46 replies to this topic

[Auhron]

I dislike aborts! They make me sad. Though they can be taken as a learning opportunity. What environmental factors caused the mushrooms to die?! It's summertime. I'm talking about enoki here! I got the enoki to pin - hooray! it was after the 6th night spent in the refrigerator they formed. they made it about 1.5 cm tall before they died. I think it's just a touch too warm for them perhaps?  I will revisit the Enoki in a couple months. 

 

Piopino block has been in the tent for a week. Just saw pins on it today - Still nothing from the tarragon Oyster, Golden Oyster or Chestnut Blocks.  Getting a 2nd flush from the white oyster blocks - one fruited in the side of the bag for a couple days before I liberated them. they are deformed as a result. another fruited downward through the grate of the shelving, weird looking stems but the caps formed nicely - they found their fresh air I guess. More blocks going into the tent today.  

 

My Shimeji block had some kind of contamination - it was incredibly squishy and smelt funky, it went straight to the compost bin.

 

Of the 20 plates I poured after getting my new filter, only 3 showed signs of contam after 3 days. I'm taking the win there. Clean agar plates opening up many more projects. 

 

Here's 4.5lbs of lions mane: 

Dehydrating some of it. I probably could have let some of that go for a couple more days.

 

Key takeaways from this lions mane run - @ 96% humidity and 10x air exchanges - I grew a large mass of brain like tissue, while in the same conditions my white oysters fruited start to finish. I dropped the humidity to 89% and upped the FaE to about 12x. Two blocks went into the tent when I made this change. They fruited beautifully. The one original block changed it's growth pattern and developed spines in the time the other two blocks fruited normally. It is the block pictured here:

 

This fungi is so beautiful!

[Arathu]

You got the LM dialed in! Beautiful fruits.....

 

A

[MushLuvR]

Agreed, nice work, I always get excited seeing those long tentacles.  A wonderful sign of happiness!  

 

Like a BABY Cutting Teeth.  

 

MushL 

Edited by MushLuvR, 11 July 2022 - 09:32 AM.

[Auhron]

Thanks Arathu and MushLuvR, I can't wait until I have a 2nd little FC that I can dedicate to the Hericium Erinaceus, to get beautiful fruits all the time.

 

I am shit with taking pictures. anyways - I put one of the white oyster bags outside - and OMG Momma knows what she's doing. Big beautiful white caps with almost NO stem. So pretty. use your imagination? sorry no picture.

 

Here are some pictures though...

 

Black Poplar

 

My shit photography - I managed to fail at picturing the largest of them on the right edge there...

 

Enoki

I lost count of how many times this block went into the fridge for the night over the past 3 weeks. Don't try to fruit the winter mushroom around the summer solstice... At least I got a few right? 10 enokis therewith maybe another 10 a bit behind if they don't abort... Torn between excitement and disappointment. In the fall I shall revisit this culture and now that I have a large enough pressure cooker try some bottle culture grows.

 

Not pictured there were some blue Oysters that got crazy huge - slightly oxygen deprived because the cluster was so big. Additionally there is a large number of tiny Tarragon Oysters.

Edited by Auhron, 12 July 2022 - 02:49 PM.

[Oldpunk]

Beautiful growing!
I need to scroll back up and look at the setup on your tent. I need to change up the fresh air in mine.
Looks like you've got I dialed in nicely.

[Auhron]

I have done a terrible job keeping this log updated for the past month. Good news is  - You didn't miss much!  Middle of summer - not the best time to grow mushrooms. After the last blocks pictured above I had a bunch of funky contaminations (which I'm blaming on the heat).  I cleaned up and shutdown the tent until the summer heat is over.  The dozen or so blocks went outside and some produced mushrooms!! I got Tarragon Oysters and Chestnut Mushrooms from the outside pile (neither of which I pictured). 

 

I've got 18 shiitake blocks at various stages - the first of them will be ready to start fruiting at the end of August.  I will set up my grow tent again then.  I have some grain spawn sitting in the fridge for most of the species I'm working with.  The only new spawn I have started in the past month has been for Shiitake. Keeping those blocks rolling because they take FOREVER.

 

I used to enjoy the summer heat more than I do now... Next summer I'm going to have a culture of Pink Oysters to work with so something will fruit in this heat...

 

I almost forgot: the Pioppino with brown butter is one of the best tasting ways I've ever had a mushroom. Honestly AMAZING. The Enoki went into a stir fry. I like the Enoki but I have no attachment to it. I doubt I will grow it much going forward. I like all the other mushrooms I've fruited more. The Tarragon Oyster is really just another oyster, subtle flavor difference from other Oysters, not as delicate as the white oysters yet not as meaty as the blue. 

[rockyfungus]

Enoki belongs in clear soup or miso. I only grow in the fall, but I'm starting to get prepared.