Sterile gloves for the moment that decides your grow
Very little tends to go wrong with the mushroom itself. What goes wrong is contamination: a mould spore or a bacterium that hitches a ride and then grows faster on a nutritious substrate than your mycelium does. Hands are the most obvious way in. Skin carries micro-organisms no matter how well you wash, and your fingertips are exactly what comes closest to the substrate.
A pair of sterile gloves removes that route. They are supplied one pair to a sealed peel pouch, opened only at the working moment, and sterilised with ethylene oxide. As long as the pouch stays closed and undamaged, the contents stay sterile. The material is natural rubber latex, thin enough to still feel a needle or a scalpel blade and supple enough not to pinch. The pouch notes that the gloves are lightly powdered: wipe the powder off with a sterile moist wipe once they are on, so none of it ends up in your grow.
When to reach for them
Inoculation is the classic moment: wiping the injection port of a substrate kit, filling the syringe and pushing the suspension in. They also earn their place during agar work, when transferring a culture and when harvesting between flushes. Clean your working surface first, keep the room free of draughts, and touch nothing else once the gloves are on. Throw them away afterwards, because a reused glove no longer offers the advantage you bought it for.
Worth knowing
These gloves contain natural rubber latex. If you are sensitive to latex, pick a latex-free alternative. Store the pouches dry and out of direct sunlight to keep the rubber supple.
At Avalon Magic Plants the same category also holds alcohol preps, a mouth mask, a sterile scalpel, a sterile syringe with needle, vermiculite and perlite. Everything is shipped discreetly packaged.
