A sad tale of 4 jars starring the PF Albino...:(

[BuckarooBanzai]

Click any pic for an enlarged view...

3 jars.jpg popcorn half gallon @ 2 days.jpg

Strain: PFA, clone water
Small Jars: ½ pint of Mycrotopia substrate + 5% polyacrylamide
Large Jar: ½ gallon of popcorn + 5% polyacrylamide
Poly, substrate & popcorn hydrated with: EarthJuice
Lids: silicone injection ports, double tyvek vent
Incubator: 83F-85F
Sterilization: 60min @ 15psi
Fruiting will be done at 80%-90% RH @ 74F-79F, 12 hours light per day

Small jar prep is standard PF style. Substrate was spooned very loosely into jar and the top is then scraped flat with a knife. Jar was then tapped and bounced until substrate sank down to just above the bottom of the glass threads. Inside of jar and top was then wiped with a moist paper towel to remove any hint of substrate. The jar was then filled the remainder of the way with fine grade vermiculite.

Small jars were sterilized at 15psi for 60min. Screw threads were tightened down before PC as tyvek provides a vent which prevents pressure build up. Jars were cooled overnight in the PC. Those not to be used had their tyvek vents covered with tape and were put in the fridge. Three jars were inoculated for this trial.

The ½ gallon jar of popcorn was sterilized at 15psi for 120min. It was cooled overnight and then the vent was taped. The jar was then stored for 5 days in the fridge until space was ready in the incubator. The popcorn in the jar was on top of ½ of vermiculite to avoid any problems with moisture.

The inoculation needle was flamed red hot, cooled 15 seconds and injected through the silicone injector port. The needle was put in at an angle so that it touched the wall of the jar and .2-.3 mL of clone water was slowly added (to the small jars). The clone water should drip down the inside glass surface, not just soak into the substrate. This was repeated four times on each jar.

30mL of clone water was injected into the large jar, using the same method to drip the water slowly down the glass wall in three our four separate trails from each innoculation hole.

This is the liquid culture starter, 24 hours after inoculation. It was incubated for 12 days until it was fully colonized.

PFA-LC-24hrs.jpg

These is the best growth patch in each jar after 3 days of incubation:

jar 1.jpg jar 2.jpg jar 3.jpg

This is the corn jar after 2 days of incubation:

popcorn half gallon @ 2 days.jpg

Here is the bottom of one of the jars:

jar bottom.jpg

The circle of mycelia around the bottom is because the clone water dripped down the glass and then went around. Dripping it down the glass makes it spread really nicely.

This is the Lid design:

lids.jpg Attachment 17227

A circle of tyvek was cut out with a stenciling punch and GE Silicone II was used to glue it to the washers, which were themselves glued to the lids with silicone. The dead air space between the tyvek layers keeps contaminants from growing through, should the tyvek get wet. The injection holes are covered with big blobs of Silicone II so that they become self healing ports (they close after the needle is removed).

The small jars will all be incubated until 48 hours after full colonization and then they will be cased in small plastic bowls. The popcorn will be used to spawn something as yet undecided (but FOAF suspects it might be something large).

My FOAF is deeply DEEPLY excited about working with the albinos!

Wohooooo! I love this thread already! You're gonna love these albino's

Mine loved popcorn! Hell, they love most everything

I can't wait to watch them grow with the rest of Mycotopia!

[the_chosen_one]

You know I'm watching this one!

Glad to see signs of rhiz in that one pic Buckaroo. It's been one of my concerns regarding this strain. Probably worried over nothing tho.

Nice thread man!!!

Oh yeah and one of these too !

[BuckarooBanzai]

"Without friends the world is but a wilderness."
-Francis Bacon

New phonebooks being here won't touch seeing that first snow white pin. Without friends...

I wouldn't worry about the rhizo. FOAF's first strain, Hillbilly, is virtually without rhizo. That didn't seem to hurt it's fruiting characterstics in the least. FOAF is very unqualified to make this assessment, but he is nontheless unconvinced that that rhizomorphic character alone is an indicator of "quality" in cubensis mushrooms.

That said, the linear growth IS present and more obvious in person. Under a 15x loupe, there is a nice mix of fluff and "lightning bolts." The lead growing edges are mostly bolts, quickly mixing with fluff. Pardon my technical terminology. I'm still trying to find a good mycology textbook. Until then, I'm afraid I'll continue to sound just a tad goofy describing these things.

The PFA is a very agressive mycelium. Very fast in liquid culture, cakes and grain. This is my FOAF's half gallon popcorn jar at 4 days...

half gallon 4 days.jpg

Admittedly, popcorn is stupid fast to colonize and that jar got almost 30mL of LC, but that is still damned fast!

Jar pics are kind of redundant, so I won't include them. They are about 10% farther along than last time...substrate is a lot less dramatic than grain!

lookin good...can't wait to see how your
albinos work out..

[waylitjim]

Great write up Buckaroo, I'm lookin' forward to this one!

[python]

i too am looking forward.......

[arezap]

Looks nice! I'll have to get some PF Albino's for myself.

I found the strain rhizo'd more on brf jars. And I also found the rhizo's didn't have an effect on the fruiting either. Its a beautiful strain! The first flush is usually a massive one in my experience.

Are you going to spawn them Buckaroo? Just curious what you're planning.
I know I'm going to enjoy your grow log of them, your write ups are some of my favorites

[BuckarooBanzai]

The three cakes will be fruited from small tupperware bowls. The birthed cake is basically buried in casing material about 1/2 inch on the sides, top and bottom. After burial, it will be incubated until the mycelium starts to peek through (about 48 hrs) and then into the fruiting environment.

FOAF has more cakes ready to innoculate, but space in the incubator is at a premium because of a big B+ popcorn/spawn bag experiment. Another incubator could be constructed, but then the fruiting environment would be totally overloaded (things are already stacked up). FOAF's Hillbilly cases are putting out a fifth flush, the pernicious little buggers, and stealing a lot of fruiting room!

The popcorn jar will be spawned to coir/castings/poly @ 1:2 in a big Tupperware tray, about two inches deep. The Tupper (sides covered with foil/duct tape) will be incubated until 100% colonized and then covered with about 1/2 inch of casing. Then, back in the incubator till the myc starts to peek thru and then, on to fruiting.

Casing material is %80 coir and %20 poly. Casing and substrate are hydrated with EarthJuice tea and sterilized at 15psi for 2 hours. FOAF likes to cook up big batches of sub and casing material in half gallon and quart jars so everything is ready for use as soon as the cake/corn is ready (a gallon of each is PCing at the moment). FOAF has discovered that when he puts off preparing substrate and casing until he needs it, jars tend to sit in the incubator for too damned long. Tomorrow is a wonderful day for doing things in this hobby...

[the_chosen_one]

Originally Posted by BuckarooBanzai

"Without friends the world is but a wilderness."
-Francis Bacon
New phonebooks being here won't touch seeing that first snow white pin. Without friends...
I wouldn't worry about the rhizo. FOAF's first strain, Hillbilly, is virtually without rhizo. That didn't seem to hurt it's fruiting characterstics in the least. FOAF is very unqualified to make this assessment, but he is nontheless unconvinced that that rhizomorphic character alone is an indicator of "quality" in cubensis mushrooms.

I don't know, the new phone books can be pretty exciting BB. But you are right. Thanks for sharing!!!

I guess I'm just so used to the old strains like the PFC and the Malaysian having that ropie look to them. Maybe it's just me but those two in particular seem to have lost that look. The fruiting doesn't seem to be affected but the myc has taken on a new appearance. At first I would have blamed it on mass production and marketing of the spores or poor isolations but when it happens to my Malaysian, which I've had since MJ first sent it home, I can't help but wonder if years of domestication regardless of isolations may have something to do with it. Holy smoke that sentence was half a paragraph!

Sorry folks, had to come back and add something after further thought. Freaky had mentioned the ability to resist contams with the albinos. Something I have noticed too. I just wonder if this may be the result of the myc fighting for it's food in a far more contam prone environment than it's natural environment. Evolution if you will. Eh, it's just a theory. Could be many factors I'm not considering.

This strain is one of the coolest I've yet to work with. Its a giver

BB, your plans sound great! It will be interesting to watch. And I don't think we've seen any on worm castings so they should love that. I'm getting all excited to see more pix of them.


They do seem extremely contam resistent ime's. The subs die out before any contams have set in for me. Now the spores are another story lol. Tricky little spores they are.

[~Hippie3]

pretty fancy lids there bucky.

[BuckarooBanzai]

I honestly don't know about the rhizos. FOAF has only worked with B+ and Hillbilly. B+ made little trees on the substrate and the Hillbilly looked like cotton balls. Both ripped through LC/sub and fruited like champs.

Interestingly, of the two, the Hillbilly is reportedly only a few generations from wild whereas the B+ is many generations deep into domestication.

Some of WayLitJim's exotics seem quite devoid of rhizomorphic charachter on the surface. I just don't know...

You like the lids, eh Hippie? I'm like Bill Gates. I don't really innovate, I just repackage existing ideas in slightly new ways and call them original!

[BuckarooBanzai]

1/2 pint jars at 9 days, popcorn jar at 8. Popcorn should be farther along, but it got a very ghetto shake by being dropped down a short flight of stairs. This was unintentional. Stoners.

IMG_0017.JPG

I believe my FOAF will be casing in about 4 days. A little bird told him these little guys would prefer a dryer casing layer, so it's a little below field capacity. It takes a strong squeeze to produce a few drops of moisture.

5 more 1/2 pints of Mycrotopia mix and 5 pints of popcorn were inoculated a short while ago. Go Albinos!

Wohoooooo....just a couple weeks away from fruits

Mine did prefer a drier casing. What I did, was make it to field capacity, and no misting it. I usually mist casing layers early on, before any knotting or primordia. With the Albinos I didn't mist at all. I just let it naturally go drier on its own. You have to figure, 7-10 days for pins, maybe 14 so thats plenty for it to dry slightly. Or, just lower humidity down to 80-85 for the casings.

I'm so excited for ya! You are going to love them!!!!!

You take great pics too so I can't wait to see the photo's you give us!!!!

[the_chosen_one]

Yep! Lookin' good BB. This is !

[{Mr}fLoYd]

I have my chair pulled up ... Rock on popcorn

[~Hippie3]

those mycro-mix jars look to finish shortly,
pcorn likwise.
pretty fast colonization there.

[BuckarooBanzai]

We be way psyched, thus far. Super agressive culture and picture perfect growth, thus far.

TCO, you need not fear for lack of rhizo character. Check it:

IMG_0002.JPG IMG_0004.JPG

Fast growth seems to be a charachter of this strain. Perhaps helping to explain the contam resistance? Regardless, it's a very agressive culture.

Mycrotopia sub, 24 hrs from LC inoculation:

IMG_0010.JPG

Popcorn, 24 hrs from LC innoculation:

IMG_0015.JPG

These are the best pics of five jars of each, by the way. FOAF is HORRIBLY EXCITED!!!!!

BB, one thing I did to expand my albino culture.

When my popcorn jars were all colonized and I was ready to spawn them, I had 4 sterile water syringes. I shot all 4 into the jar, shook it like mad, sucked up as much of this mycelium water as I could, and had new jars ready to inoculate immediately. ( I first read about this in the old archives section of the old boards, can't remember whose tek it is, but it works awesome)

This kept me from having to do any lc work with it. I always just made sure I had sterile grain jars/pf jars to inoculate with the new mycelium syringes.

The downfall to these is you have to use them immediately, well, I always have. LC can be stored of course, so thats a plus for lc.

When doing this I found I was getting jars colonized on an average of 7-10 days.

That is super fast growth you have! You are doing a great job, and I'm super excited to see your updates!!!!!! Keep up the great work!

[anticheffy]

I used to do that too freaky, it worked great, I dont know why I stopped.....
oh ya,,,,,
I had multiple 40 # dog food bags full of dry roomies !!!!!!!! and had to slow down
ya can only eat so many...........

[BuckarooBanzai]

The Banzai Institute - always looking for new test subjects...

Just tell us what you are looking for...a little brightness? Some giggles? A little bit of crawling? A full on morph? Perhaps you've got something new to bring up with God? Perhaps you are ready to realize who God really is?

Just let me get my scale. The 'topia has taken care of the stockpile problem...

LMAO, Anticheffy! Good stuff, man! I can see dog food bags in my FOAF's future. It's reall easy to let your reach outstrech your grasp in this hobby!

Sterile water into the popcorn to make a hot LC. Interesting idea. Hadn't run across that one before. I bet the popcorn makes for a nicely macerated mix.

FOAF's plan was original LC expanded into pint LC, with original back into the cold box immediatly. Thus far, expanded LC has seeded a new LC (different sugar mix) with the original remaining in cold storage. First fruits will be cloned to slants of different nutrient mix agar. Culture longevity is paramount, well above producing fruit, to my FOAF. FOAF might even be forced to pull out the much dreaded agar plate.

The "popcorn water" idea intrigues, though. Kind of an invitro clone, eh? No concern about overwetting the popcorn, because you spawn immediatley after, right? So I guess you don't do a resting period after shaking popcorn? Sorry, many questions...all suggestions appreciated!!!

[~Hippie3]

i do recommend a rest/recovery period after shaking, esp. pcorn
as pcorn often has bare spots that shaking exposes.

BB, Yes, I spawn it right after.

Hippie is right in saying a resting period is the best for popcorn. (I just never rest it, and spawn right then, or case the grain).

To save my albino I'm using agar to store a master culture. This is definitely a strain I don't want to lose, so until I get the spores to cleanly germinate, I'm saving a master culture.

[~Hippie3]

some dry tissue samples stored might be a nice back-up, too

[the_chosen_one]

How we doin' BB?

[BuckarooBanzai]

Cases were spawned last night, cakes were buried in sub. Everything is incubating. FOAF didn't take any pictures 'cause this is such run of the mill stuff.

[shortbed454]

are there any updates. i cant wait to see how they turn out.

[BuckarooBanzai]

Pics are kind of irrelevant (oooh, mycelia poking through casing material), but the first four "mini casings" went into the fruting environment this evening. The big tray isn't quite %100 and it will be cased afterwards for even more delay, so he is probably a week or more from fruit.

BB, getting closer now!!!! I'm excited for you!!!!

Woot!

[the_chosen_one]

Originally Posted by freakachino

BB, getting closer now!!!! I'm excited for you!!!!

Woot!

I know! This almost worse than waiting for my own!!! Can't you make them go any faster BB.......

[BuckarooBanzai]

I does love ya, TCO, but my FOAF wouldn't rush 'em even if he could...

If the Albinos choose to grace him with pins, they shall do it in their own time, in their own way. Patience, as they say, is a virtue!

All good things to he who waits!

The big tray will probably be cased tomorrow. FOAF wants it WAY overlayed before casing, though, so it may be even longer. It seems that the longer they have to fully penetrate the substrate, the better things turn out.

A question for you experienced Albino-ists: what kind of clues do you use to know they have begun sporulating? It seems from previous posts that spores don't start dropping until "later" than with standard cubies. Since FOAF is just barely experienced with standard cubies and he REALLY wants to catch some spores, he is deeply concerned about time frames.

FOAF's plan is to harvest one cap each 8 hours after seeming maturity, hoping to nail down a semi-precise time frame. Another plan is to stick a piece of black construction paper into the stipe and just watch it for spore build up.

Any suggestions on that? Are the spores really white or are they clear? Would some color other than black maybe be a good idea? Maybe a crimson red or a midnight blue?

[the_chosen_one]

The spores are white against an unlight background clear under the scope with the light coming from the bottom. They are a late maturer BB. Wait til the caps begin to get wavy. Even clear glass will work. It's almost eaisier to see them looking from underneath on it. The trouble is seeing it from the top side when you wanna use them. This is were any dark color glass will work. You'll need to angle your lighting when working with them no matter which way you do it. Good luck!!!

Originally Posted by the_chosen_one

The spores are white against an unlight background clear under the scope with the light coming from the bottom. They are a late maturer BB. Wait til the caps begin to get wavy. Even clear glass will work. It's almost eaisier to see them looking from underneath on it. The trouble is seeing it from the top side when you wanna use them. This is were any dark color glass will work. You'll need to angle your lighting when working with them no matter which way you do it. Good luck!!!

Very well explained TCO.

[BuckarooBanzai]

Very cool. Thanks much for the handholding and encouragement to everybody, but especially to TCO and Freakachino. Having good results to show you guys is SO important at this point!!!

I also remember Freakachino having had some photographic success with UV light, if I'm not mistaken? Was that like a little battery powered unit or a big strip light/black light type thang?

Well...FOAF doesn't have pins, but I'll whet your appetite a little more with some update pics. Below are two of the mini casings that should be fruiting within the week. The one on the left is a cake crumbled into bulk sub and then cased. The one on the right is a cake buried in the same casing material. There is one more of each of these types. Does the coir look too dry in your estimations, Freakachino, or would you go drier still?

mini bulk.jpg buried cake.jpg

Next is a tray made from 1/4 gallon of popcorn spawned to 1/2 gallon of bulk sub, which has been incubating for a week or so. This tray will probably be cased tomorrow evening. About 1/2-3/4 inch casing, then 24-72 hours of additional incubation, then into the fruiting environment. If that tray has any mojo from the Hillbilly and B+ it recently blessed my FOAF with, we are in for a most excellent ride!

big bulk.jpg

Below are a big rectangular and a big circular container spawned tonight. Two crumbled Mycrotopia cakes and 2 quarts of bulk sub per container (round one is much deeper). The smaller round container is another "mini bulk." One Mycrotopia cake crumbled into about 3/4 quart of bulk sub. Probably 3 days from casing. All these will be incubated until 100% run. All the incubating container lids have tyvek vents. You can see the tyvek duct taped over the hole in the small container lid on the lower right. Stale air is bad!

spawned tonight.jpg

Wohoooooooo Buckarooooooo!!!!

Its all looking good!!!!


The blacklight I used was the long unit, plug in. Thats why those prints weren't used for anything, though I still have them lol. It was a great way for me to see them, though I wonder if its detrimental to them at all.

Your casings, the one on the left looks a bit too dry on top, though it could be the flash. You still want them moist, just on the drier side of normal casings, if that makes any sense. TCO hopefully will explain it better lol. You don't really want dry casing, but not dripping wet either. I'd mist them lightly maybe once before they pin if you think they look dry. Coir is nice because it turns light brown when it gets dry. You still want it to put moisture down into the substrate.


Its all looking so great! Not much longer now I can't wait to see your albinos

[the_chosen_one]

Looking good BB!!!

[BuckarooBanzai]

FOAF has been thinking, after his success with B+ in-vitro in a half gallon that he will try some Albino invitro in a half gallon. A half gallon that's about half filled with popcorn/bulk sub is incubating now.

The thought is, gill contam from nodding won't be so much of a problem if they grow covered.

FOAF has started spreading projects out carefully so there is a little new work to do every night. The suspense is killing him. I'm cool, but he's about to wig slap out...

Just to hold you over, here's four store bought PDYA slants with 48 hours of Albino culture growth:

IMG_0002.jpg

This is a ripping fast culture. Here's a closeup:

IMG_0003.jpg

These slants were all inoculated from the same culture master as everything else. Hopefully, all four will grow clean and go into the fridge for term storage of the "first generation."

The bulk trays are ripping along, but the first one still isn't quite ready to case. I think it might be a little dry. FOAF is strongly considering giving it a 1 hour dunk before casing. You guys ever dunk a dry tray before casing?

[~Hippie3]

ever dunk a dry tray before casing?

yep
just submerge mycellial block
several hours
and drain well

Buckaroo, any update for us????? I'm dying to see more pics of them

[BuckarooBanzai]

I just got back from 7 days overseas to discover a major disaster. Apparently about ten minutes after I left the house, my FOAF's air pump died so, no fresh air for over a week. You can imagine what is coming next...

Since my FOAF's automated tubs have little computer fans inside of them, the trich and cobweb that set in has contaminated EVERY SINGLE PROJECT he had working. Ever seen cobweb that grew unhindered for a week? FOAF's projects all looked like they had grown beards. That crap is CRAZY FAST.

Also, there is evidence of something that made red/pink spores. Anybody have any clues on that? Red spores are a new one to my FOAF.

As everything is in one room and pretty close together, FOAF has decided to toss everything that isn't sealed and do some hard core chemical sterilizing before starting back up. All his Perlite has been tossed and everthing has been sprayed down with (or is soaking in) a strong Glutaraldehyde solution. Before getting hit with the Glutes, everything was washed twice in very hot water and then rinsed with undilluted bleach.

The end result is that all my FOAFs Albino work (and Hillbilly and B+) is gone, without even a single pin to show for his trouble. Ah, well, such are the hazards of home cultivation, eh?

[~Hippie3]

a pity, such is life.
lessons aren't always cheap.

[apokalypse]

I also have noticed a few jars with some reddish spots in it, a few days after innoculation. Someone mentioned that it is referred to as "lipstick mold", though no specifics on details. http://mycotopia.net/discus/messages...tml?1107361845 has some information on different types of mold, including the lipstick one.

[edited to replace offsite hotlink with onsite equivalent-hip]

Sooooo sorry for your loss Buckaroo!!!! thats gotta suck, coming home to nothing but contams.

I'm sending good vibes to your friends fresh start!!!!!

[BuckarooBanzai]

Don't cry for me, Argentina...

My FOAF genuinely appreciates your vibes, Freakachino. Really, they mean a lot to him. But lets be honest: there are FAR worse things he could have come home to! For whatever reason, this run just wasn't meant to be. Que sera, sera!

But, hey, at least he knows the culture is good (and he still has *plenty* to experiment with).

Seriously, though, as kind as the mushroom gods have been to my FOAF, he has absolutely no room to complain about loosing a handful of projects. It would take my FOAF many, many months of near constant eating to deplete the stockpile that he has been gifted with.

My FOAF has no complaints. No complaints at all.

My FOAF is looking at this as an opportunity to learn and improve on technique/process. Contamination is an unavoidable fact of life in this hobby. My FOAF is well aware of this, even though he had avoided any major contamination problems up until this particular fiasco.

A few major stumbles along the way are to be expected, ya know? Failures like this just make the successes that much sweeter!

Also, FOAF well remembers the last major "myco suprise" he came home to after a road trip:



FOAF would trade a lot of green/cobwebbed casings for a few more beauties like that...

Lipstick mold, eh? That is what it looked like. See, a learning experience! It's all in how you take it and what you take away from it...

[~Hippie3]

Originally Posted by apokalypse

I also have noticed a few jars with some reddish spots in it, a few days after innoculation. Someone mentioned that it is referred to as "lipstick mold", though no specifics on details. http://mycotopia.net/discus/messages...tml?1107361845 has some information on different types of mold, including the lipstick one.

[edited to replace offsite hotlink with onsite equivalent-hip]

apok-
we have the exact same info,
down to the pix
plus a bit more
so i replaced your link with mine.
just scroll down once there...

[the_chosen_one]

Damn Buckaroo I'm so sorry to hear about this!!! So close! It'll happen next time though. I can feel a disturbance in the force hahaha! Friggin contams! I just lost my Matias and some Falbino to some strange white stuff growing on the bottom of one of my chambers..never seen it before. Gone now but all that work and waiting down the tube. It sucks!

It'll work next time though. Man, I'm tellin ya, those Freaky vibes are the best!!! I still say they helped make the Falbino!

[BuckarooBanzai]

Thanks for the kind words, TCO. And of course, so many other things that are best left without direct mention...

Oh, and new jars are incubating as we speak. Just a bump in the road...

[fahtster]

yeah coming home to all contams sucks. a couple years ago i went to see phish for a string of shows... was gone about a week also. got home all excited to see "all the mushies that were growing" so excited on the way home.. got there and all 30 plus casings were completely covered with trich. i screwed up setting the automation timer.. so everything was dripping wet and contam'd... but like you say... tis life. good luck on your next go at it.

fahtster