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horusiscalling
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Registered: 08/17/13
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a few questions about contamination
#18792627 - 09/02/13 11:11 PM (10 years, 4 months ago) |
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concerning growing cubensis on rice cakes: I was wondering how common it is for contamination to occur in the fruiting chamber? i mean im not sure if i should somehow sterilize my perlite beforehand because there are a few tiny wood bits and pieces of dirt mixed into my perlite.
also, should my cakes be touching the perlite, or should i place them each on a piece aluminum foil?
how common is it for a contamination to cause total death of your mycelium? can cakes coexist with a partial and substantial contamination?
Also, how exactly should i use hydrogen peroxide? does 3% solution work? how much do i use?
Any other tips on avoiding contamination are appreciated.
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Ace1928
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Re: a few questions about contamination [Re: horusiscalling]
#18792725 - 09/02/13 11:43 PM (10 years, 4 months ago) |
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Ok
Put the cakes on alfoil. If they touch the perlite directly it COULD but may not contam where it touches.
Contaminated cakes should be avoided for safety and to avoid contaminating the rest of your cakes in the FC. If however you wanna see what happens then go for it.
Also any mushrooms that come from a contaminated cake are ok to eat providing you wash them well
Beware of spores that may be being produced by the contaminants of the cakes as well. Also ideal to not have the contams growing anywhere you wish to work in the future
What are you wishing to use hydrogen peroxide for?
Best tips to avoid contams is sterile working technique (or aseptic technique. whatever you wish to call it) and still air.
Also to avoid some of the more nasty contams on a mature cake keep up the O2 levels. As some anaerobes can be very nasty
As to the first question about contam in the FC. It shouldn't happen until later flushes as mature cakes are quite resilient. But when you get to later flushes any present contams have had a chance to establish and nutrients are getting low which reduces the vigor of the mycelium
Any other questions you have please fire away
Ace
-------------------- Only by embracing that which mother nature has supplied to us can we hope to ever peacefully exist on this planet
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horusiscalling
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Re: a few questions about contamination [Re: Ace1928]
#18792749 - 09/02/13 11:50 PM (10 years, 4 months ago) |
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thanks for the reply!
I got an air pump and a air stone so i prob dont have to worry about low o2. btw, have you seen much success using these? i read one article and it said it gives a HUGE boost to yield.
about the hydrogen peroxide, ive read it can be used to slow down bacterial growth in the perlite. and that a bowl of peroxide oxidizing in the chamber will increase o2 levels.
Edited by horusiscalling (09/03/13 12:08 AM)
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PussyFart
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Re: a few questions about contamination [Re: horusiscalling]
#18792857 - 09/03/13 12:38 AM (10 years, 4 months ago) |
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Quote:
horusiscalling said: Also, how exactly should i use hydrogen peroxide? does 3% solution work? how much do i use?
Peroxide is only to be used if you have cobweb mold.
Other than that is serves no purpose in this hobby.
Do not use it to water the cakes or the perlite.
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THIS HOBBY IS NOT FOR THE IMPATIENT! PLEASE BE PATIENT, DON'T BE A PATIENT! A Tale of 10 Isolates, GT Cluster Clone Monotubs, RR's Let's Grow Mushrooms DVD, SGFC(Shotgun Fruiting Chamber), Monotub Tek, Damion5050's Coir Tek, TL's Tek List, Frank's Tek List, EvilMushroom666's Pasteurization Tek, How It Should & Shouldn't Look - NEW CULTIVATORS GUIDE *** *** AFGHAN KUSH GROW LOG *** ***
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Ace1928
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Re: a few questions about contamination [Re: PussyFart]
#18792897 - 09/03/13 12:59 AM (10 years, 4 months ago) |
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Air stones can be very useful for sure
And from personal experience watering with very dilute peroxide. ie 0.5% maximum is actually fantastic for boosting O2 levels. A bowl of peroxide in the FC will increase O2 as well. Peroxide is not as evil as this site often makes it out to be.
If you want to keep the perlite as sterile as possible you could always put bleach in there. Providing your cakes dont touch it.
Also beware of bubbles forming if you use the bleach with an air stone. A little trial and error may be necessary to find a volume of bleach that wont cause bubbles too much.
The bleach is also from personal experience.
-------------------- Only by embracing that which mother nature has supplied to us can we hope to ever peacefully exist on this planet
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PussyFart
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Re: a few questions about contamination [Re: Ace1928]
#18792947 - 09/03/13 01:37 AM (10 years, 4 months ago) |
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Quote:
Ace1928 said: And from personal experience watering with very dilute peroxide. ie 0.5% maximum is actually fantastic for boosting O2 levels. A bowl of peroxide in the FC will increase O2 as well. Peroxide is not as evil as this site often makes it out to be.
Please provide something to back this up, or at least elaborate a bit....
Did you do your experiments with isolates, or just MS?
Cakes or bulk?
Do you have an o2 meter?
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THIS HOBBY IS NOT FOR THE IMPATIENT! PLEASE BE PATIENT, DON'T BE A PATIENT! A Tale of 10 Isolates, GT Cluster Clone Monotubs, RR's Let's Grow Mushrooms DVD, SGFC(Shotgun Fruiting Chamber), Monotub Tek, Damion5050's Coir Tek, TL's Tek List, Frank's Tek List, EvilMushroom666's Pasteurization Tek, How It Should & Shouldn't Look - NEW CULTIVATORS GUIDE *** *** AFGHAN KUSH GROW LOG *** ***
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Ace1928
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Re: a few questions about contamination [Re: PussyFart]
#18792986 - 09/03/13 02:13 AM (10 years, 4 months ago) |
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experiments were done with cloned tissue of agaricus spp, white oyster and shitake.
I do not have an 02 metre but peroxide does break down to oxygen and water. This can be tested very easily by putting peroxide in a cup with some cling film on top. Leave it for a while. Light a match. Touch the still glowing end (not on fire) to the top of the cling film and it will relight.
It was working with cakes at the time and definitely reduced the contam rate in comparison to no peroxide.
Mycelium naturally produces large amounts of peroxidase so when peroxide touches it the mycelium breaks it down into water and oxygen faster than if it were simply decomposing on your bench.
Light also plays a factor. As does heat.
Peroxide at 0.5% concentration has no detrimental effect.
Another beneficial case of using peroxide was where I used a 2% solution on an agar plate that had been contaminated fairly heavily by some yeast and penicillum molds because the lid had come off a bit. There was however mycelium on it. I saturated the plate with the 2% solution and left it for a few days. I then soaked up the excess with some synthetic towel (tork towel) and about 4 days after that the mycelium that was on there had taken over the plate.
It is however not useful on some trich. Some of the trich can tolerate it as well as the mushroom mycelium
-------------------- Only by embracing that which mother nature has supplied to us can we hope to ever peacefully exist on this planet
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tropicalfrenzy
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Re: a few questions about contamination [Re: Ace1928]
#18792992 - 09/03/13 02:22 AM (10 years, 4 months ago) |
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ummm, airstone in a SFG? wouldn't that stop convection? Would only be an advantage if your SFG was built incorrectly. The point is airflow, not O2.
Bleach or hydrogen peroxide sanitizing what on perlite? One should not roll their cakes on the perlite. That said, I've seen perlite go algae (only in photos)... but never mold or bacterial, someone else might have though . Also seems pointless to me.
What the hell is going on here?
edit: SFG could be SGFC's .... lol
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Edited by tropicalfrenzy (09/03/13 02:32 AM)
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Ace1928
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Re: a few questions about contamination [Re: tropicalfrenzy]
#18793021 - 09/03/13 02:44 AM (10 years, 4 months ago) |
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Did he say SGFC? I didnt think that a type of fruiting chamber was mentioned
Airstone will increase airflow because it increases the internal pressure which forces old air out and the new air coming in is fresh.
I have had a little mold pop up once on perlite and it started to release spores. So it could be a problem. Plus keeping the growing chamber nice and clean can't hurt. Its not expensive and its not high maintenance either. Hydrogen peroxide on perlite would probably not achieve very much at all.
What else are you confused about?
-------------------- Only by embracing that which mother nature has supplied to us can we hope to ever peacefully exist on this planet
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PussyFart
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Re: a few questions about contamination [Re: Ace1928]
#18793029 - 09/03/13 02:51 AM (10 years, 4 months ago) |
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Quote:
Ace1928 said: Did he say SGFC? I didnt think that a type of fruiting chamber was mentioned
Airstone will increase airflow because it increases the internal pressure which forces old air out and the new air coming in is fresh.
But an airstone in a SGFC is only going to mess things up.
Just had to clarify.
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THIS HOBBY IS NOT FOR THE IMPATIENT! PLEASE BE PATIENT, DON'T BE A PATIENT! A Tale of 10 Isolates, GT Cluster Clone Monotubs, RR's Let's Grow Mushrooms DVD, SGFC(Shotgun Fruiting Chamber), Monotub Tek, Damion5050's Coir Tek, TL's Tek List, Frank's Tek List, EvilMushroom666's Pasteurization Tek, How It Should & Shouldn't Look - NEW CULTIVATORS GUIDE *** *** AFGHAN KUSH GROW LOG *** ***
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Ace1928
Experimenter



Registered: 08/09/13
Posts: 181
Loc: NSW
Last seen: 5 years, 1 month
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Re: a few questions about contamination [Re: PussyFart]
#18793047 - 09/03/13 03:08 AM (10 years, 4 months ago) |
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Yeh thats fair enough for an SGFC
-------------------- Only by embracing that which mother nature has supplied to us can we hope to ever peacefully exist on this planet
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tropicalfrenzy
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Re: a few questions about contamination [Re: Ace1928]
#18793099 - 09/03/13 04:06 AM (10 years, 4 months ago) |
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Quote:
Ace1928 said: Did he say SGFC? I didnt think that a type of fruiting chamber was mentioned
Airstone will increase airflow because it increases the internal pressure which forces old air out and the new air coming in is fresh.
I have had a little mold pop up once on perlite and it started to release spores. So it could be a problem. Plus keeping the growing chamber nice and clean can't hurt. Its not expensive and its not high maintenance either. Hydrogen peroxide on perlite would probably not achieve very much at all.
What else are you confused about?
Yeah, he didn't say what chamber, but you can read between the lines. The retro days of fishtanks are long gone.
Airstones will damage any decent SGFC, see convection & humidity (current direction causing humidity). Fresh air or O2 is not the point, current and humidity is the point.
Peroxide is good for cobweb only, sometimes. Bleach is good for sanitizing SAB's, chamber cleans, etc, no more.
Wish the weather was warmer here...
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Ace1928
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Re: a few questions about contamination [Re: tropicalfrenzy]
#18793149 - 09/03/13 04:49 AM (10 years, 4 months ago) |
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Im going to do a bit more testing soon. I've recently had to reaquire all my gear. Then I shall post up results. Because physiologically speaking mushrooms need O2. More fresh air they have the happier they will be providing the humidity can be regulated too.
And the bleach bit is something I'm testing atm. If you get bleach to evaporate with water in solution so that there is actually a small concentration in the air then theoretically it will vastly reduce the number of viable microorganisms because the air itself becomes hostile.
Thats the theory. And it is being tested currently
Also I don't like to assume what people are using. There are alot of ingenious things out there and you never know. They could have the new FC that will sweep the shroomery :P
And the final note is that if it is not harmful to the mycelium then why not give it a go? It may in fact be beneficial in your setup for whatever reason. Don't know till you try.
-------------------- Only by embracing that which mother nature has supplied to us can we hope to ever peacefully exist on this planet
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