growkit question

[boombox11]

the growkits from *******.com, how easy are they to get contaminated? i had a growkit that i bought at a samrtshop in amsterdam and they're instructions we're really confusing. and by the way.... that growkit got contaminated cuz i didnt know what the hell i was doing. but with *******, the instructions were simple. i got the kit today and i followed every step on their website. hope everything goes right.

 

[tryptonaut]

I always use an alcoholic disinfection-spray before opening the grwokit. With that spray I disinfect everything involved, the box on the outside, the container I will put the box in, my hands and arms. Then I use distilled water only to spray the growkit.
When it's all done I fan the kit daily without disinfecting anything and I never got an infection in the cake. However when I take the cake out for harvest I disinfect my hands and arms before.

 

[boombox11]

i put the kit in one of my bathrooms and i cleaned and scrubbed the whole room with lysol w/ bleach. i didnt clean the kit though. i also washed my hands and applied hand sanitizer before i opened the kit and touched anything involving it. i only used cold water tap as it was stated in the instruction. i dunked my kit instead of spraying it. was it safe what i did?

 

[Viaticus]

Sounds like your precautions were good so there shouldn't be any problems. But this also depends of the country and the building you live in. For example, in old wooden houses it's a lot harder to avoid contaminations than in newer buildings.

 

[Rutger]

Fully grown mycelium is not likely to be infected that easly. Most contaims that end up in these kits were probably already there since the beginning. After dunking the cake a few times there can be some other fungus taking over the kit but this probably only because the mycelium is getting weaker.

I really threaded these kits horribly a few times, the only thing you really have to watch out is to make sure the kit does not dry out and that the shrooms will get enough air when the shrooms are pinning. But ofcourse this is just me being lazy, its always better being safe than sorry.

 

[boombox11]

thanks for the help. i just got my first flush today... they were so beautiful! it was a total of 159 grams. ill try to post up some pictures once i figure it out. thanks again and ill keep you guys updates on my next flush.

 

[HeartCore]

Dunking increases chance for contamination. To avoid it, you could prédunk in a 1/100 bleach/water solution for 5 minutes. Then rinse under the tap and put in cold tapwater, in the fridge, NOT the freezer.

Its never guaranteed that you wont get any contams. Some houses, mainly old ones, have very persistent molds in them and it can be a real issue to get rid of them.

Instead of spraying with tapwater, you could spray with sterilized tapwater which will reduce the chance on contamination more.

Looking forward to the pics!

 

[boombox11]

 

[boombox11]

 

[Guest]

I never sprayed anything, not disinfected my hands, always dunked with normal tap water...

The not spraying was because after every dunk I put a little bit of water under in the filter bag, so that way the humidity would go up quick...

Ok my end results we're 440 grams in total, so that was pretty good, but man 159 grams the first flush! That's really nice man!

Don't be uncarefull just because I was... Better to be safe then sorry

 

[HeartCore]

The not spraying was because after every dunk I put a little bit of water under in the filter bag, so that way the humidity would go up quick...

Thats a big nono in mushroom cultivation since small pools of water are known to host big numbers of unwanted bacteria really quick.

If you want to keep humidity up, either use perlite (messy) or papertowels (keukenrol), I use the latter personally. Just spray the towels and replace every few days.

 

[Guest]

Yeah I know I've read it, but I was pretty careless with my first growkit...
Although it turned out well, next time I'm gonna be a lot more carefull.

 

[boombox11]

what did you guys do with the filter bag??? mine is pretty wet still from my last flush. did you guys leave it open or sterilize it in any way. i just dont want it to get contaminated when i put my kit in when sticking my whole arm in there.

 

[HeartCore]

You could spray the inside of the bag with a bleech/water solution (1/100) ONLY if the bag is NOT in direct contact with the mycelium. I dont know if thats the case since I never owned a growkit

 

[tryptonaut]

put the kit in one of my bathrooms and i cleaned and scrubbed the whole room with lysol w/ bleach. i didnt clean the kit though. i also washed my hands and applied hand sanitizer before i opened the kit and touched anything involving it. i only used cold water tap as it was stated in the instruction. i dunked my kit instead of spraying it. was it safe what i did?

LOL you sterilized the whole bathroom but didn't sterilize the box you brought in? That's kind of ... useless

Well, mushrooms ain't a heart transplant, so you need not to be 100% sterile. Just use your brain and try to sterilize the most possible infection sources (the bucket your kit is gonna sit in, your hands and your arms).
If you followed that and you still have infections in your kit then you have to worry about your own health because you have too many spores in the air around you. Mushroom spores (from other kind of mushrooms) will make you sick and shorten your life, just like cigarette smoke, only more extreme!

 

[boombox11]

hi... i just have quick question after dunking... i just had my first harvest and i dunked the kit for alittle over 12 hours in the fridge. i put it back in the bag and then after a few days later i remembered that i forgot to clean the top soil of the kit. i left some small pins and little pieces of the stem (alittle bluish color because of bruising) of shrooms that i just harvested. right now the small pieces of stems are getting covered with mycelium. is that wrong what i did. is my kit doomed now or is there a chance of the kit growing another healthy flush?

 

[HeartCore]

hi... i just have quick question after dunking... i just had my first harvest and i dunked the kit for alittle over 12 hours in the fridge. i put it back in the bag and then after a few days later i remembered that i forgot to clean the top soil of the kit. i left some small pins and little pieces of the stem (alittle bluish color because of bruising) of shrooms that i just harvested. right now the small pieces of stems are getting covered with mycelium. is that wrong what i did. is my kit doomed now or is there a chance of the kit growing another healthy flush?

I dont think its a big problem and I think its better to leave it as much undisturbed as possible for now.

 

[boombox11]

well, my kit didnt get contaminated and shrooms are growing. it isnt as much as my first flush though. and i've notice that alot of shrooms are starting to grow on the sides of the kit. at my first flush i only noticed one shroom and now theres alot... around 20 pins so far. any advice on how to minimize the growing from the sides?

 

[HeartCore]

well, my kit didnt get contaminated and shrooms are growing. it isnt as much as my first flush though. and i've notice that alot of shrooms are starting to grow on the sides of the kit. at my first flush i only noticed one shroom and now theres alot... around 20 pins so far. any advice on how to minimize the growing from the sides?

You could blind the sides with black tape, that should prevent them somewhat.

 

[phalaris]

it isnt as much as my first flush though.

maybe some of you who have more experience with growing shrooms have some idea; why do get flushes smaller ?

-is it because of the natural programme the shroom follows
-or because of depletion of nutrients ?

starch depletion itself can not be the limiting factor I think, so maybe with an injection of trace nutrients after eachs flush, the cake keeps on producing ?

any thoughts ?