contaminating factors

[DrunkyDaBear]

hey yall.. another newbie question

ive tried to grow the flesh of the gods from the ground up, with spore prints, making my own cakes, ect ect.. but they always become contaminated.. i myself cant figure this out but the past couple days ive thought about it VERY hard and i can liken it down to three things.. the first and most obvious is that i dont own a pressure cooker and i do the steam bath method.. ive heard plenty of first hand accounts that the steam bath will work.. so that may not be my problem which has led me to think about my quandry a little deeper.. i have ALWAYS thoroughly washed my hands, nails, arms, instruments, ect before handling ANYTHING.. but what i am thinking is maybe the fact its that i live on a dirt road? plus theres TONS of trees in my area which equals pollen counts through the roof.. for instance when i change my a/c filter, its basically TRASHED in a month.. all kinds of dust and impurites.. does anyone think this may play some role in my contaminations? no pressure cooker, dirt road, plus mucho pollen are the only three thinks i can liken it down to.. other than that i dunno, honestly.. like i said, im very new to this.. any imput is greatly appreciated thanks for your time guys!!

 

[Rutger]

I think most contaims will come from you own body (no offence). I do use a pressure cooker and cannot say I work that sterile to be honest. I do clean my hands, table and instruments using ethanol. I make my own sporesyringes to and I did have some contaims but lets say its all under 10 %.

If you clean you surroundings and wear at least a mouth mask you should be ok in my opinion. If you say you are going to waste again 50 bucks on materials why not invest in a pressure cooker, a small one you can get second hand for about 20-30 Euro (at least here) that is big enough for a few jars at a time.

Could be that the house you are talking about is given you more trouble. Its important not to have any airflow in your house when your working but that can be difficult in an old house. Anyway good luck I hope you get around the problems and grow you own mushrooms soon !

 

[DrunkyDaBear]

yup, i gotta say you are exactly right.. all the money ive wasted on spores and materials, i coulda got a pressure cooker by now.. good point! maybe i should be patient, save the money to get the PROPER equipment, then try it.. and a mask sounds like a good idea, i never thought of that..i just need to go the extra mile and make damn sure everything i do is totally sterile..like using ethanol to clean everything like you.. you bring up very good points.. thanks for your help man!! i appreciate it

 

[Guest]

i never used a pressure cooker, and i never had a contamination. i use a oven at low or medium temp., just make sure that the jars don't begin to boil, it messes with the water ratio. i live in a dusty village, and it is hard to be clean, but it is not impossible. get yourself a room with closed windows, and spray all of it with a 9:1 water/bleach mix. beware of clothes and all the stuff. clean the room and spray it. wear a mouthmask, latex gloves. everytime you touch anything, clean your gloves with alcohol. use your lighter on your syringe between jars until it turns red.
and most important: use aluminium foil around the jars BEFORE they go into oven. then, when you take it for inoculation, take it for the LESS time possible. and don't take it all...take just what you need to inoculate.
don't forget to spray the room 1-2h in advance, and before you inoculate.

 

[Guest]

i leave the jars in the oven for 1h30m, maybe 2h. i never had an infection!

 

[DrunkyDaBear]

awesome! thanks for all these ideas guys.. i had a thought.. not sure if itll work because of all the water in the air but what if i worked and moved my cakes in the bathroom after i ran the shower nice and hot for a while? but on the other hand that might be too much moisture

 

[GOD]

Dearly beloved ,

A preasure cooker will solve all your problems . The most contaminents come from your hands , mouth and hair . I get the impression that you are thinking to mutch . I steralise in a preasure cooker and other than that i dont take any care at all . I rarely have problems . I do know people who have trouble with blue mold and i have had the same trouble using their spore prints , it seems that their house is contaminated . So as you say that is also a possibility . I also do alot of work with P.Cyanescens and dont do any sterilisation at all with no problems .


AMEN

LOVE GOD