Mushroom aborts with pointed dry black caps by Shroomok

Image from forum thread A spot of orange and a spot of black post #462 #4

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• A spot of orange and a spot of black

  Much better photos now 👍 Is this the first flush produced by these cakes? Or 2nd-3rd?They are powdery! To see for yourself, do a simple Q-tip test and you'll see colored powder on a swab. I've circled the areas for the test on the pics below.How to do the Q-Tip Test? Take a clean white cotton swab or sterile Q-tip. Gently swipe it across the suspicious area on your mycelium. Check the swab. If it picks up powder, it’s mold. If it stays clean, it’s fine.So, the 1st cake with orange spots is 100% contaminated and there are 2 different species of contams. Orange looks like Neurospora (orange bread mold) to me, less likely Aspergillus.And this cake is also contaminated underneath with green mold (most likely Penicillium or Aspergillus).The 2nd cake has some Bruising (yellow circles) which is fine. And the Black Spots on mycelium looks like mushroom spores, as you harvested mushrooms a bit late. However, I still can't see it absolutely clear, when zoom in.Bruising (yellow circles) and most likely spores on mycelium (blue circles)The small mushrooms that look dry and pointed with black caps you left on the cake are Aborts. They won't grow anymore. Always pick them while you harvest the flush!Aborted mushroomsYou mushrooms with white gills looks like Leucistic GT rather than ordinary Golden Teacher . It doesn't matter tho :-)P.S. Check out all the links I left in this answer for more details and examples

Uploaded on Jan 5, 2026

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