First grow. Used grainspawn to get a big monobag going, manure and straw substrate. Fruiting has begun.

There are only a 10 or so fruits (expecting much more) and 1 huge fruit in particular is way ahead of the rest of the bag and is getting close to dropping spores.

I imagine that more fruits are on the way, because it seems to be a little ahead of the schedule that the instructions laid out.

Should I open the bag and pick it to avoid the mess or do is the risk of contam too great?

The substrate is not as fully colonized as the grainspawn was (there is some straw that hasn't been entirely covered by myc yet)



UPDATE

This caused no problems at all. The straw and poo bags produced a nice flush. Then, the remaining straw fully colonized and is now pinning again. And the mofo's are looking even better than the first flush.

Well, I wouldn't pick it. But you should have incubed it until about 100% colonization and then set into fruiting. For less chance of contams. No point in ruining the grow for 1 shroom. (I'm not saying it will exactly, specially if your clean)

thanks for the response.

I was surely not trying to get the shroom out to save the shroom, I was more worried about it dropping a ton of spores all over my my substrate/myc and making a mess.

I asked the vendor I got the bags from...he said go ahead and pluck that badboy. Its not totally popped open yet, so I will wait to the last moment.

I will post a picture and keep this thread updated if it does/doesn't cause a problem.

As for the fruiting starting early.... I wasn't trying to induce fruiting. I just followed the instructions that came with the bag. These badboys want out of the bag now and into my brain.

Typically mushrooms do not start fruiting until either 1. the substrate is completely colonised, or 2. they encounter contamination. If 1, then they are not likely to contaminate since they are already fully colonised. If 2, they are already contaminated anyway so opening will not hurt anything. As I see it, the only risk of picking is disturbing other nearby mushrooms in the process. I personally would go ahead and pick the early maturer(s) as soon as the veil breaks, unless doing so is impossible without ripping out a bunch of others that are not mature.

elphologist

if I hadn't been making all of this up... the picture would have looked something like this.

thats a full size bic lighter

Nice specimen. Would have picked it too. Once the substrate is fully colonized, it is fairly resistent against contaminations. I've had pf jars in the open (very moldy room) for weeks and nothing happened. Just make sure to wash your hands before touching the mycelium.

I would say that depends on the quality of the fruit. If its worth it to make a spore print then you can put those early birds to good use. Other wise you would be dealing with some abort or another. If you have a good isolated strain then you can depend on a healthy flush. Besides that, choosing a strain that you prefer isn't all that complicated and really you can begin making other colonies of a strain that you see with good growing potential long after you've inoculated and you're waiting to birth. Because you really only see problems with spores dropping when you're dealing with something like uncovered or otherwise exposed mycelium.

Save some for spore prints, but I always pick mine a bit early...small and strong.

2nd flushs are always fun and big from my experience.