Monotub Guide

Your monotub bundle contains everything you need for your mushroom growing journey. to begin with all you'll need are your grain bags, alcohol wipes, gloves and whichever spores/culture you have. everything else can be left in the tub and put to one side

INOCULATION

1: Sanitise your work space with 70% alcohol, make sure you're clean and any fans or windows are off and closed for at least 30 minutes before this step

Take your spore/culture syringe and shake it to disperse the spores. Remove the syringe cap and fit a sterile needle onto the syringe

2. Hold the bag from the top to draw filtered air in through the white filter patch.

3. Wipe down the rubber injection port thoroughly with the alcohol wipe.

4. Remove the cover from the needle and put it straight into the injection port. inject no more than 5ml of solution per bag, any more can increase your risk of developing wet rot or other contamination. if you are using the same syringe for both bags, remember to flame sterilise your needle between uses just to be safe.

INCUBATION

1. Incubate the grain bag in a dark, warm spot. A cupboard or grow tent with a bit of air exchange works well. Keep the temperature between 21-24°C for optimal growth. lower and your bags may take significantly longer to colonise. higher and the risk of contamination increases.

2. After about a week, you should see the first signs of colonisation. Mycelium should look like brightbwhite strands or fluff surrounding your grains. Certain strains are much slower to colonise, and your method of delivery (spore syringe or liquid culture) can make a difference too. It could even take 2 or 3 weeks to see any colonisation.

3. Over the next few weeks, the mycelium will continue to colonise the grain. Once 25-30% of the grain has been colonised, break apart the mycelium inside the bag and mix with the rest of the grain. This is commonly called a "break and shake" and will significantly increase the speed of colonisation. Try not to do this before 25% colonisation however, as the mycelium might not be strong enough to survive a break and shake at lower percentages.

4. Over the next week or so, the mycelium will cover all of the grain until it forms a white block (or cake) of mycelium spawn. You’re now ready to spawn to bulk.

SPAWNING TO BULK (S2B)

1. Follow the same steps as you did for inoculation to prepare your workspace, and get your monotub and substrate ready. Wipe down your monotub inside and out with 70% alcohol spray.
Once you've done this, cover all of the monotub holes with the masking tape provided.

2. Wearing gloves, give your colonised grain bags and your substrate bags a wipe down as well.
Once sanitised, break up the colonised grain inside the bags, cut the top of the bags and pour into your tub. Do the same with the substrate bags, saving around half of one substrate bag.

3. Mix the grain and substrate evenly together inside the tub. Once mixed, level out the substrate to create an even, flat surface, and push down to compress the mix, especially on the sides of the tub. This will help to prevent side pins from forming, making your life easier when it comes to harvesting.

4. Now pour the remaining substrate on top of the mix, and (gently) cover it evenly, ensuring that no grains can be seen. DO NOT compress this layer too hard. Think of it like a baby guinness. This layer is like your baileys, resting on top of the coffee liqueur you've already poured.

This is known as a pseudo-casing layer, which will protect the mycelium from contamination as it colonises, and act as a humidity trap, giving you much more even, full flushes. Once the pseudo-casing is complete, LIGHTLY mist the surface of your cake, the walls of the tub, and the box lid. Pop the lid on, and the hard part is done.

5. Put your MonoTub somewhere out of direct sunlight but where it can get spme artificial or ambient light.
Try to maintain your 21-24°C temperature for the colonisation process.
After about 10-14 days your MonoTub should be fully colonised and ready to fruit. Don’t worry if it hasn’t fully colonised by then, it can sometimes take as long as 3-4 weeks to fully colonise. This is largely dependent on the genetics of your spawn and the incubation temperature.
You shouldn't need to mist the tub at any point before your first flush, but if there is no condensation om the walls or lid of the tub, mist them and the cake to avoid it drying out.

FRUITING

1. When fully colonised, youre ready for "fruiting conditions". Simply remove the masking tape on the holes and replace with micropore tape. Do this one at a time, you don't want to expose all of the holes at once.

2. Place your MonoTub in a warm spot between 20-22°c, a little cooler than colonisation temperature, where it can receive some indirect sunlight or some artificial light.

3. After about 14-21 days from spawning, you should see your first pins. These are baby mushrooms, that will grow and develop into mature mushroom fruiting bodies over the next few days.

HARVESTING

Harvest the mushrooms just as the veils start to break. Twist and pull the mushrooms from the base to avoid damaging the cake. Try to harvest all mushrooms at the same time, however if some grow faster than the rest, feel free to harvest them a little early. If there are a few that aren't quite ready when you harvest your first flush, take them as well, as you'll need to rehydrate the cake next, which would cause any leftover mushrooms to abort, which we don't want.

Once harvested, mist heavily directly onto the cake to rehydrate it, and put the lid back on the tub. You may need to mist your tub in the coming days I'd you didn't quite rehydrate it enough. Pay closer attention than you did for the first flush in order to maximise your next flushes.

Repeat these stages for your subsequent flushes.

Most monotubs will provide 2-3 flushes of mushrooms, but your cake could produce many more than this. Keep an eye out for contamination and you'll know when your cake is spent when it either becomes contaminated or stops producing pins.