I have been making many malabar cubensis straw logs here of late. I have had quite a bit of experience with these so I'll share some tips.
Don't place you logs in a hallway, especially if you have lots of traffic in your house. Lots of swirling air will help contams get in the vent holes of the log.
Bruising doesn't lead to green mold, but bruised grains are far more susceptible to mold. Grain should be moved away from the very outside of the log.
If your log gets green mold contam before it is done colonizing, 99% chance you are going to have to toss it, salting and cutting the affected area out will do no good because the problem is inside and throughout the log and not stemming from outside air.
If your log gets mold after full colonization before pins show (for instance your end vent slits are too large and you bruise some grain that accidentally got to the outside and outside air get got in) best to not birth early and salt, but rather cut plastic around affected area and salt and leave the rest of the log encased.
Birthing before pins show will not speed things up, in actuality it slows the pinning down by releasing the CO2 buildup early.
End vent slits are unnecessary except for the 2 slits made prior to stuffing log to let air escape while packing. If you have to transport you log by grabbing the plastic slack on the ends, your ends risk bruising if you bump into something and becoming susceptible to mold attack on stray grains. The center of the log only gets slits cut radially around it so the ends only need slits radially around (if that makes sense).
If you pack your log tight enough it will not bruise when picked up at the ends, just carefully move to where you want it to go. If possible it is best to colonize and fruit in the same location so you don't risk bumping into something. Straw logs can get heavy, be careful.
Be as clean as possible when making logs. Yes you can get away with washed bare hands and arms, but still something accidentally nasty can get into it. I had a problem where I didn't wash pitchforks inbetween batches and stuck the fork in the ground not thinking about it. Then every time I dug the fork into the substrate it smeared a little bit of junk into it. I was doing it at night and wouldn't have even noticed the dirt on the fork. I lost all the logs that came from that batch.
That's all I can think of for now.
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Evolution is Lamarckism in disguise. Adaptation never creates a new species or trait, but rather the new species/trait always existed within the parent DNA until circumstances allowed it to be activated. For instance, every wolf has the DNA for poodles, but that DNA would never be revealed without man selectively breeding for it.
Edited by Buckeye Oysters (01/15/09 03:07 PM)
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