Forgot a 3 year old LC in my garage. Still looks weirdly clean. What would you do?
Found this LC completely forgotten in my garage for around 3 years lol. Pretty sure it’s cubensis 'equador'. It stayed sealed the entire time somehow.
What’s weird is that visually it still looks surprisingly clean. I expected some horrific contamination soup when I opened the box, but it’s still relatively clear with suspended mycelium-looking clouds everywhere. No obvious mold colors, no black stuff, no thick surface growth, nothing immediately terrifying.
I do have some experience with sterile work and applied mycology, so I know LC can look “fine” and still be completely cooked internally. But honestly to my eye it doesn’t look catastrophically contaminated either.
Now I’m stuck between:
“this is definitely dead after 3 years” and “maybe this thing somehow survived in garage hibernation mode”
Before wasting agar and grain, (and time), I wanted to ask if anyone here has ever recovered insanely old LC like this before. Did anything actually come back viable? Or am I just looking at a jar full of dead mycelium and hidden bacteria?
Curious what you guys would do first in this situation.