How important is axenic substrate to you? - Gourmet and Medicinal Mushrooms

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Quicksilverdream
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Registered: 08/31/21
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Last seen: 15 days, 7 hours

How important is axenic substrate to you?

#27899766 - 08/11/22 09:34 PM (1 year, 8 months ago)

What I mean is, I always strive to inoculate with very strict sterile technique but recently I've been thinking I don't know how important it really is for species like oysters or Lions' Mane.

The way I see it normally, anything short of axenic means the mycelium will have to divert resources in order to combat the contaminant. Therefore, having a substrate free of even a single mold spore or bacterial cell will result in the healthiest possible mycelium and best results come fruiting.

However upon growing more and more, it seems like with aggressive species like oysters and lion's mane, small amounts of contamination may not really pose a significant threat or lead to particularly worse yields, especially when only keeping blocks around for one flush.

Thoughts? I still aim to be as sterile as possible when working in front of the flowhood but I'm curious to know what other growers think and if I'm being overly cautious in my approach.

Note: This is only in terms of inoculating sterilized substrate with clean grain spawn. I definitely understand the importance of having completely axenic grain spawn.

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deadmandave
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Registered: 02/16/10
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Re: How important is axenic substrate to you?

[Re: Quicksilverdream]
#27899794 - 08/11/22 09:52 PM (1 year, 8 months ago)

You're not wrong. Pasteurized subs have loads of organisms crawling around.

Even a little bacterial spawn can be used to inoculate bulk sub. If it's a common occurrence I would address whatever is causing it. Anytime I see green I throw it out because the yield suffers so much and the risk of it spreading and drawing in flies is just not worth it.

I don't think there's any reason to reduce sterilization times tho. Why risk having reduced yield or compete loss?

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father_fungi
Mold Farmer

Registered: 12/13/21
Posts: 246
Last seen: 2 months, 15 days

Re: How important is axenic substrate to you?

[Re: Quicksilverdream]
#27901223 - 08/12/22 07:06 PM (1 year, 7 months ago)

Not sure what your circumstances are like or what type of failure you can tolerate, i.e. do you rely on consistent results? But... You could try pushing the envelope the other way and see what you can get away with and still get acceptable results. A learning experience if you will!

With the aggressive species it's surprising. I keep straw logs around for two flushes. They show signs of green about the same time as the first flush and still put out a seconds. I inoculate with (presumably) axenic spawn in open air and pack into poly tubes with bare hands. I consider my yields to be good.

I do not get consistent results. I have the occasional batch that never fruits.

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Stromrider
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Registered: 06/02/13
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Re: How important is axenic substrate to you?

[Re: father_fungi]
#27901586 - 08/13/22 04:33 AM (1 year, 7 months ago)

If you have clean spawn you can get away with a lot. Mold and bacteria absolutely love heavily supplemented substrates like masters mix. If there's even a tiny bit in your spawn it will multiply quickly no matter how aggressive your species is

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spasm666
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Registered: 06/14/17
Posts: 630
Last seen: 14 hours, 47 minutes

Re: How important is axenic substrate to you?

[Re: Stromrider]
#27903133 - 08/14/22 12:32 PM (1 year, 7 months ago)

I grow oysters commercially (small-scale) on straw pellets (with a pinch of chalk) without any sterilization nor pasteurization or even hot water. Been doing that every week for almost a year now and I've never seen any green, my contamination rate is practically 0%. And I know another company who's been doing it for 5 years now with success. Commercial, good quality spawn of course is used with a spawn ratio around 5-6%. Hell, I think this is actually more foolproof than with sterilized subs. The flipside is that no supplements can't be added and the yield is less than with masters mix for example.

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Mushrooms, Mycology and Psychedelics > Gourmet and Medicinal Mushrooms

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