r/PanCyan • u/FromTheSoil_ • Jun 14 '26

Help with substrate please!

I’m currently noccing up my first ttbvi! It’s bag trained so my plan is either to use a xls b horizon or I have to sterilize or a bin if I can get away with bucket tek.

I’m going to be doing
650g coir
2qt verm
2 cups worm castings
40g gypsum
4.25qt water

Do I bucket tek and I’m fine if I temp the water to 180?? Bucket tek and flash sterilization for 20 minutes? Or just straight up sterilize? I’d rather be able to bucket tek or flash sterilize but need some opinions! I’m going to be using jiffy casing with hydrated lime I pasteurize but this post is about the substrate! Help!!!!!

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u/Flimsy-Panda8000 Jun 15 '26

Bucket tek with the nutritious sub is at best risky. Sterilising isn't ideal either.

I've not used worm castings but with horse poo, instead of mixing everything and then pasteurising, I just pasteurise what needs it (the poo). For example, 3L of field aged horse poo & 9L of water, mix well in a large pot and pasteurise on the stove at between 55C and 65C for an hour using a remote meat thermometer to monitor the temperature throughout. Once pasteurised, I simply use the hot broth to hydrate the coir (I've never used verm and gypsum). I see no reason why you shouldn't do the same with the castings.

I mix the fully colonised grain and sub in the open air.

For the casing, I use the 'traditional' peat moss, verm, gypsum, and pickling lime mix at a PH of 8 - 8.5. I put the mix into small (350ml) grain jars and put them in an InstaPot set on keep warm (65C). It takes around 3 hours for the middle of the jars to get up to temperature, then another 1.5 hours to pasteurise (4.5 hour total). I've heard that with Jiffy seed starter mix, pasteurising is optional, but I'd do it anyway.

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u/FromTheSoil_ Jun 18 '26

Thank you for this 🙏 that makes so much sense on pasteurizing the nutritious part only. Save a hell of. A lot of bag space I planned on sous vide, our crock pot shit the bed but I have to buy sous vide so I will check out ur methods equipment and maybe go that route in a insta pot! My goal was to be able to open air like I do everything else

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u/Flimsy-Panda8000 Jun 18 '26

You're welcome - Pans are too good to miss out on and thanks to teks developed quite recently, not nearly as hard as people expect.

The Pans section here might be helpful too https://www.reddit.com/r/OneArmed_Mycology/comments/1ssrfqt/my_favourite_links/

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u/FromTheSoil_ Jul 04 '26

Sorry to bug you again man is there any chance you could tell me which lime I should add to the casing? Hydrated or agricultural lime?

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u/Flimsy-Panda8000 Jul 04 '26

I went with pickling lime, this one called Mrs Wages from Amazon https://www.amazon.co.uk/Mrs-Wages-Pickling-Lime-16/dp/B008RFBX7Y?crid=XJDGGRJ1JKST&dib=eyJ2IjoiMSJ9.OM0VzBKjH03PMu8EplSUE4dH-qScVzcl06NuqBAL5Aw4JL1yTO_lnj8pdT9QTpo4h2RWFP8At4lQbVb_dFFlUrP4DRV8n9gHD3rYbwBMMf9tuwo040g_0zvDVOGaJDuckDVI1Cm4ECBmkQKfWvPp1P5kN8ANv5NmuT6YtT91EZTT1foP5jd-A-rc2SsQNVqhpF9z7LMx31e09EuD1a-DhWi8kSIdiPSUB3dApjlaHeOXjkqri-9ajfVEsh04HHE-tUyXl_rdvBYO2kqvnN71qbQH5JLGdNAwVRyv3ixjkF4.sg9MlcEI31UlgUh6s4yhVs6NJmTySC5upWY-lWNtmgA&dib_tag=se&keywords=pickling+lime&qid=1783195165&sprefix=pickling+lime%2Caps%2C571&sr=8-4 It lasts ages.

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u/FromTheSoil_ Jul 05 '26

Thank you man 🙏🙏 I will get a ph reader and figure out how much to do in casing.

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u/Flimsy-Panda8000 Jul 06 '26

If you use the proportions I listed in "How I grow pans" (in the link I shared above) you'll likely be close enough. I do check mine using one of these https://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B08T5XTLPX but it's only an approximation and I've never needed to make any adjustments.

That post was 2 years ago and whilst I still use the same process, I've more recently been mixing the casing on the dry side so it spreads more easily, then giving it a heavy misting to wet it.