ZooL Posted October 18 Share Posted October 18 After several attempts to cultivate mushrooms it has become clear i am just too grotty to maintain a sterile environment for a culture to survive with no competition, but mushrooms often grow naturally in an environment of rotting material and fecal matter. Are there any indoor (just humidity/temp controlled) teks aimed at giving wood loving mushrooms a slightly better than average environment but not an ideal one that requires no competition? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
wachumacallit Posted October 18 Share Posted October 18 I saw an interesting YouTube (some award-winning cultivator based out of San Francisco, iirc) showing DIY approaches to laminar flow, which could make all the difference? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TheMooseZeus Posted October 18 Share Posted October 18 What methods have you tried so far? In laboratories, it's very common to do all sterile work under a Bunsen burner flame. You could achieve the same thing with a camping stove. Its even sterile enough to pour agar. Rotting material and faecal matter are entire ecosystems in their own right, the reason people don't tend to cultivate in these conditions are because of thousands of variables that go into controlling how, when, where a mushroom will grow and its unreliable and unpredictable (and smelly). Being able to control these variables to basically one biotic and maybe three abiotic factors is how you get results! Don't give up! Look into working under a Bunsen burner and the "sterile cone of air" if a SAB hasn't worked for you. I personally use a SAB even though I have a DIY flow hood Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ZooL Posted October 19 Author Share Posted October 19 Ive only really tried pftek properly, my main issue at least the last couple times(the times before that were 100% fail) i think seems to be making a clean print to spore syringe or just the inoculation step. last time i left 1 jar un touched after pc and it was fine but the the jars i inoculated all were quickly contaminated when in box. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TheMooseZeus Posted October 19 Share Posted October 19 6 hours ago, ZooL said: Ive only really tried pftek properly, my main issue at least the last couple times(the times before that were 100% fail) i think seems to be making a clean print to spore syringe or just the inoculation step. last time i left 1 jar un touched after pc and it was fine but the the jars i inoculated all were quickly contaminated when in box. I don't bother with spore syringes for that reason, you can't see contamination well enough. If you have healthy growth on a contaminated agar plate, section that bit out and grow it onto a new plate and repeat until you have a clean and fully inoculated plate. Once a plate is completely covered in mycelium it becomes hard for contamination to take hold. Then you cut this up and add it to your grain. Do you use a 15psi PC? If not you might have to adjust your run time quite significantly Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Recommended Posts
Join the conversation
You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.