|
Some of these posts are very old and might contain outdated information. You may wish to search for newer posts instead.
|
figgusfiddus
Arrogant Worm
Registered: 02/02/07
Posts: 2,126
Loc: Figgus, Fiddia
Last seen: 15 years, 5 months
|
Low humidity promoting molds (esp. trichoderma)?
#7234217 - 07/28/07 04:13 PM (16 years, 7 months ago) |
|
|
Apologies if this is well-known, or something, but I'm starting to have reason to think trichoderma is much more successful, especially in infecting cakes (which tend to be a little more mold-resistant than casings in my experience), when the humidity in the FC falters significantly (i.e. 70% or below for a day or more).
Twice have I had my FC run dry during an absence, and twice has the result been a trich attack beginning on the very same day. I've never seen trich attack a cake at 90%+RH after all these grows. On both occasions, the cakes were dehydrated enough to feel somewhat rough to the touch.
My hypothesis is that the non-ideal humidity conditions decrease the mycelium's ability to defend itself against infection, while not harming the trich significantly; molds do tend to have wider growth parameters than higher fungi, after all. This reinforces my belief that proper growth conditions are more important than absolute sterility with fully-colonized, non-cased substrates.
-------------------- FGSFDSFGSFDSFGSFDSFGSFDSFGSFDS FGSFDSFGSFDSFGSFDSFGSFDSFGSFDS FGSFDSFGSFDSFGSFDSFGSFDSFGSFDS
|
RogerRabbit
Bans for Pleasure
Registered: 03/26/03
Posts: 42,214
Loc: Seattle
Last seen: 1 year, 29 days
|
Re: Low humidity promoting molds (esp. trichoderma)? [Re: figgusfiddus]
#7237096 - 07/29/07 05:28 PM (16 years, 7 months ago) |
|
|
One of the ways we prevent trich with wood based substrates is by humidity cycling, where humidity is constantly fluctuating between about 60% and 95%, so I don't think that's the cause.
Also, the time from germination of the trich spores, to creating more trich spores(the green) is several days, so when it happens on the day your humidfier fails, it's coincidence. Trich thrives in stale, still air, so good fresh air with turbulence is the best cure. RR
-------------------- Download Let's Grow Mushrooms semper in excretia sumus solim profundum variat "I've never had a failed experiment. I've only discovered 10,000 methods which do not work." Thomas Edison
|
figgusfiddus
Arrogant Worm
Registered: 02/02/07
Posts: 2,126
Loc: Figgus, Fiddia
Last seen: 15 years, 5 months
|
Re: Low humidity promoting molds (esp. trichoderma)? [Re: RogerRabbit]
#7241562 - 07/30/07 10:27 PM (16 years, 7 months ago) |
|
|
Good point, makes sense. There wasn't any variation in FAE prior to any of the trich attacks, though I think now that another attack has occurred I'm going to alter the rig to provide better air circulation.
I defer to your experience in this regard and most others, as always. But I still wonder whether the cake was made especially weak, somehow, by being dry. My one reliable hygrometer is down, however, so for all I know RH in there was actually 40% or lower; the trich seemed to be very moist and healthy, while the cakes were all raspy and dry, which still makes my gut wonder whether FAE--the one constant factor between success and failure--was really to blame, when RH by comparison changed greatly. Isn't it possible that, while the low RH didn't help the trich any, it harmed the cakes enough to permit the success of mold, a more adaptable competitor? After all, 60% for casings (which I assume you're referring to in the above post) isn't that harmful to the mycelium, which is well moistened and insulated; 60% (and perhaps much below) for cakes seems to be a serious threat to the health of the mycelium!
Is it possible that trich spores might sometimes germinate upon the surface of a cake to lay dormant, then they might simply grow very rapidly during a one-to-two day period during which the competition (the mushroom mycelium) was weakened?
Thanks for the reply! I know that the real problem here is that trich spores were floating around my FC (and my apartment) in unreasonable abundance to begin with. I'll be sure to take measures to up the FAE, which you always (and wisely) point out to be the biggest contributor to the success of trichoderma.
-------------------- FGSFDSFGSFDSFGSFDSFGSFDSFGSFDS FGSFDSFGSFDSFGSFDSFGSFDSFGSFDS FGSFDSFGSFDSFGSFDSFGSFDSFGSFDS
|
|
|
You cannot start new topics / You cannot reply to topics HTML is disabled / BBCode is enabled
Moderator: Shroomism, george castanza, RogerRabbit, veggie, mushboy, fahtster, LogicaL Chaos, 13shrooms, Stipe-n Cap, Pastywhyte, bodhisatta, Tormato, Land Trout, A.k.a 1,689 topic views. 14 members, 108 guests and 26 web crawlers are browsing this forum.
[ Show Images Only | Sort by Score | Print Topic ] |
|