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Post by steev on Oct 23, 2016 19:49:13 GMT -5
There was a company recycling coffee-shop grounds, pressing them into blocks, and seeding them with oyster-mushroom to market as mushroom kits; they gave away the press-squeezings, of which I took a few bags, but the bags were too large and heavy (wet) to handle easily; great soil-amendment.
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Post by keen101 (Biolumo / Andrew B.) on Dec 21, 2017 19:09:09 GMT -5
so i the seeding of the cardboard worked, but i never got it to fruit. It was sorta a mess. Maybe it was too wet. I think i might try buying one of those blue oyster kits for growing during the winter.
But i had a question.. Oyster Mushrooms (plus straw) can be used to soak up oil spills and convert the complex hydrocarbons into mushrooms that are safe to eat. So my question is since Joseph stopped using cardboard because some nutrient is lacking would soaking cardboard in vegetable oil work??
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Post by keen101 (Biolumo / Andrew B.) on Dec 22, 2017 13:29:18 GMT -5
i really wish there was a more lively discussion about mushrooms here.  oh well, i'm a master at talking to myself. Anyway, i just decided to buy one of these kits to experiment with growing Blue Oyster Mushrooms in my garage over the winter. The Blue Osyters are capable of handling colder temps than the other strains, even the white. I am still highly interested in hybridizing oyster strains though for anyone else who has experience or an interest in that ( Joseph Lofthouse ?). Curious if the King Oysters (Pleurotus eryngii) could be hybridized with the others? That would be WAY cool. Think about King sized blue oyster mushrooms... yum.. Anyway, i think the kit should help me have more success right off the bat. I'm still interested in DIY techniques as they could be faster and cheaper, but for now i will try this. I'm still thankful for Joseph's tinkering and knowledge to find out that regular old mushrooms can be cut up and used to inoculate rather than going out and buying spores or plugs. I may try to dehydrate some after they grow and store them for future inoculations and DIY mushroom experiments since i know that works. |
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Post by keen101 (Biolumo / Andrew B.) on Dec 22, 2017 13:55:48 GMT -5
Joseph, I've recently been reading Sepp Holzers permaculture book. He does this quick and dirty bale inoculation method where he dumps a straw bale in a pond to get soaked. Then pulls it out and lets it drain a bit and shoves some spawn into the wet bale. I imagine they don't all take, but you'd be selecting for aggressive colonizing fungi that way right? Do any of these edibles grow on conifer sawdust? My favorite local sawmill has basically an unlimited supply of sawdust, but its mostly white pine and eastern hemlock. Apparently phoenix oyster does! Turkey Tail too. en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pleurotus_pulmonarius |
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Post by keen101 (Biolumo / Andrew B.) on Jan 2, 2018 16:24:05 GMT -5
Got my blue oyster kit from fungi perfecti today! Will be growing it in the garage. It's basically just a pre-inoculated straw bale in a bag with holes. Probably not worth the price. But i wanted something easy to start with.
Im curious if my "pea straw" would be a suitable medium.
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Post by keen101 (Biolumo / Andrew B.) on Jan 3, 2018 2:37:27 GMT -5
K, so i 3d printed a test object for a test mushroom experiment. The Piece is a "honeycomb vase" i found on Thingiverse. It is printed out of biodegradable Coffee-infused PLA (Polylactic Acid). (I no longer use ABS). I'm planning on putting some "pea-straw" with some Dextrin and Agar. Maybe i should add some other nutrients as well. Anyway, i'm hoping the Dextrin, Pea-straw, and PLA will provide enough nutrients and support for the Oyster Mushrooms. I hope to avoid major sterilization. My only worry is that mold will colonize the dextrin before the oyster mycelium, but we will see.  20180102_232328 by Andrew Barney, on Flickr  20180102_232222 by Andrew Barney, on Flickr |
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Post by keen101 (Biolumo / Andrew B.) on Jan 3, 2018 13:20:01 GMT -5
okay, got it ready. didn't take a photo, sorry. But i put in first a layer of Dextrin powder followed by some (TSA) tryptic-soy-agar, followed by some oyster mushroom spawn dowels, followed by a layer of pea-straw mixed in with some Teosinte/Corn "straw", followed by a few more layers of roughly the same. Also included small sprinkles of some mushroom soup bullion cube powder that has yeast extract in it. No sterilization done. I'm taking a page out of Joseph's lazy book and hoping that the oyster mushrooms have the ability to out-compete the mold and any other contaminants.
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Post by keen101 (Biolumo / Andrew B.) on Jan 29, 2018 17:54:32 GMT -5
okay, got it ready. didn't take a photo, sorry. But i put in first a layer of Dextrin powder followed by some (TSA) tryptic-soy-agar, followed by some oyster mushroom spawn dowels, followed by a layer of pea-straw mixed in with some Teosinte/Corn "straw", followed by a few more layers of roughly the same. Also included small sprinkles of some mushroom soup bullion cube powder that has yeast extract in it. No sterilization done. I'm taking a page out of Joseph's lazy book and hoping that the oyster mushrooms have the ability to out-compete the mold and any other contaminants. Okay, first attempt with that failed. That's okay. It ended up growing mold and a red bacteria. not good. That's okay, failure is the best teacher. Good thing is that it cleans out easy. So gonna try again with something different. I may try again with semi-sterilized pea straw again, not sure. I may wait to mix that with the remains of my other oyster mushroom kit after it is done fruiting. I have 1 cheap mini oyster mushroom kit for inside. it is working great. will try to take pictures soon. The blue oyster mushroom kit is growing in the garage and some pins are starting to form, so there is hope there too. I think the key is getting the medium right and while not completely sterile as best you can. |
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Post by keen101 (Biolumo / Andrew B.) on Mar 21, 2018 17:14:30 GMT -5
Just a reply of how this did. The second attempt worked with pea straw and the recycled mushroom inoculated grain from the commercial oyster mushroom kit. The use of plastic wrap to keep moisture in until the mycelium established itself worked great. And got a few small mushrooms but they eventually shriveled up became yellow and stopped growing. Maybe they ran out of nutrients? Maybe my climate is just too dry even with daily misting everyday and keeping in a dark cupboard. Maybe lack of oxygen in the cupboard? Idk. Mild success, mild failure. Still interesting. I'm done experimenting with mushrooms for now.  20180226_144228 by Andrew Barney, on Flickr  20180226_144216 by Andrew Barney, on Flickr  20180226_144151 by Andrew Barney, on Flickr |
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Post by keen101 (Biolumo / Andrew B.) on Dec 26, 2018 9:50:24 GMT -5
Joseph Lofthouse, what are your thoughts about mushroom breeding? I sorta want to have all the different oyster mushrooms cross together as theoretically the wide genetic variability could create something cool. But they all grow best in different temperature zones, or on soft wood instead of hard wood. But still I wonder if it could work somehow if you put spores from each kind in one pile.
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Post by mskrieger on Dec 27, 2018 10:24:13 GMT -5
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Post by mskrieger on Dec 28, 2018 10:17:19 GMT -5
Some more commentary on breeding mushrooms, from a post-doc fungi specialist I know. He recommends "The Mushroom Cultivator: A Practical Guide to Growing Mushrooms at Home", by Paul Stamets and JS Chilton, and says:
"There's a bit of info on [crossing different fungi species] in a section about mushroom genetics! It can be tedious even to hybridize between strains of the same species because of tricky & unpredictable mating type compatabilities. But there are ways to try!"
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Post by prairiegardens on Feb 15, 2020 0:49:57 GMT -5
Just found this thread today and would be interested to hear what if anything anyone is doing with mushrooms these days?
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