Hi group,
Several years ago, I took up
mushroom growing/mycology as a hobby. I had good success with several edible mushrooms. It was the straight forward method. Spores on agar, agar to grain, then grain to grain. Finally, spawning the colonized grain to bulk and fruiting.
Things were going pretty well. An occasional infected jar, occasionally an infected tub, but no big deal.
Unfortunately, I've been battling mold for months. The grain colonization seems to go fine, the agar dishes are good, everything seems fine. The tubs colonize quickly, but then boom--mold.
I'm afraid this is what happened. Last fall I was cleaning up, and found a badly mold infected jar. I opened it (in the basement), and could literally see a puff of mold spores go air born.
I'm afraid I contaminated my house, everything has failed for months.
I had been using coir/vermiculite with some cow manure and a bit of
coffee grounds. Carefully given a good pasturization, careful attention to moisture content.
When the contamination started, I went back to basics--straight coir/verm (no other additives). Still, contamination. I tried everything--growing in tubs, growing in shoe boxes, skipping the bulk substrate, an casing the grains directly.... Everything seems to result in mold. And right at the very last step of fruiting.
How do I trouble shoot this? I'm a chemist by training. I understand the importance of following accepted practices. I'm pasturizing until an internal temp of 160F for an hour. Good practices are being followed. I just cannot get this to work anymore. I had numerous successful grows, but I'm afraid this mold spore thing really messed me up!