After picking the majority of my first flush, i left one cake in the chamber hoping to take some prints from some shrooms that were yet to open. Due to a busy work schedule, i didnt get to take the prints when i wanted, and having come home have found the shrooms to have fully opened up, with the tops going a browny/black colour, looking as though they had been cooked. I am wondering if this is a result of excessive moisture on the tops of the shroom, and it 'cooking' a little, or is it just normal to turn this colour after fully opening? They were unopened this morning and looking healthy. Also, i can't see why they wouldn't be any good to still take prints from, am i right? Thanks in advance

Just noticed that the brown/black gunk wipes off quite easily, so im assuming it must some sort of a reaction to excess moisture/light?

From the picture it looks like the colouring is caused by the spores that have dropped. If you say they have opened today, that might be the reason.
The only thing I'm not sure about is how the top one got coloured as well although I have read somewhere that mushrooms are capable of "shooting" off their spores. This enhances their chances of reproduction.

It looks a bit purplish to me and if you can brush it off easily, I would say those are spores that have dropped...

Yeah, my guess would be spores - the spores of P. cubensis are purple black and would wipe off on your finger like a powder. Did you have any other mushrooms above the top one pictured? Hard to believe it would be so affected by spores by the ones under it...

JBArk

I don't grow them, but I do hunt them, and see thus quite often in the wild. Not sure, but looks like spore droppage to me as well.

I'm curious as jBark is as to whether there was a large cap over the top one that's fully covered.

I had the same thing happen to a flush I had. The top was covered in what was defiantly spores( they tasted horrible just like spores ha) and there wasn't a mushroom growing above them. Not sure why but was safe to eat and defiantly spores. I would suggest picking your shrooms when the vial breaks from the cap. Unless you like choking down spore covered shrooms ha. What strain are those cubes?

I'd say spores for sure if the blackness tends to wipe off easy. I remember my first experience with spores... I thought my product had died overnight and I ended up throwing most of them away. With the looks of those caps starting to flare up I'd say you should have picked those a couple days prior.

Thanks guys. I did consider that to begin with, but couldn't figure how they went from being clean in the morning, to looking like this in the late afternoon. This cake was the only one affected like this, as i picked everything else when the veils broke. There was indeed more shrooms which towered over these ones, and the perlite in the chamber around the cakes is littered with spores also. Thanks for the help. Here is a pic of the originals. First time grower, so pretty stoked to the first flush with no contams from start to finish

.