never innoculate hot as you will kill the spores.

Also, the SCGT recommends flaming the needles between jars, as do many people. I find this unnecessary. Worse, if you don't cool the needle properly before innoculating you could easily kill the spores. Could this have been the problem?

A week and half is bad.. even you start to get growth it is likely to be so slow some sort of contam eventually comes in and halts growth. They may be contamed already, I've known of a fruity smelling contam that is invisible but halts mycel growth.

Did you do anything not as described by the SCGT? I consider it the most foolproof guide out there, and am surprised its not working.

I did not flame sterilize, so this could not have killed them.

Contamination doestn't seem to be the problem: something happened to the spores.

Also, my syringe also wasn't long enough to penetrate the rice/verm. I ended up sticking the syringe through dry verm., then the tinfoil, then squirting the spore water throught the air onto the substrate. I didn't think this would be a problem however, as the water could visibly be seen flowing all the way down the sides. I used 1 cc per jar with 2 holes.

Another thing, the syringe was sitting in my drawer for about a month. Could this have killed the spores.It was a equadorian from Spore Chicks.

The temperature for colonization is on the cool side. In a cabinet (dark) in a chilly basement under a 400w HPS, which is busy at work growing some basil, so this makes the ambient temperature about room temperature.

Any help much appreciated.

My money is on contams or the wrong temp.

Rad

Its very possible it was just a bad batch of spores. There isnt a spore supplier out there that hasnt sent out some non-viable syringes, I"ve read reports from all of them, including myself. Making syringes in quanity is not an easy task, and syringes are a tricky game. Sporechicks are good about sending replacements I hear, so give them a little more time, make sure your germinating temps are at least 70F minimum... 85 being more ideal. If they've been sitting for 10 days at lower temps, like in the 60's .. its a waste of time. You'll have to raise the temps and give them another week before they start to actually germinate and grow.

One thing that puzzled me a couple of you mentioned, is your needles weren't long enought to reach the substrate. Arent the syringes you got equipped with an 1 1/2" needle? That should be plenty to reach the substrate unless your using a really deep layer of vermiculite.

-peace-

Also, the needle looked about 1 1/2 inches. I think my mistake was that I didn't fill the jars high enough. In the Simple Cubensis Growing Tek, which was what I mainly followed, it said fill the jars with substrate up to 3/4" from the top, but I didn't know if this meant from the very top of the jar or the part where the lid starts to attach. Since, I was low on substrate, I guess I chose wrong. In the next batch, I'll make more than enough, and fill them almost all the way up.

Thanks for all the help. I'll try raising the temp and see what happens.

Oh, in the even that I can't get a heating pad, are there any other ways to get the temperature up there?

MC

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"I'd rather laugh with the sinners than cry with the saints."

I'm sure you do need it for agar work and such if in absence of a flowhood.

But I've made bunches of jars, and used steam sterilization, and (cross my fingers and hope to die) have not lost a jar yet to contamination.

I'm just sure to leave the jars in the steamer for at least an hour, and I know those suckers are HOT when I take them out, I usually get burned a few times. But hey, it seems to work!

Maybe I'll try it again in the future if contamination is a problem.

Well, for whatever it's worth, now after a month since innoculation, I have little splotches of mycelium on the sides of the jars. I changed the location. Now they are on top of a heating duct. Since it's getting warm out, this may not be warm enough because it's not on too much of the time, so Im buying a heating pad later today.

Yay! White Stuff! Im not a failure!