Whats the "Nature" of Trich

[cillyman]

What is the "Nature" of Trich spores. I mean are they light and float around a lot ? Are they heavy and sink to the floor like a lot of contaminates do ? Or maybe they are sticky and cling to things like hands clothes etc. I have heard they are everywhere, that they are in our spaces right now. So why isnt every grow compromised ? Is it because the contamination is based on an overload situation ? Like if you have a small amount of spores your chances are less that you will get contaminated. Where if your space is overloaded you will certainly get something. I am trying to understand the enemy. I figure if I understand how they behave I will be able to combat them. I read the posts that take the shotgun approach to fighting them, this is impractical for me. I can not ruin home furnishings with bleach to keep the trich down. Thanks Cilly

[destroy_erase_improve]

i dont know the answer to your questions to be honest.
all i know is what ive read
and what ive read in the threads is that after trich sporelates all over
it drops to the floor and lands on the walls and everything else
just waiting dormantly for you to kick it up and get it airborne again
right onto healthy grows

people say that the way to remedy this is to bleachbomb the room and clothes a few times

In my kingdom Trich is ever present but I dont take any extreme measures to try and control it ..but there are a couple of rules i follow to prevent premature infection of substrates..
Only use composted materials for nutrient source .
Keep the total nutrient level on the low side.
Have very good ventilation -moving air is better than still, even with an open vent...
Humidity 70-85%.....
Bright indirect daylight....
I will sometimes leave a contaminated older casing growing next to a new clean one without any obvious infection problems--Sometimes i dont get to the third flush but overall production is good...
Being as i live in a 130 year old house with a bunch of critters - it would take an atomic bleach bomb to make a difference..

[anticheffy]

In these parts the trich seems seasonal, not a problem in the winter but the summer sux with it.
There are alot of ways to try and hold it off, we just work as cleanly as possible and try to understand the points in the mushroom life cycle that our friends are more vulnerable and take special precautions there..
Its a battle that can usually we wone without pulling out WMD's.lol.

[maliki]

http://botit.botany.wisc.edu/toms_fungi/nov2004.html

You can find the nature of the beast wraped within these pages

[insight]

Originally Posted by cillyman

What is the "Nature" of Trich spores.

It freakin SUCKS!

Sorry, I had to vent.

[wayback]

It's a mother and keeps on producing. I don't have access to lab like conditions, so I try and deal with it the best way possible. Wash what ever the container was on, then spray the general area with a 1/200 bleach soution. Good luck.

Yes.
No.
Yes.

Trich spores are light and float around. That's how they are everywhere. They're also very sticky, so they stick to the walls, you, shelves, dogs and cats, etc. They do eventually fall to the floor, but then you walk and the air pressure from under the carpet blows them back sky high again to float around the room and ruin your day. They're bastards plain and simple, but there are ways of combatting them. Trich spores can land on your casing and germinate within a few days. Once they germinate, being an imperfect fungi, they can grow out for a day or two and sporulate right from the mycelium, starting the cycle over again. If you allow trich to get established, you're screwed.

First and foremost, you must learn to develop zero tolerance for the enemy. If you think 'a little green' isn't going to hurt because you have pins and really want to trip this weekend, chances are it will be your last grow. So many trillions of spores will have been released that your chances of success diminish to near zero. This is where lots of growers lose interest and give up. When you spot the green, get a plastic bag and very carefully load the cake or casing into the bag and seal it up. Wear gloves. Take the cake outside and bury it in a shady part of the garden. It will flush again later if it's summer. When you return, strip and put your clothes in the washing machine. Take a shower and wash your hair.

After an infection the growing area needs to be cleaned out. If you have cakes that were near the green one, you can be sure they have the trich spores so watch them very closely. Remove them to a fresh terrarium while you clean the other one out or while you clean the greenhouse out. Spray the walls of the grow area down with 10% bleach until everything is dripping wet. You'll have to spray the walls, ceiling, shelves, etc. Close it up and let the fumes do their thing. Come back in an hour and repeat the process.

The best way to prevent trichoderma is through hygenic procedures and sufficient air exchange. I won't address when you get green in jars, because that's obviously from sterile procedure not being followed at every step of the way. I'm assuming you had clean spawn and a clean casing to start with. Don't allow trich spores to fall by gravity on your casing. I keep them off by using waxed paper over the casing. Don't seal the edges, simply cut and lay it on the casing so it overlaps all four sides. A couple of times a day, gently lift the paper to allow fresh air to slip under it. Every second day, replace with a fresh piece of waxed paper. You must do this from day one. If you have a casing now, don't put wax paper on it. Since you can assume trich spores have already landed on it, the wax paper will actually help to incubate them. Trich and cobweb both thrive in stale, moist air. Keep the air moving at all times. Even dirty air is fine as long as it's moving.

Pasteurize casing and compost materials, never sterilize them. There are beneficial bacteria that will survive the pasteurization process that will actually help to defend your casing against trichoderma. An added benefit is that those same organisms will also help to a certain degree to initiate a better pinset. In fact, some non-cube species will simply refuse to fruit on a sterile casing. If you sterilize casing material, it is more succeptable to contamination.

Very important also is to simply wash your hands and arms before you work anywhere near your mushrooms. Brush your teeth and use mouthwash before you look at your jars or handle your cakes or casings. If you have wild hair, buy a box of hair nets and use them. Don't open your terrarium wearing the clothes you wore to work all day.

As already said, air exchange, air exchange, air exchange. Now, that can dry out your garden right? Of course. If your bedroom has 10% humidity and you're trying to keep 90% in your terrarium with proper air exchange, you know how hard it is. The solution is to go to Sears and get a large humidifier and run it in the room you're growing in. Bring the humidity in your home up to 50%, and it will be easy to keep your terrarium at the humidity level you need. You'll also feel and breathe better, and be more comfortable. Sorry, didn't mean to write a book.
RR

[cillyman]

I dont have a big problem, I find the trich sometimes after I have had several flushes. I have a lot of air movment with a hepa filtered blower working once an hour in the mini green house. I am going to start the wax paper thing. I have a room hepa working and an aspen air working in the room with my grow house. My terrarium for cakes also has fresh air from a small hepa filter runing once per hour or so. Humidity comes right back up after the air input. So the idea I guess is to fight back in all reasonable ways. Does the hepa and aspen air ion help a bit in the room ? Or is more like washing surfaces ? And what about the rug ? Any help for that ? Thanks Cilly

I have wall to wall carpet in my place too, so it's doable. I live near a very wet forest and the trich spore load in the air is extremely high. I throw straw logs out after one flush, and casings get thrown out after the second flush, trich or not. By doing that, I keep the green enemy at bay. Prevention is the key. Never let trich get a foothold, and if it does, 10% bleach the hell outta everything. I haven't ran my room HEPA in nearly a year, and I didn't notice an increase in contamination when I shut it off.
RR

[~Hippie3]

an ionizer might help knock them out of the air

[Leary's Ghost]

pasteurizecasing and compost materials, never sterilize them

whats the best way to pasturize buffered 50/50 verm/peat?

[dial8]

Stick it in a pillow case. Heat enough water to cover the mix. Bring that water up to 160-170 deg F and hold it there for 60 to 90 minutes. Remove, drain until it is cool, and apply the casing layer.

[gunji]

Thanks Rodger, thats some very fine info you gave there, i dont have trich yet but im sure this will help when it does become an issue

[Leary's Ghost]

thanks. i'll be pasturizing from now on.

[dial8]

His post was well over a year ago so I don't know if he will read this. Plus, he doesn't frequent the place much these days.

Originally Posted by gunji

Thanks Rodger, thats some very fine info you gave there, i dont have trich yet but im sure this will help when it does become an issue

[neckrochylde9]

I found this tidbit on the net, and here is an attatchment of the rest of the article, interesting info here if a bit technical, unfortunatly Trich and mushies "sleep in the same bed" for the most part.. but ph... for cubies is what.. like 7 -7.5 read on about Trich ph prefs

pH-Dependence of Trichoderma Strains
Biocontrol Trichoderma strains are applied in agricultural
soils with certain pH-characteristics. Therefore, it is
important to collect information about the effects of pH
on mycelial growth and on the in vitro activities of extracellular
enzymes involved in nutrient competition
and mycoparasitism of Trichoderma strains with biocontrol
potential. pH can also play a role in the regulation
of extracellular enzyme production, as it was demonstrated
by Delgado-Jarana et al. (34) for -1,6-glucanase
of Trichoderma harzianum.
pH-optima of the linear mycelial growth of five cold
-tolerant Trichoderma strains belonging to three different
species groups and of some plant pathogenic fungi were
determined on yeast extract medium (35). The examined
Trichoderma strains were able to grow in a wide range of
pH from 2.0 – 6.0 with an optimum at 4.0. However, the
mycelial growth of some of the examined plant pathogenic
fungi had pH-optima at alkalic values. Jackson et
al. (36) have found that optimum biomass production of
three Trichoderma isolates occurred at pH ranges between
4.6 and 6.8. We examined the effect of pH on the
in vitro activities of Trichoderma extracellular enzymes.
Optimal pH values were pH=5.0 for -glucosidase, cellobiohydrolase
and NAGase, pH=3.0 for -xylosidase,
pH=6.0 for trypsin-like protease and pH=6.0–7.0 for
chymotrypsin-like protease activities (35). Extracellular
enzymes of the examined mycoparasitic Trichoderma
strains were found to be able to display activities under
a wider range of pH values than those allowing mycelial
growth. Data about the effects of pH on mycelial
growth and on extracellular enzyme activities of mycoparasitic
Trichoderma strains reveal useful information
about the applicability of biocontrol strains in agricultural
soils with certain pH-relations.