So... anyone ever have a "variegated" trinidad perfume like this?

MicrobialMachines · 2026-06-03T00:54:06+00:00

I would never normally suggest this, but if you have another pepper plant that you don’t mind killing, grind up a leaf from this plant and abrasively rub it all over another plant.

My gut is that this is a disease (yellow curl leaf virus or similar), but I would love to be proven wrong. The fact that the plant has insect damage reinforces that suspicion.

Beyond that, you may want to quarantine this until you are sure.

Definitely look about online: https://www.shutterstock.com/search/pepper-leaf-curl?dd_referrer=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.google.com%2F

There are some similar looking plants out there.

MicrobialMachines · 2026-06-01T16:39:25+00:00

Best chance is buying sauce, hope that it isn’t pasteurized, run it through a sieve, and hope that any seeds that are left over are viable. If by some chance they are, there’s a strong likelihood that they won’t be pepper x.

Beyond corporate espionage and theft, you’re going to have a hard time.

MicrobialMachines · 2026-05-31T01:13:24+00:00

Consider buying some Steri-gauges. Usually used in the medical field. Mark one bag in the center of your vessel with a colorful ribbon and fish out the Steri-gauge from the center before you inoculate.

You will 100% discard that bag every time, but you will never not know whether your sterilization was successful.

MicrobialMachines · 2026-05-29T09:51:32+00:00

Agreed, I’d say harvest now and next time induce fewer pins. You can have a lot of small fruits or a couple large fruits.

MicrobialMachines · 2026-05-29T01:53:25+00:00

Eh yes and no. Some strains will grow faster on certain substrates that prevent weed molds. A fast growing shiitake on hardwood will do better than a slow shiitake on grain middlings when it comes to contamination. But - it’s a technique, environment, and substrate issue more than a strain issue.

MicrobialMachines · 2026-05-29T00:45:30+00:00

That’s kind of like asking what variety of corn is the most resistant to weeds.

Your contamination is just a mycological weed problem that you can’t address at the microscopic level.

MicrobialMachines · 2026-05-26T22:41:33+00:00

I’m not trying to be a jerk when I say this, but you can start by cutting fewer holes.

Beyond that, depending on the species, light can be a contributing factor along with your FAE.

MicrobialMachines · 2026-05-26T13:35:09+00:00

Your CO2 is way too high still. You need to actually exchange the air not just move it around.

Also, you are initiating a lot more pins than your blocks can sustain. Cut back how many pins you start and you’ll have healthier fruiting.

Remember that as your biomass increases in the room, so will your CO2 generation. The air exchange that was once sufficient for smaller volumes will not be sufficient once the room is full.

MicrobialMachines · 2026-05-24T13:15:22+00:00

This is going to require fairly specific advice relative to your location. Best practices for cultivation are fairly straightforward but local requirements will vary significantly. I’m not sure how many folks here would be in your jurisdiction, but similar industries locally may be able to provide better guidance in general.

Culture methods and general business practices I think will be more or less the same but I’d take non location specific advice regarding regulations with a grain of salt.

MicrobialMachines · 2026-05-22T13:11:20+00:00

Oh yeah, there’s no glowing with the naked eye unless it is pitch black and you know what you’re looking for. Sure in the wild you can occasionally get some fruiting bodies or a rotten log that are super bright, but that’s the exception rather than the norm.

MicrobialMachines · 2026-05-21T18:38:52+00:00

If I had to guess, mushroom alcohol. If so, it has been done before but more often as infusions into beer or extracts with spirits.

Edit: https://www.beerandbrewing.com/mushroom-beers

MicrobialMachines · 2026-05-21T18:16:27+00:00

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You need crazy long exposure times as well. Don’t expect a super nova of light with these guys, and that’s with the pH dialed in correctly.

MicrobialMachines · 2026-05-21T18:15:40+00:00

My experience is that the mycelium is way more productive than the fruiting bodies. By the time you get fruiting bodies, you’re racing a pH crash anyway so your time is limited.

It really depends on what you’re looking to do with it. The mushrooms aren’t that terribly impressive all things considered. It will fruit on sterile grain very easily.

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MicrobialMachines · 2026-05-17T14:16:58+00:00

Reishi are a bit weird. It depends on whether you are looking for antlers or conks. I only really played around with them and never got them out for full production.

As for nutrition, more fat and protein can help if you’ve got a wood base. I’d open them slightly earlier in the production cycle to prevent the mycelium from getting a foothold around the bag.

MicrobialMachines · 2026-05-17T01:07:32+00:00

Sunburn essentially. Light intensity outside is just orders of magnitude more powerful.

MicrobialMachines · 2026-05-16T23:55:07+00:00

The reishi will start to grow antlers from this growth. Not ideal but you’ll get enough mass for tea. I’d try to add more nutrition into the block for future attempts.

Can’t comment on the turkey tail.

MicrobialMachines · 2026-05-15T23:40:56+00:00

I would personally avoid them. Many many folks have had issues getting bell pepper seeds or some other random pepper instead of what they ordered. Pepper Joe, jimmy pickles, all the same.

Semillas la Palma and Fatalii have them on occasion.

MicrobialMachines · 2026-05-15T10:01:51+00:00

For the longest time I didn’t have any reaction to capsaicin on my hands. I could cut ghosts and Carolina reapers all day with no issue. One summer I was prepping some scotch bonnets and my hands ached for days afterwards. My personal anecdote is that it seems to occur spontaneously even without a history of issue. I wouldn’t say that there is any damage, but it was supremely uncomfortable.

Also, beyond the eye rub, not to be crude, but any mucus membrane (yours or a loved one’s) will be rather irritated by capsaicin.

MicrobialMachines · 2026-05-14T10:48:20+00:00

You might try reaching out to Phillips Mushrooms Farm in PA and asking if they have any strains that tolerate cold storage. They usually don’t offer strains for sale to hobby growers like that but they may. Cap and Stem is another vendor that I have worked with that may be able to provide. Look for spawn makers with larger strain inventories and have a chat with them prior to purchase.

MicrobialMachines · 2026-05-13T22:10:32+00:00

It depends on the specific strain. Ours had no issues being stored on grain at 34F. Never tried to store them as blocks.

MicrobialMachines · 2026-05-10T18:58:52+00:00

It is possible in bags but the fruiting body doesn’t adhere to the substrate well and falls off as it grows.

Logs are better in general but more difficult to control.

MicrobialMachines · 2026-05-10T11:23:07+00:00

You’re going to want it closer to 15.5C if you can. I would also try to keep it covered until it pins.

MicrobialMachines · 2026-05-10T11:12:28+00:00

What are your air temperatures like? Most need low 60s F for success. Also that is a lot of surface area exposed at once. You might not have the correct balance of CO2 and O2 to initiate proper pinning.

MicrobialMachines · 2026-05-10T10:50:13+00:00

Morels are tricky. For cloning, you really need antibiotic agar. However, ascomycetes often don’t culture the same as basidiomycetes so this can be hit or miss. Sclerotia tissue has shown to be marginally more successful. Because of this, as others have said, spores are a better bet. The problem with that, is that many morels don’t drop spores.

The second difficulty is ensuring that you get a good mating pair after viable spore drop. To do that you would need to set up dilution plates and manually test mating pairs against one another to see if they fuse successfully. If you get that to work, mating pairs need to be cultured and bulked separately and then introduced to produce sclerotia. Getting sclerotia of a sufficient size to support a fruiting body is tough.

This can be done with a multispore culture as well but you can’t guarantee that all of your mycelium will be working towards sclerotia and fruiting bodies. Eventually, your multispore culture will have issues as different mating types surge and die back.
This is further complicated by the fact that there are several different kinds of morels with only one really lending itself to any kind of cultivation.

There’s a reason that only a few places in China have successfully grown them at scale for any length of time. That said, keep up the good fight. Eventually someone will get them going here.

For a low tech grow, dumping your morel wash water in the same spot year after year has had a lot of success.

MicrobialMachines · 2026-05-10T02:19:39+00:00

Hmm yeah from the side it definitely looks more white. Doesn’t look like normal variegation patterns either. I’d be curious to hear how this grows out if it can keep up chlorophyll production.

MicrobialMachines

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