Bag tek is the practice of using the filter patch bags that you sterilize or pasteurize substrate in to also fruit your mushrooms in. This process is so simple it makes monotubs hard to go back to.
What you need
- Unicorn bags - I find XLS-B bags to be the best for yield, but you can also use 3B bags as well. The B filter for the bags is 5 micron opposed to 0.2 or 0.5 micron, making it much better for fruiting.
- Substrate - your favorite substrate mix. For XLS-A unicorn bags it's common to do 3lbs substrate to 1 - 1.5lbs spawn. This ratio yields about half that of a 66qt tub for many and fits 4 bags in the same footprint.
- Colonized spawn - It can help save time to make 2 lb. bags of spawn, this way you can pour 1 bag of spawn into 1 bag of sub. It can be annoying to have to eyeball half a spawn bag when sending it to sub.
- Impulse sealer or zip ties - To seal the bag after mixing spawn and substrate together.
- Masking tape - For taping your bag back up for the next flush.
Let's Get Started
- Take pasteurized or sterilized substrate bag, colonized grains, sealer or zip ties and place them in a clean work area. (SAB, flow hood, or clean bathroom)
- Open your bag of substrate and slightly break it up.
- Break up colonized spawn and cut open the bag.
- Dump the appropriate amount of spawn into the substrate bag.
- Seal the substrate bag with some air in the bag to make it easier to shake.
- Gently shake grains into substrate until evenly mixed
- Pat down surface of substrate, picking bag up and patting it down on the counter, as well as gently pushing down on substrate surface with hands. Make sure there are no pockets of air between the substrate and the bags.
- Set bags on a shelf and allow them to sit at 70 - 80*F for 7 - 14 days or until fully colonized.
Initiating Pinning
This step is unnecessary for B filter bags, if you are using bags with a smaller filter, this will help pinning.
Now your bag is fully colonized! it's time to initiate the pinning stage. This can be done by allowing more evaporation over the surface of the substrate.
- Cut 2 holes 1 inch across in the bag about 1 - 2 inches above the surface of the substrate. Do the same on the back of the bag for a total of 4 slits.
- Place micropore tape over all the holes you cut
- Allow bags to sit in fruiting conditions for another 7 - 14 days to finish first flush.
Harvesting
Harvesting is as easy as cutting the bag open along substrate level, moving the top of the bag back, and picking your fruits.
When you want to initiate the next flush, just put the top of the bag back, and tape up where it was cut with masking tape.
After second flush your block will be fairly dry, if it has no signs of mold or other contaminants on it, you can do a dunk. Simply pull the substrate block out of the bottom of the bag, and place into a clean bowl or bucket of water. Place something on top of the block so that it will stay submerged in the water, and let it soak for 4 hours. Remove the block from the water and place it back into the bottom of the bag.
This process can be too much trouble for the extra flushes, but if you only have a couple of bags going it can help you get every last gram of potential fruits off the block.