Contamination issues?

SirLancelot

SirLancelot

Active Member
So I have a liquid culture and I want to innoculate a couple spawn bags. Can I just use the same needle and keep wiping it down with alcohal. or do I need a new needle every time I go into the LC and into a bag? I don't want to risk contaminating everything so I figured I'd ask... Thanks
 
ANC

ANC

Well-Known Member
don't use alcohol, it doesn't go over well with fungi. Just flame your needle red hot between rounds.

I also use the vet needles, they are quite thick, there is no way to get an LC through a regular needle.
 
Blackhash

Blackhash

Active Member
ANC said:
don't use alcohol, it doesn't go over well with fungi. Just flame your needle red hot between rounds.

I also use the vet needles, they are quite thick, there is no way to get an LC through a regular needle.
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I think you can get an LC through an 18 gauge needle, which is what spore syringes are. No way the thick myc is getting through on a >18 gauge needle though. I have yet to try an LC with them so only time will tell, but I'm sure it will.
 
ANC

ANC

Well-Known Member
A liquid culture is also mycelium, try as you might it clumps together eventualy in the neeedle and blocks it if it is too thin.
 
Blackhash

Blackhash

Active Member
ANC said:
A liquid culture is also mycelium, try as you might it clumps together eventualy in the neeedle and blocks it if it is too thin.
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I know it's myceliumbongsmilie I will try though, I seen people that use their spore syringes and can suck up an LC fine. I see how it might not work though, just needs some trial and error. If I need a higher gauge syringe that will kind of suck on my part.
 
mojoganjaman

mojoganjaman

Well-Known Member
purchase a larger needle that will connect to your existing syringe...I think it was maybe $2 for a 16 gauge needle...hth
 
SirLancelot

SirLancelot

Active Member
can anyone tell me why LC is better besides saving a week or two? I mean I feel like making my syringes from prints and then innoculating LC then going to grain is way riskier than just making syringe from print and innoculating grain... but idk any thoughts?
 
Blackhash

Blackhash

Active Member
It is riskier contamination wise, but if you can do it without it contaminating, it is well worth it. Let's say you inoculate a half pint jar, that's lets say, 25 10ml syringe full?
If you do 1 cc inoculated per jar, that's roughly 250 half pint grain jars off 2 cc of a MS syringe. Also, the colonization times are substantially faster on grain, not sure about BRF.
Just do a MS inoculation for your first grow, it's alot harder to mess up than a LC. You also need an empty syringe to do an LC, and the needle has to be big enough to suck up thick mycelium, so a >18 gauge syringe.
 
canndo

canndo

Well-Known Member
Unless you are doing some sort of huge bulk grow there really isn't a whole lot of point using a multi spore LC.
 
SirLancelot

SirLancelot

Active Member
Yea that's what I'm thinking. I only do a cple bags enough to stockpile a few untill I need more. I'm prolly gonna end up wastin alot of lc
 
Blackhash

Blackhash

Active Member
The reason I would use a LC is to conserve your syringes. 2CC of MS can inoculate as many bags as you want basically.
 
ANC

ANC

Well-Known Member
SirLancelot said:
can anyone tell me why LC is better besides saving a week or two? I mean I feel like making my syringes from prints and then innoculating LC then going to grain is way riskier than just making syringe from print and innoculating grain... but idk any thoughts?
Click to expand...
An LC is better provided it is a properly done one to be an isolate, i.e. only the genetic content of one organism.
When it is a mixture of diffirent mycelium (such as it is normaly), natural competion ensues for resources. When you have an isolate you have a large traysize flsuh with all fruits at the same stage of development, which cuts down on post harvest contaminitaion issues.
 
Blackhash

Blackhash

Active Member
ANC said:
An LC is better provided it is a properly done one to be an isolate, i.e. only the genetic content of one organism.
When it is a mixture of diffirent mycelium (such as it is normaly), natural competion ensues for resources. When you have an isolate you have a large traysize flsuh with all fruits at the same stage of development, which cuts down on post harvest contaminitaion issues.
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+1 for isolation discussion. I have yet to try it but seriously, this is exactly what I am going to do for the rest of my mycology career. The thought of isolating a certain genetic off a strain is just so appealing :).
 
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