help! Unusual Golden Teacher Colonization (day 6)

Hi guys! I am a newbie, I just got started with my first grow, and I need some help to understand if my GT colonization is going well or not.

i am using a 1200cc GT grow kit (already innoculated) so I just had to soak it and follow the manual.

ive been keeping it at 19-22 Celcius. Opening the bag once a day + spray the walls. I'm desinfecting the area i work + my hands (gloves).

Yet, I am on day 6 and I have these odd things (idk what it is, because visually to me it looks like fruiting, which would be too early to be happening).

i would like some help to understand what this may be, if its normal or not. and if I have to make any changes in my daily care.

thank you very much in advace!!!

Hello and welcome!

Yes, it's already fruiting! 6 days isn't too early, 'cause typically first pins appear within 3-15 days after providing fruiting conditions.

However, all your pins are deformed. At first glance I thought it's just mutation. But some fruits with brown lesion, especially here (see the attached photo below) makes me think about Verticillium contamination. So I'm not 100% sure yet...

Deformed pins with brown rotted looking lesion may be Dry Bubble (Verticillium) disease

What to do? Let's stop misting and wait another 2-4 days, and then see what happens to them. Just send me updated photo and I'll check it out. Even if it's Verticillium, don't worry it's not harmful for you.

More info for reference with photo examples here:

Verticillium Dry Bubble disease

Mushroom Mutations

update from this afternoon lowkey looks like popcorn

Let's make a simple Q-tip test to make sure all these blobs are mutation or dry bubble? Take a few clean cotton swabs/buds and gently swipe these areas (blue circles):

Areas for Q-tip test in the blue circles

Do you see some grayish-brownish powder on swabs? Or smth powdery on swab like here:

Or do they stay clean?

update from today (photo) The cotton swab test showed no visible residue.

Today when touching them they were not as hard solid as yesterday but still very firm. The touching left some light bruising

Good news! Yeah, based on how the mushrooms look now, the absence of necrotic lesions on them and a swab test... it's just a mutation deformation.

What to do next?

I'd harvest them all now (all shrooms are ready and some of them are Aborts) and soak the cake in cold water for 2-4 hours. Check out the guide: Rehydration (aka flushing, aka soaking) mushroom cake

Hopefully, the next flush after rehydration will better in terms of shape, size, and even yield ;-)

Any questions? Go ahead!

ok! Big update. Including a recognition that I fucked up a lot in some aspects (mainly harvest time, because I did not understand that drying mushrooms naturally does not drastically reduce their potency, since I read that long exposure to oxygen is bad, which in turn made me wait for my dehydrator to arrive - which it hasnt because I've had issues with the company/delivery).

The spores were clearly already released by some mushrooms heads, most up to date photo pre harvest shows that. Altough very little actually (seemed) to have fallen on the substrate - mostly on the plastic bag wall.

Right now I'll have to probably just air dry them with a fan and later keep them in a box with a humidity absorber.

I have a few questions, I will number them to make it less confusing.

1. Can I still consume the shrooms even though they already released spores aka are black? + what do you think of their "state" (they smell just fine, total 196g)

2. Since so many pieces are very big and atm I do not have a dehydrator, should I just let them air dry as it is? (last photo of shrooms. I did already cut them from the harvest because some pieces were massive). So, can/should I cut them any further to increase surface area so they dry quicker?

3. Is my substrate ok? Mainly refering to the seemingly very little amount of spores that probably feel on it + mycelium growing on the sides, see photo. I already soaked it in cold water as of now

Any other tips/observations are welcome. I noticed the FAE was very low due to a lot of fuzzyness. So I recognise that + biggest mistake of taking to long to harvest (again, I thought that drying naturally would make it less potent so I was legit just waiting for my parcel aka dehydrator to arrive).

Thanks a lot!!!!

Congrats on your very first harvest, buddy! 196g of GT mutants is a great result 👍

TL;DR Don't worry, your cake and your shrooms are fine ;-)

Yeah, the best time to harvest shrooms right before their sporulating (if you don't need spore prints/swabs) or right when they start to sporulate (if you want to make some spore prints/swabs).

For the future: How to make a spore print

Mushroom fruit body is a reproductive organ. After spreading spores, the reproductive function is done, no need to save it anymore and the decomposition process of the fungus cells begins. Mushroom fruit body slowly loses its quality and potency. That's why no sense to wait too long. Moreover, the layer of spores on the cake can affect the pin development of the next flush.

Your case is not critical! Not like this one, when everything covered with thick layer of spores:

More examples here: Black spots on Mushrooms and Mycelium

Regarding all your questions...

1. Yes, your shrooms are absolutely fine!

I dried my shrooms without dehydrator many times. Naturally in the open air, in the oven, on radiator and with fan many times and shrooms were strong enough even after 2 years of storing ;-)
Full guide here: How to dry and store mushrooms

So yes, just natural drying is fine. If the relative humidity in your room ~50% they will be almost dry in ~2 days without extra actions. Then you can dry them to "crispy dry like chips" state by using fan (or heat fan). Or put them near heating element/radiator to speed up drying process.

You can also use an oven, but be careful! Use the lowest heat mode and dry them with opened doors. It's easy to burn mushrooms! Here is an example from another thread: Turning black when dehydrating

Look, dehydrator is just a box with a heating fan, nothing special. You can make it by your own!

Here is another example shared by @Max here:

Quick DIY dehydrator for shrooms by Max - cardboard box with some holes in it and heat fan

After drying, store them in air tight jar or zipbag with humidity absorber (food grade silica gel). If you don't have silica gel, just use a natural humidity absorber – put 4-5 tablespoons of ordinary white rice to create a layer ~1 inch (2.5 cm) at the bottom of the jar and then put your shrooms inside. Rice will absorb all the moisture left in the mushrooms ;-)

You can also add an oxygen absorber pack if you have one, it's optional tho.

2. Better to dry them full in order to retain potency. Increased surface area –> they dry quicker, but they are also more exposed to oxygen –> increased potency loss. No problem, if some of your shrooms cracked or you cut them into 2-3 pieces. I mean, just don't chop them into small pieces, okay?

3. Your cake looks good! Some spores were washed during soaking in water. If some of them still there it's not a problem at all. New mycelium growth is fine as well. Put your cake in a bad again and wait for new pins ;-) No need to mist the bag, there is enough moisture after soaking. And yes, you can increase FAE.

Hope to see the 2nd flush 🤞