Mushrooms/Growing/Uncle Ben Tek (a.k.a. Spider-Man Tek) Full Instructions

Taken from: https://www.reddit.com/r/shrooms/comments/dbzy8e/uncle_ben_tek_aka_spiderman_tek_full_instructions/

I’ve been getting a LOT of questions on my posts concerning the Uncle Ben technique for inoculation so I thought I’d do a write-up. This is NOT my tek! So far as I can tell, it was first posted on Reddit by u/ThisIsMyShroomAccount and they deserve the credit for this incredibly genius move. Please give them your praise and love.

I’ve also heard whispers that it’s been posted on the Shroomery forums for some time but was unable to confirm. Regardless, this is a game-changer. If anyone can confirm 100% who originally came up with the idea, please let me know. The last thing I want to do is spread misinformation.

What you’ll need:

Pre-cooked rice in a bag (more on this later)

Spore solution (You can use spore syringes or make your own solution and load it into a syringe)

Scissors

Alcohol

Micropore tape

Optional: Still air box

Let’s talk about the rice. There seems to be a lot of confusion here so forgive me if I oversimplify things.

Humans can be incredibly lazy. So lazy, in fact, that we think it takes too much time to put rice in a pot of boiling water and wait for 20 minutes for it to absorb said water and become edible.

Manufacturers have profited from our laziness (especially here in North America) by creating instant foods that come pre-prepared and ready to go. Enter pre-cooked rice in a bag. Uncle Ben’s is one example of a brand that offers this product. Some store brands offer it as well.

Let me be clear: this is NOT what’s commonly sold in a box as “instant rice” or “minute rice”. This is rice that someone cooked completely and could put on a plate with some vegetables and protein and serve to a person. It is fully cooked, loaded into bags, sterilized so that it’s stable and safe to be stored at room temperature, then shipped to the store. You could eat it from the bag with a fork if you wanted to. It comes in multiple flavours but the one you want is just plain brown rice. It’s typically just rice, water, and some oil to stop it from sticking together.

Here is a picture of what the Uncle Ben’s brand looks like in Canadian stores.

I imagine it’s slightly different in other countries. What you’re looking for is something that’s fully-cooked and doesn’t contain more than a few ingredients. I don’t know for certain but I believe things like sodium would stop or slow the growth of mycelium, which would defeat the purpose of what we’re trying to do here.

An important note, and something I am asked frequently: YOU DO NOT HAVE TO HEAT OR COOK THE RICE. THIS HAS BEEN DONE FOR YOU BY THE MANUFACTURER. It is already sterile, hydrated, and ready to go.

If you want to cook up some rice yourself, find another tek and save money by doing so. The beauty of the Uncle Ben tek is simplicity and convenience, but buying rice this way is more expensive than buying it dry and cooking it.

Instructions:

1. Break up the rice in the bag with your fingers.

2. Wipe down the outside of your rice bags with alcohol or another disinfectant.

3. Wipe down your scissors with alcohol or another disinfectant.

(If using a still air box, do every step that follows inside of it)

4. Snip off the corner of the bag.

5. Heat your needle with a torch lighter or Bunsen burner until it’s red-hot. Wait a few seconds for it to cool down a little.

6. Inject 1cc of your spore solution on top of the rice through the corner you’ve cut open. It’s fine if you just drop it on top or stab right into the rice; it shouldn’t make a difference. Gravity will take the liquid where it needs to go, provided you’re not doing this in space.

7. Tape over the corner you cut open with micropore tape. I squeezed mine so it was propped open a little before I did so to allow for good gas exchange. Here is a photo of what I mean.

8. Wait for mycelium growth. If it’s near the bottom of the bag, you’ll be able to see it through the clear window. Here is a photo of one bag after 6 days.

Shake your bag once it’s about 30% colonized. If necessary, you can gently break up any large clumps you feel with your fingers.

Once the entire bag is colonized, spawn to bulk using the method of your choosing.

Thank you for coming to my TED talk. Happy shrooming and have an excellent day!

Edit: For those asking, I personally spawn to bulk using BOD’s unmodified tub tek or BOD’s shoebox tek. These two links are the next step in the growing process. PLEASE read them before asking questions here or messaging me personally. Thank you!

Both of these techniques are ideal for beginners. These links include full instructions, photos, and even videos of the process if you sign up for a free Shroomery account. Shroomery is a wealth of information and I highly suggest doing so.

Edit #2: For anyone having issues with their bags being too moist, I suggest the following two things:

Don’t use more than 1cc of spore solution per bag.

Keep your inoculated bags in a room that sits close to room temperature (22C or 72f). Anything super warm is going to lead to more condensation and more moisture. Things may colonize a little slower this way but you’re less likely to end up with contaminants.

Lastly, PLEASE read the comments and both links above before you message me with any questions. I’m glad to assist in any way I can but 90% of the questions I’ve been asked are answered there in perfect detail.

Thank you!