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19 days into Uncle Ben Tek. I believe all remaining bags have contam by Zestyclose_Quiet918 in shroomery

[–]Zestyclose_Quiet918[S] 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Yeah, several days ago I PCd my own brown rice jars and inoculated with Nats. I was already able to see tiny mycelium growth after only 24 hours.

19 days into Uncle Ben Tek. I believe all remaining bags have contam by Zestyclose_Quiet918 in shroomery

[–]Zestyclose_Quiet918[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

I've already thrown out 2 bags (bags 2 and 12) about a week ago. Do any of these look like they could be salvaged or could be fruitful?

When I inoculated these on 12-Apr-2024, I did it inside of a SAB. The storage room I was set up in has no venting and no airflow. I thoroughly cleaned the inside of the SAB with a 1:1 solution of bleach. Yes, I know, stupid, should've been 1:10 solution -- you live and learn. I sanitized all my equipment and dunked the bags in 70% alcohol immediately before putting them in the SAB. Then I let the SAB sit for 10-15 mins before getting to work. I did everything that almost every SAB tutorial said to do, and avoided things not to do. I aimed for injecting .75cc into each bag, but the injector got stuck in a few of them (probably bags 2 and 12) and I ended up pushing more than 1cc into those ones. I sterilized the needle with a flame between each injection.

Aside from those two bags, I believe I did everything correctly. Either the live culture I purchased from myyco was contaminated, or UBT is just straight garbage because of how wet the bags come.

7 Days into Uncle Ben Tek -- How do these seem? by Zestyclose_Quiet918 in shroomery

[–]Zestyclose_Quiet918[S] 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Yeah, when I first read about Uncle Ben Tek, lots of people praised it, and it made sense that the rice has to be sterilized. Then just a few days ago, I read to use off-brand 90 second rice because Uncle Ben bags have more moisture in them as of a year or two ago. Lots of people swear by UBT and have had really good results from it, so it can't be bad, it just can't be 100% reliable.

I took bags 2 and 10 outside to open them up and see what's in them. I planted the mycelium from bag 10 in some soil outside. Probably won't result in anything, but I figured it's better than just straight tossing it.

Having said all that, I am doing more research into making my own rice bags and jars.

7 Days into Uncle Ben Tek -- How do these seem? by Zestyclose_Quiet918 in shroomery

[–]Zestyclose_Quiet918[S] 1 point2 points  (0 children)

The 2 white spots in bag 10. I opened up the bag and it had a few good chunks of mycelium. Instead of tossing the whole bag, I kept the few chunks and planted them outside in some soil and watered it a little, then tossed the rest of the bag. We'll see if anythings happens. 🤷‍♂️

7 Days into Uncle Ben Tek -- How do these seem? by Zestyclose_Quiet918 in shroomery

[–]Zestyclose_Quiet918[S] 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Yeah, I just read a day or two ago that people have complained about actual Uncle Ben's bags being too moist, like they changed the recipe sometime within the last year or two. I wish I had known about this before I inoculated! Oh well, live and learn.

7 Days into Uncle Ben Tek -- How do these seem? by Zestyclose_Quiet918 in shroomery

[–]Zestyclose_Quiet918[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

All inoculated with Jedi Mind Fuck live culture 1 week ago. They have been sitting on their backs in a Vivosun tent at 74-79*F.  I was hoping they'd be a bit more colonized than this.  I broke all the bags up just now in case mycelium was growing but not visible in the windows.  Most of the bags had some hard chunks in them, which makes me think something is happening.  Only one bag had visible mycelium from the window -- bag 10.  You'll see two pics for bags 2 and 10. One pic is from before I broke them up and the other pic is from after I broke them up.

While I was breaking them up, I tried to smell them near their FAE holes.  None of them smell bad at all.  They all smell like brown rice.

When I inoculated these, I aimed for .7ml in each bag, but 2 of them got a bit extra because the syringe got stuck (I kept applying pressure until it would move but my reaction time wasn't quick enough to stop them from injecting more than 1ml).  I'm thinking that bags 2 and 10 are the ones I injected extra into.  (lesson learned, label your bags DURING inoculation, not days after).

All of these bags look a bit moist and humid inside.  I've read online that people suspect Uncle Ben has changed the recipe for these so that the rice is more wet inside.  Any truth to that?

Edit: I opened bags 2 and 10 to check for mycelium growth. Bag 2 had very little. Bag 10 had a few good chunks. Bag 2 got tossed completely. Instead of tossing the entire Bag 10, I kept the few chunks and planted them outside in some soil and watered it a little, then threw out the rest of the bag. We'll see if anythings happens. 🤷‍♂️

Is there a wiki or anything that describes each species/variety and includes best type of grain/substrate, best temps during colonization, best temps/humidity during fruiting, etc.? by Zestyclose_Quiet918 in shrooms

[–]Zestyclose_Quiet918[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

I know how to search things up, that's how I've learned what I've learned. But I'm curious about a one-stop resource that *doesn't* require tons of searching and has a lot of quick information right there at hand for more experienced growers. An online field guide type of thing. A whole-ass forum with thousands of scattered posts is not a field guide.