By Hippie3 (Hippie3) on Sunday, June 17, 2001 - 01:30 pm: Edit

by Hegz

Ok kiddies, here is my coco fiber tek:

1. Soak @3 cups of finch seed in warm water for one hour.

2. Drain

3. Add 2 cups of vermiculite, 2 cups brown rice flour, 1 cup ground wheat or rye berries. Mix well.

4, Test moisture, if it feels dry, slowly add water (not more than one cup) until mixture barely sticks together.

5. Fill your jars with mixture.

6. Pressure cook at 15 psi. for 45 minutes.

7. Let jars stand at LEAST 4 hours until cool to the touch.

8. Innoculate jars and let colonize 100%.

9. Fill bottom of casing container ( I use tupperware containers that are approx. 6 x 11 and 2 inches deep) with 3/4 inch of moist vermiculite.

10. Cut a chunck approx. 3 x 2 of Gro-Brick coco fiber, make sure it's Gro-Brick, (comes in small 2 lb bricks, @2.95 and large 10 pound bricks,@19.95), place in bowl and cover with water. Let sit for 15 minutes. No sterilization required!

11.Crumble enough cakes so you have approx 1/2 inch deep layer of crumbled cake spread evenly across casing. WIth my tupperware containers, I have been using one one pint cake and all is working fine, but you may want to use more.

12.Mix coco fiber with your hands, making sure that it gets broken up and is VERY moist

13.Place a 1/2 layer of coco fiber on top of the crumbled cakes, squeezing SOME, not all, of the excess water as you go. You don't want it too wet, and not too dry either. Pat down so you have an even layer.

(The next step is experimental, but is doing wonders for me)

14. Sterilize a fork with alcohol or a flame. Let cool.

15. "Drag" through the coco fiber later and make it nice and "fluffy".

16. Cover casing with Saran Wrap, make sure it tightly sealed.

17. Poke 10 - 12 holes in the Saran Wrap.

18. Place in dark warm place for 7 days.

19. Place in Terrarium and begin to fan (twice daily) and give 6 - 8 hours of light daily.

A few notes. If you see the coco fiber becoming a light shade of brown, this means it is getting dry, so LIGHTLY mist. If it does get fry, which RARELY happens, it's usually around the edges of the casing. In this case, I have left it alone, with NO problems. My terrarium setup is very basic, 18 gallon tupperware container with 2 inches of moist perlite on the bottom.

As for later flushes, I have been deep scratching after the first flush and re-applying a THIN layer of coco fiber. Re-pinning begins in 3 - 5 days.

By Admin (Admin) on Monday, June 18, 2001 - 05:10 pm: Edit

OK, just a note about coco fiber that I learned the hard way. The stuff works very well, but since it holds moisture so well, it MUST be fanned a few times daily. I went away for the weekend, forgot to attach my bubblers, like a complete idiot, and nasty green mold attacked my casing. Just a note to help out...