The black plague

[Om shanti]

This jar started colonizing from the bottom only... at first very slowly and hesitant. Then quite nicely.. but then I looked at it this morning and the top verm layer and just below was FULL of black shit.. Think this is the black pin mold.. definitely looks like pins, and they are black.

I wonder whether this contam originated from the print (or inoculation process), or if it somehow crept through the verm layer... because it's all at the top around the verm layer. What do you think?

Well I have another jar made from the same print, which I'm watching closely. That colonized from more points, not just from the bottom. If that also contams I know the source is the print and/or the inoculation process.

Ugly shit.

And the jars are Pan. cambodgiensis. I'm testing a sample of 6 of some prints I recently took.

[Dr-Octagon]

I get in in cakes here and there, only on the top. I couldn't say whether it was the inoculation process or not but i would think it's be more widespread if that were the case.

[240punk]

I thought the point of verm was that it was a filter and bad things could not colonize on it....?
Why should I even verm my jars if the verm picks up contams?

[Om shanti]

Originally Posted by Dr-Octagon

I get in in cakes here and there, only on the top. I couldn't say whether it was the inoculation process or not but i would think it's be more widespread if that were the case.

Thanks! That's also my thinking so far (until/unless the other jar made from the same print goes the same way).

This is my first black pin mold. Though I had some gooey black shit just last week in another jar. But that didn't look like pins like it does on this one (probably not easy to see on my photos, but I can't take better close-ups with my camera).

[Om shanti]

Originally Posted by 240punk

I thought the point of verm was that it was a filter and bad things could not colonize on it....?
Why should I even verm my jars if the verm picks up contams?

The verm barrier does work. But it's not a 100% perfect barrier. But it is sufficient 99% of the time if there's just healthy mycelium growth within the jar.

It's about 12-14 days since I inoculated my jars. Normally when you use the 4 inoculation points on the pf jar you get mycelium colonizing on at least 3 of the sides, and more or less from the top to the bottom. So in a short time most of the jar is covered with our good mycelium, and this means any mold spores that gets through the verm barrier will have a hard time becoming anything else than just a spore.

But on this particular jar the top half has had no mycelium growth for 10-12 days, leaving it completely exposed for all spores that manage to creep through the barrier. Then suddenly this black mold appears in 1 or 2 days (it's 2 days since I last checked them properly and at that time there was not the slightest hint of any mycelium in the top half).

The fact that the black mold didn't germinate until 10 days later, and independently/separately from the other myc growth also leads me to believe (so far) that what Dr. Octagon said was right, i.e., that the black mold probably didn't come from the syringe..