Posted by pinksharkmark (196.27.27.176) on December 03, 2000 at 16:20:00:
In Reply to: sterile conditions posted by gugi on December 03, 2000 at 02:38:18:
I did indeed use straight BRF/vermiculite, with a Ramsey seal and four-point innoculation, roughly 1.5 cc per jar. I also used the oven door trick, after spraying down the entire area with Lysol.
My blunder with two of the jars... I was so meticulous about forming a perfect little pocket with the aluminum foil that I forgot to later fill that pocket with dry vermiculite!
I only discovered this fact after the jars had already been pressure-cooked and completely cooled, while they were sitting on my oven rack in the nice warm updraft. I went ahead and innoculated them along with the four correctly prepared jars, since everything was at hand.
I may be worrying for nothing. I had originally planned to wait until we had one of our typical torrential tropical downpours before proceeding, since the heavy rain tends to wash all the suspended particulates from the air, thus drastically lowering contamination chances for several hours. Unfortunately, my work schedule is pretty heavy and I wanted to get the whole thing underway as soon as possible rather than waiting another week to start all over again.
I did wash my hands up to the elbows with Lysol, and performed the entire procedure after taking a shower, tucking my hair under a clean shower cap, and wearing a face mask. (and very little else... just a bathing suit). I also flamed the syringe before starting, between each jar, and before re-capping the remaining solution.
Still... next time I think I will just use a cardboard box with clear plastic cover as a glovebox.
Spores were obtained at a head shop in Ottawa, in Canada. They came from a local grower. One syringe is purported to be B+ strain, the other Ecuador. Where this grower obtained his original stock is unknown to me.
Sounds like you have done this before, or at least researched it fairly thoroughly. Are you a clusterhead yourself? If so, have you ever taken mushrooms as a treatment? Did it work for you?
Details, gugi, details! Curious minds want to know!