Well.....seems to me in passing thought, and aside from a small number of folks that are interested in the pure science of it all (which I'm sure is why were talking about it), that measuring and calculating efficiencies and other statistics tends to be more for people that are in business.......which could land folks in quite a bit of hot water depending on where you are and if we think about it in that sense. That is my first impression when someone asks about "efficiencies" and "yields".....I hear a business manager or investors moaning about their precious returns and quarterly results.....but that's just me.....
Personally I could care less what the biological efficiency, the BE as it's called, of a substrate is as I have no investors, board of directors, or boss for that matter and I'm NOT in the mushroom business nor do I have sales results.....Then again I'm growing food, medicine, and making dirt for myself and family..........
If I had a grant and a proper laboratory I might consider working on such studies. Right now it is interesting to see what the same strain of shiitake is doing in oak vs maple logs side by side, maitake will be next, but again I'm eating them......
Horse shit from the fox hunter's woods is free and rye berries are way under a $1.00/lb......logs and wood substrates can be had for nothing more than some manual labor.
But what people charge for a spore print or syringe is kinda interesting though....at least IMHO
My own experiences have proven to me that high spawn ratio's work VERY well for growing mushrooms fast (relatively speaking and depending upon species of course) and healthy....I know this from doing it...please show us some examples of your grows that would cause you to have such concerns in the first place.....have you grown some fungi on purpose? If not then PF Tek is a great place to start with a minimal investment....Or are you just intellectually curious about the subject? If the latter is the case I'd suggest diving into the vaults here for a couple of months, get/study some of the classic cultivation books/manuals, and especially perhaps grow some mushrooms yourself .....
What we are doing with pasteurized and sterilized substrates is ENSURING (as best as possible) that the targeted species of fungus IS THE ONE that colonizes and fruits from our substrates. In fact many of us start that work on agar of various recipes and attempt to advance the organism from there on.That's the point in my views of it. It also seems to me that these techniques work like a charm if/when I compared the results to native cow pies and road apples. I don't think I've ever seen a wild canopy of cubensis in the outback of Florida, Texas, or any other tropical environment personally. I have, however, seen some outdoor and indoor canopies growing from pasteurized "artificial" ass-hat bulk substrates though. In fact both dung lovers and woodlovers can be observed doing this..... I've tried (with very limited success to date) by-passing all of these ass-hat methods and techniques and just growing all natural....and it works just like out in the wild.....SOMETIMES you get a mushroom or four that you might be interested in.....but usually one of the local native species "wins"......
As always these are just my own opinions and observations.......I speak not for management, the network, or any political parties what so ever........
Thanks and welcome to Mycotopia........there's plenty to learn here....................... unless of course you already know it all......which is also cool.....
We LOVE mushroom porn!

Peace yo!
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