25 replies to this topic

[night_ryder]

how many times can i g2g before it would be better to start a new myc colonsisation. one can only g2g so many times before the myc gets tired and old and more suceptible to contams

[LethalTr1p]

"the mushroom cultivator" limits it to 2 or 3 generations i believe. i have gone further a few times, but usually call it safe and quit there. i haven't pushed any limits on that end so i'm interested in hearing more 'hands on' answers.

[siam_jim]

i go as high as five, then i would start anew...
peace
siam

[Invitro]

I've done 5 G2G transfers many time with no problems .

[Lazlo]

The most I go is 3, then the mycelium will start to really slow down. Then eventually will stop colonizing.

[OZ]

yeah, word around town is 3 is the rule of thumb

[night_ryder]

i guess i will aim for around 4 times.

has anyone used popcorn as spawn to a bulk substrate, but instead of using the whole jar, they used the first 1/5 to spawn to another jar, so if i had 4 jars i would g2g a 1/5 to another jar and then use the other 4/5 to spawn to straw. then i could use the 4 new jars to g2g to 20 new jars while i have a casing going. then do this over and have 75 jars.

just a thought

[anticheffy]

Has anyone here actually done it to the limit?
And reached a point where the strain had obviously lost some positive attributes, or fail to fruit at all.
Just interested to see if anyone actually has data firsthand.

Ive done 5 or 6 and just went back to spore so as to not push my luck but the strain still seemed fine to me

[fahtster]

i've gone up to 10 times and stopped, but it was just cloning myc. to myc. The myc. wasn't allowed to fruit... not sure if that has an effect, it may actually have a bad effect as the myc. is tricked into thinking it doesn't have to fruit. The fruits have always been fine tho.. i haven't noticed any ill effects. :)

fahtster

[jeffpro]

If you are going to transfer the same culture many times I would advise swithching substrates. Ex. grain to grain to grain to WBS to popcorn...
Try adding nutrients to substrates then going to nutrient poor substrates. I've seen this done with cutures that had been transferred over 30 times with fruiting yields identical to earlier cultures. The same method can be applied to agar.

[slp]

jeffpro has the right idea. By changing the substrate, you insure that the
mycelium keeps a broad range of digestive enzymes. This is very important
when maintaining good viable mycelium. Same thing when holding cultures on
agar. Bump it back and forth on PDA and MEA. I did much research on this
many years ago. We found out that the little protozoa, the "Rotifer", went
exactly 57 generations and then died when held on the same media. If it was
ever changed, from the date of the change, it went again for another 57
generations. Also, when the change on the agar is made, the mycelium will at first travel very slow. Then, it will start growing very fast. It is this section of fast growing mycelium you want to use. It will be the best........slp/fmrc

[fahtster]

nice info there stephan. :)

fahtster

[synth]

never knew that, thanks guys

[OZ]

so you're saying if im switicing from corn to rye to millet back to corn, i can g2g pretty much forever?

[Lazlo]

Has anyone here actually done it to the limit?
And reached a point where the strain had obviously lost some positive attributes, or fail to fruit at all.
Just interested to see if anyone actually has data firsthand.
Ive done 5 or 6 and just went back to spore so as to not push my luck but the strain still seemed fine to me

I just stop at 3 transfers now because of this happening to me. By then, i'm sick of the strain anyways.

[night_ryder]

so i guess that i should aim for 3 then, even though i can aim for more.

[slp]

Don't know about forever, but I can document 2,400 years. The honey
mushroom mycelium found in Oregon covered 2,200 acres and was 2,400
years old. "August 5, 2000 Montgomery Advertiser, Page 6A" did the story
and it was placed in the #48 "THE MUSHROOM CULTURE", The Journal of
Mushroom Cultivation (TMC). You can only guess at all the differant types
of media this mycelium consumes while it is growing on 2,200 acres! No
digestive enzyme problems here......grin. slp/fmrc

[OZ]

lol 2400 years old, mannnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnn that might as well be forever lol

[Johnny Myco]

I have done G2G for as long as 6 months. I just used the myc from one substrate to make another LC and kept doing that for about 15-20 times. I will second what SLP stated...changing the sub insures success if that is the way your going. My exp has found that fruiting slows...and takes longer sometimes. It also is not as aggressive. My 2 cents...nice to be in the same post as you Stephen... I ordered your video and thought it was great. I also made a video. After seeing yours it inspired me. I am so sorry I missed your $2.00 print sale last month...I do hope for more great sales. Peace Johnny Myco

[eatyualive]

ive gone 5, but start to see degredation of growth speed, fruiting after 3. so play it safe if your not sure. if you keep one master and use it to make syringes or transfer mycelia for a 2nd generation, you can continually use that master to a 2nd generation transfer continually until it dies out. and those things will last 2 years in the fridge.

so keep starting from your master and you get very vigorous growth. so you won't ever have to go past 2 gens grain to grain if you don't need to with a good clone. intially you can do all kinds of things but keeping about 10 masters in the fridge isn't out of question. you can then slowly work your way through them and even go 3 gens if you want, but it isn't necessary. if one quart makes 10 quarts and so on. 10 quart size masters that you can draw up mycelia from to make lc syringes, or just g2g to grain should last you a very long time.