The oldest beginner method against the modern workhorse. One teaches you the fundamentals in miniature; the other gives you a harvest worth the wait.
By Whathefungi, Breeding & cultivation · · 9 min read
PF Tek is the method that taught a generation. You colonize small jars of a grain-and-vermiculite mix, pop out the colonized "cakes", and fruit them in the open air. It is forgiving of small mistakes, needs almost no equipment, and yields little. As a teacher it is unbeatable. As a harvest it is a snack.
The monotub is what most people graduate to: colonized grain spawn mixed into a tub of pasteurised bulk substrate, fruited inside the same tub. More substrate means more mushrooms, and the closed tub buffers humidity so you are not misting all day. It asks for a little more understanding of fresh-air exchange, but it repays it.
Our advice, unromantic as ever: do one PF Tek jar to learn what healthy colonization looks and smells like, then never do it again. Move to a small monotub. The lesson from the jar, that mycelium is a living thing with a mood, is the only thing that transfers, and it transfers completely.
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