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MEDICINAL MUSHROOM GROWING KITCHEN
ROW WOOD AND STRAW LOVING MUSHROOMS IN YOUR KITCHEN. PLUG SPAWN DOWELS ARE USED TO INOCULATE LOGS, OR ARE EASILY USED IN THE KITCHEN FOR BOTTLE CULTIVATION TO PRODUCE SMALL SIZED MUSHROOM CROPS IN A SHORT PERIOD OF TIME DEPENDING ON THE SPECIES GROWN./B>
Dedicated to RWM specifically for his use of a natural contamination barrier to grow mushrooms.
BACKGROUND
Mushrooms have been in use for many centuries, but not just as a food. They are used to treat many illnesses. Mushrooms are used as a gourmet food, combating diseases (such as cancer, bacterial, and viral), and for religious experiences or visions. Many cultures regularly use mushrooms for medicinal and gourmet purposes. Recent scientific studies have led to the discovery and isolation of compounds produced by medicinal mushrooms that have therapeutic properties. Some of these mushroom compounds are now used to make pharmaceutical drugs.
Common mushroom names are determined by Genus species, strain, and description. All living organisms are classified scientifically by their Genus species. The mushroom species is broken down into individual strains. An analogy is species is to humans, as strain is to Black/White/Latin/Asian humans. An example of this is the Shiitake mushroom. Its scientific name is Lentinula edodes, and its growing environments classify its strains as wide-range (WR), cold (CW), and warm (WW) weather. Some strains grow better in a cold climate, others do better in a warm climate, and some are in between.
The mushroom life cycle is divided into three main parts: mycelium growth, fruiting, and reproduction. The mycelium growth stage happens first, and comes from germinating spores. It looks like a fuzzy white mold, and it allows the mushroom to obtain water and nutrients. This fuzzy white growth is called mycelium. The mushroom begins its fruiting cycle after the mycelium has colonized enough substrate. During the fruiting stage fruit bodies appear. The fruit body is what most people think of when they hear the term ushroom. The fruit bodies are responsible for reproduction via the production of mushroom spores. Mature fruit bodies release millions of spores into the environment, and these spores allow the mushroom to reproduce itself. The spores also allow for the mushroom to spread to different locations. The most common fruit body is that of a stem and cap. The cap sits on top of the stem and produces spores. As the fruit body matures, the cap opens up to release these spores.
The majority of mushrooms grow on wood or compost, with some that are parasitic to plants and insects. Some of these mushrooms take a short period to grow, and others take a long period. Cultivation is done on a micro-scale or macro-scale basis. Micro-scale productions are great for individuals who want to experiment with mushrooms for their own personal use. Macro-scale production is done on many different levels. It is done to supply family and friends, or to produce quantities sufficient to supply local or industrial markets. There are places around the world that base the majority of their economy on the production of mushrooms.
MATERIALS AND METHODS
There are two main types of production methods, natural and composite. Natural cultivation follows nature growth cycle of the mushroom. Examples are inoculated compost beds and logs. The composite method uses processed materials such as sawdust or chopped wheat straw with nutritional supplements. Composite cultivation produces mushrooms on a much faster time scale, however, natural cultivation produces higher quality mushrooms. Producing mushrooms using jars is the quickest method for a beginner to successfully grow mushrooms and learn about their growth cycle.
Logs must be obtained alive preferably during the their dormant season (after leaves fall). Use tops and trunks, common average size used is 3"-8" inch diameter and 3'-3.5' feet long. Use what size is best manageable by you. Do not remove the bark, it helps maintain moisture and keep out foreign fungi.
Inoculate logs soon after harvesting to avoid contamination and drying out. Outdoor cultivation inoculations are best done in the early spring or thru the fall before winter. Use a 5/16drill bit with common household drill to make holes in the log for insertion of dowel plug spawn.
Drill a diamond pattern in the log; it also looks like a spiral pattern when done on straight logs. Start at one end and drill a hole 1 inch in from the end, then drill holes in a straight line down the log every 5-6 inches. Return to the first hole in the row and begin a second row of holes parallel to it about 2 inches over. Stagger the holes in this row by starting your first hole at approximately half way between the 1st and 2nd holes drilled in the first row. Therefore the second row should have its first hole approximately 3-4 inches from the end of the log.
After drilling the entire log inoculate immediately, meaning don drill holes and inoculate at a later date, do it all the same day. After hammering the dowel into the hole it must be sealed off. Seal holes with melted wax such as Bee, cheese, or plug wax. Paraffin works but shrinks in cold temperatures and might fall off.
Place the logs in a shaded area. Put them above or on the ground, laying down or standing up. The closer to the ground the more humidity the logs will get. Logs grow best with about 1 inch of rainfall a week. Watering the logs works too, but don keep them constantly wet. Water them based on your climate's weather pattern.
Logs begin to fruit naturally in the late summer thru fall. First fruits appear after about 6-12 months depending on when logs were inoculated and how well they were cared for based off your climate area. Bulk fruiting season temperatures are usually between 65-85 For lower depending on the strain. Remove mushrooms by picking or cutting them from the base of the bark.
Diamond/staggered drilling pattern
The materials needed for mushroom production using the jar method are easily found around the home, hardware store, and supermarket. The following are basic items needed to produce a wide range of mushrooms:
- Water- preferably spring, but distilled works too. Try to avoid tap water if possible because of the additives.
- Mason jars, bottles, or drinking glasses work too.
- Aluminum foil
- Dry measuring cups
- Mixing bowel and mixing utensil
- Pressure cooker, or pot with lid for to boil water for sterilizing
- Clean cloth, or paper towels of some sort
- 70% or higher isopropyl alcohol (rubbing alcohol) to sterilize working surfaces
- Disinfectant spray (Lysol) to help create a sterile room.
- Antibacterial soap (Dial) to clean hands.
- Thermometer
- Rubber gloves and/or dust mask
- Hydrogen peroxide as an antibiotic
- Open flame such as a lighter or propane torch for flame sterilization
- HEPA filter to help create a sterile working area
SUBSTRATE FORMULATION
The common industry standard by dry weight is 80% hardwood sawdust with 20% supplement. The most common supplement is millet and wheat bran. Water is mixed in until it barely drips from the substrate when squeezed with a fist. The use of both supplements to the sawdust versus just the bran or millet tends to produce better results. However, this is species and strain dependent, as different mushrooms have different needs. For example, Oyster and Shiitake mushrooms tend to grow better with a higher supplement level, but Reishi mushrooms show nicer fruit body formation when a lower supplement level to the sawdust is used.
Substitution of other supplements such as rye grain and/or brown rice flour work great too. The use of wheat bran and millet are just industry standards. The main purpose of the supplement is to add readily available nutrients to the mushroom in order to speed up production. Wheat bran is probably the cheapest supplement, but wild birdseed has shown increasingly great results and is very inexpensive.
Not all sawdust is the same. Sawdust varies from source to source and it holds moisture more or less based on its particle size, type, and initial moisture content. The best consistency of sawdust to use is a 50/50 mix of fine and coarse particles. The fine sawdust has the consistency of flour, where as the coarse is just above that or even as dense as hardwood mulch. Keep notes on formulas for replicating the substrate formula that works the best given your situation. Here is a generic fruiting formula by volume:
- 2 parts hardwood sawdust
- 1 part wheat bran
- Add water same as before
JAR PREPARATION
Mason jars are preferred, other jars or small drinking glasses (with tin foil covering) are substituted too. However, there is a greater chance for drinking glasses to crack in the sterilization process versus mason jars. There are 3 main parts to the jar: substrate, contamination barrier, and lid. Once a suitable container is found and loaded with substrate, then a contamination barrier is added and the container caped off for sterilization.
There are a number of ways to prepare the lid depending on the inoculation technique. If no holes are put into the lid, then a seal is created in the jar after sterilization. When the jar is opened, the seal pulls in the outside air contaminating the jar. To avoid this using two-piece mason caps, place the lid with the rubber sealing edge up, then screw down the band lightly. For one-piece jar lids simply leave them on loosely so their rubber gasket does not form a seal with the jar rim. After the jars have completely cooled from sterilization, then it is safe to tighten the lids down without a seal forming. The following photos are example of two types of caning lids with holes. One is for syringe injection, and the other is for plug spawn insertion.
The following steps outline the use of a natural contamination barrier made of dry un-supplemented fine sawdust. The finer sawdust particles provide better protection when used as a natural contamination barrier. The best combination is using the contamination barrier in conjunction with a filter disk or poly-fill covered lid holes. Poly-fill is used to plug holes in the lids. This is to protect the lid holes from contaminant entry until inoculation and then during incubation. Filter disks allow for better gas exchange, but need to be removed before inoculation like normal lids.
Step 1. Prepare the substrate by mixing the dry sawdust and supplement in a bowl. Slowly add water directly to the dry substrate, and thoroughly mix. The mixture should feel damp and cohesive. More or less water is used when experimenting to improve fruiting. A good test for proper water content is to squeeze the mixed substrate in your fist and the water should just barely drip from between your fingers.
Step 2. Fill the jar loosely, then pack and level the substrate evenly. Leave a 1/2" to 1" inch space at the top. To get an accurate leveling of the substrate, loosely load the jar and level the top of the mixture. Cover the top to hold the mixture in and lightly tap the bottom of the jar on a solid surface to lower the mixture level evenly. Repeat this procedure until you are around 1/2"-3/4" from the top rim. Further level and adjust the substrate down to the desired height. NOTE: The more you pack the substrate in the jar the slower the rate of colonization throughout the substrate, however, tighter packed wood based substrates yield better mushrooms depending on the strain.
(Optional Step). Recommended when using plug spawn dowels for inoculation. Make a hollow core in the jar substrate by inserting a pen, pencil, marker, etcdown the center of the packed substrate from top to bottom. Next, plug the hole with cotton, or cover it with a small piece of paper. This prevents the top contamination barrier layer from filling in the hollow core of the substrate jar. The hollow core makes dowel insertion easier, and allows for faster colonization of the substrate from the inside out. This is a great for technique for Reishi cultivation.
Step 3. A top layer, i.e. contamination barrier, between 1/2" to 1" deep provides protection from outside contaminants entering during inoculation. Clean the inside of the jar down to the substrate level, and then fill the jar back to the top with plain dry sawdust, and level it off. What the upper dry sawdust layer does is act as a natural contamination barrier to outside competitor organisms, and lets the mushroom breath at the same time. It is also a natural food source for wood loving mushrooms like Shiitake, Reishi, Lions Mane, and Oyster.
Step 4. Place the lid on the jar. Screw the lid on loose, not tightened, so steam can penetrate. When steaming or pressure-cooking is performed, protect the jars from water dripping down from the underside of the pot lid. This water can get into the jars with lid holes and throw off the substrate formula. To prevent this, wrap some tin foil around the cap to ward off the water. The tin foil can be removed after steaming, or left on until inoculation time. The average pressure-cooking sterilization time for pint - pint sized jars is 40-45 minutes at 10 p.s.i. or higher. Double the time when steaming with a pot of boiling water. It is recommended to let the wet substrate sit over night at room temperature before sterilization. This allows any contamination that is heat resistant while dormant to become active and vulnerable to destruction by the heat.
JAR STERILIZATION
The wet substrate in the jars requires sterilization to kill off any organisms such as bacteria, molds, and other fungus that are already present in the substrate. Sterilization is achieved by heating the substrate to a high temperature, and then maintaining it for a period of time long enough to kill off these competitor microbes. A good practice, especially when steaming, is to let the un-sterilized substrate jars sit for 12-24 hours at room temperature. This allows contaminates in the wet substrate to begin growing, therefore, making them more susceptible to death by the high heat. The jars are safe for inoculation once they are completely cool. Sterilization times vary based on the type and amount of substrate in use, as well as the sterilization method. The two most common are steaming and pressure-cooking. Steam sterilizing substrate jars with regular cookware is possible, but pressure-cooking is recommended. A 3 piece vegetable steamer used for the steam sterilizing stage works good, but takes longer than pressure-cooking and is less reliable. A simple pot of boiling water is good too, as long as the jar bottoms are kept off the pot bottom where the high temperatures will crack the glass. The following are overviews for sterilizing jars:
Steaming - Heat a pot of water to a boil; make sure there is a rack or thick cloth to keep the containers off the pot bottom. Put the jars into the pot with the lids a little loose so that the steam can penetrate the jars quickly. The jars can sit in water but make sure boiling water can't slosh into the jars. Turn the heat down and gently steam the jars at a low boil in a tightly covered pot. A good tight fitting pot lid is essential for successful steaming. After the jars have cooled, tighten the lids and store them in a cool draft free place until ready to inoculate them.
Pressure-Cooking - Jars are sterilized quicker with a pressure cooker at 10-15 p.s.i., and with less chance for drying out versus steaming. Make sure there is enough water in your pressure cooker for it to run properly, but not so high that it gets into the jars. For proper and safe use of the pressure cooker, always refer to the manual that comes with it. If the cooker is used and has no manual, try to get one from the manufacturer before using it. Pressure cookers can be dangerous if used incorrectly. Pressure cooking sterilization times start when the cooker weight begins to rattle, not when heat is applied or when it sounds like the water is boiling. Sterilization times vary depending on the substrate type and amount sterilized. A general rule of thumb is the larger the substrate volume, the longer the sterilization time. Steaming takes about twice as long as pressure-cooking.
Be careful not to overheat the jars, this dries out the substrate. Drying is evidenced by slow and halted tissue growth. The mycelium will spread out but stop at a certain points depending on how dry the substrate has become. Generally, any halted growth with no contamination means dried substrate. The remedy is to increase the water content of the substrate formula in use.
JAR INOCULATION
Inoculation depends on the type of spawn used. The main types of spawn are plug, grain, and liquid culture. There are many techniques for the use of these types of spawn. The following outlines the use of plug spawn dowels to inoculate mason jars with a dry sawdust contamination barrier. Traditionally plug spawn dowels are used for natural cultivation using logs, however, jars stuffed with sawdust work too.
Inoculation of the Substrate Jars with no Holes - Remove the lid and insert 1 or more dowels equally spaced. One to five inoculations points works best with 1 in the middle and 4 equally spaced around the rim. Using multiple inoculation points around the edges of the jar (good for larger jars) speeds up colonization. The only downfall is the jar is prone to a higher chance of contamination. Keep in mind that the longer the lid is off, then the longer the period for contamination entry. A good contamination barrier is essential when using this technique.
Inoculation of the Substrate Jars with Holes - Remove the foil cover and insert plug spawn dowels into the pre-drilled holes. The only downfall is the jar is prone to a higher chance of contamination when not used promptly after cooling from sterilization. This method is safer than removing the lid completely for inoculation. However, these jars cannot be stored for long periods of time without the holes being sealed off. The holes allow for entry of contamination and loss of moisture. A simple solution to this dilemma is to tape off the holes after sterilization.
INCUBATION OF INOCULATED JARS
After inoculation of the jars, loosely tighten the lids or cover the holes and place them in a dark draft free place out of direct sunlight. During this phase the mushroom needs to breath. In the beginning there is ample oxygen (O2) inside the jar for initial growth of the mushroom onto the substrate. However, as the mushroom continues to colonize the substrate, carbon dioxide (CO2) begins to build up. Some mushrooms are more tolerant of high CO2 levels and continue to grow. Some mushrooms need gas exchange of the CO2 with O2 or else growth slows down to a halt. Therefore, a loose lid or lightly covered holes allows for gas exchange.
This is a simple tub in tub hot water incubator using stackable storage totes in two different sizes and a fish tank-heating element.
If the temperature is kept around 75 F degrees, then the start of colonization is seen in 3 to 5 days, depending on the mushroom strain. Good colonization is seen as thick white mycelium fanning out across the surface of the substrate. If it gets cold indoors, then an incandescent light shinning down on the tops of the jars is a good heating technique. Try to keep the temperature around 75 F degrees and don't overheat the jars. A warm overall house temperature is fine. The cooler the temperatures the slower the growth, but the rule is to not overheat.
Reasons for no Growth:
- The substrate jars were not allowed to cool down after sterilization, killing the spawn.
- Substrate mix is off, usually because it is too dry.
- The jars are contaminated, usually due to poor sterilization
- Bad spawn - spawn can be exposed to killing heat during shipping, mainly because of hot mailboxes in the summer. Most spawn can survive freezing, but extreme low temperatures are destructive.
JAR FRUITING
The jar is fully colonized and ready for fruiting. There are two main ways to go from here, fruit inside or outside the jar. If the jar has tapered sides, then the colonized substrate block called a akeis removable. The cake is fruited directly or in a asing Which method works best is dependent on the mushroom strain and your conditions.
A asingis simply burying the colonized mushroom substrate in a nutrient free moisture rich soil, called casing soil. The most common casing soil is made from a 1:1 volume mix of peat and vermiculite, commonly sold as seed starting material with lime added to balance the pH level. Cased cakes are completely buried whole and/or crumbled, or are placed with a top and bottom casing layer leaving the sides exposed. Which works best is again dependent on the mushroom strain.
Mushrooms fruit in waves called flushes, usually two or three flushes before the substrate becomes exhausted. A flush has occurred when the mushroom substrate puts out fruit bodies, then it goes dormant for period of time before putting out another flush. The first and second flushes usually produce the best fruit bodies. The following are a few general fruiting recommendations for some species of wood loving mushrooms:
Shiitake (Lentinula edodes): Fruits best outside of the jar as a cake like a mini sawdust block. Remove the Shiitake cake from its jar after full colonization, or leave it in the jar until the fully colonized Shiitake substrate begins to bark over. The barking over effect is seen as the mycelium turning brown, it is a natural Shiitake process by which the mycelium develops a protective layer to maintain moisture and protect itself from outside contamination. Cakes may or may not fully bark over before putting out fruit as seen in the following photos.
The left cake was removed before barking over had begun, but completely barked over before any fruit appeared. The right cake was kept in the jar until it began to bark over, and then put out fruit shortly after removal from the jar. A cold-water dunk helps to trigger fruiting, as most Shiitake strains tend to fruit best in colder temperatures. This is easily achieved by soaking the cake in a bowel of ice water for a few hours or longer (it is possible to drown the mushroom, so soak no longer than 6-12 hours). A cold-water dunk after a flush helps to trigger the next flush sooner as it cuts down the dormancy period and re-hydrates the colonized substrate.
Reishi (Ganoderma lucidum): Fruits best from the jar or as a fully cased cake. Removing the colonized substrate from the jar has had poor results vs. leaving it in the jar. The fruit tend to appear from the plugs used to inoculate the supplemented sawdust rather than forming randomly on the cake. If using liquid culture inoculation, then it is recommended that the sawdust have a good woodchip content for best results. Burying whole colonized cakes also has great results. Simply remove the intact colonized cake and burry it in clean casing soil with the plug-inoculated side facing up. Reishi fruit are slow growing and phototropic (grow towards light). The phototropism of the Reishi allows for interesting manipulation of the elongating fruit body. Reishi also put out two forms of fruit bodies, antlers (left) and conchs (right). The antler fruits form from low light and high CO2 , whereas the conch fruits form in an environment with high light and low CO2. Notice how the antler in the left picture makes a sharp almost right angle turn. This is due to Reishi phototropic response to light.
Lions Mane (Hericium spp): Fruits best inside the jar. It is slow growing and produces round beard like fruit bodies. Fruits best when jars are placed at an angle or on their sides so that the bearded teeth like structure of the fruit body can grow downward uninhibited. The fruit bodies are white in color (some are pinkish), and begin to yellow after maturity. For the best quality fruit bodies pick them before yellowing occurs. High humidity and medium indirect light work best for this species.
Oyster (Pleurotus ostreatus): An easy mushroom to work with, especially due to its fast growth. Performs well in and out of the jar, but not as a fully cased cake. Casing just the top and bottom of the cake while leaving the sides exposed works well. Cold shocking, such as an ice water bath also helps to stimulate fruiting similar to that of shiitake. Some strains of this species do not fruit except at colder temperatures. They prefer good indirect lighting conditions with high humidity and lots of good fresh air exchange. These types of mushrooms are great to experiment with as they grow and fruit on a wide variety of substrates, not just wood. They prefer a higher supplement ratio than the other mushrooms.
For mushroom cultivation terminology the first small mushroom fruit bodies to appear are called primordia, which form into mature mushroom fruit bodies. Some of the primordia form mutants called bhorts. These fruit bodies have stunted growth with deformed bodies. Recognition of these abhorts is easy after witnessing the growth and becoming familiar with the mushroom species at hand. Also, another form of mutant that appears is a blob of fungus with little or no fruit body shape.
The one thing all mushroom fruit bodies need is a moisture rich atmosphere. To maintain high humidity place the ready to fruit jars, cakes, or casings into a terrarium. The terrarium is designed to maintain high humidity. The amount of light and temperature range is dependant on the mushroom strain. However, average room temperature is usually perfect, except when cultivating cooler temperature mushroom strains.
TERRARIUM
The terrarium, or fruiting chamber, is the indoor garden where your mushrooms grow. The mushrooms get water from two main sources; the media they grow on and the air that surrounds them. The surrounding air requires high humidity with or without good atmospheric gas exchange (O2 <-> CO2) and the terrarium achieves these conditions. When the humidity starts to get low, the mushrooms can have fuzzy white mycelium growing on the tops of the caps. This is not contamination. The white fuzzy mycelium is natural and does not harm the mushroom. Other signs of low humidity are deformed, convoluted, or withering mushrooms and primordia. For the best growth very high humidity is required.
TERRARIUM TECHNIQUES
The most basic tool is the hand sprayer. The first rule is to never directly spray the mushroom. Other means of maintaining the humidity are using humidifiers. A therapeutic humidifier such as an ultra-sonic or cool mist work well, but only when rigged properly. Wet perlite is easy to use and good at transpiring moisture into the air, but it is messy to clean up.
Place the terrarium in normal room light or indirect sunlight. A low wattage fluorescent light gives off little heat versus its light intensity. Leave it on all the time if desired. However, a 12-hour on/off cycle works best and helps to maintain good humidity. If no humidifier is used, then regular spraying is required. Spray the sides of the terrarium with the finest mist possible and around the open area surrounding the mushroom. Try not to spray the mushroom directly as it may inhibit fruit body formation.
The main rule is not to heat the terrarium. Heating works against the humidity and causes drying. Lighting gives off heat and decreases the humidity. Therefore, cycling the light on and off allows the humidity to build back up during the dark cycle. Also keep any plant grow light (i.e. UV light) a safe distance from the terrarium, as the mushroom is susceptible to UV damage.
Soda Bottle - The soda bottle terrarium is very simple to make. Simply take an old clear plastic soda bottle and cut an end off. Then place it over the jar, cake, or casing. Which end you cut off determines atmospheric O2 and CO2 content. Cut the bottle top off for high CO2, or cut the bottle bottom off for low CO2 (plugging the top bottle mouth opening with poly-fill for air filtration decreases risk of contamination but it increases CO2 content too). Basically the bottle helps retain humidity, but is easily adapted to regulate atmospheric gases. Other containers work too such as a large jar or plastic container.
The top photo is of Reishi cakes cased in drinking cups covered with 2-liter cola bottles. The casing soil transpires moisture into the air, which is retained by the bottle to create a humid atmosphere. These Reishi casings are sitting on a windowsill for indirect sunlight, the only care needed is watering the casing. The bottom photo is of the same Reishi mushrooms just over one week later with the bottle terrarium removed.
Storage Tote - The storage tote terrarium is easy to build, and much bigger than using a bottle. They are very versatile too. Storage totes come in many sizes, shapes, and colors. The tote is rigged with a light and humidifier, or simply has clear plastic for indirect light with perlite to maintain the humidity.
The top terrarium is made from a 30-gallon tote with a 33-watt fluorescent tube light attached to the lid. Humidity is maintained using wet perlite and hand spraying. Since the light gives off a bit of heat, it is set on a 12-hour on/off timer to help maintain high humidity. The bottom terrarium is made from a clear tote set by a window to get indirect sunlight light. It also uses wet perlite and hand spraying to maintain humidity. It contains the Reishi casings from above that grew too big for the bottle terrarium.
Fish Tank This is a fancy version of the storage tote terrarium. It costs a bit more to put together, but makes for a very nice display. Use a 10-gallon fish tank or larger. Light the tank using indirect sunlight, or with a lighted fish tank hood. The lighted hoods come with an incandescent or fluorescent bulb, make sure they are not the lights that give off UV light. Humidify the tank with wet perlite and hand spraying. Fresh air exchange is achieved by installing a bubbler. Bubblers are easily made from an air pump used to pump air through aquarium stones contained inside water filled containers, like a jar.
CONTAMINANT SOURCE IDENTIFICATION
Contamination from molds, bacteria, and viruses appear in various colors from pastels to black. Handle these contaminated jars as you would rotten food. Isolate them from the rest to avoid cross contamination. Sometimes the mushroom will grow around the infected areas and contain it before it spreads. Otherwise, dispose of the contaminated ones outdoors, and clean the jars with mild bleach water and detergent.
If contamination of sterilized jars is a problem, then use the control jar technique. After the jars are steam sterilized, let them cool, tighten the lids and set one to the side as the control jar. Watch for any colored growths or changes in the appearance of the substrate jars over several days. Bacteria give off a rancid odor, and are easily detected by loosening the jar lid and checking for the odor. If there is contamination at this stage, the sterilization technique needs to be checked. Most likely it is not a long enough sterilization time. If the jars remain clean and unchanged, they are ready for inoculation. If contamination occurs after inoculation and the control jar has remained unchanged, then the spawn was contaminated or the contamination barrier was breached during inoculation.
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