Blue Cakes & Blue Shrooms

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Blue/Green Contam?  21 12/14 02:11am  

By SYDYSTYK (Addict) on Thursday, October 25, 2001 - 02:07 am:

blue mold? sounds like bluing to me try rinsing if the blue smears then its mold if not its just the goodies

By Lichen (Lichen) on Thursday, October 25, 2001 - 02:14 am:

Here's a pic of a B+ cake with one substantial shroom and an Albino cake all flushed out and blueing up. Both these cakes have very wet casings, but the one with all the little shrooms is turning blue, anyway.
2 cakes

By Snoopy (Snoopy) on Saturday, November 03, 2001 - 09:04 pm:

well I just took the cakes out of the fridge after dunking them for 20 hours. And wow do they look terrible, all green and bruised and ugly. They didn't look at all like that when I first put them in. I scuffed up the sides to induce new mycelin to grow. But they look really really sad. Is this normal? BTW: I am growing the standard PF strain.

By Nan (Nanook) on Sunday, November 04, 2001 - 12:16 am:

Yes it is Normal for cakes to turn a nasty, sickly shade of blue, blue-gray, even blue-green. Follow the Tek: Clean, Dunk, Re-case. They may look like hell after the process, tough, give em a few days in the Fruiting Chamber with Warmth, Light, Moisture, and Fresh Air, they will puff out in fresh White Fuzz... And you are off on another Flush.

Good Luck

By Eatyualive (Eatyualive) on Sunday, October 07, 2001 - 04:15 pm:

Here are some albinos grown flat cake style.
1
2
3
4

By Eatyualive (Eatyualive) on Sunday, October 07, 2001 - 04:21 pm:

1

By Bobby (Bobby) on Monday, November 05, 2001 - 11:25 pm:

A FOAF just harvested the first of his shrooms, but when he cut the stems open to dry out there was blueish discolorization inside the stem. What is this, and is it harmful. Also the cake that they came from is turning a little blue, he thought it my be dry but now he is not sure.

By Nan (Nanook) on Monday, November 05, 2001 - 11:30 pm:

Normal bluing

By Sillycybin (Sillycybin) on Monday, November 05, 2001 - 11:34 pm:

If your cakes are bluing, you may want to try the dunk tek after your first flush.

http://www.nansnook.com/archives/dunktek.htm

There is also an entire section in the archives on dunking. Read through to see if dunking is what you want to do.

DUNKING

By Bobby (Bobby) on Tuesday, November 06, 2001 - 12:12 am:

I dunk them for 6 hours befor putting them in the terranium. I just pulled some more off the cake and they were not blue inside but two minutes later the turned blue, I'm asumming this is a sign of drying out do to oxygen exposure to the inside.

By Snoopy (Snoopy) on Tuesday, November 06, 2001 - 04:54 am:

yah it is the active elements inside the shroom that we love so much, oxidizing as it comes into contact with the air
Happy Munchin'!

By Regular Expression (Xeger) on Monday, October 29, 2001 - 02:12 am:

Today I noticed that two of my cakes have strangely discolored areas on their sides. The discoloration is blue, and appears in patches (it is not uniform throughout the cake.) I estimate approximately 15% of the surface area of each cake is discolored.

These cakes haven't fruited yet--one has grown a complete mushroom, which I just harvested, and has another one about 2 days from maturity. The other cake has a primordium whose growth has been arrested for the past 2 days.

The mushroom which I just picked is narrow near its base, as if it's had trouble growing lately, and the inside of the stem at the base bears the same discoloration as the cake, only in a darker shade.

This really looks like contamination to me, which is unfortunate since the two cakes represent most of my batch. I wouldn't even trust the single shroom I've already picked.

I also recall that cakes turn blue when they run out of water. How blue do they turn? Does it happen evenly to the whole cake?

(Waiting with baited breath...)

By Nan (Nanook) on Monday, October 29, 2001 - 03:12 am:

Take a cake and put it under running tap water and rub the discolored spots with a clean fingertip. If it is contam it will smear and come off. Contamed spots frequently have a different "feel" than normal mycelia when it is rubbed with the finger. Slimy texture, smearing, off colors that wash off or smear... That's contam.

Cakes can discolor badly, and the discoloration can spread to the entire cake if it's too dry. Discoloration caused by excessive dryness can look just like a nasty contam. Blue, blue-green even. The tap water "rub test" is conclusive.

It really sounds to me like your cakes have dried out and need a good long dunk in clean water.

By jack cracker (Cptcracker) on Monday, October 29, 2001 - 03:54 am:

Sounds like a dry cake to me, too. You might want to reevaluate your humidification system.

By Delta25 (Delta25) on Tuesday, October 30, 2001 - 02:28 am:

Well I had my first flush woo hoo thanks to all
So i have cleaned the cakes and dunked them 12 hrs later when i took them out they smelled ok but they had turned a sickly shade of blue Is this normal ?

By Nan (Nanook) on Tuesday, October 30, 2001 - 02:46 am:

Yeah cakes can get pretty beat up and bruised looking after a flush; what with the dehyrdation stress, picking fruit, the cleaning, the handling.

Recase them after the dunk and keep em misted. They recover in 48-72 hours... White Fuzz is to be expected... All will be good

The second flush is typically even better, and the shrooms are typically more potent... And the second flush is when you should think about taking a print

By Drew Man (Dman) on Monday, November 19, 2001 - 02:48 am:

I have had my cakes in my terrarium for 10 days and they seem to have turned a little blue. The mushrooms were growing very quickly before but now they have seemed to almost stop. I turned up the humidity and nothing has really changed that much. Anyone have any ideas because I could really use em.

By Lichen (Lichen) on Monday, November 19, 2001 - 03:06 am:

it sounds like your flush is nearing the end. Blueing is normal, and is a result of the moisture content in the cakes being exhausted. Mushrooms demand a certain supply of water, and they will suck the cakes dry during the flush, turning them blue, unless you've implemented a tek to keep the cakes hydrated, such as double-ended casing. Are you familiar with this tek? It is simply wet vermiculite contacting the bottom of the cakes, as in a lid with the cake sitting on the verm, plus a tablespoon of moistened verm on top of the cake. Keep it wet with a syringe of distilled water.
You say your shrooms have slowed in their growth. Well, what stage are they at? If they are a race that makes veils, have the veils broken? If so, it's picking time.

By Drew Man (Dman) on Tuesday, November 20, 2001 - 12:12 am:

They just started poping out and then like a day later they stopped and the blueness appeared. They havent vailed yet because there arent any that really even have caps yet. You can just see a little brown spot at the end of the stem. Whats my problem?

By Lichen (Lichen) on Tuesday, November 20, 2001 - 12:22 am:

you're very dry. Do you have them double-end cased?
Did you use straight pftek? Or did you use a variation? I need more info. what's the humidity level, how long did they take to colonize, what's the substrate made of, anything you can think of will help. It sounds like you should make up some new jars and try again

By quote: (Quote) on Tuesday, November 20, 2001 - 01:30 pm:

i'd try dunking if i were you.
http://www.nansnook.com/archives/dunktek.htm

By Drew Man (Dman) on Tuesday, November 20, 2001 - 11:54 pm:

I used the straight PF technique with vermiculite and brown rice that i ground up in a coffee grinder. I had the jars for about 5 weeks, because I didnt see pins in the mycelium. I didnt have the jars in an incubator or anything to keep it above room temperature so I figured it would take longer. I then took them out and put them in a ten gallon tank that I sterilized with rubbing alchohol. I put perilite on the bottum and put a gallon of distilled water with a 100 watt fish tank heater in it to heat and humidify the tank. I usually fan it 3-4 times a day and keep the temp around 85-90. And I still have the blue on the cakes! Plus what do you do if you try and dunk a cake and it floats???

By Lichen (Lichen) on Wednesday, November 21, 2001 - 12:03 am:

use the same jars that you colonized the cakes in. Fill the jar with water, pop the cake in, and put the lid on

By Nan (Nanook) on Wednesday, November 21, 2001 - 12:28 am:

It's all covered in "How to Dunk"

By venusfly (Venus) on Saturday, November 24, 2001 - 04:14 pm:

I am using the SOS tek and here is what is going on.I have picked many,many small aborts and some decent sized onesso far.When the casing cakes are running out of nutrients they start to turn blue correct?I have also notices these little black dots that I assume were/are pinheads dying from lack off nutrients correct?Also I just read a post on drying.Some one stated that if you place shrooms right away in the drying chamber you are asking for rot.It seems that the one I place in my drying chamber are fine though.They are only taking a day or two to completely dry.They are kinda of small and I chop them up.Are they rotten?They all look uniformly shriveled and are crispy when I break them up.There are no foul odors coming from them.I am storing them with these cool little barrel looking things I got out of my vitamin bottles that contain silica and carbon.Are my shrooms rotten?Also where can I get more of those cool little desiccant barrels?Thanks

be well

By quote: (Quote) on Saturday, November 24, 2001 - 04:35 pm:

it's not nutrients you need, it's more water.
your shrooms sound fine, small ones dry fast.

By Drew Man (Dman) on Monday, November 26, 2001 - 08:07 pm:

I thought my cakes were dry because they began to turn blue, so I tried dunking them for my first time. I didnt have the same canning jar to fill up with water and put the cake back into so I used a bowl. I noticed that the cakes floated so I only filled the bowl about 1 inche up and sat the cake in it. Now it appears that only the bottum of the cake is hydrated. Did I dunk wrong, because I didnt have them completely submerged and should I try redunking? Plus someone said that if your cakes were dry that you could put vermiculite ontop of the cake and wet it. Do I have to bake it first off or can I use the dry stuff right out of the bag and spray it down? Is there anything else I can do to hydrate my cakes?

By Underground_Shaman (Shaman) on Monday, November 26, 2001 - 08:20 pm:

Yes, it is best to have cakes completely submerged.

You can use verm. as a casing for cakes right out of the bag.

You can try the inner reservoir tek for hydration. Check the archives, there is some controversy.

Peace,
Shaman

By Herman Manderchuck (Youenjoymyself) on Monday, November 26, 2001 - 08:22 pm:

I forget who said it here but a ziploc bag works darn well for dunking..Gently sit something on top of the cakes so that they are submerged in your bowl..
Check out Dunking + casing in the archives

By ggg (Ggg) on Monday, November 26, 2001 - 08:29 pm:

dunking

more IR tek talk

By Lichen (Lichen) on Monday, November 26, 2001 - 09:11 pm:

wow...those cakes are flushing out big

By Dr. Cubesis III (Newbieshroomer) on Thursday, November 29, 2001 - 07:40 pm:

Hey guys, was going to start my own thread on this, but Jared seems to be at some of the same points I am in his quest for pins....

I have some SIGNIFIGANT ( 1/4 of the jar ) blueing in one of my fully colonized jars. I checked for pinning in the jars last night and found it. These jars are not scheduled for the terrarium till tommorrow ( need to pick up a heat pad first ) I did read somewhere that bluing is water damage, and the cake can be saved, but I forget how.... Would one of the big brains around here throw me a bone and save me some time looking it up, would be mucho appreciated :)

On another note/.... I FINALLY memorized my damn password for this site!!! Yippee!!!!
LOL!!

By Brettiejams (Brettiejams) on Thursday, November 29, 2001 - 07:42 pm:

A short dunk at birth will stimulate a bit of new growth.... and those areas should whiten back up, eventually.

By Brettiejams (Brettiejams) on Thursday, November 29, 2001 - 07:44 pm:

That last post was directed at Jared

By Brettiejams (Brettiejams) on Thursday, November 29, 2001 - 07:49 pm:

Blueing is caused by tissue damage or excessive drying usually...... water damage is kinda brown or yellow in my experience.

At birth, make sure it is not mold before you put it in the terrarium first(see if it washes off under running water in the sink).

If it isn't mold, then give it a good dunk at birth then apply the double ended casing to it.

Fruit normally.

By Dr. Cubesis III (Newbieshroomer) on Thursday, November 29, 2001 - 08:15 pm:

Thanks Brettie,

But,,,, It seems that there is still plenty of moisture in my jars, including that particular jar.... Thats why I assumed that it was water damage. Now, with your advice, I am going to maybe assume mold of some type ( YAY, another color of mold I might get to learn about first hand! :0P ) The bluing is a REALLY pretty color...

If it washes off is it mold? Or if it DOESN'T wash off??? Ok, Assuming it's not mold, I will apply the PF double ended casing after I wash and dunk the cake....

You Jam Brettie! ;0)

Thanks Brettie!!

By jared (Jared112) on Thursday, November 29, 2001 - 08:43 pm:

If it washes off then that means that it is mold. If it don't wash off then that is the color of your mycelium due to some strange reason. Such as drying or watter logged.

By jared (Jared112) on Friday, November 30, 2001 - 06:04 am:

Just 14 hours after loosening the lids so that they can almost be pulled off the jars, and I have seen a tremendous increase in growth speed. I Think that I will leave them like this tomorrow. I noticed that the verm layer on the bottom of the jar really worked well to soak up all the water that runs down the sides of the jar. This almost works better to have the lids on loose, and the jar right side up. Gone are the days of flipping jars. (Even though I'll do it just for good luck).

By thomas aquainus (Jinks420) on Monday, November 05, 2001 - 01:02 am:

my shrooms have turned really blue. is this from man-handling them to much or what? are they contamninated? also my cakes have a small amt of blue on the cakes? is this bruising or something worse. please help me, thanks.

By Lichen (Lichen) on Monday, November 05, 2001 - 01:37 am:

blueing in flushed cakes is normal unless you have kept the cakes themselves fully hydrated during fruiting. Blue shrooms indicate a combination of low humidity perhaps, and being too rough on them.

By jack cracker (Cptcracker) on Monday, November 05, 2001 - 05:47 am:

blue is the magic showing through!

shrooms bruise blue when they are handled, some more than others. i would not touch them until you are ready to harvest.

cakes turn blue if they are dehydrated or handled roughly. you make the call.

By Liberty_Caps (Liberty_Caps) on Tuesday, November 06, 2001 - 12:27 am:

or shrooms will turn REALLY blue if u have them on the fan to dry, and you turn it off for 30 mins before thier too dry.

By Matt Dalton (Org_Anic25) on Saturday, November 24, 2001 - 08:40 am:

Yea, well it is ususally a sign of fungus cake dehydration. Bruising from handling too. when psilocybin and psilocin oxidate, either in the cake or the friuting shroom, it produces a blue color. A lack of water will encourage this oxidation. When bruised, the oxygen can penetrate the psilocybian chemicals. If they begin to blue in the invitro stage, birth them so you can work on hydrating the cake. I never hydrate the cake in the jar. You can also add tad more water for your medium formula when you start new ones.

Shroom Glossary

By grubworm09 (Grubworm09) on Saturday, December 01, 2001 - 05:12 pm:

i treat them like babies, and yet they're bruising for no apparent reason.


also does the bruising weaken their potency?


sorry if these questions have been asked before. i tried to look around, but i didn't see the question posted before.

thanks in advance!

By plinkerdink420 (Plinkerdink420) on Saturday, December 01, 2001 - 06:21 pm:

blueing is gonna happen no matter what you do... dunk them and they should whiten up... as far as potency loss.. no..

By Kevin Smith (Canshroom) on Monday, December 24, 2001 - 03:11 am:

Hi guys. My first flush is doing quite well, but there is a slight blue coloration on a few of the cakes. There was a little on a few of the shrooms too. Is this just evidence of bruising from handling? Should it be anything to be concerned about? Besides this, everything is going well. Once I birthed them, they just went crazy. About a third of them didn't really do anything; I'm thinking that they may have to be dunked first. Any comments on the blue?

By quote: (Quote) on Monday, December 24, 2001 - 03:26 am:

the blue on the cakes prolly means they are thirsty;
dunk them.
the rest is just bruising.

By Hatcher (Hatcher) on Monday, December 24, 2001 - 10:55 pm:

I concur w/quote...

By that guy (Thatguy) on Thursday, January 31, 2002 - 06:08 pm:

hello, i had 24 jars colonizing fairly well for the past 20 days, until today when i noticed a few very small round green spots in one jar and tossed it, but for the past week ive noticed a slight blue tinge developing in a number of my jars within the mycilea. it appears in each of the 4 areas of innoculation. to describe it best would be to say that the mycelea where it was first innoculated is turning slightly blue, rather than some other bacteria invading it. so i am not about to believe it is a contaminant, there are no foul odors and it is definitely blue and not green. anybody ever experience this before? the jars are about 70% colonized and id hate to give up on them now. it is with the pf strain that this is happening.
any opinions ae welcome, thanks for helping!
-that guy

By Vitti (Vitticeps) on Thursday, January 31, 2002 - 07:12 pm:

Sounds pretty normal. The cakes could be just too wet or drying out.

It can also come from excessive handling of the jars if you're not gentle with them, they 'bruise' easily.

If you're sure it's blue and not green then just wait it out. No need to give up now. If they are just drying out a little then a dunk after birthing would be a good idea. Also, up your water ratio in the substrate mix a little next time to prevent it from happening agian.

By that guy (Thatguy) on Thursday, January 31, 2002 - 07:22 pm:

thanks, i do see moisture on the inside of the glass, could it still be a bit dehydrated? should i flip the jar to get rid of CO2? i figure ill just wait a bit and see, but its very frustrating to know that the best thing to do is wait... argh!

-that guy

By Vitti (Vitticeps) on Thursday, January 31, 2002 - 07:51 pm:

Even with condensation on the glass, dehydration is possible (and more common than excess moisture). If growth is maintaining a steady rate then I see no need to flip the jars. If growth does begin to slow and there is little but the bottom left uncolonized then go ahead and flip.

Patience is the primary ingredient here. :)