turmerica said:

Hi beautiful people! Are these shroomies contaminated? It almost looks like they are dusted in white flour. I was unable to find anything similar when looking into contamination.

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Bustaboo said:

I get that getting SAB work down is a right of passage, but it’s a little frustrating and time consuming to figure out what’s going wrong. I feel like I got my procedure and movements down and was still only having a 50% success rate.  Plus I was sweating my ass off and didn’t have the most comfortable spot to do it.

It’s a hobby so I thought I may as well enjoy my hobby and for roughly the cost of a PS5 I eliminated some frustration in my life. I’m glad it’s working out with clean cultures or I would really be frustrated!  I worked in the SAB long enough to make sure this hobby was going to stick and decided to commit a little further.

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DERRAYLD said:

I'm not hating on a SAB but the general rule of thumb is superior equipment intended for the application is more suited to the application and therefore enables you to learn your craft in more focused manner.

Telling people to use a SAB to improve their technique is cou ter productive if you have a hood.
Rather hone your skill/craft using a flowhood because the route to success will be shorter.

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Nonagon said:

Finally, the mush gods have sent me a sign to start some tubs!

At the end of the day… Sure, they are mushrooms, and I can and will grow more. But I will probably never make as many learning mistakes, or work as hard as I did growing these particular ones

On a serious note, would you just consider them fucked at this point?

Also, is this a common issue with vac bags? Seems wild to me that they can remain compressed/seemingly airtight while also allowing moisture transmission

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Mycolorado said:

Sounds like envy to me.

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3.A.M said:

Veils don’t seem to be broken, I reckon you’ve got at least a day or 2 for them to maybe tidy themselves up a little.

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AspectOfTheCreator said:

Due to long term contam issues I was advised to do a test on my grain and lids. I made 4 jars with 2 lid setups each. Single piece and 2 piece metal lids with sfd stickers over a 1/4" hole.

Its been over 2 months and the grains look the same as the day I PCed them in all 4 jars. Is this good enough to deem the grains and lids a success? Id like to dump and wash them and get the jars back.

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ProteinDrink said:

After looking at some stalled jars of WBS then coming across a thread on spotting contam in grain jars, my friend's cat realized that rather than my jars having dried out, they actually had some damp, slimy stuff on the bottom.

It thought it's grains were perfect when loaded, no signs of moisture on glass, but I guess it hadn't dried them enough.

This cat is new to growing, having only completed two successful grows.  Successful in that they yielded fruit, despite many missteps and lack of patience.  The jars in question are for what will be it's 3rd grow.

This got me thinking about verm, and a search did not find any mention of using verm at the bottom of grain jars to help absorb any moisture might prevent this growth, or what the negative outcome would be to do so?

I realize that proper grain prep would be the best preventative, but it appears that the moisture content is easy enough to screw up.

This also got me wondering why not use a layer of verm on top, as a 2nd defense against contams combined with our poly, Tyvek or whatever?

It realized too late that it spawned it's previous last jars too soon, and although they are fruiting and there are no signs of contam, the growth is not as dense or consistent as it would have liked.

It's current set of jars looked nice, aside from a small amount of some this goop on the bottom.  It realizes that no amount is acceptable.

My friend's cat thanks you in advance for the answers to his questions.

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SWIM is impressed by the skill of your friend's cat.

I however am mildly annoyed at how you change between first and third person.

You could add verm to your grain to absorb some excess moisture. Baba mixes a little verm in his oat prep. Perlite would not be useful because it doesn't absorb moisture. It wouldn't work to put it on top or bottom because you will shake the jars and mix it anyway.

My understanding is that overly wet conditions are favorable to growth of contams that overtake myc growth. If your source is clean and technique is on point, then grains that are a little too wet is ok.