Wienerwoods' Microscopy Adventure

[Wienerwoods]

Boom goes the dynamite. A shitty dynamite. Filled with shit.

I'm pretty sure my grain jar is contaminated. The suspicious looking stuff really came into life and suddenly it looks a whole lot like mold. I can think of a few reasons how that could've happened. I didn't flame the needle for starters. It really wouldn't have been this embarrassing had it worked out but hey, live and learn...

At least I'm hoping that's the reason. Wouldn't want my LC and BRF cakes to be fucked. God damn this pisses me off.

Not gonna toss the jar just yet, though. I'm gonna get my money's worth and watch the slaughter take place I'll probably be making a whole new jar soon.

 

[derek420colorado]

Boom goes the dynamite. A shitty dynamite. Filled with shit.

I'm pretty sure my grain jar is contaminated. The suspicious looking stuff really came into life and suddenly it looks a whole lot like mold. I can think of a few reasons how that could've happened. I didn't flame the needle for starters. It really wouldn't have been this embarrassing had it worked out but hey, live and learn...

At least I'm hoping that's the reason. Wouldn't want my LC and BRF cakes to be fucked. God damn this pisses me off.

Not gonna toss the jar just yet, though. I'm gonna get my money's worth and watch the slaughter take place I'll probably be making a whole new jar soon.

ouch bro sorry that sucks!

 

[Wienerwoods]

ouch bro sorry that sucks!

Sure does! I just hope the spore print isn't the culprit of this.
In any case, an extra week or two isn't gonna make much difference in mushroom cultivation so I think I'll get over it

 

[derek420colorado]

Sure does! I just hope the spore print isn't the culprit of this.
In any case, an extra week or two isn't gonna make much difference in mushroom cultivation so I think I'll get over it

Yep stuff in the fungi realms takes is sweet ass time lol compared to getting to watch my autos grow 2 and 3 inches a day lol

 

[Wienerwoods]

The PF jars are also bunk so the liquid culture is bad. It's beginning to look like I need to start from scratch. I have two spore syringes, I'll just have to try the other one first to be sure.

The micropore tape is my other concern. The LC may just as well have gotten contaminated through the two layers of micropore if I actually got them wet at some point. I should really get some synthetic filter disks but only six of them cost a ridiculous $30...

 

[derek420colorado]

The PF jars are also bunk so the liquid culture is bad. It's beginning to look like I need to start from scratch. I have two spore syringes, I'll just have to try the other one first to be sure.

The micropore tape is my other concern. The LC may just as well have gotten contaminated through the two layers of micropore if I actually got them wet at some point. I should really get some synthetic filter disks but only six of them cost a ridiculous $30...

SO when I was growin mushies I got sick and fuggin tired of contaminating shit. SO I set up a "clean room" which at first was just a closet then into a whole room. Line the walls with plastic and bleach em, take a shower before you fux with anything in there. Wear gloves and just literally be as anal as possible about sterility, you could have delievered babies in my room lol. It may seem like a pain in the ass, but trust me it is better than waiting weeks for a jar to colonize and it just doesn't or ends up with weird mold n shit n there. Get everything clean and that will not happen any more lol

 

[Wienerwoods]

SO when I was growin mushies I got sick and fuggin tired of contaminating shit. SO I set up a "clean room" which at first was just a closet then into a whole room. Line the walls with plastic and bleach em, take a shower before you fux with anything in there. Wear gloves and just literally be as anal as possible about sterility, you could have delievered babies in my room lol. It may seem like a pain in the ass, but trust me it is better than waiting weeks for a jar to colonize and it just doesn't or ends up with weird mold n shit n there. Get everything clean and that will not happen any more lol

Good call! However, if the fault is with my sterile technique I can definitely see where stuff could've gone wrong.

I'll have to do some more troubleshooting before I can decide what my course of action will be.

 

[bubblekarma]

Damn, tough luck bro! Sorry to hear about your projects. Well as with any experimentation, you just need to adjust variables and keep trying until you find that sweet spot.

 

[Roark]

The PF jars are also bunk so the liquid culture is bad. It's beginning to look like I need to start from scratch. I have two spore syringes, I'll just have to try the other one first to be sure.

The micropore tape is my other concern. The LC may just as well have gotten contaminated through the two layers of micropore if I actually got them wet at some point. I should really get some synthetic filter disks but only six of them cost a ridiculous $30...

I got tired of makin rtv ports. Did the tape thing too. Its worked mostly well. But not well enough.
Going to order some premade ready to go ones. I'll post a link when I find one. Need to get some fresh l.c made from the last bit of spores I have left.
Good luck wiener.

 

[Wienerwoods]

Damn, tough luck bro! Sorry to hear about your projects. Well as with any experimentation, you just need to adjust variables and keep trying until you find that sweet spot.

Yeah. It's quite frustrating, not knowing what's wrong but knowing it'll take quite a while to find out and even then you might just find yourself at a dead end.

However, I don't mind. I'm the kind of person who doesn't learn from others' mistakes. I must fuck up on my own in order to learn and I've already learned a bunch of stuff that I can and will improve on. I'm dead set on acquiring some of those synthetic filter disks as soon as I can arrange a reasonably priced shipping. That alone should help a lot, I'm beginning to greatly distrust micropore tape.

Another thing I'm contemplating is properly sealing the glove box holes with rtv silicone. Maybe also put some micropore tape between the lid and the tub itself to make it more snug. I'm just not sure whether it's a good idea or a stupid one. I mean, I thought trying to sterilize the glove box as much as possible was a sensible thing to do but turns out it's a complete waste of time - sometimes you just never know until RogerRabbit has set things straight.

God I'd love to pick his brain for every single question I have!

Anyway, I'm trying out something potentially dumb with the contaminated grain jar. I pressure cooked it again for 90 minutes and used the same spore syringe to inoculate it (flamed it this time lol). Now I won't shake it even once so the grain won't touch the filter. If it goes bad again I'll have toss it. I'm doing the same for the BRF cakes (but 45 mins in PC ofc) using the other syringe I made. If they too still show signs of contams I can pretty much determine that it's the syringes' fault.

Only then I'll try to make a new syringe out of the remaining print which isn't as likely to be contaminated. After I see the outcome from that I'm done with troubleshooting and I'll try again if need be.

Phew.

I got tired of makin rtv ports. Did the tape thing too. Its worked mostly well. But not well enough.
Going to order some premade ready to go ones. I'll post a link when I find one. Need to get some fresh l.c made from the last bit of spores I have left.
Good luck wiener.

The silicone is cool and all but it can be a pain to try and hit the hole because you can't see it. I probably made it a bit small, is all.

Thanks and good luck to you too!