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fancywindow
Stranger

Registered: 01/17/22
Posts: 1
Last seen: 1 year, 5 months
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Where did my monotub go wrong?
#28391427 - 07/10/23 03:09 PM (1 year, 6 months ago) |
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Very new grower here. I’ve got a monotub of Burma cubes whose first flush is about to yield literally five mushrooms. Clearly there’s something very wrong, so I’ll post my whole setup and process and maybe folks here can help me and others like me not to be me.
Setup * 66qt sterlite tub, two 1.5” holes on each long side 4” from bottom and sides, one hole on each short side near the top * Caliber IV hygrometer inside the box towards the top
Process
1. Inoculated bag of grain spawn from North Spore with spores that had been in my fridge for 18 months. Took them a while but they fully colonized, though I suspect the spore age was ultimately my problem. I’m guessing the mycelium couldn’t outcompete more aggressive bacteria, but that is a total guess.
2. Once fully colonized, added the spawn to my tub with three Boomr Bags of substrate from North Spore, following the instructions from their YouTube video (layer of grain, layer of substrate, repeat). I was pretty careful not to contaminate the tub: wore latex gloves, did the whole setup in my enclosed shower, sprayed everything generously with alcohol. Lined the bottom of the tub with a black plastic bag to prevent fruiting on the sides.
3. Taped the holes and waiting about a week for the substrate to colonize. Kept the box in a room with high ambient humidity. Humidity inside the box stayed a pretty consistent 95-97%.
4. Opened the tape after a week and added dense polyfil to the bottom holes, light polyfil to the top holes. Began fanning about four times per day using the lid. Temp stayed 70-75, humidity stayed around 95-97% even with the holes open. I’d fan until it was below 90%, then it would come back up in minutes. I never misted because humidity was consistently high and there was always condensation on the top and sides, as well as droplets on the top of the cake.
5. Waited about 3 weeks with no pins, then moved to another less humid room and got my handful of pins.
6. I guessed that the humidity was too high to get surface evaporation to encourage fruiting, so I installed a fan into the lid and put it on a timer: 2.5 minutes of blowing air from the inside out, every hour. (I know folks here frown on fans, but it seemed more controlled than opening the tub for manual fanning four times per day.) The few mushrooms in there seems to grow faster, but no new pins formed. 7. Now the mycelium seems thick and cottage cheesy at the top, and some patches just turned green. I’m assuming that’s all bacteria, and further assuming that I should throw away what few mushrooms I have so I don’t make myself sick.
So: where did I go wrong? My assumption is that the age of the spores ultimately did me in, but I really don’t know.

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Ultravisit0r
apprentice



Registered: 04/03/23
Posts: 55
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Re: Where did my monotub go wrong? [Re: fancywindow] 2
#28391431 - 07/10/23 03:14 PM (1 year, 6 months ago) |
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Didn't read the whole thing because point 1 is where it went wrong: Don't inoculate grain with spores. Spores are exposed to open air and thus will not be clean. You need to clean that on agar first.
Or you can do the PF tek, which is more resistant to contam und can be started with spores directly.
Edit: I've read the rest. Don't fan, it fucks up your mycelium. Look at the sticky threads and check out bods list of teks for beginners
Edited by Ultravisit0r (07/10/23 03:17 PM)
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MethodicalMystical
Just a normal living being



Registered: 07/16/17
Posts: 250
Loc: PNW
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Re: Where did my monotub go wrong? [Re: Ultravisit0r] 1
#28391443 - 07/10/23 03:27 PM (1 year, 6 months ago) |
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That tub is infested with trich mold. It could have been the spore syringe like Ultravisit0r mentioned, the pre-made grain and substrate bags with an unknown level of cleanliness, inoculating in an unclean environment (ie. not in a still air box or in front of a proper flowhood), or a combo of these things weakening your mycelium.
Take the shrooms you got and toss the rest. Consider this a lesson learned and look into tested and reliable teks for the next try.
-------------------- I know I'm a fool, but that's why I keep trying to learn.
 
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