48 replies to this topic

[YoshiTrainer]

Sometimes I fall into the trap of trying to do to many projects at once. Usually I end up with some sort of contam and am too busy to really enjoy the process. I do recommend multiple projects to keep from focusing too much on 1 and loving it to death. I try to limit myself to starting two new prints at a time then wait a couple weeks before starting more. It doesn't always work out, a few weeks ago I started 4 prints but in my defense, they mature at very different rates. :) I almost started a couple prints last night and showed self control, waiting until next week. See, some self control, I should celebrate. ......by starting some new prints! :)

Good luck Auhron!

[rockyfungus]

If you have old dry cultures, try moving them to wet agar. I've replicated Faht's work with dried grains a few times. 

Others are using water agar with great success to get myc and nothing else.

 

Honestly IME, condensation is not a vector. Review your process of transferring or opening agar. Or consider the syringes were just bunk. That's what agar is for, clean it up!

 

I am guilty of starting way too many projects. I hit maximum overload, and fruited what I wanted. Burnout followed. Now I'm trying to clean up the mania of new cultures. Mostly exotics and gourmets.

I recommend picking one pet project and 2-3 let's learn and not care too much. I'm lazy though. 

[Auhron]

I'm going to keep my agar pours to smaller batches at a time - this last pour was a struggle keeping everything in the sterile field of the filter. Most certainly I failed at some point and that was a vector for contamination of the plates as well. I've had much better batches before - just have to focus in a bit more.  A larger flow hood is being planned for later in the year, deciding on the size of the filter and getting a suitable blower.

 

Yes - this is a lot of projects - that's why the prince is off the list. I have to pace myself   I did not show self control when I added on those last 5... so congrats Yoshi, the fungi will have their way soon enough and you'll start more.

 

 

[YoshiTrainer]

Funny how life works, a very cool friend of mine just gave me 2 pieces of agar with incredible genetics! Technically not my fault, it would've been rude to tefuse! :)

[Auhron]

That didn't take long Yoshi 

 

I just did some inoculation: One Block of Shiitake - Solstice is now on the shelf, as well as two blocks of Lions Mane. Queue more waiting for the Shiitake.

[Arathu]

FED EX says my spawn shows up here tomorrow.....it's on the interstate in a truck.......

 

GPS tracking fungus......hah!

 

A

[Auhron]

5. Only 5 of those agar plates were clean. Moving forward.

 

NEW PRESSURE COOKER ARRIVED TODAY

 

The joy of the new toy. Big enough to actually PC a loaded large myco bag. This should help reduce the vectors of contamination for my fruiting blocks.

 

3 White Oyster blocks are in the FC - they like colder weather so I might need to give them a cold shock to initiate fruiting, even last year I didn't get great results with this strain. They are nice though.

1 Lions Mane block is also in the FC - tiny spots of primordia were already forming on top, looks like I'm top fruiting that one.

1 Lions Mane block is sitting under a bush that sits under a tree in my backyard. The strange spot that wouldn't colonize - then magically colonized REALLY FAST - turned green. It got the BOOT. 

1 Enoki block still not colonized, it's going to join the outside lions mane tomorrow.

 

Started a bunch of grain today - all the LC's that I was expanding last week: Black Pearl,  Tarragon and Golden Oysters as well as Chestnut and Shimeji all went onto rye. As well as 2 more jars of Lions Mane, and Shiitake 3782. There will always be more Lions Mane. Always. and more of it than the others. It is the best. And Shiitake because they take so long - how many months ahead of time must I plan for my shiitake cravings?! Best to plan on being hungry I think.

 

From Grain to Fruiting Blocks I have 3 new blocks of Shiitake 3790 and one more of Shiitake Solstice incubating,  All 85% Oak 15% Wheat Bran (roughly) with a sprinkle of gypsum.  Additionally there is a new White Oyster and Enoki Block.  Hoping for better results with the substrate choice for the enoki (softwood masters mix).  In the morning once it has cooled I will inoculate a block of hardwood masters mix with my Pioppino grain spawn, the LC I started for Pioppino went wonky but the grain jar (from the same agar plate) looks healthy, I'm rolling the dice.

 

Hopefully there will be actual mushrooms to picture in the near future!  I'm hungry.

[Auhron]

They grow!

 

Baby Lions Mane:

 

Baby White Oysters:

 

There are a few more spots growing but we get the idea =)

[Arathu]

Beautiful! Man I love it when my stuff pins up.....Nice work.....I'm like a kid every time! Best freaking hobby EVER!

 

A

[Auhron]

Yes, I am very excited! There was a happy dance. I let them know that they are beautiful. Just a few more days. They've even grown so much in the last 7 hours...

[Auhron]

A Day Off!! Oh? No? The fungi need attention. Lazy day of work then - but on mushrooms. I have traded my day off for mushroom cultivation for the foreseeable future.

 

Revisited Agar! 20 plates, less condensation - nothing left the sterile field the whole time I was pouring, The Petri dishes got washed incredibly thoroughly and wiped with an alcohol dampened paper towel before they went into the oven for sterilization. I did the syringe pour method again and used 6ml of agar per 60mm petri dish. Agar was Malt, Yeast, Charcoal and Peptone. I let it cool down properly before I wrapped the plates this time, probably helped with the condensation =) I still need to let it sit a little longer in the PC after the run.  Here is me hoping for FAR better results than last time.

 

Fruiting Blocks inoculated for Black Pearl, Tarragon and Golden Oysters as well as Chestnut and Shimeji, Two blocks sterilized for more Shiitake 3790 and 3782 in addition to two more for Lions Mane, to be inoculated on Friday. Everything is Masters Mix on hardwood except for the Shiitake(Oak).

 

 Two Small grain jars of Lions mane inoculated, 2 more shiitake (1each 3790/3782) and a Black Pearl, Golden and Blue Oyster Grain Jar started as well.

 

I am getting to the point where with Shiitake blocks starting to pile up for their longer incubation period, I'm going to need additional shelving very soon.

 

My Grain Spawn and a few LC's that are expanding. A LC for Maitake is slowly growing out, WOW so slow, perhaps it would prefer a different LC recipe next time or is it always slow? it was slow on agar too.  White Enokitake LC there too, As well as a Black Poplar Culture that's finally free, er... clean. Todays new Grain Spawn in the middle, more mature grain spawn on the right.

 

My Mini Fridge

The Fungi have completely taken over!! There is nothing in that mini fridge anymore that is not a fungal culture. There are multiple backups for every strain, I intend to switch out those agar slants for nutrified sawdust in the slant tubes.  

 

No more new cultures for a while. I have to keep telling myself this while I look at the species I don't have yet... jumping so far ahead of myself, I have not even fruited half of these ones yet   Multifarious future fungal friends

[Arathu]

Haha....haha....that's AWESOME......you're in trouble! It's like looking at my own mayhem....Maitake can be tricky until you find the right combination(s) of things your strain likes.....I've had success (after many failures) using commercial spawn....

 

BUT I will continue to experiment and develop my strains until I'm just growing from spores to fruits myself.....indeed they've taken over my waking and sleeping consciousness...well maybe not taken over BUT surely we are now one....

 

You're a Dirtmaker too (along with quite a few of you anonymous folk out there that do nothing more than lurk here)......It's in the master plan! Muwaaaahahaha......

 

A

[Oldpunk]

Too easy to get too much rolling at once. And I seem to find my spare time used up on mushrooms as well .

I am a bit envious of your well organized work space. I always end up with some here. Some over there.

[Auhron]

@ Arathu  - Funny you mention being a dirtmaker, I stir my 3 compost bins once per week - since I started throwing spent fruiting blocks in them they make dirt so much faster than before. Every strain I fruit in this log will be printed so I can play the spore - to - fruit game with each of them myself. Except for the grey oysters (that's already a strain I started from spore) and I already printed the Blue Oysters and Lions Mane. Once I have a plethora of spores, well that will just lead to countless more projects... There is no end in sight.

 

@Oldpunk - I have to be organized. Streamline the workflow, know where things are, perhaps a tad obsessive. The more I try to do - the more organized it all has to be. It's a peace of mind thing for me.

 

 

There is a little bit of condensation on 4 of the 20 plates, a couple are a tiny bit underfilled and there is a void in the agar (these were the first couple I poured - before I switched to 6ml per plate). I'm going to give them a couple more days, but the results are encouraging thus far. Dialing in successfully pouring agar plates is going to be critical in minimizing waste - both in materials and my time.

 

Two more blocks of Lions Mane are in the tent now. If you are reading this and you aren't growing lions mane... the best time to start was a month ago... 

I did not take the enoki block that had the weird void that wouldn't colonize outside. I have been watching it. 2.5mm per day into the void - Just a solid mass of mycelium eating into it. There is now no visible substrate in that area. 1point - Enoki. Tomorrow I will put it in the refrigerator overnight. I have read that Enoki needs a cold shock to initiate pinning.

 

The Oysters are getting bigger!!  The Lions Mane is too!!

[Auhron]

The first block of the white Oysters - I've increased the airflow in the tent a bit, those are a bit long and the caps a bit small. Sporulating though, they had to be picked. 15.6oz.

 

Tiny tiny mushroom on the big mushroom

 

1 culture successfully fruited! 

[Arathu]

Very nice and THOSE are some tasty treats right there....beautiful mushrooms.....good work!

 

A

[MushLuvR]

Some healthy specimens you have there.  Wonderful Work!  

 

MushL

[Auhron]

mmm I can now confirm that they are indeed tasty! I picked the second block today - forgot to take a picture, it weighed in at 14.6oz

[Auhron]

I love Lions Mane! I picked a bunch that half broke off of the substrate because it was too big. It was delicious. I didn't weigh it, must have been 1/2 - 3/4 of a lb. The indoor lions mane has been dialed in (for the most part)- tent is dropping to 88%humidity then kicking back up to around 92%ish. The tents FAE should be around 12x per hour, the variable speed dial controller is not a precise instrument. regardless the Hericium Erinaceus seems happy enough.

 

 

Remember the block of Lions mane that went outside? It had green stuff on it... well we had 4 solid days of rain - then it was nice for 4 days. I was doing some yardwork today and I looked at the Mushroom Last Chance spot. Mother Nature cleaned the block up and it put forth a couple beautiful fruits.

 

 

Yum. I have a few pounds more of this to pick and eat within the next week. 4 fruiting blocks! This is my favorite mushroom. I cooked it with butter today. There was salt too. The butter browned. The Mushroom Browned. When I slice the Lions Mane I remove the inner tissue (the "stem") I find the texture to be odd - I save it for soup stock. The "cap" or spine area sliced about 1/4" - 1/2" thick, Pan seared. I perhaps used too much butter. this is choice. The best of foods.

 

 

Mycelium grows. Everything is growing. but nothing else is ready to fruit yet.  

 

The Enoki is just being stubborn. Cold shock it they say! it's the beginning of the summer! perhaps I didn't think this through to the end. The two Enoki blocks have spent 4 nights each in the refrigerator, nothing seems to be happening. I would prefer if I could figure them out. that way I can eat them. 

 

More Grain Spawn, More fruiting Blocks. New Filter arrived for my DIY flow hood, poured agar. Clean plates. the new filter is back in the bag it came in, closest thing I have to a cover. apparently a year uncovered in a basement is a bad thing for a hepa filter. Keep the sterile field Sterile!

[MushLuvR]

Some wonderful Hericium fruits you harvested and it's one of my favorites as well (to eat and Grow).  Many ways to cook them, my favorite is simple olive oil fresh garlic, sea salt, and peppercorn.  Great breaded and pan fried as well.  I grew so many during early Pandemic I had to dehydrate a few of my big fruits.  All good, great in powder form too.  

 

MushL