The MycoFactory LLC

Congratulations on your purchase of one of the finest pre-sterilized mushroom substrates in the world, our MyShroominBag™. Our goal is to help you succeed in your hobby of growing gourmet mushrooms at home. To do this you need to be aware that contamination is one of the most common problems of mushroom cultivators. Simply stated, contamination is the growth of unwanted or unintended micro organisms primarily molds, bacteria or even other unintended fungi. This is similar to weeds growing in a vegetable garden.

To make sure your MyShroominBag™ arrives to you free of contaminate spores, endospores or bacteria or fungi all MyShroominBag™ products are steam sterilized at 15 pounds pressure for 90 or more minutes. We then incubate them at around 80 degrees for 2 weeks to make sure nothing is growing in them. They are then visually inspected before they packaged and shipped to you.

To reduce the occurrence of contamination it is important to know the ways in which contaminates can gain access to your highly nutritious pre-sterilized substrate, in this case your MyShroominBag™.  MyShroominBags™ are a very rich source of food for most micro organisms. This is why they are able to grow such a wide variety of mushrooms. This is also why they are able to support the growth of contaminates and also can be easily contaminated if not carefully inoculated with a very high quality and pure live culture of gourmet mushroom liquid culture.

Lets look at some of the ways contaminates can infect your sterile MyShroominBag™ which are also known as “vectors of contamination”.

1. A tear or puncture in the MyShroominBags™ itself occurring during or after shipping.
2. A contaminated culture syringe inoculant.
3. Un-sanitized needle used to deliver the inoculant.
4. Un-sanitized inoculation port during inoculation.
5.  High levels of contaminates in the air during inoculation making the inoculation port or needle contaminated. Even breathing on the port and or needle during inoculation can result in a possible vector of contamination.
6. Touching a sanitized injector port or needle with a unsanitary hand, cloth or table.
7. Contaminates coming off of your person during inoculation.
8. There are many more vectors of contamination. This list is a partial list to give you a basic understanding of how unwanted organisms can enter your sterile MyShroominBag™ substrate.

There are ways you can reduce your chances of contamination and also to know with some degree when and in some cases how the contamination occurred. Even while using a Laminar Flow Hood contamination can occur. Every Mycologist has had contamination problems and will have them again. It is by knowing how it occurs the odds are reduced and turned in your favor for success.

First you can test your MyShroominBag™ to verify it is indeed free of contamination before you even try to inoculate it. Doing this is very easy. Once your MyShroominBag™ arrives in the mail visually inspect it for obvious mold growth. Having passed this test you can now check it to see if it has “hidden” or un-germinated mold spores. This is simple and straight forward. Take the new MyShroominBag™ and place it in your incubator for several days just as you would if you had inoculated it. After a few days you can inspect it again and you will know if it is sterile or contaminated with a mold or other fungi as growth will have become evident within the bag.

Now that you know your new MyShroominBag™ is sterile you can inoculate it knowing you have tested it to make sure it is not the source or “vector” of contamination.

 Here is a short list of other things you can do to reduce your risk of contamination.

1. Use a high quality live culture liquid suspension inoculant. A live culture is better than spores for a couple of reasons. The first is that you will be using a proven mushroom strain with predictable results. Second is that spores tend to have contaminate bacteria and mold spores on or with them. This is especially true for wild mushrooms. Wild mushroom spores are better suited for use with a petri dish (culture work) to germinate and isolate a single strain from the thousands that may germinate. Remember that mushroom spores are microscopic and if they are visible to the un-aided eye they number in the hundreds or thousands.
2. Use a glove box during inoculation. A glove box will reduce the odds of air disturbances and many vectors of contamination. A very simple glove box can be made out of a medium size cardboard box. Instructions to make one for next to nothing in cost can be found in many places on the internet. Use your favorite search engine to location one.
3. Wash your hands and arms before you begin to do any inoculations or culture work. It is also advisable to wear freshly laundered clothing and to shower if you have had problems in the past with contamination outbreaks. Surgical gloves and masks can also be useful if you have had problems in the past. Normally these are not needed but can be useful to reduce your list of vectors of contamination.
4. Use a alcohol wipe to sanitize the injection port and even the outsize of the needle before you inoculate your MyShroominBag™.  Alcohol wipes are available at low cost from most stores that sell first aid supplies. MyShroominBag™ products have a self healing injector port that will close itself around the puncture site after the needle is removed. Do not try to remove this port or the integrity of the MyShroominBag™ will be compromised and it will contaminate your project.
5. If you are working on a table without a glove box make sure the surface is sanitary. A simple bleach and water (10% bleach) solution or one of many spray sanitizers are helpful to do this.
6. Try holding your breath during inoculation if you do not have a glove box to work in. Also turn off area fans to further reduce air currents which may bring contaminates to your work area.

This is a simple and short list of some steps one can take to avoid many potential vectors of contamination. For more information on the cultivation of mushrooms and how to deal with contamination issues we recommend the book by Paul Stamets “Growing Gourmet and Medicinal Mushrooms”.

We have tried to make this easy to understand. If you have questions, comments or ideas to add please send us an email.

The MycoFactory LLC