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John in WI
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Preparing a new grow space in the basement
#26952750 - 09/24/20 01:13 PM (3 years, 4 months ago) |
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I'm in an old WWII era house, with a concrete block basement and exposed rafters. I have a small former utility room that I'm hoping to make into a grow space, but being a sort of grungy basement, I'm curious if their is any chance in hell of this working out. It did fine for indoor horticulture--but that's a completely different animal.
Today I spent a couple hours on general cleaning. Sweeping cobwebs out of the rafters, sweeping down the walls, sweeping and vacuuming the floor. Tomorrow I was going to go around with one of those garden sprayer things, and mist down everything I could reach with a bleach solution. Or maybe with a dish soap solution followed by bleach. Really try to kill any existing mold...
I have no doubt I can clean the room itself--but what about airborne shit floating around? Their are certainly spores of every variety.
What do people recommend? Setting up a small lab/grow space in a not so ideal location? Thanks for any ideas. I'm just curious if their is any chance of success, or if spores from elsewhere in the basement will derail me. The room is behind a door--but the second I open it, my sterility would be compromised.
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ArthurFungarelli
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Re: Preparing a new grow space in the basement [Re: John in WI]
#26952763 - 09/24/20 01:19 PM (3 years, 4 months ago) |
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Are you able to do work in a still air box in another part of the house that's cleaner? In the past, I've had similar situations and just hung some plastic painter's drop cloth to give me some peace of mind. My monotubs aren't ever in a "sterile" location, and I haven't had a whole lot of issues with them, but I don't do my SAB work there.
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verum subsequentis
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Tubs do not need a sterile space to be successful. In fact, 99% of folks who think they have achieved a sterile grow space are sadly mistaken. While it is ideal to grow in a relatively sanitary area, it is by no means necessary. Clean spawn is of paramount importance. Accordingly, it is best to do lab work in as clean an area as possible. That being said, I've grown plenty with no even relatively clean areas to work with. Proper grain hydrating, sterilization, spawn filtration and SAB or Flow tek is what it's really ALL about.
Just clean up nicely and get to work.
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John in WI
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Thanks for the reassurance. That's actually why I'm moving my little operation. I've been dealing with a lot of contamination problems. In order to test the source of the contamination, I have been opening agar plates and jars in my SAB, then closing them (without innocultation). I have been getting very low contamination rates out of those blanks.
So I can get clean spawn--again, tested by putting grains on agar and getting clean mycellium. I seem to be getting colonization, but like 10 days in, mold. Pissing me off beyond belief. I have no idea why this is happening--a year ago things were fine, now I can't get anything to work.
It's one of those situations--doing the same thing over and over and expecting different result.
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Re: Preparing a new grow space in the basement [Re: John in WI]
#26952915 - 09/24/20 02:49 PM (3 years, 4 months ago) |
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Trouble shooting can be a bitch. Are you confident in your jar filter situation, In your sterilization times and tek, in your inoculation process and the veracity of your cultures?
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John in WI
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I'm really starting from the beginning. I am now growing out spores that were obtained from PF cakes. Finding some strong mycellium, and starting over.
I would really be questioning my technique, except I had a run of a couple years with very little problem. Their would be the occasional jar, agar that wasn't sterilized properly, but nothing like this.
What I don't get is normally when a jar is infected, it's very obviously green. After this contamination started, I would take anything that didn't look perfect, and burry it out in the back yard.
Anyway, I agree to make sure the basics are nailed down. I'm making a completely new set of filter lids right now. Just toss the old ones--who knows? Micro tear in something, bad seal someplace...
In any case, that's what I was hoping to do with this new space. Just start with something very clean. Bleach dunk all glassware before it comes in, bleach out the SAB, throw away anything beat up or shitty... Spores come from someplace. I'm a chemist by training--that's the annoying part. This isn't magic. Their is a definite cause. I'm just braking my head learning what that is.
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John in WI
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I'm not going to claim the space is "sterile" by any definition of the word. But I just spent about 3 hours cleaning. I shop-vaced the place top to bottom, swept out cobwebs, removed dust.... Then I used a garden sprayer and misted it entirely down with a bleach solution, really squirting it into cracks or any stains that looked like mold. Finally, I let it dry, then scrubbed down the walls and floor with PineSol, and then mopped the floor.
I realize mold and other crap is floating around all over the place--the second you open the door, god knows what flies in. Still--it certainly cannot hurt, having a nice clean space. And it's also going to be a much more pleasent place to work and hang out. I'm beat now, but I'll install the cheapo plastic shelving and work table/SAB tomorrow and get to work.
This will be good--proper lighting, storage shelving, not in anyone's way like I currently am.
This contamination problem has been a drag, but with fresh lids, everything bleach dunked or run through the dishwasher, the house much cleaner.... I have a better chance.
This afternoon I'm reading up on SAB technique just to try and catch any technique problem I'm not getting. My work was in chemistry--I have zero training in anything biological, so I'm trying to pick it up as I go here.
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grownright
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Re: Preparing a new grow space in the basement [Re: John in WI]
#26954402 - 09/25/20 12:09 PM (3 years, 4 months ago) |
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I grew for years in a basement that had flooding issues (resulting in a $40k cleanup, sump installation, and cracked foundation wall repairs). The basement was undoubtedly mold spore city, had issues with high humidity, and still had water coming in at certain places when it rained heavy. I had no issues growing in that basement. As said before, you just need to make sure your spawn is clean and everything else will be fine. I do recommend investing in a flowhood
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John in WI
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Re: Preparing a new grow space in the basement [Re: grownright]
#26954465 - 09/25/20 12:59 PM (3 years, 4 months ago) |
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Thanks for the vote of confidence---I have precisely the same problem. About every 8-10 years my town gets very serious flooding. Like, the neighbor's basement wall caving in flooding. We have a sump, and I installed a (not exactly legal) sump in the back yard to pump it out, but the spring thaw is sometimes bad.
A flow hood is definitely on the list (as soon as some funds are available). I've been pricing blowers and materials. I built one years back in grad school to do some clean room work in a normal lab. It's pretty straight forward if you size the blower, box and filter.
I agree--absolutely perfect spawn is the key. I don't know why things were working ok, then all of a sudden they weren't, but without clean spawn you're screwed right out of the gate.
I am happy to have a dedicated, clean space with good lighting, storage, etc. All extraneous junk is gone, everything in the room has been cleaned
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verum subsequentis
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Re: Preparing a new grow space in the basement [Re: John in WI]
#26954475 - 09/25/20 01:08 PM (3 years, 4 months ago) |
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I think you're setting yourself up for success. Like you said, it's not magic. You'll get her licked. You've got what it takes.
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John in WI
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In my experience, these are the most frustrating problems. I remember these things from grad school. You have results that are pretty good, just need a little polish....
Then you go back a year later, and for the life of you can't make it work again! You test, tweak, test some more.... Then you get desperate and go with the old shotgun approach. Just top to bottom rebuild the whole shit and start over. Because you're out of idea...
I'm sure I can figure it out--this gives me some faith at least that I have a clean-ish place. Cleaner certainly than my last successes. All the jars have been dish-washered and are sparkling clean, all the other gear has been scrubbed or replaced. New filter lids, new grain. All of it. Something changed on me, and I couldn't tell you what!
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verum subsequentis
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Re: Preparing a new grow space in the basement [Re: John in WI]
#26954901 - 09/25/20 06:27 PM (3 years, 4 months ago) |
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Stick with it and keep us posted on anything you're curious about. I promise we can get it figured if you maintain the attitude you currently have.
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John in WI
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Thanks for the vote of confidence. I think I've had so many things in the fire lately, I got sloppy.
This, I think, is just like chemistry. Overall you can look at a project and it seems "hard". But each individual step is not hard. A big project is just a series of small steps performed carefully.
I'm encouraged, nice new clean work space dedicated to the task. A few bucks to dedicate. It was working--I'm not a complete newbie here. Something just went to hell on me.
Edited by John in WI (09/27/20 05:00 AM)
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verum subsequentis
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Re: Preparing a new grow space in the basement [Re: John in WI]
#26956323 - 09/26/20 03:49 PM (3 years, 4 months ago) |
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Quote:
This, I think, is just like chemistry. Overall you can look at a project and it seems "hard". But each individual step is not hard. A big project is just a series of small objects performed carefully.
absolutely
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John in WI
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It was fun working in the new area today. Good lighting, proper table for the SAB and other gear, shelving to keep things organized. Freshly prepared spray bottles, all marked.... A place for everything adn everything in it's place! This will be a lot more fun to work in. Hoping it helps alleviate these damn contamination problems.
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Re: Preparing a new grow space in the basement [Re: John in WI]
#26958105 - 09/27/20 10:40 PM (3 years, 3 months ago) |
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Fuck yeah. I bet that was nice. I know the feeling of getting things organized. It's a game changer.
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Forgotten Oak
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Re: Preparing a new grow space in the basement [Re: John in WI]
#26958128 - 09/27/20 10:56 PM (3 years, 3 months ago) |
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Hey, it sounds like you might already have the problem licked, and I hope you do! I'm just a noob who's been lurking around for quite some time, getting ready to knock up my first BRF cakes tomorrow (finally).
In doing a ton of reading and research, some time ago (somewhere, who knows where now) I came across someone else asking how to beat a mold problem, and someone chimed in with how they'd had fits with it and found a product called Concrobium that finally solved it for them. It supposedly not only kills mold spores, it also leaves behind a residue that continues to kill them.
Anyway, I have no experience with the product, but the guy gushed about it so hard I made a note to myself in case I ever did run into mold issues (I also have a formerly damp basement) I would know what to try first.
https://www.concrobium.com/
I believe it's sold in some of the big box home improvement stores, assuming you're in the U.S.
Good luck!
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Re: Preparing a new grow space in the basement [Re: Forgotten Oak]
#26958136 - 09/27/20 11:07 PM (3 years, 3 months ago) |
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If it works (without killing everything), we'd almost certainly all be using it. All rainbow farmer run into mold. The key to beating it is doing things correctly. Clean cultures, proper sterilization, proper filtration, proper sterile tek..... In some ways I'd love a trich cure all but in some ways i'd hate it. It's kind of wonderful knowing that only those with an excellent mindset can succeed.
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