Just a quick note for the intertubes archives and for my fellow shroomers. My experience may support or contradict your own.

I have had about a 50% failure rate with Kroger brand 90 second brown rice. From the ingredients and the Nutrition Facts label, it seemed to be a perfect match to Uncle Bens. It was about 30¢-40¢ cheaper per bag I think?

Of the same inoculation batch (6 UB & 6 Kroger w/ 1-1.5cc LC) under the same conditions, 3 of the Kroger bags either suffered wet rot or contam. The surviving Kroger bags took about twice as long to fully spawn.

I suspect that there is more moisture in the Kroger bags, btw.

(I am anal about keeping things sterile and utilize a laminar flow hood these days.)

This is not a perfect sample size! However, with pure UB Tek, I am still sitting at a 100% success rate for approximately 20 bags total. (No contam, no rot) Your milage may vary, of course. Additionally, I have just completed my lab today, so UB Tek is going to be rare for me from here on out. Regardless, no more Kroger brand rice bags for my mushrooms.

  • mightnotapply@sh.itjust.works
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    1 year ago

    Yep just .5! :) I’ve found it takes very little, just make sure your syringes are shaken up very well so you get enough of the good stuff in there.

    It sounds like you have a busy day tomorrow, keep us updated!