Growing Mushrooms: PF Tek

Step 7 Inoculation

Inoculation is the process of introducing spores of your chosing into the sterilized substrate to take hold and grow.

In this step, be sure to take precautions to prevent contamination of the jars!!

Leave the jars in the pressure cooker until you are ready to Inoculate.

It is best to use a cleaned small room (such as a bathroom), HEPA flow hood or glove box when Inoculating.

Here is the basic order of things during the Inoculation procedure:

1. Open the pressure cooker
2. Remove a jar
3. Heat the syringe needle until it is red hot, with either a lighter or alcohol lamp
4. Remove the foil
5. Insert the needle into the hole you punched with a nail earlier
6. Inject some (about 1ml or so) of the spore saturated fluid into the substrate, on the wall of the glass jar. You should be able to see the needle tip and the water run down the side of the jar.
7. Repeat with the other nail holes
8. Replace the foil and continue with the next jar, reheat the needle if it touches anything unsterilized or every 3 or so jars to prevent contaminations.

See the second picture on this step for an example of contamination, green penicillium mold is a common contaminant. Yellow and pink discoloration is another sign of contamination.

Comments

[bwarman14]

Be careful not to get ripped off a lot of spore vendors on the net will do just that.
Use Mushroom Prints if you can, they are totally reliable and sometimes give away free spores and stuff with orders.

[g0pher]

contams can be a health hazard, some of them being very toxic. for example the black mold. if your jar is contaminated DO NOT OPEN IT, when you open a jar with mold in it, the spores go everywhere, and if inhaled in enough quantities, it will take you down. pressure cook the contaminated jars before opening to kill off the mold, then wear a mask and dispose of properly. i would just get rid of the whole thing, jar and all, your life is worth a lot more than a jar :)

[Raziel7]

I have opened contaminated jars before and nothing happened. Although i would not recommend it because the spores can affect other things in your house, though this is also not very likely.

The jars can be used again if you are in need just use a pressure cooker to sterilize them. A warning though, there is the small chance that some unbelievably resistant spores may lurk in the jar, in which case your new medium will also be contaminated.

This is not likely and has never happened to me. People really make a bigger deal about it than it really is, but that is not to say that needless safety precautions are a bad thing. In fact they help you establish a succesfull work routine. But if you you really need the jar just reuse it, just make sure you dispose of the contaminants properly. (not anywhere near your house)

[ungsluggerdood2]

not only worry about it being a safety hazard but , you have a chance of those free floating spores contaminating over and over making it so you cant grow your mushrooms... so throw it away do not open it.

[Bando800]

We don't want to spread fear mongering sensationalism. Not too likely your going to die from opening a contaminated jar buddy. Just like if your spaghetti sauce goes bad, it may stink but it's probably not deadly unless you eat a lot of it. True, you don't want to open it because it can spread the kind of spores or bacteria you don't want in your grow area. This can damage your success rate. Just throw it out. It's not any more dangerous than any spoiled kitchen item though.

[yooo]

what will happen if the spores are injected in the center of the jar instead of the walls?

[strmrnnr]

they may also be a chance they will not fruit although the mycelium does grow. As in the 'Science' step you need two different mycellium to come together to 'mate' for fruit to grow.

[Blattman]

It will take a lot longer to colonize

[phirebirdX]

nothing.. as in you won't get the same mycelium coverage on the outside of the cakes if you force the spores to grow from the core of the cake instead of the outside; and a good mycelium mat is where the mushrooms fruit from. also, shrooms are photosensitive in the fruiting stage and won't "sprout" or "bud" unless the mycelium network is getting some light.

[jaagiv]

okay this seems really cool and i would like to try it myself, where do i go about finding "spores" to do this project?