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hodja
Time Traveler



Registered: 06/25/12
Posts: 38
Loc: Western US
Last seen: 4 years, 8 months
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Identifying a contamination source
#17325675 - 12/03/12 09:29 AM (12 years, 1 month ago) |
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I'm in the midst of a PF-tek grow that I started on 11/11/12. I created 10 jars and as of today 5 of them have shown up with a grey-green growth that I assume is contamination--probably Trich. All five jars were the same strain while the other 5, a different strain, are quite happy and clean.
I created all 10 jars at the same time and inoculated them all during the same glove box session using two different cultures (one Burma, one PES Amazonian). I was very careful about cleanliness and wiping things down with alcohol before placing them in the glove box. I was careful to flame the needle between every jar. I got the spore syringes from a reputable shroomery sponsor/vendor. I've bought plenty from these guys and have a high level of confidence in them. I feel like all of this should have led to a very clean process start to finish. Once inoculated I placed the jars in my nested tub incubator, which I use to compensate for a cold basement--sits at 65 degrees or less pretty much all the time. Water temp is set to 79.
Here's a picture of two of the five contaminated jars:

These are standard PF-tek jars with the standard BRF/Verm PF-Tek formula. All 10 jars were filled and PC'd at the same time, inoculated at the same time, and have been kept in the same conditions. As a relative newbie I feel like I should be most suspicious of myself and examine everything I did before I conclude that it was something outside of my control. But it does seem like the facts are pointing toward some kind of syringe problem. What other possibilities should I be thinking about?
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“If you don’t have a plan, you become part of somebody else’s plan.”
– Terence McKenna
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hodja
Time Traveler



Registered: 06/25/12
Posts: 38
Loc: Western US
Last seen: 4 years, 8 months
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Re: Identifying a contamination source [Re: hodja]
#17326021 - 12/03/12 10:59 AM (12 years, 1 month ago) |
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Thought it might be a good idea to add a more clear picture of one of the jars. Is there any chance this is just staining from the vermiculite? What I'm talking about is the grayish discoloration near the top/middle of the picture, and I have this on every jar of Burma but not on the jars of Amazonian. One other detail--a couple of the Burma jars have started pinning, though not yet fully colonized. Haven't tossed anything yet...
Edited by hodja (12/03/12 11:02 AM)
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Kizzle
Misanthrope


Registered: 08/30/11
Posts: 9,870
Last seen: 2 months, 8 days
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Re: Identifying a contamination source [Re: hodja]
#17326260 - 12/03/12 11:50 AM (12 years, 1 month ago) |
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It's mold. It's probably the syringe if you got in 5 jars. You might notice it in the rest eventually. It's possible to contaminate a clean syringe after it's made but there's really no way to know for sure if that happened or if it was already contaminated.
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hodja
Time Traveler



Registered: 06/25/12
Posts: 38
Loc: Western US
Last seen: 4 years, 8 months
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Re: Identifying a contamination source [Re: Kizzle]
#17326600 - 12/03/12 01:00 PM (12 years, 1 month ago) |
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Maybe where I messed up was when I drew a small bit of air into the syringe to help breakup a clump of spores. I had read this as a suggestion in the cultivation forum and the spores were being stubborn. It was within the glove box, but I suppose I could have picked up some mold in the air. I don't think I'll do that again regardless, and I'll keep an eye on my procedure around the syringe next time.
Thanks!
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“If you don’t have a plan, you become part of somebody else’s plan.”
– Terence McKenna
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TheEaglesGift
The Nagual


Registered: 04/10/11
Posts: 10,554
Loc: Ixtlan, Mexico
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Re: Identifying a contamination source [Re: hodja]
#17327576 - 12/03/12 04:08 PM (12 years, 1 month ago) |
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Quote:
hodja said: Maybe where I messed up was when I drew a small bit of air into the syringe to help breakup a clump of spores. I had read this as a suggestion in the cultivation forum and the spores were being stubborn. It was within the glove box, but I suppose I could have picked up some mold in the air. I don't think I'll do that again regardless, and I'll keep an eye on my procedure around the syringe next time.
Thanks!
If you're going to draw in air, do it through a flame.
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zMan
zMan

Registered: 09/08/12
Posts: 2,191
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Re: Identifying a contamination source [Re: hodja]
#17327611 - 12/03/12 04:13 PM (12 years, 1 month ago) |
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Yea could be, when you draw air into the syringe place the needle into the flame and draw from the center of the flame, that's what I did and it worked great.
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