How can I fix potential contaminated water in my spore syringe? - Mushroom Cultivation (2024)

The reason I ask this is I am having zero results trying to germinate three strains I have and it’s getting silly.
If I streak one or two drops onto some agar plates in a sterile environment (my SAB) all I get is a whitish substance which just gets wetter but never seems to grow any mould or anything then after a few weeks I throw them in the bin and repeat only to get the same result. So, I bought some different spores from another vendor and the same again, no mould, no mycelium, just get a creamy white wet looking mess on the plates. WTF?
Odd thing is I did get success a while ago just dropping some spores onto the agar and leaving it but that strain didn’t give me any hassle.
I have even tried making BRF cakes and successfully inoculating those and then transferring some of that mycelium to agar and I get the same wet looking weird stuff on the plate.
What the heck is causing this and why didn’t it do it with all my syringes? Is there a way I can try to get these spores to germinate any other way? Does this happen to any of you?
Maybe I should try getting hold of spore prints and making my own sterile water and adding some spores to that and making my own syringes? I buy pre poured sterile plates as I don’t have the space or equipment to pour agar successfully here, I have wasted too much on that already.
I don’t want to give up, I am just hitting a point where something has to be changed in order to ascertain what is causing this issue.
Any help would be massively appreciated 👌🏻

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That slime, white goo is bacterial contamination.

Are you flaming the tip of the needle before innoculating?

Chances are it's a dirty syringe but also your technique at fault.

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2 in the Meme, 1 in the Dream.

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Ime syringes do not work well with agar. Syringes are for pf tek. Spore prints for agar.

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