Shoebox Mycelium health?

hello again,

Thanks for the advice before. I did what you suggested and turned out two shoebox totes of usable stuff- mostly. One of them died a hard death- Jedi Mind F- (the first two with green in it)

And chat gpt said that this second one is contaminated but I see some pins...

what do you think?

-Andrew

Hello Andrew... again!

First 2 pics (tub-1) is a hard mold contam, most likely Penicillium

There is no way to save it, since it's already green and the affected area is huge. Sorry :( Toss it immediately!

Other pics (tub-2) – so far so good 🤞

awesome. thank you

Is there an issue with the "cotton ball" like stuff? chatGPT made a fuss about it.

No, it's not a bacterial issue :) Did you use spore syringe for inoculation?

yes. spore syringe to brown rice - ready rice bags, ready rice bags that I put in jars and instapotted, and brown rice I prepped from scratch. That ready rice was so wet.

I still have a bag of ready rice and two jars of brown rice all fully colonized in the fridge waiting on a plan.

I've also got some spores in LC solution so I have some of those ready for action. And I just got some agar plates in so I'm going to try to waste less moving forward. I'm hoping my jar that has pins puts out ok. I'm not sure what the next setup I'll try.

There's a away to use a colonized grain jar as a cake to fruit quick, right?

1. There are two types of mycelium growth: tomentose and rhizomorphic. When using a spore syringe (also known as a multi-spore syringe), both types are formed, but one of them may predominate.

   Bacterial contam may provoke cotton balls, but it is usually accompanied with yellowish pigmentation and metabolites. Also sweet-sour, cider, rotten smell.

In your case you also have both types of growth. Cottony fluffy areas on the cake is tomentose growth. To explain the difference between them, here is the example:

Tomentose (left jar) & Rhizomorphic (right jar)

Tomentose mycelium — a fuzzy cotton-like appearing type of mycelial growth lacking the characteristics of the other type of mycelium – rhizomorphic growth.

Rhizomorphic mycelium — thick cord-like or strand-like hyphae. "Root-like" outward flat growing mycelium characterised by a round shaped growth with filamentous extensions on the outer edges. An adjective used to describe the rhizomorphic mycelium is taken as a sign of fast colonization and qualities desirable for fruiting.

2. Next time for making grain spawn I'd suggest you to use whole grains like wheat, rye, unhulled oats, barley. They are much better and won't be as wet as peeled rice. Hence, less risk of bacterial contam. Here is the guide: Grain Substrate

3. Yes, you can mix colonized grain with pasteurized/sterilized coco coir mix 1:1 ratio. Or just break the grain in a plastic box and cover it with thin layer of coco coir mix on top (1-1.5 cm or 1/2 inch). Here is the guide on making a mushroom cake (both options): Mushroom cake

If you have any questions... you know what to do next ;)

P.S. My warmest thanks for supporting me on BuyMeaCoffee, I appreciate it ❤️🙏🍄