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QuissettHouse
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Registered: 01/26/20
Posts: 3
Loc: Massive-two-shits
Last seen: 4 months, 26 days
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Potential Bacterial Contamination
#26453973 - 01/26/20 06:01 PM (4 years, 21 days ago) |
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Hello everyone, let me preface this with a full disclosure, this is my first time trying my hand at active mushroom species. I've had a pretty decent amount of experience with edible species, but much of them seemed a bit hardier when it came to contamination, especially the oysters I've grown. I just started a jar of B+, which I inoculated two weeks ago today. It showed no sign of life until halfway through last week, and it sprung into action all at once. That makes a fair amount of sense to me, my room is on the lower end up the cubensis temperature range, so I assume it's natural that it would be slow growing. I left it alone, but checked it this weekend and the area behind the line of growing mycelium seems all shriveled up. In the first picture it may appear dark, but that is just shadow from where it has sunken in, and the second picture is from when I first noticed, about five-ish days before the first. Anyway, in my experience, it seems to resemble some of what I can only assume was bacterial contamination (though I never bothered to find out too much). The proposed contamination seems to be behind the line of advancing mycelium, so it is relatively contained, if that means anything. But if it is bacterial, then surely it was in an unclean spore solution from the syringe I used, no? I have another jar that I arbitrarily deemed a tiny bit too wet in some spots, so I set it aside and forgot about it, and there's no sign of contamination, and yet another that I inoculated, but realized it too was too wet, and there seems to be a similar effect going on in that jar, only without the mycelium. All three were pressure cooked in the same batch, and inoculated from the same syringe (flame sterilized in between) in a glove box. I'm really hoping it's not, and I don't have to scrap the jar, but if I do, so be it. I would like a second opinion, because I would not trust mine just yet. Here are pics, sorry in advance if its difficult to tell what's going on:

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hazyhorse
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Registered: 03/19/19
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Re: Potential Bacterial Contamination [Re: QuissettHouse]
#26454422 - 01/27/20 02:49 AM (4 years, 21 days ago) |
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it’s a little hard for me to tell from the pictures. it looks like you’re using PF tek. do the jars smell off at all? if it’s bacterial you can typically smell it
if it doesn’t smell i wouldn’t worry too much about it. even if it does, i’ve had PF jars that smelled off for a few days & then didn’t smell at all. birthed em & spawned them to a shoebox & got fruits. obviously if you notice actual bacterial contamination don’t open it though lol
once mycelium starts to colonize, i’ve noticed it can start to pull away from the sides of the jar & cause condensation (like in the second pic). if you’re not noticing anything too funky i’d probably just wait it out
if the jar you said was more wet smells then it’s definitely contamed. but if you’re growing from spores it can take awhile for things to start in one jar while others may take off
-------------------- you're not the first to set foot here, just another =================================== i love glass petris & you can too!! posts i constantly refer back to new to mushroom cultivation?? read this!! ===================================
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QuissettHouse
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Registered: 01/26/20
Posts: 3
Loc: Massive-two-shits
Last seen: 4 months, 26 days
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Re: Potential Bacterial Contamination [Re: hazyhorse]
#26454746 - 01/27/20 08:23 AM (4 years, 20 days ago) |
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Yeah, sorry about that. Also, sorry I didn't lead with that. Yes, I'm starting out with the PF tek. I can try to get a better picture when I get home this afternoon, if that would be helpful. I was trying to take it quickly to keep it out of the light, just in case (though I know some people insist light doesn't have much effect on mycelium, I feel better keeping it in the dark). I suspected that it could be something like what you're suggesting, but I've never seen this in happen like this before. I haven't opened it up yet, it seemed to still be colonizing as of friday, but worlds more slowly. I will give it a sniff this afternoon, and see, and I'll definitely be taking note of the outcome no matter what. At least it'll be a great learning experience, no? Thank you for the pointers and the expedient reply!
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hazyhorse
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Registered: 03/19/19
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Re: Potential Bacterial Contamination [Re: QuissettHouse]
#26455508 - 01/27/20 04:09 PM (4 years, 20 days ago) |
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no worries!! i try to answer posts quickly here if i’m able to help with them at all. i know it can be disheartening to post here about contamination concerns & not get a reply
you can absolutely keep your jars in the light. i have some grain jars colonizing under an 8 hour lighting schedule (they are in the same closet as my tubs) & they are colonizing perfectly. i’ve even heard some ambient lighting is beneficial during the colonization phase in jars. you can keep them in the dark if you want, but don’t feel like you’re gonna ruin anything if you pull them out into the light for a few minutes just to get a pic or check on them!
if you PC’d the jars properly & used a SAB for inoculation then the potential contamination was probably from the syringe. i’ve never had an issue with vendor syringes but you may have gotten unlucky. however, if they don’t smell at all through the holes in the lid then it’s not bacterial IMO. trust me, you’ll be able to smell a bacterial PF jar just through the holes you poked in the top. don’t open the jars if they aren’t 100% colonized
i’m not as experienced as some other members when it comes to contamination, so i can’t rule out something else going on in your jars. but from what i can tell you don’t have anything too obvious going on
try to get some better pictures if you can later! that way either i or someone else could tell you more accurately what’s going on
has the other jar shown any signs of mycelium growth? i know when i’ve used spore syringes & PF tek some of my jars only grew from one or two of the inoculation points
-------------------- you're not the first to set foot here, just another =================================== i love glass petris & you can too!! posts i constantly refer back to new to mushroom cultivation?? read this!! ===================================
  🅃 🄴 🄰 🄼 🄲 🄻 🄸 🄽 🄶 🅆 🅁 🄰 🄿
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QuissettHouse
Stranger


Registered: 01/26/20
Posts: 3
Loc: Massive-two-shits
Last seen: 4 months, 26 days
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Re: Potential Bacterial Contamination [Re: hazyhorse]
#26455704 - 01/27/20 06:09 PM (4 years, 20 days ago) |
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It sure can, it's totally different to be on the receiving end of that too, I now know. I certainly appreciate it! As for keeping them in light, I haven't really given it a go, having heard so much conflicting info, I figured I would stick with what I knew to work, and that was having them in the dark if not wrapped in foil, but if you're saying its okay, then it's nice to know I can relax a bit about that.
I suspect that it may have been from the syringe, if it is contamination, because the other jar that is definitely contaminated has it right around one of the inoculation holes. I haven't run into any issues with edible syringes either, so this is a first for me. I just don't see another possibility. The good news is that the jar colonizing doesn't have any smell besides that of vermiculite, for which there's a good reason. And I'm beginning to think I may have been a bit overly cautious; when I opened the contaminated jar to dump it out I almost gagged. it reeked not of fermenting things like feet or apples, but death and decay. So whatever THAT is, that's not what's going on in the colonizing jar. At least that bodes well.
Completely open question to anyone who knows better than I, is it possible for mycelium to outrun a contamination? if the bacteria starts back by the inoculation point, but only has so much food source after being encased by growing mycelium? Some weird case where cells started eating some of the dud spores (this was a pretty heavily loaded syringe), but couldn't persist after finishing off that food source, due to it being encased by mycelium, or something to that effect?
Anyway, experienced or no, I very much appreciate the help in ruling out some of the potential causes. And it could be that I was too quick to attribute it to contamination, but either way, thanks a ton!
I'll leave this open to anyone else who may have a word or two. I tried to get a somewhat better picture but the jar and slight humidity isn't making it easy. I can't downsize them to fit the upload requirements, and still have a high enough quality to tell what is going on here, so here are the imgur links: https://imgur.com/DmMIlef https://imgur.com/tzeNMP7 if that's not good enough, then the best I can do is offer a description. It seems like the mycelium at ground zero has almost shriveled up and almost died off. It looks thin and weak.
Thanks again for the help! I'll make sure to keep my eye on this jar as it grows, hoping beyond hope I don't have to scrap it... I would more than welcome any advice/thoughts from anyone who may know what the heck is going on here!
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