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I am growing oyster mushrooms. I am a beginner. My first batch. It has been something like 10-11ish days now since I started the batch. It is almost three quarters colonized. Suddenly some brown-red spots appeared.

I used woodchips and oat bran as substrate,

Here are the photos of the spots

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I looked at some forums and stuff. Is it like a sign that it is drying out? Can I save it if it is drying out? Is it a contamination? Help!?

I don't want to mist it now because it hasn't colonized yet?

Check out my two other questions about this batch for further info ( Very heavy smell while growing oyster mushrooms

Growing Oyster mushroom: Is my spawn growing healthily? )

user27663
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  • all you can do is let it do its thing. I think perhaps you are overly concerned you messed up. You may have messed up, but its too early to tell. I mentioned before the method used for sterilising the medium was not effective. But that doesnt mean their is a problem. You have a culture that is growing. It is going to make weird smells and look strange at times, because it's brewing. Perhaps in a good or bad way. There is nothing you can do about it at this point. – GardenGems Dec 31 '19 at 14:36
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    @GardenGems OK, I 'll let it colonize fully and then I ll start misting. Thanks. – user27663 Dec 31 '19 at 15:19

2 Answers2

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Those are metabolites because the mushrooms are unfortunately contaminated. Oyster mushrooms should not have a heavy mushroom smell, in fact they smell like sweet aniseed or liquorice when they are colonizing.

Your spawn looks too wet aswell, may I suggest you don't add bran (supplementation) to your grows until you understand proper substrate hydration and have a few non supplemented grows under your belt as these are far easier.

user1949280
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The orange liquid is a metabolite that the mycelium produce, typically in response to some stress.

How did you sterilize the substrate? If using bran as a supplement, you really should be sterilizing rather than pasteurizing (which is just fine with un-supplemented substrate like chips or straw). A bacterial contaminant would cause the mycelium to produce this orange liquid.

I think the moisture content looks good - there's moisture on the walls, but no pooling at the bottom.

What is the temperature? Remember that the core of this will be up to 5 deg F or more higher than the outside. High temps could cause a stress.

That said, I've grown oysters many times, seen the metabolite in many grows, and have had most of them turn out just fine. I wouldn't worry about it.

That Idiot
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