[wumpsdad]

Hi Folx,

I found Oysters growing beautifully in a friends garden on a
beech log. see my photos in yahoo groups, mushrooms. They are quite tasty with a firm
texture.

We used a hollow steel pole sterilized with flaming alcohol to
extract some wood cores. These I have been mixing with fresh
coffee grounds but nothing exciting yet.
One bag of grounds had its wood core pressed up against the
plastic and white growth is visible, but not off into the grounds.
Upon inspection of the remaining refrigerated cores, some
show visible mycelial growth and I have attempted to start
another coffee culture.

Has anybody else experience with this technique? If so I would
like to hear about it here.

Much thanks in advance,

wumpsdad

[cultured1]

Taking a wood core from a wild, fruiting log is new to me. Will wood from the core work? I thought it was mainly the sapwood layer that gets colonized & fruits.
I've seen pics of 3 or 4 inch PVC or ABS pipe filled with substrate. The pipes have many holes drilled in them for fruitbodies to grow out of.
I'm going to grow in a 5 gallon pail with holes drilled in it. Substrate will probably be straw.
Good luck with your grow.

[Funguy]

Hi,
I have had luck going the other direction ,from indoor to outdoor.I don't see how you can avoid contamination.You would be able to do tissue to agar .On agar you would be able to isolate the mycelium from the contamination.Were the coffee grounds sterilized /Pasturized?The wood cores you are using are not . Seems like a breeding ground for ugly green stuff and others.If you took a spore print or have tissue I can create a clean culture for you.But keep in mind that wild cultures reguardless of how well they fruit in the wild ,may or may not produce under artifical conditions .I think the least expensive route would be to spend the 10-18 dollars and buy a known fruiting strain.
I am not known for taking the most traveled path ,the best learned lessons for me are when I was wrong .So there is no right way,just the way we choose and the other ones. Please let me know if I can help and keep us up to date Please.We are interested reguardless of the outcome.
thanks



Peace
_________________
I would rather have a bottle in front of me,
Than a frontal lobodomy

[wumpsdad]

Thanks for the replies folx... I thought I should add some more info:

These Mushies fruited after a period of around freezing temperatures, so they are a real winter mushroom and I thought perhaps that is why they were not growing indoors at room temperature.

the wood "cores" were actually from the layers just below the bark and -for the most part- running along the grain of the wood coz it seemed to me thats most likely where the mycelia would be growing, following the plants vascular tissue.

We opened the bark, and using an alcohol dipped and flamed metal tube, hammered it in a few centimeters then withdrew the core, then knocked it out with a similarly strerilized dowel into a new plastic sandwichbag that was kept clean. So, I was fairly confident that I had controlled all the variables I could to avoid contamination.

Any way, the MAJOR up date is that now that I have been inoculating my attempted coffee grounds cultures using wood with visible mycelia, I CAN see white mycelia beginning to spread thru the bag.

SO, should I shake it to spread it, or is that only if you are producing spawn?

the technique I am following is described here:

http://www.shiitake.de/eng/an_intro/an_kaffee/hauptteil_an_kaffee.html

The heat of the coffee making is apparently sufficient to sterilize the coffee, and I read somewhere recently that Pluerotus [oyster mushroom] produces antibiotics that inhibit potential competing organisms.

well, I shall get pics and if my daughter lets me near the computer, shall try to upload them here.

Thanks again and stay tuned,

Wumpsdad

[cultured1]

Interesting technique, I may have to try it with all the coffee I drink. Are you going to stack a few more coffee layers, or are you set with your ammount. 1 mix would probably be OK to help spread the mycellium, then I'd probably leave it alone.

[wumpsdad]

I just add coffee daily. I may ask at a local cafe if they could save me lots of coffee, then i could have lots on its way at one time.

As for shaking, I think I'll experiment and shake just 1 bag. I must remember to note which one, as I want to be as scientific as possible, since I am on a steep learning curve here.

Wumpsdad

[Funguy]

It just doesn't seem like you will be able to avoid contamination.Even with sterilization of your extraction instrument, you still are extracting nonsterile \Unpasturized material(aka wood cores).when you put these in a growing medium any and everything on them will grow.Hence this is not a pure culture .I am aware of how fast oyster mycelium grows.But I have seen a spot of green the size of a quarter spread to the size of a softball in hours .Adding more medium as you go along un prepare and exposed to the air .I am sorry ,out doors I could see this but never in a closed environment . I read the tek you are using and it is designed around pure culture (aka colonized plugs).Good luck .I would like to see the out come.
Peace
_________________
I would rather have a bottle in front of me,
Than a frontal lobodomy

[wumpsdad]

yep, fingers crossed! that was the idea of takiing plugs from the core of the log- already colonised with culture.

I am about to brew more coffee, wish me luck

Wumpsdad

[Psynaut]

Ya....interesting tec you have happening.....please let us know how it turns out.

[wumpsdad]

Well, no news has been very little news... I am battling a virus so adding little to my endeavours.
A check of the 3 tins of coffee grounds shows 1 is definitely being colonized, but the others? dunno what they're waiting for.
Its a fun experiment but for a more reliable outcome I really should start with a selected easy groing strain.
we shall see...


W

[wumpsdad]

Aha! 3 bags out of 5 of coffee grounds in 3 tins are nicely colonizing! its taken weeks, so more patience. It seems leaving them closed up in the dark for about5-6 days undisturbed helped, probably coz it allowed the CO2 to build up.

where does one post pics on this site?

W

[cultured1]

Good to hear the spawn run is coming along. My culture is ready, & I have enough old coffee grounds to try a oyster coffee block. I may use some of the coffee to spawn some straw as well but I have a feeling it may be a bitch to break up. I'll be starting rye spawn too.
As for posting pics, you'll have to ask psynaut to give you access to post to the gallery, or post them on your own page (most ISP's give their customers web page space) then use the Img function to link to the pic.

[wumpsdad]

well, the spawn run is progressing nicely. If I can find a new beech log I will try to inoculate it.
I am down to my last plug, which is white and fuzzy with Mycelium.

I think I will take samples from the bags just before inducing fruiting and use these to commence new cultures.

I would also like to try this with fresh store bought Oysters. Has anyone here experience or tips with that?
I read that one should use a small mushroom coz the mycelium is still growing vigourously. I would like to see if I can put a fresh mushroom stem sample directly into coffee grounds. I did try this but I used old mushrooms which wouldn't have helped and I put them in with the other coffee and wood cores. Next step is to try some on there own.
Anyone experience with adding amino acid fertilizers to substrate?

Keep happy folx,

Wumpsdad

[cultured1]

Wump'
I try to find thick meaty clusters so they can be torn open to get at some clean tissue. I try to find tissue near the base of the stem, or from the edge of a cap. Going straight from tissue to substrate isn't the norm.
Here's a couple I started on agar.
https://fungusfun.com/mushrooms/modules.php?set_albumName=album49&id=cultures&op=modload&name=gallery&file=index&include=view_photo.php

Sorry, can't help you out on the amino acid addition.

C1

[wumpsdad]

well I have several cultures booming away, but I have run out of wood for new inoculations.

Is it possible or advisable to inoculate fresh bags of coffee grounds using some of one of the other healthy bags?
If so, how much should I use- say 10% of the total volume?
What about using say 1%? does it make much difference?
how should I mix it?
what technique/method should I use?


thanx any and everyone for your help.

Wumpsdad