Grow Log - And So It Begins!

[A Bloke Down The Pub]

OK, here's where we start watching those little shrooms begin their growing process.
I'm intending to go from start to finish on this one, with a couple of strains for comparison.

I innoculated some PF jars with Thai Elephant Dung spores three days ago, and popped them in the incubator tub.
The print I made the syringe from was rather a faint one, so there aren't as many spores in the jars as I'd have liked. It shouldn't make too much difference, but it'll be a few more days before I can pick a jar and document the spread of the mycelium.

There are a few tiny patches of growth starting, and what looks as if it's probably a spot of contamination in one of the jars. I suspect it's because I was too blasé and didn't sterilise the needle between each jar.
It's not that clear in the photos (which are poor anyway) but the contamination spot has a distinct green tinge (shroom mycelium is pure white), which isn't a good sign. If it develops further, I'll be tossing that jar.

Mycelium patch:

Another mycelium patch:

And the contamination patch:

I'll be starting another batch this evening with Golden Teacher spores which are about 5 years old... it'll be interesting to see how viable they still are.
I think I still have some Paneolus cyanescens spores in a half-empty syring too, so I might do a couple of jars with those.


Incidentally, most of the pictures are larger than they are displayed. Click on them for a better view

[A Bloke Down The Pub]

Yep, it was a contamination patch, and I've now tossed the jar contents (along with a little bleach) in the bin.

Incidentally, it's never a good idea to sniff jars you suspect may be contaminated, especially if the contamination is black or yellow. Some moulds produce powerful carcinogens and others can grow in your lungs.
Greenish moulds are usualy penicillium or trichoderma and are relatively safe (but still don't sniff them!)


All the other jars look OK and they've all got at least a little activity going on.
I knocked up a dozen jars with the GT spores too, so they'll be joining the merry throng as soon as they start germinating.


More pix tomorrow.

[A Bloke Down The Pub]

OK - picked a jar of the TED to document.
I'll try and post pix of this patch at one or two day intervals so that you can see how it progresses (if anyone is interested?):

[ben ttech]

very!

and for instance, what was the indications of contamination... color or shape????

and btw, did you reswipe the needle with disinfectant, between each innocunation???

[A Bloke Down The Pub]

and for instance, what was the indications of contamination... color or shape????

Mostly colour. Anything other than white = BAD. There are also some white contaminations (cobweb mould for instance) but they generally have a "fluffier" appearance than shroom mycelium, and tend to grow faster too.
Basically, anything that doesn't look like a clean white blob needs watching carefully.

and btw, did you reswipe the needle with disinfectant, between each innocunation???

No, I heated it to red hot in the gas flame again. I should have done it between each jar, but I have to admit I was a bit lax and only did it every two or three jars.
Wiping with disinfectant isn't a good idea, as you're likely to leave disinfectant residue along the path of the needle - exactly where you're injecting the spores!

Todays pic:

[webeblzr]

I'm very interested. I'm gathering equipment and reading, and reading, over at shoomery. Got a big ass pressure cooker, 25 quarts or some shit.

[A Bloke Down The Pub]

Got a big ass pressure cooker, 25 quarts or some shit.

That's half the battle won.
Big pressure cookers are hard to come by here in the UK. I got my All American 921 shipped over a few years ago when a pound bought you more dollars than it does now.

I'm gathering equipment and reading, and reading, over at shoomery.

I prefer Mycotopia, but the Shroomery is good too, just a bit more "noisy".

[A Bloke Down The Pub]

Well, I missed a day, but here's what it looks like around 48 hours after the previous pic:

[A Bloke Down The Pub]

You ever take flesh cultures?

Just the once. I find agar work a pain in the arse, and for my requirements, jars & straw trays using multispore are more than adequate.
I may be getting the petri dishes out to start some p. Azurescens cultures later in the year... I want an outdoor patch!

Todays pic:

[A Bloke Down The Pub]

And a couple of days later.....

I'm afraid the Golden Teacher jars aren't doing much. I used a spore print that I'd laminated (experimentally) back in '05 and it seems to have failed miserably.

I've germinated spores from similarly treated prints, but not one that has been left that long... guess it wasn't such a good idea.
Never mind, I have another GT print on glass, so I'll re-sterilise the jars and try again with that one.
I wanted to show the GT because it tends to have ropier (more rhizomorphic) mycelium than the TED, which tends to be quite thin & "fluffy" (as you can see)