How to tell when Flake Soil is done fermenting?

[Reyes 0]

I haven’t been mixing my Flake Soil often. So how do I tell when it’s done fermenting?

[Dynastes TItyus hunter 0]

If it smells earthy and doesn't smell like wood. 

[Ratmosphere 0]

It will almost smell like forest floor. If you ever went in the woods and grabbed a pile of dirt and leaves, it should resemble that smell.

[JKim 0]

Also, temperature should have been cooled down. It won't be hot anymore.

[Fire Moth 0]

How do we know when it expired?  If is too old to use it?

[JKim 0]

On 3/28/2021 at 12:06 AM, Fire Moth said:

How do we know when it expired?  If is too old to use it?

I never really kept my substrate too long unused... But if it is no longer usable, it will either or both: smell bad, discolored, pest infection occurred, etc.

The smell really is the one thing you can easily notice... If it smells wrong, and comparably different from when it was fresh... then yea, you can easily tell it.

[Reyes 0]

But if I don't mix my substrate very often, will it become bad？

[Garin 0]

Keep it very dry or very cold and it will last a really long time.

[JKim 0]

19 hours ago, Reyes said:

But if I don't mix my substrate very often, will it become bad？

Yea.. unless you are using agricultural ferment starter (which is usually anaerobic), your substrate should be made aerobic. So if you don't mix it often enough while it is in process of fermentation, your substrate won't ferment properly (to feed your scarab larvae).

[Fire Moth 0]

https://junsukkim.wordpress.com/2018/08/25/beetle-substrate/

Thanks Jkim this was very useful.  I saw white, green and black molds.  Maybe it wasn't mixed evenly.  I also didn't know that beer and dog food can play a role in fermentation.

[Dynastes TItyus hunter 0]

I have white star looking small mushrooms on mine, is that bad? 

[Ratmosphere 0]

Very interesting read on the link @Fire Moth posted. Never knew about the dog food method before!