The sprouts showed up in one of the three tubs I have going now. But yeah, it's the same run. The only changing variable was the rice as it was a mix of UB and Kroger brand. (No more Kroger brand for me anymore as most bags failed anyway. Now they are sprouting. Lulz.)

Same thing here with the side pins. The first shoebox I ever did I didn't compress it at all and that was a mistake. I had dozens (hundreds?) of pins forming right as soon as the cake started to shrink and the side got air. But same-same: Any tub that I compressed after that only had a few pins that had enough room to mature because of the cake shrinkage.

As far as future mixes, I am liking the vermiculite. It pads the substrate and is holding moisture like a champ. I suppose later on, I'll experiment with other additives like gypsum, dl-tryptophan and such. Maybe.

Cheers!