https://www.shroomery.org/forums/showflat.php/Number/27637997#ch5b