🍄‍🟫Episode 3: Experimenting with Grains and Teks

[@larrymcfarlandjr2160]

One experiment I did was to use liquid culture (LC) in a quart grain jar (oats) verses one fully colonized petri dish (agar) in another quart jar (oats as well). I wanted to see if the agar dish colonized the grain faster then the liquid culture. What I discovered was the petri dish (agar) was quicker at first, while the LC was slow out of the starting gate. But after a week, the LC jar caught up to the agar. And by the time I was ready to transfer the colonized grain jars to substrate, they were virtually identical in their colonization of the grain.

[@jessytinsley3285]

I ❤ MYCOMMUNITY

[@GaiusIncognitus]

This was an amazing tour! Thanks for sharing. I'm a budding mycologist (or maybe a "pinning" mycologist) and this is inspiring. My first spore vial had pink fungus contam, so I've had to isolate and clean with agar iterations from the very beginning. I'm proud to have gotten clean plates, and videos like this have inspired and educated me to keep working through it instead of just giving up. Again, thansks for sharing your knowledge and adventures.

[@TheQueenOfDreams]

@@GaiusIncognitus trying to navigate contam in the beginning can be so discouraging. I recently inoculate several unicorn bags at the table because we had no power for a while, and all but one contammed on me. After months of mostly clean grows, it just confirmed the value of having a fairly clean regime in place. I tried to clean and iso everything and still lost most of my efforts. Now I know. 😬 Thank you for commenting, and for sharing the journey with me. 🍄‍🟫❤️

[@pelvabill]

Great tunes. Keep up the good work.

[@TheQueenOfDreams]

@@pelvabill oh, thank you very much!! That’s our music. 😎

[@veerchasm1]

Everything looks so good despite me not knowing what’s going on! Great explanations

[@TheQueenOfDreams]

@@veerchasm1 sometimes even I don’t know what’s going on! 🙃

[@Tosteppen41]

Also take the tin foil off your rack. The whole point of working on a little bit of an elevation is that any contaminants fall to the ground. For positive air you should be using that ducting fan on one of the upper holes on ur tent.

[@TheQueenOfDreams]

@@Tosteppen41 thank you for telling me. I have since acquired a different rack, but I didn’t know at the time. The flow hood’s main fan is in the roof of the tent, which is what all that flexible ducting is connected to. Thanks for watching and commenting. I’m very new to mycology, and I appreciate the feedback!

[@Primitivemycology]

Good video! Using agar to innoculate is the proper way, that was a good milestone to reach! And I know many people use a rack thinking it's purpose is to mitigate their poor sterile technique so contams fall away......... But contams should not be making it in front of your hood or into your still air box when using good practices, we should be the only source of contams in front of our hood, which is why our work is between us and the hood. Although there is a relative magnitude of sterility from closest to farthest from the hood. The rack is to elevate your work into a more comfortable position or into the main stream of your flow hood. The foil is no problem if it is sanitary, as it will stop things, such as our work from falling through. I use a price of plexiglass cut to the size of my rack. Always pride yourself on good technique and try not to use anything as a crutch. Many people were taught by people that have no idea and shouldn't have been teaching in the first place and they carry on horrible habits and negative mentalities. Often claiming if you don't do it their way that it's wrong. Immediately ignore anything those people say. Trust the ones who can explain why they do what they claim and always factor in how many pounds a week they grow, how many years, and do they operate a legit business or not. Those are the people that really know how to grow more than a few tubs or bags a week. 90% success with a few shoeboxes or 5 bags compared to 90% success with 100 tubs or bags is a big difference. Scale exposes everything in our protocols and shows our true skill level😊

[@TheQueenOfDreams]

@@Primitivemycology I’m so glad you found my channel, and are so generous with your advice! Thank you for commenting! I thought the point of elevating the rack was to center your work towards the middle of the filter, but without the foil, my agar cups would slip and tip as I was pouring, so I recently bought a large cookie sheet that has a wire rack that fits in it. I like this set up because if I drop an agar wedge or some grains, they are contained inside the pan and don’t roam around my tent. It’s no longer elevated, but it’s still within the “flow zone” and I have a larger workspace now, so I’m happy with it. I try to be more careful about what content I consume, because I’ve wasted a lot of time and money following other newbies handing out rookie advice. I’m trying to be mindful not to do that myself, and also trying to be very transparent about my own inexperience so other newbies won’t repeat my mistakes, but perhaps learn from them along with me. Reddit is a huge source of lots of mis-information as well. So I bought a couple of books, but I’m still working my way through them. But someone there suggested using agar to inoculate grains instead of LC, and that’s been a game changer for me! I appreciate your insights and thank you for taking the time to help me learn! Have a great week! 🍄‍🟫🍄‍🟫🍄‍🟫

[@Primitivemycology]

@TheQueenOfDreams you are very welcome, literature is where I have learned the most. There are also a few larger companies that are more than happy to answer most questions for free until you start asking about floor plans and scaling up, that fall under consultation. As far as growing, technique, troubleshooting goes. Mossy Creek, Maine cap and stem, and north spore all respond fairly quick to emails and they are at the top of their markets. That is also a good way to judge someone as well. If ever they say u have to join a group and pay a few to gain information and do not have an email to contact them........ They are probably not legit and they just want to collect your money for bad advice. Often they will also discourage you from selling your products or talk bad about you for it because they are afraid of competition, and then their groupies will follow suit and try to ostrisize you when you pass them up in skill level. Going with reputable companies and books is why I'm halfway through a build on a new lab and warehouse. No more spare bedrooms and the basement soon. Lol I have grown a lot in those spaces but no group ever helped me with that. Going from 50 lbs weekly to 250 is not something a guy growing a few tubs in a closet can help you with. 😂😂😂😂 Have a great day

[@cuentagratis9157]

​@@TheQueenOfDreamspreparación de agar en que proporciones tienes la receta porfavor