8 replies to this topic

[rspurling]

I am a new member and am a little bewildered by the site. I am truly new to cultivating fungi and would like to find basic 'how to' recommendations of what equipment, etc. to buy to get started. For starters, probably the more foolproof, the better. I have a strong background in biology, but do not naturally have a green thumb.

[coorsmikey]

Welcome! You have to come to right place to get overwhelmed from opinions across the board! We will confuse you with Get This and That and You Don't need that lol.
We do mean well though! Can you tell us lil more maybe? Like are you looking for a small personal grow here and there or more interested in the hobby and science?
Are you scraping by on the monthly bills or would you like to invest a few dollars to see that you succeed for many years to come?

Edited by coorsmikey, 03 November 2020 - 08:13 PM.

[Choices]

Welcome to topia Rspurling, glad your here to learn and sharpen your skills.

IMO, start researching BRF jars (cakes). Which is basically brown rice flower and either coarse or fine grade vermiculite mixed together with water in 1/2 pint WIDE mouth jars. There are many recipes but it’s basically for 12 jars your looking at 6:3:3(cups) of verm, brf and water respectively. With a layer of verm on top for a barrier from nasties as it colonizes.

Once you get the procedures down of
Keeping things clean, you’ll naturally move on to bulk grows.

Some basic equipment needed to start down this rabbit hole are as follows:
Pressure Cooker (PC)
Still Air Box (SAB)
Syringe of spores
ISO alcohol
Latex gloves
Dust mask

These will change over time but these are pretty if not essential!!

Post questions, respond and get involved and before you know it you’ll be growing these little devils or angles depending on how you look at it. There is a WEATLH of info here and many many knowledgeable people egar to help in any way.

Keep things clean and Mother Nature will do the rest. Best of luck and again glad your here. Hope you stick around.

Search the site or the net for “Magic for the Masses” some basic how to explanations of terms and TEK.

Edited by Choices, 03 November 2020 - 08:20 PM.

[FunG]

Check out magic for the masses.

And read "the mushroom cultivator" by paul statments. It is the holy grail of cultivation procedures and a bit of a "technical" read but it outlines every procedure from start to finish.

Culturing from spores, agar, g2g but I dont think liquid cultures are mentioned in it. It's been awhile since I read the book but it defiantly helped me understand the various ways p.cubensis can be propagated and stuff to watch out for.

[jrh]

Here is a link that I found very helpful for basic BRF tek.

 

https://www.mushroom....com/BRF-Pf-Tek

 

For some reason all the videos are set to autoplay, so go through and stop all of them, then play them one at a time.

[Choices]

Check this link out.

https://mycotopia.ne...e-pf-tek-guide/

[rspurling]

Thanks for the suggestions. I will definitely check out the links. I want to start out small scale, and am okay with learning from my mistakes. But, I want to invest in good equipment that I will be able to use with good results for years. I actually did an intro post that didn't seem to get posted, so I'll say a little about myself: I grew up in south central Kentucky, but now live in Upstate NY outside Rochester. I work in the medical/mental health field, so I have a professional and personal interest in the biologic and technical/scientific aspects, as well as psychotropic aspects of fungi. I grew up going "dry land fishing" for morel mushrooms. I cut out most meat years ago for health reasons, so include a lot of mushrooms and nutritional yeast in my diet. I found this site referenced in a book I've been reading, Entangled Life. The author, Merlin Sheldrake, talks a lot about Paul Stamets, among others. I will definitely get a copy of "the Mushroom Cultivator."

[ElPirana]

The list of basic equipment that Choices mentioned is a very good start, I use those items all the time. You could add jars to that list. There are some consumables that you will likely need, like polyfil and micropore tape.

I might suggest starting a grow thread when you begin. It’s a great way to get advice on the fly while working through your first grow.

[Choices]

The list of basic equipment that Choices mentioned is a very good start, I use those items all the time. You could add jars to that list. There are some consumables that you will likely need, like polyfil and micropore tape.

I might suggest starting a grow thread when you begin. It’s a great way to get advice on the fly while working through your first grow.

Thanks EL, yea forgot the main tool. “JARS” haha with out them you have nothing. And micro pore tape is essential as well to cover the knock holes of the jars. Even though you have the top verm layer, take the 10 mins and tape the holes over.

This is exactly what I’m talking about, questions are asked answered and extrapolated upon.

Love this place and it’s peeps.

Edited by Choices, 06 November 2020 - 06:09 PM.