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 Blood_on_Snow
Sniper
Registered: 07/21/10
Posts: 4
Last seen: 2 years, 4 months
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 How can I Save a Contaminated Batch? 
#13342564 - 10/16/10 02:46 AM (2 years, 7 months ago) |
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A story of ambition, triumph, failure and the promise of redemption
The Long Story
There I was a couple of years ago harvesting what was to be my third pound of weed. The smell kind of reminded me of a freshly cut lawn, the lights were so bright that I had to wear shades just to keep from going blind. It was like opening the sun.
Nothing beats a perfect harvest after months of "hard work." The hobby of greener fields was all that one needed to make the week bearable; and yet I could not get it out of my mind. The idea of cultivating mushrooms for fun. To date I have never even tried the stuff! Well I suppose the thrill is in growing it.
"Why is it so unpopular?" I thought. If all you need to make the stuff is a pressure cooker and some spores then why is MJ so much more popular?
A couple of years down the road I had finally worked up the cojones to order a syringe online. What a thrill it was to receive in the mail not one, but two syringes! B+ and Hawaiian were now my new obsession and obsessed I was.
Not in it for the end product so much as the ride, I ambitiously sought to skip the PF method altogether and jump straight into bulk grows. Four jars of WBS simmered, drained, bottled and PC'd to perfection. This was going to be fun!
One syringe of B+ injected into each through the self-healing lids made with silicone glue and vented with polyfil with my carefully built glove box. It was exciting to move so carefully, not allowing any chance of contamination.
Two months later (I am a very patient person) nothing happened. Why didn't anything Happen? I could not figure it out, everything seemed so perfect.
"Perhaps it was a dead syringe." I thought. Letting the old jars sit out and not even considering that they hadn't contaminated either in two whole months.
This next one was to be played "safe", Hawaiian in the PF method. I could not find any half pint jars, so why not use the quarter pints instead. This was my first mistake.
After some time I came to the conclusion that nothing was going to grow on these either. Two bad syringes? This could not be! So I valiantly birthed a cake into an empty gallon sized Deer Park jug with a bottom perlite layer for humidity.
Some time later the little guy actually started sprouting good/healthy looking myc! How thrilling this was!
"It just needed air." Was my conclusion. The polyfil was pulled too tightly into the vent holes of all the jars and stopped all airflow completely. The small jars also contributed to the dehydration of the medium, which prevented the myc from taking hold at all. It was a good thing that I hadn't thrown out the old jars of B+. Surely they are too old to still be viable, but it's worth a shot.
We all know what happened next. That poor cake which was birthed before colonizing became contaminated with the green mold. The only one that I had since the others had also contaminated very aggressively with cobweb the day after birthing.
I tried to save it. Using an Agar alternative guide, I put one teaspoon of BRF and one tablespoon of water into each quarter pint jar and PCd. A small piece of myc from the contaminated cake was transferred to each jar, flaming the needle in between transfers.
Of course each jar contaminated eventually. As of right now I have scrapped out the green mold from four jars that looked like they could be saved. The mold on these jars was only on the sides and came off very easily with a flamed needle.
TLDR
I need advice on how this contaminated batch can be saved. Just keep PCing quarter pint jars and continue to transfer myc to them hoping to get one jar to colonize that is clean?
As an added note, those jars of B+ since loosening the lids and allowing some airflow.... ONE IS COLONIZING! All hope is not lost unless this one contaminates as well.
Here's hoping!
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baraka
 
Registered: 07/16/00
Posts: 10,565
Loc: ohio
Last seen: 18 hours, 52 minutes
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Re: How can I Save a Contaminated Batch? [Re: Blood_on_Snow]
#13346119 - 10/16/10 11:50 PM (2 years, 7 months ago) |
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If it is contammed start over.
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This is the only time I really feel alive.
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Blood_on_Snow
Sniper
Registered: 07/21/10
Posts: 4
Last seen: 2 years, 4 months
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Re: How can I Save a Contaminated Batch? [Re: baraka]
#13346634 - 10/17/10 03:07 AM (2 years, 7 months ago) |
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Thats the whole point of this post.
In order to start over I'd have to obtain more spores. I don't know about you guys but I would like to avoid ordering spores online as much as possible. Even if that means taking another month or more trying to isolate an uncontaminated jar.
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solumvita
Q.B.E.
Registered: 02/12/08
Posts: 1,977
Loc: South Africa
Last seen: 9 days, 9 hours
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Re: How can I Save a Contaminated Batch? [Re: Blood_on_Snow]
#13348488 - 10/17/10 03:48 PM (2 years, 7 months ago) |
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start over, you will be wasting your time trying to get the jar clean, try again get the basics right and then play.
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One of these days all the answers will be revealed until then we learn from each other!
www.mushrush.co.za
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