give us a picture, I'll try to help.
I wouldn't worry about the beige looking myc, it happens....

In my experience 99% of what goes wrong, starts with the syringe makeing process.
Unsterile syringe contents will contaminate 9 times out of 10, if not more.
Also not flameing the needle in between jars, is asking for it.
Injection of lots of spore or liquid mycelium is another baddy, the more stuff you squirt into your sterile jars, the higher the statistical odds gets for intruducing contaminants, aim for 1ml or less.
If you take care of that, you should have 0 problems.

Once in the jars and past the 4 day mark, you should realy be all good. Provided you make provision for adequate gas exchange. Especialy important when working with grains. I find a simple 10ml hole plugged with aquarium filter floss (polyfill), is the best for this. Twyvek can be used but I find it hard to get a nice seal that prefents dust and airborne spores getting past. DON'T use cotton wool, it gets soggy, is crap hard to get a needle through, and is made of stuff the shrooms can eat.


I cant even remember when last I had a contam, and I'd hate to say how many jars I make in a month.

Of course, and this is personal opinion, which could be influenced by environmental factors...I think cakes are a waste of time.

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I wanna start growing mushies too but nervous because I have no clue what im doing. It will take me a while to understand it all and be confident that im not wasting my money =D. Perfection is key.

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Smoke bud.

I'm happy to announce that 7 or 8 jars now have healthy mycelium growth, some are more mature than others but they're all doing well (the one without mycelium doesn't have signs of anything, no mold/contam either which is good)

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Everything's still going well.. I finally realized that the reason one of the jars didn't respond at all is because I totally forgot to inoculate it.. during the inoculation process I had gotten mixed up with the jars at one point and forgot which ones I had already done and I guess as such I left one out.. I'm going to wait another week most likely until I birth them and then into the fruiting chamber it is (I'll post some pics when I put together the fruiting chambers and then again when the cakes are ready to go in)

Good news is all the jars that did in fact respond responded positively and are at least 75% colonized.. man I'm getting excited

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I just ordered Z Strain last night for my first attempt to grow mushrooms!I'm excited as hell but a little nervous I'm not going to do something right. Subscribed..

Nice all I can say is be as sterile as possible and you should do fine

The 7 jars are colonizing a bit slowly at this stage so I moved them to a slightly warmer location in hopes that they'll pick up the pace.. I also set up my fruiting chamber so once all the temps and humidity are stable I'll get some pics

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Alright so here's a pic of my set up as promised.. I figured I'd take the picture without flash to give it a cooler effect plus it shows the spectrum of light (its a 15W daylight fluorescent tube)

The temperature inside the chambers is about 75-80F and between 90-100% humidity.. I NEVER thought I would get it on the first shot but I guess the way I set it up it all just came together

The light fixture is fixed to a wood slat which is fixed onto the inside of the lid of the bin and it's all very secure.. the wire runs clean too

Comments welcome and appreciated

EDIT: I'll most likely be giving it another 10-11 days until birthing for the mycelium to get a good hold on the cakes and sort of spread inward and I'll be checking the cakes every 3-4 days or so in the meantime to monitor their progress

Attached Images

09.07.2009 005.jpg (21.6 KB, 67 views)

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very nice, how are you maintaining that tempeture for the cakes? fish heater?

Thanks, I actually don't have a heater at all, it's just as you see it and it's in a closet so the temperature doesn't fluctuate much at all

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I've got my eye on this one. Great job so far.