First time grower approaching harvest time with first round of BRF cakes and still in need of advice regarding possible contamination. Pics and update below. I also posted this to reddit, but no response.
(Note - All of the teks I found when starting said use a casing layer around the cakes, so while I now know that it’s unnecessary (if not potentially harmful), you can see how the mycelium has grown around the casing in the photos).
The first pin to show on one of the cakes turned out to be a super-mutant but then showed signs of what seemed to be verticillium that I believe killed the cake and mushroom (some signs of dying/dried out pin as well as a bit of blue-ish green the cake that I was worried might be mold or some kind of decay). Since verticillium seems to contribute to mutations, I think the assessment is accurate. I pulled the cake from the tub and tossed it the second I realized what was happening (possibly too late, but as it's my first time, I’m figuring all this out as I go). Unfortunately, I don’t have pictures of that one.
Thankfully after some panic, research is saying that so long as it’s just verticillium, they are safe for humans to eat and I just need to be careful that it doesn’t kill the pins/shrooms/cakes leading to other contaminants (which I think happened on that first cake). Though I'd love for someone to confirm the previous statement.
The veil broke on 3 of the other pins today and just finished cutting them. Based on the stalks, I’m betting they are contaminated with verticillium. What surprised me was that cutting them, there seemed to be some more of the blue-green color on the mycelium body and at the base of the cut-off shrooms. While I know that blue = bruising, the greenish color concerns me and I was hoping to get a second opinion as to the healthy and edibility of this crop.
Cut-off Shrooms: http://imgur.com/bLmnnrI
Cake Close-Up: http://imgur.com/X1vIydl
Tub Pic: http://imgur.com/svFXT8j
Additionally, I have a few liter jars I just dumped into a mono tub last night; those jars seemed to possibly have some similar verticillium-type substance on the top (white, fuzzy, more “sponge-y than the firm, white mycelium body). I had some life circumstances delay moving the spawn from WBS jars to mono tubs and am concerned that they sat in incubation too long. There is a bit of beige/light yellow color on some areas of the spawn jars as well. Is this a possible concern?
WBS & Possible Verticillium: http://imgur.com/sEmxnaT
Beige/Yellow Color on side of WBS jar: http://imgur.com/1M6ymSp
1st Update: I dried the 3 shrooms I cut off last night that had the deep blue-green base. Looking at some of the other pics on here of where stems were cut from the mycelium body makes me think I may be much more ok than I initially thought, but would still greatly prefer an expert opinion.
First 3 Stems Dried: http://imgur.com/DdST53a
2nd Update: This morning I cut a bunch more off with a mix of whiteish/brownish colors and more blue-green at the cutting location. Generally these looked healthier, but I'm not sure if I'm now over cautiously cutting them the second the veil seems "broken enough". Aside from a smaller-in-size yield, is there a problem with harvesting too soon?
Tub Pic (Post Culling): http://imgur.com/iegwBE7
Cut Crop Pic 1: http://imgur.com/wtLrJvs
Cut Crop Pic 2: http://imgur.com/vJDrzOR
Any thoughts or advice from those with more experience would be greatly appreciated!
|