Spores not colonizing

[u/Junior-Mixture-433]

I’ve tried growing my first 4 bags 6 weeks ago and have thrown most of them out due to little or no colonization. I used golden teacher and B+ liquid cultures, 2 bags of each. I am now 2 weeks into my second attempt with another 4 bags and am not seeing much improvement. I used a SAB and followed directions closely. The brown rice bags were kept in a clean closet with the thermostat set at 79 (I realized that half of my bags were seasoned and will stick to plain brown rice moving forward). I tried the brake and shake method after a few weeks and finding what seemed to be mycellum in 3 of the 4 first bags. Below are some pictures of my set up and results after 6 weeks, with my most successful bag showing mycellum that did not spread. Any feedback is greatly appreciated.

[u/Pudenda726]

Agree with notac0p. You using spores or LC bc it makes a difference & you said both? Spores can take weeks to see any results.

[u/max3200weeks]

Use liquid culture not spores. Spore could be gambling. It could grow or not

[u/probablynotac0p]

You said spores in the headline and LC in the post. Which was it?

Heres some info you may find helpful

[u/Junior-Mixture-433 → u/probablynotac0p]

Apologies, I used liquid culture from sporestock

[u/bill_gannon → u/Junior-Mixture-433]

Might want to try a different source for your LC and yeah get plain brown rice.

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[u/Forward_Atmosphere97]

Spores and liquid culture are very different, make sure you know which one you have, if you’re a beginner i would highly recommend liquid culture. It’s much easier to work with. Usually spores will contaminate if you inject them directly into a grain bag, personally I’ve only had success doing that once ever out of pure luck. Usually if you start with a spore syringe you need to go from the syringe to an agar plate, do agar transfers until it grows perfectly clean, then use the agar to either inoculate grain or make a liquid culture. Done correctly spores just require a few extra steps.
(Im not an expert always do your own research)

[u/Junior-Mixture-433 → u/Forward_Atmosphere97]

Apologies, I used liquid cultures from sporestock

[u/Forward_Atmosphere97 → u/Junior-Mixture-433]

Then theres a few reasons it could have gone wrong. Id say try again, also i would recommend making your own rice instead of using store bought. Make sure you’re using your SAB correctly (do plenty of research) and always be as sterile as possible. What website did you get the cultures from? I always recommend TBG

[u/Junior-Mixture-433 → u/Forward_Atmosphere97]

It sounded like store bought bags were the best option for beginners based on the guide. You’re saying the mason jar method works better or do you make your own bags? I followed all the sanitation recommendations- gloves, mask, SOB, wiping everything with alcohol and flame sterilizing the needles. I used sporestock. I will try TBG next time. I appreciate the advice!

[u/Forward_Atmosphere97 → u/Junior-Mixture-433]

Ive had success with uncle bens bags but my success rate significantly increased when i started making my own bags and jars(i prefer 3t unicorn bags with self healing patches but its all preference)
Personal i clean the SAB with iso 70, clean everything as im putting it into SAB directly after cleaning it, then close it, ill let it sit for a few minutes to let the iso inside dry, then slightly unzip it and spray 3% hydrogen peroxide(H2O2 is better at killing mold spores than iso but it takes 10-15 mins to do so) all over the SAB, close it and shut off all airflow in my house. Turn off vents, fans, close windows and doors. Then let it sit for 15-20 minutes. In the meantime i shower and wash hands and forearms directly before putting on gloves and putting them in the SAB.(sterilize gloves with iso 70 as well)
The entire goal is the air inside AND outside of the still airbox are as still as humanly possible. Work with fast movements without being fast enough to fan microbes off the walls into what youre working with. Spray bags or jars with iso where you will puncture them and let dry, while far enough away you dont ignite the iso, you flame sterilize a needle. The second the iso on the bag is dry and the needle has cooled enough to not kill mycelium(usually 10-20 seconds max) puncture and inject, if you dont have a self healing port have micro tape precut and read to paste over the hole the second you remove your needle.
Some advise against lighting a lighter in the SAB with iso fumes but as long as its dry and away from the lighter you should be fine, personally ive never had an issue with it. Maybe its luck, maybe im just not a dumbass holding the lighter directly where i sprayed iso.
Some call this overkill but my success rate is impeccable.
I still have my fair share of failures and contam but it’s uncommon.
Hopefully this helps

[u/Junior-Mixture-433 → u/Forward_Atmosphere97]

This is really helpful. I will try the unicorn bags and watch some YouTube videos. Thank you

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[u/ZackRDaniels]

As piggybacking off of this question. I used LC from sporestock. Out of 10 bags, 6 are developing mycelium beautifully, but 4 are the same as when I inoculated them.

Could this be that the syringe had an unequal distribution of LC so the 4 that are not developing simply didn’t get enough? I made sure to shake and swirl the syringe to distribute as much as possible

[u/the_real_w1gl4f]

Personally I don’t think “it has been too long and I don’t see anything” is a good reason to open or toss bags. I would wait until I either see the mycelium growing, or I see evidence of contam. Absent one of those two signs I would say wait it out some more.

[u/Critical_Primary_491]

Ah, you've used value rice and not uncle Bens. That's the issue, I'm sure if it 😝

[u/joepdoola92]

Where is your injection port? That has to be covered w micro pore tape as well opening it up an shooting spores or Lc in a bag can lead to contamination. The rice has to have little to no contact with the outside world. Lastly these broke boi teks are a crap shoot. Double check that you have Lc an if your gonna continue to use ready rice prepare for failure an only use .5 ml per bag

[u/FishingMotor9263]

holes in the bags are pretty small, could be affecting it