Coco Coir storage
Newbie here, with so many questions and not much writing experience.
With my first run, I had a lot of contamination with both steps. Out of 12 bags of uncle bens 6 were viable. Out of the 3 resulting bins I had 2 contaminated. One of the contaminated ones produced on the uninfected(?) zones even though the green mold took over about a third of the bin
I started my second run 6 days ago, with 10 bags of 90 second rice, 4 being the Save-a-lot brand.I have had to toss 3 bags already, but I already have 3 bags that are ready for bins.
With my bags being at different stages of colonization, can I keep my coir in the bucket for the other bags later? With my first run, I opened all of my bags at once and brushed off as much rice as I could. Is it less likely to be contaminated if I use all of the coir at once? Or can I save the coir for later when the other bags fully colonize. Can I spray it with peroxide of 70% alcohol.
I have read that the mycelium will go dormant in the fridge and would enable me to bin all of the bags at once. I really appreciate all the guidance I have gotten from this sub so far. Thanks all
Posted Feb 4, 2023, 6:06 PM UTC
Also newbie, my plan was to try to break up the dry coir brick, and only hydrate what I need as I go, is that possible?
There is coir that is sold as loose fibers in a bag, if doing weird sized batches that might be a better product for you than the bricks
One of the video guides used the microwave to sterilize the coir in a glass dish, microwaving wet/damn coir enough to steam the entire batch (was it 10-15 mins?). Then cooling and using it like bucket tek. All the guides I've seen use heat, so I'd avoid allowing iso to soak into the coir
The key is that it's sterilized just before using it?
My brain is running on 3 cylinders today. Make a batch and microwave what you need as you go along or make small batches. I am going to hydrate the brick as I did last time but microwave each bin batch, put the lid on while it is still in the microwave to the still air box. I think my bin contamination came from not being able to keep the coir clean enough.