hi Ashley here and today I'm going to talk about two types of contamination that I commonly get and
see in other grows trichoderma and bacillus are two common types of contamination that
I regularly get and today I'm going to show you what they look like how they grow what to do if
you do get them and how to try to prevent it in the future so let's get started the first
type of contamination I commonly see in drain spawn bags are jars is bacillus also known as
wet spot or sour rot it looks very wet and slimy often dull grayish or brown in color and can be
identified by its awful foul smell the scent is often described as rotten apples or dirty socks
or sometimes like rotten eggs it's absolutely awful spelling alternatively clean grain spawn
smells really earthy like fresh grains or kind of like tobacco in addition when you have wet
spot occasionally the greens will refuse to colonize the mycelium that does colonize will
avoid the infected grains causing the mycelium to grow in some spots and not at all in others
lastly sometimes yellow or clear liquid will be excreted from the mycelium this is called
metabolites or mycopius metabolites are produced by mycelium either as a response to competitive
stressors like bacillus or to Aid in the digestion of food and the environment small amounts of
metabolites aren't anything to worry about however large quantities are a solid indication of a
bacterial infection like any bacteria bacillus is extremely fast growing a single cell reproduces
every 20 minutes and will multiply into a nearly a million dollar bacteria in less than 14 hours
1 trillion bacteria evolve from a single parent cell if you do identify that you have bacillus
in one of your bags and the grains won't colonize it's best practice to just toss the bag but if you
have a bag that is fully colonized and only has a few metabolites but looks and smells healthy
a lot of times it's okay to send a book the best way to eliminate bacillus is to properly prepare
and sterilize Your Greens and that's a topic that I'm going to cover in a future video the second
type of contamination that I frequently see is trichoderma a common type of mold also referred to
as green mold trike or trich trichoderma starts off bright white and then quickly turns green
within a day it has a very powdery texture unlike mycelium and once the spores turn green they start
to disperse throughout the air and spread quickly trichoderma can cause serious problems in mushroom
cultivation issues with trichoderma are most prominent in the fall and occur most often in
later flushes trichoderma has a very fast growth rate and can grow up to an inch per hour which
is about three times faster than oyster mushrooms it grows between 50 and 80 degrees Fahrenheit and
99 humidity which is also the perfect environment for mushrooms to grow it will try to overtake any
area and consume the whole Space if you let it trichoderma can encase a whole tub within a week
if you suspect green mold a good test is the Q-tip test take a Q-tip and gently wipe it across the
face of the suspect mold if some of the powdery mold easily comes off on the Q-tip then it's
likely mold if nothing shows on the Q-tip then it's probably clean mycelium or just bruising
of the mycelium Growers often ask me if they can save their tub if they have mold for me once I see
green I immediately put the tub outside and toss it it's just not worth risking other grows for
that one tub if that's your only tub and you don't mind the risk you can try cutting out the mold and
then spraying that area with 70 isopropyl I don't really recommend this because it has a very high
risk of cross-contamination and a low chance of success for more information on this method fill
a golden teacher has a great contamination video and it shows exactly how to cut out the mold and
it starts at 4 minutes and 46 seconds so check his video out if you do decide to do this make
sure you isolate the tub away from other grows or potentially do it outside contamination is always
going to be a factor when growing mushrooms no matter how sterile you are there is always
risk for a contamination every Mycologist will encounter it at some point or another personally
I get about 25 contamination which could be in a spawn bag in a monotub or a petri dish
some of my tips to prevent contamination is to be as sterile as possible at every step of the
game before I start I always sanitize my work area and tools with 70 isopropyl make sure not to use
99 because it evaporates too quickly then before every grow I spray and wipe down everything I can
with 70 isopropyl I also take a shower and wear clean clothes finally getting an air purifier for
the room is a great way to reduce contamination I keep mine running 24 7 in my workspace and by
following these protocols I have greatly reduce my contamination thank you guys so much for watching
and if you have any additional questions please feel free to email me thank you bye