[peterthinks]

Read and learn Grasshopper.
Avoid my stupid mistakes!
-Soak grain overnight to wake up bacteria before you pressure cook it to avoid mystery contamination.
-Use petri dishes before they grow out to the edge,contaminations hang out at the edge,don't use the edge of the dish for propagating.
-Bring your pressure cooker to a boil,vent 3 minutes and bring up to pressure then turn it down to a simmer,you release contaminants and avoid caramelizing the sugar/starch in your agar.The weight should barely dance.
-Propane torches are better than alcohol lamps,no soot.
-Don't forget anniversaries.
-Back up your cultures.One in cold storage,one you play with.
-Keep prints to make new cultures if your clones die.
-Incubate your poured agar dishes and slants with no cultures in them,do this for two days so any contaminants will show up before you try to use them for cloning or storage.
-When transfering make at least 3 copies in case something gets screwed up you still have two or one left.
-frutopia bottles make great lab glass and they seal vacuum tight.
-Dump failed cultures at the end of the day OUTSIDE! then have a shower and dump all your clothes in the laundry.Do no sterile work after dumping contaminated cultures.

[c]

I like the idea of substituting items for others that are easier to get.
We should put together a "poor man's" grow guide.

[peterthinks]

Well here are a few to start off.
-#11 exacto blade instead of a scalpel.
-8 ounce glad containers instead of petri dishes.
- glass baby food containers instead of petri dishes.
-Fed Ex envelopes for Tyveck instead of filter disks.
-Saran Wrap (cut off 1 inch from the end of a roll)instead of Parafilm for sealing petridishes and test tubes.
-anything to add?

[c]

That is a good start. I liked the frutopia bottle one also.
You seem to be one who is very good at compiling various bits of information and making sense of it all, which is why I think you would be good at writing articles, teks, guides or books.
Is there any docs on cultivation at this site that you know of? I plan on writing a guide for my own use or somewhat of a grow log to keep track of my steps and take note of the things that I did wrong or can improve upon.

[peterthinks]

Other than the books I have this is the only link I have for culitvation details.
http://www.sacredshrooms.org/forums/showflat.php/Cat/0/Number/2103080/an/0/page/0#2103080
I will dumb these down too.It is more of a what you need site than how to do it site.

[Funguy]

Peter ,
You need to add coffee filters as spawn jar filters .I cut them and use 2 layers per jar .I do not suggest reuse ,although I have.You could also add a cooler for pasturization of straw/compost.

[peterthinks]

I've never tried compost...well I have a stack of tires in the back that I dump grass clippings into but it's not a deliberate composting effort to make mushrooms.