fuzzdogs said:

Hi! does anyone know if these spots on my agar are bacterial? or just water/air? they appear 1-3 days after the agar is poured. I use 250g water +5g agar agar powder + 3g BRF + 1 drop food coloring. Thank you!

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Both the time table of 3 days and their shapes(near perfect circles)say transfer that shit quick!

Omitting the BRF should clear the rest of your plates up.

Welcome to the Shroomery!!

3.A.M said:

That’s a wee bit strange, haven’t had any major temp drops or spikes recently?

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Nope not at all, the space I keep them in is 22-23°c at all times and that's where it's always at... At first I had a blunt idea that perhaps I didn't use enough nutrients and miscalculated the lme but that doesn't make sense since water agar grows all the way out even if it's thin mycelium...

Could it be that I miscalculated the water? I highly doubt I did but at this point my head can't get a grip of this I've seen popcorn jars grow incredibly slow and even stall in one case due to not being hydrated enough but this also feels like a long shot.

Churpee Choozle said:

Most of my stuff stalls when the kitchen gets under 8 or 10 *C, only the woodlovers keep tugging along at those temps.

Related qq: I've had mexicana in the FC for a month now, should I give up at ambient temps of 10 - 18*C, or will they come around eventually?

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8-10°c? Man my skinny ass can't live when it's below 18°c anywhere in our house

Churpee Choozle said:

Yeah I don't really like it either, but if you dance a lot it's manageable. I just really hate wasting energy.

Plus I work outside, my body kind of adapts to the seasons. My son just went out without even putting on gloves (-2*C here now), that's totally out of my league.

On topic, could it be that there was some residue of whatever in your agar prep container? Switched any raw materials recently? And do the plates that do grow show off growth patterns?

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Oh yeah I don't dance... I barely move

I'd be terrified if I saw that, it means your son is now your dad, he's asserting dominance


I don't think it's residue since I sift it before pouring it in my bottles before the PC to get rid of residues and improve the clarity of the agar, I use the same materials as I have used before with the same brand but thinking about it maybe the lme has gone bad or something? This is also a long shot but the lme is the only "older" ingredient I've got in there.

What kind of growth patterns do you mean? The growth of the transfers and spore inoculations look just like normal except that they just stalled the transfers are uniform and look pretty good but just won't grow.

Churpee Choozle said:

Yeah I meant a residue of something else, IDK, sanitizing stuff or anything.

I once used a packet of agar that looked weird to me, but I figured whatever, it's agar. Turned out to be something my wife bought, yellow sweetened agar or something, used it anyway. Everything started growing in really weird patterns and stalled before reaching the edge of the plate. Your description reminded me of that incident.

I just checked and it's this one


Fucking three years ago and she still didn't make those desserts with it.

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Oh well then I'm pretty sure there's no residue whatsoever. I clean the bottles with soap and very hot water to dissolve the old agar and make sure it's all gone before rinsing with steaming hot water.

I did have a batch of Pan agar go to waste because I accidentally nuked them with iso with one of my first agar attempts... They stalled but also got splotchy and uneven growth followed by thin myc.

I always use this agar which has been in a closed jar since last time I used it before that.

Churpee Choozle said:

But the folder only exists in my pics and doesn't show up in my gallery?
Sorry, I have the digital skills of a flowerpot.

Edit: ah yeah no, I get it now, thanks Trypt

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UrbanLibCockroach said:

Hello again!!! I feel like I may be breaking etiquette by posting in this thread so often, so someone tell me if I am. You've all been incredibly helpful.

In the meantime, I have two quick questions about these boys:

1. Is that the accursed 'fuzzy feet'? I've already cracked my lid a bit more - I think I've been misting them too often. (I thought that the whole point of a water tub is that you didn't need to, but my cakes are always not-glistening and dry to the touch after ~6 hours.)

2. That one smaller pin in the bottom-right is on track to dip its tip into the water. Should I be concerned? What should I do if that happens?

As always, thanks in advance

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callmehippie said:

How many other cakes do you have in the tub?


Thats not really fuzzy feet either.  However if you did have fuzzy feet it's nothing to worry about. It does nothing negative to your batch of mushrooms.

Sometimes it's indicative of not enough Fae and other times it's just genetic.

so if you're starting to see what it looks like the beginning of fuzzy feet.

And increasing Fae doesn't help at all.

At that point there's not much you can do.  just let it ride and forget about it.



For your water tub and mushroom touching the water question.. take some of the water out. Or raise your rack. Mushrooms can grow in and touch water for a certain period of time.

But at some point they will start to get slimy and rot.

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