NOTE: Likely not contaminated

See the harvest post for this tub. I had no idea shiitake looked so weird. Perhaps there was some kind of competitor in this image, but it never propagated.

Preface:

I later found out that shiitake are not generally grown in monotubs, and they prefer sawdust over Wood Lovr substrate. According to the North Spore substrate compatibility guide, monotubs + wood lovr are not even experimental. So we'll see how this goes, fingers crossed, but not expecting much.

I have never grown shiitake, but I do know the mycelium turns brown when ready to fruit, according to this grocycle article and other sources. I'm 98% confident this is~~n't~~ what's happening here ~~though~~.

Contaminant: Unknown

Vector: Opening lid during substrate colonization

The deployment was done with the flow hood, and contamination was noticed about 10 days later, after several openings of the lid to check progress, despite warning from multiple sources not to do so.

The images below are taken 4 days apart, so it does not appear to be spreading. I'm guessing the mycelium immune system is keeping it in check. There is no discernable smell.

Going to keep going with this tub and see what happens, keeping it quarantined from any healthy mycelium.