FungusFun.com

peterthinks · Junior Member Joined: Apr 18, 2004 Posts: 50

I have access to a scale but got sick of borrowing it to measure this.
1 Liter water
300 G potatoes
17-20 G Agar
2 G Brewers Yeast
10 G Dextrose
Here are cooking measures that make the same measurements.
Put 3 cups of water in a 4 cup measuring cup.
Cut up one large red potato(unpeeled)and push the chunks into the water till it reads 4 cups.
pour it in a pot.
Add 1 more cup of water so your 1 cup of potatoes are being boiled in 4 Cups of water.
Boil for an hour and drain.
Keep the water,eat the potatoes.
Add water to bring up the level to 4 and 3/4 Cups.
The following are LEVEL measures...
Drag the back of a knife over a heaped measuring spoon to make it flat.
2 Tablespoons + 1 Teaspoon of Agar
3/4 Teaspoon (1/2+1/4)Brewers Yeast
1 Tablespoon +1 Teaspoon of Dextrose
mix the dry.
Heat the potato water in the microwave or on the stove till hot again.
Mix the dry ingredients together then add the dry to the water while stirring.
Pour it sterilize it and use it.

c · Member Joined: Oct 04, 2004 Posts: 94

Interesting post peterthinks.
I wish that I had more to add, but I'm not much of a grower.
I plan on getting into cultivating some edibles one of these days. My only attempt at it failed some years ago and I have not tried since. I think it would be a good thing to do during the winter months when nothing growing out in the fields.

peterthinks · Junior Member Joined: Apr 18, 2004 Posts: 50

That's exactly what I am doing!
Forrage in the spring summer fall,clone the interesting finds and grow during the winter!
I'm done scouring the woods and fields for this year and the lab is ready to go.I just want to finish my glovebox with a filtered air system.
I just started last year building the lab and getting into cloning and haven't had a sucessfull grow yet either(other than a few sprouts in dishes)
But I've done a lot of agar work and have a bag of oyster I'm trying to get to pin right now.
Keep at it!Don't give up cause one grow didn't go well...try an easy mushroom like oyster or enokie.

Peterthinks

c · Member Joined: Oct 04, 2004 Posts: 94

But should one start from scratch and go through the whole sterilization process, starting with raw ingredients and building a sterile room dedicated to cultivation? I picked up a book on cultivation a few years ago but it was not designed for the beginner. The way the book talks about it, makes growing seem impossible.
I've always wanted to grow some oysters, so that would be where I would start if and when i do try again. Doing some more research on it now.

peterthinks · Junior Member Joined: Apr 18, 2004 Posts: 50

Well you can get by with just pasturization for some things
http://www.ncbe.reading.ac.uk/NCBE/MATERIALS/MICROBIOLOGY/oyster.html
and you can buy pre sterilized agar filled plates but the cost of buying sterile supplies and just making your own are very different!
it's fall and you can get a good deal on a pressure cooker now.
http://www.kmart.com/catalog/search.jsp?N=0&Nty=1&Ntk=All&Ntx=mode%20matchallpartial&Ntt=pressure%20cooker
You don't need a room dedicated to it.
If you're carefull you can get by with a clean stretch of counter.
I have the room so I took over a spare room but I started on the kitchen counter.

c · Member Joined: Oct 04, 2004 Posts: 94

Wow! Oysters on a toilet roll L OL! I got to try that. Looks so easy.. Ever tried it yourself? I'll justr have to get some oyster cultures.. Would be nice to create one from the actual tissue of the fruit bodies. Those pressure cooker deals look nice too.
Thanks for the links and info.

peterthinks · Junior Member Joined: Apr 18, 2004 Posts: 50

Just head for the grocery store...I've made clones from store bought fresh mushrooms.
Hmmmm... $30 for a culture slant from a mushroom supplier or $0.30 for a mushroom from the store?
I've never tried it(toilet paper) but I've been thinking about it.
I have about 5 pounds of grain grown thru with oyster that I'm trying to pin right now.Read the write up I did under Cultivating for cloning details.

c · Member Joined: Oct 04, 2004 Posts: 94

It would be nice to create my own tissue cultures.
I want to try out a simple cheap grow kit first, as a test. Since I don't have all of the materials needed for a tissue culture.
I was given a pretty expensive gormet grow kit a few years ago as a gift. Sadly enough, I couldnt get the fool proof grow kit to fruit. It ended up turning a nasty color and I had to toss it :/

peterthinks · Junior Member Joined: Apr 18, 2004 Posts: 50

Well I'll send you a couple sterile agar slants if you like so you can take a culture of your grow kit's mushrooms...just in case you want to try it again in the future on your own.Private message me and We'll work out the details.
Here is a place with some pretty good kit prices.
http://www.gmushrooms.com/POTS.HTM

Peter

c · Member Joined: Oct 04, 2004 Posts: 94

That would be really cool, thanks a lot for the offer. Sending a PM.
I will try to think of something to give you in return.

I also could clone some wild strains, I am still finding them here in the Northeast.

cultured1 · Junior Member Joined: Jul 07, 2004 Posts: 47

Heres what I use for my cultures, a modified MEA. Being a home brewer, I have some old malt extract laying around.
Percentages are weight/volume

3% malt extract
0.5% yeast extract
1.5% agar

The standard 20 minutes at 15psi to sterilize.

Sometimes I'll use water from grain soaking or straw pasteurization mixed 50 50 with distilled when mixing the agar, works great.

C1

mark_h · Posted: Wed Dec 08, 2004 9:29 pm Post subject:

Thanks Peter for the link for growing oyster mushroms on toilet rolls. Its similar to something I saw on a newsgroup a while back.

The guy on the newsgroup used some liquidised oyster mushroom(liquidising it in a sanitised food processor) and got some good results. Its something I'm thinking about doing over the winter. I also read that the toilet roll has to be non-bleached. Is this true??

Thanks, Mark
_________________
Disclaimer: Only pick fungi for consumption if you are 100% sure of what the species is.

Any determination made from photos is in no way fool-proof and should not be relied upon if the species is intended for consumption.

peterthinks · Junior Member Joined: Apr 18, 2004 Posts: 50

I don't think it matters if it's bleached or not.
And I haven't tried it...I just thought it was cool.
I have heard of people blending whole mushrooms to make innoculant before though.

c · Member Joined: Oct 04, 2004 Posts: 94

Whole mushrooms blended? Sounds very hard to keep free from contaminants.. I wonder if H2O2 fits in somewhere?

mark_h · Posted: Fri Dec 10, 2004 5:16 am Post subject:

Well I will give it go somewhen- when I do I'll report back here with the results.

Mark