Slow growth guide:

 

Did you have a good first flush but your 2nd or 3rd flush is struggling to come through?

 

Here are some things you can try.

 

This is geared towards TAT Smurfs but could apply to any strain if theses same symptoms are showing:

  - Big beautiful first flush

 - Second flush started to come through but most mushrooms stopped growing at around 0.5-1 inch in height. 

- mushrooms started to darken in colour/ go dark blue after they stunted

​

Its important to know that each strain performs differently, and each batch within the strain can also perform differently as the genetics are not identical in each batch, even though the strain is the same. You can think of each batch being unique, kind of like us humans. To an animal we probably all look and act the same but we as humans all know we are very unique and individual. This is the same for mushrooms. Learning what works for each strain and batch can be easy or sometimes it can involve some more trial and error. 

 

All tips below will require some trial and error, so keep an eye on your bag and watch how it performs after you make any adjustments. 

 

THE SMURF RESET PROCESS - You can perform all these steps for a hard reset or you can just try one or two of them. Performing all steps will not hinder performance but will help it if you are clean and do everything correctly and carefully.

 

STEP 1: Tape up the holes you poked in the bag. 

 

What we have noticed with the Smurf strain in the most recent batch is that they are loving carbon dioxide build up more than usual, which seems to help growth (rare in most strains) Please only do this IF you are experiencing some challenges getting your mushrooms to fully mature. If you have holes in your bag, you can go ahead and tape them up. Instead of holes to allow airflow, just open the bag once every 1-2 days to let in oxygen. REMEMBER mushrooms breathe IN oxygen and exhale carbon dioxide. JUST LIKE US HUMANS!

 

Sometimes too much oxygen can cause mushrooms to stunt and could eventually dry out. 

​

STEP 2: CLEAN your mycelium and then REHYDRATE with a cold shock. 

 

Once the holes are taped up, inspect your block of mycelium, looking through the bag. Look for any remnants of mushrooms still on the block (like stems that maybe snapped when you were picking mushrooms or little mushrooms that stunted and stopped growing. These are called aborts) We want to clean ALL aborts and mushrooms OFF the block before we rehydrate. So if you spot any, clean your hands and/or a utensil like a butter knife to scrape them off. IF they aren't decomposing , you can totally save them to dry and eat later. Aborts are SUPER potent lil mushrooms! You are NOT loosing any potential mushrooms by cleaning off the little guys. All the energy for the mushrooms is stored in the block of Mycelium, so instead of mycelium being pushed into those aborts to create fully mature mushrooms, it will be used to make new mushrooms after the reset is complete.  

 

It's important to clean these off as they can decompose and rot...especially once they get soaked with the rehydration process. 

 

Next you want to fill your bag with water so the mycelium block is submerged and put it in your fridge for 8-12 hours. 

 

You can do this while keeping it in the box as the mycelium will want to float. Keeping it in the box with the lid down will stop the mycelium from floating above the water. Just be sure when you go to dump out the water you dont get the box wet as it will become soggy cardboard!

 

After 8-12 hrs of soaking in the fridge go ahead and dump the water. Be sure to hold it upside down for a few seconds to make sure ALL water is coming out, we do not want to see ANY pooling water. (This is a bacteria breeding ground.) Then place your bag back into its grow room with the clips on the bag. It can take around 5-10 days for a new batch to start growing in. BE PATIENT If you have done everything correctly you should see them coming in hot! Remember the more you touch and man-handle the grow kit during this time the longer it will take as mycelium is SENSITIVE and stops its growing momentarily when it is interrupted. 

 

This should solve any issues with slow growth, but IF THIS DID NOT HELP and you are approaching 15 days, you can then add some substrate to the mycelium, just enough to wake it up. about one heaping teaspoon. (NOT TABLESPOON) 

​

Remember to continue to do the other things involved when necessary, like misting the walls of the bag if they look dry.

​

​