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u/_Austoned_

Monotub Produced Pins! But what the hell is this ring? [contamination]
▲ 1 r/ContamFam+1 crossposts

Monotub Produced Pins! But what the hell is this ring? [contamination]

Hello all!

This is my Monotub set up.

54QT Sterilite

https://imgur.com/a/x052w0C

After several days I finally got my first pins to appear. I have counted 10 in total and finding more each day.

https://imgur.com/a/SqOiGWl

Heres the thing. I've had this weird circle growing in my tub. I dont believe it is Trich, as I have had it before and it doubled and turned green in color very fast. This has been an extremely slow growth. I also did a Q Tip test and no sporulation on the Q tip. Now, being curious about the texture, I used a sterile glove and touched the circle and it kind of feels like a marshmallow and has a very faint yellow tint to it. Could it just be overlay? Coincidently, after the first week or so, I had so much water pooled on the lid suspiciously in that particular area. So much that I had to dry it off with a paper towel. Room temp lingers around 70-75 with an air purifier circulating the air. Tub smells earthy, no sour or funky smells. Obvious blue bruising on some of the surface due to the excess water drip. 6lb popcorn grain with 10lb substrate.

The pins appear to be growing fine despite this irregularity.
What do you all think?

https://imgur.com/a/TdZSfEz

u/_Austoned_ — 3 days ago
▲ 1 r/MushroomGrowers

Second Monotub Attempt Progress [technique]

Hello all! This is my second monotub grow — I lost the first one to Trich, so I’m still pretty inexperienced and trying to learn as I go.

Current setup:

  • Sterile 54qt monotub
  • 6lb popcorn grain spawn
  • 10lb coco coir substrate

Today is day 28, and the entire process has felt extremely slow.

For the first 10 days, I made a beginner mistake and had the tub completely sealed with zero fresh air exchange. The tub has:

  • Two 2-inch holes on each long side, about 4 inches from the bottom (just above substrate level)
  • One 2-inch hole on each short side for air intake

After day 10, I realized sealing the tub may have been a mistake, so I unsealed it and added micropore filters to the holes to allow some passive FAE.

So far, the tub still smells earthy and healthy. No obvious contamination signs other than a strange ring forming in the substrate, which honestly just looks like tomentose mycelium to me. It’s developing way too slowly to resemble mold. My last tub got Trich and it basically appeared and doubled in size within a day.

Humidity also seems high. I had so much moisture pooling on the lid that I had to wipe some off with a towel. I still have condensation on the walls and lid, although strangely the short ends of the tub don’t really collect moisture.

One thing that confuses me is that my grain spawn absolutely exploded after inoculation and colonized incredibly fast in just a couple weeks. Once introduced to bulk substrate though, everything slowed way down.

Questions for more experienced growers:

  1. Is it common for tubs using popcorn grain to take this long?
  2. Does this sound like too much humidity?
  3. Should I introduce fanning, or just leave it alone?
  4. If my grain spawn colonized aggressively, why would growth slow so much after spawning to bulk?
  5. Any general advice?

I appreciate any input. Thanks!

Images below!

https://imgur.com/a/AfETg6a

u/_Austoned_ — 8 days ago
▲ 0 r/shroomery

Hi guys,

I wanted to share my first mushroom growing experience that I started back in February and get some feedback on where I went wrong and what I can do better.

I began by ordering spores from GroMagic (no issues there), but my experience with Zombie was rough. It took about a month to receive my order due to an alleged warehouse accident. The kit included:

* 54qt monotub * 2x 3lb milo grain spawn * 2x 5lb substrate

When I finally got everything, I inoculated the grain spawn—but the injection ports actually fell off (yeah… literally fell off). I decided to roll with it anyway for science and injected directly through the bag, then sealed it with duct tape.

Surprisingly, after about 6 weeks, both bags fully colonized with no visible contamination. I also did two break-and-shakes during colonization.

Monotub Setup:

* 54qt tub * 3x 2-inch holes on each long side, 1 on each short side * Micropore tape applied immediately * 6lb grain spawn : 10lb substrate

Within about a week, I saw colonization in the tub, but it seemed slow.

After 7 days with no pins, I introduced FAE.
After another \~5 days and still no pins, I loosened some of the micropore tape to increase airflow.

Yesterday, I found what looks like trichoderma starting to form 😔

Other Note:

At the same time, I inoculated two 3lb popcorn grain bags with isolated spores, and those colonized MUCH faster. Planning to run those next. I cleaned vigorously throughout the process with 70% iso

My Thoughts:

I’m thinking I may have:

* Introduced FAE too early * Probably exposed the tub to contamination when loosening the tape

I originally thought CO₂ buildup might be the issue (and that’s why I increased airflow), but now I’m questioning that decision (Don't always trust AI). I think what I actually did was somehow shock the mycelium by introducing air through the micropore very early on instead of allowing a period of further colonization by sealing the monotub.

Update: Second Attempt (Popcorn Grain)

Quick update on my second run and looking for some feedback again.

This time I switched to popcorn grain and used the same general setup:

  • 54qt monotub
  • 6lb popcorn grain spawn : 10lb substrate
  • Room temp fluctuating between 70–75°F

It’s been about 11 days so far. I am seeing growth, but it’s noticeably slower than my first grow at this stage.

The main thing I changed this time was airflow. Based on what happened previously, I decided to keep the tub fully sealed and restrict airflow completely until the mycelium covers the surface of the substrate. No loosening tape, no early FAE—just letting it ride.

So now I’m in a bit of a comparison situation:

  • First grow = faster colonization, but likely introduced contamination from early airflow adjustments
  • Second grow = much more controlled environment, but slower colonization

At this point I’m trying to figure out if:

  1. The slower growth is just genetics / popcorn vs milo difference
  2. Sealing the tub is actually slowing things down more than expected
  3. Or if this is still within a normal timeline and I just need to be patient

Curious what you all think—does this pace sound normal given the changes, or should I be seeing more aggressive colonization by now?

Thanks in advance!

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u/_Austoned_ — 25 days ago