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Elixier
Awesome

Registered: 11/16/08
Posts: 287
Last seen: 14 years, 6 months
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Contamination in my monotubs
#9256894 - 11/16/08 08:25 PM (15 years, 3 months ago) |
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A little back ground first. I have successfully used the monotub technique before. I recently did 6 monotubs and lost 6 monotubs to trich. From what I have read Roger Rabbits general opinion of a failed monotub is bad spawn. I respect this opinion however I am confident my spawn was pure. I am going to attempt more monotubs once my jars recolonize and after much thought I think my failure may be in my preparation of substrate. I have been using "large doses" pasteurization tek but recently I lost my thermometer. So this round of tubs I just heated the water until it was boiling and threw in my coir and then let it heat while I stirred the coir until it broke up. (usually 5-10 more minutes of heat, then I turned the heat off and put my pressure cooker lid on to retain heat) Large dose says to heat to 170 then throw in the coir, I am heating to 212 and then throwing it in. Would anyones opinion be that my over heating of the substrate mixture is killing off the beneficial bacteria thus leaving my substrate open for trich? Once I spawned I had great growth and then at the bottom of the tubs it seemed to stop and then a few days later green started popping up on all of them. Before I spend more time attempting more tubs I would like to isolate what I am doing wrong. Bad pasteurization technique? Bad spawn? Trich spores all over my house? I appreciate any input.
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Brennus
Student of Life



Registered: 05/31/08
Posts: 3,297
Loc: SE United States
Last seen: 5 years, 11 months
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Re: Contamination in my monotubs [Re: Elixier]
#9257602 - 11/16/08 10:42 PM (15 years, 3 months ago) |
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If you're getting contaminants before your first flush, then yeah, it's probably because your spawn was a little dirty.
If you're boiling your bulk substrate @ 212 degrees, you're not really pasteurizing. You're sterilizing, which you don't want to do. Sterilizing bulk substrates kills off the beneficial bacteria and microorganisms that take up real estate that stuff like trich needs to get a foothold. Always pasteurize at 160 - 170 degrees.
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Elixier
Awesome

Registered: 11/16/08
Posts: 287
Last seen: 14 years, 6 months
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Re: Contamination in my monotubs [Re: Brennus]
#9257635 - 11/16/08 10:48 PM (15 years, 3 months ago) |
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My spawn is white and has the healthy mushroom smell. I feel like it can be safely ruled out even though Roger Rabbit, who's opinion I highly respect, says almost all contaminates in a bulk are caused by bad spawn. To be safe I will buy another thermometer and carefully watch my pastuerization temperatures. Lastly to be sure its not trich in my fruiting chamber I plan on moving it into another room (small closet) and cleaning the walls with a bleach water solution. Would that be a logical way to rule out possible trich infestation? (I know trich exists everywhere and that is something we all just have to deal with, but I'm afraid of an increase in trich spore levels due to these past failed tubs)
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The shroomy 1
Luminous beings surround me




Registered: 03/27/07
Posts: 5,543
Loc: The Aether
Last seen: 5 months, 23 days
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Re: Contamination in my monotubs [Re: Elixier]
#9257693 - 11/16/08 11:08 PM (15 years, 3 months ago) |
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Just to let you know how tricky it can be....... I had 12 grain jars going and when I went to spawn to bulk, I noticed that 2 out of the twelve had black pin mold on the surface of the lids! The jars were FULLY colonized! I couldn't take the chance. I trashed them. even though the grain jars looked fully colonized and they smelled delicious, I couldn't justify adding them to the bulk substrate knowing that the grain had been exposed to the black pin mold all along.
The Shroomy 1
--------------------
AMU Q&A thread.
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denger
Mycelium keeper



Registered: 09/19/08
Posts: 1,177
Loc: Unites States of Dreams
Last seen: 1 year, 4 months
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Re: Contamination in my monotubs [Re: The shroomy 1]
#9259040 - 11/17/08 09:32 AM (15 years, 3 months ago) |
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Your spawn may be white even when it has trich in it. Trich only turns green when it sporulates. Your mycelium probably suppressed trich to such degree that it did not sporulate (or smell), but its there.
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solumvita
Q.B.E.


Registered: 02/12/08
Posts: 2,061
Loc: South Africa
Last seen: 8 months, 5 days
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Re: Contamination in my monotubs [Re: denger]
#9259932 - 11/17/08 12:27 PM (15 years, 3 months ago) |
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It may be that you first need to clean your work area so that when you start a batch of spawn you have already taken precautions against Trichiderma. A strong bleach solution is probably the simplest solution.
Test your spawn before using in the bulk substrate, preferably grow out on some agar plates and then see what the spawn does. Until you can prove that it is not the spawn at fault then the consensus will remain that you have bad spawn.
-------------------- One of these days all the answers will be revealed until then we learn from each other! www.mushrush.co.za
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