mimzy

Hypothetically speaking , If I wanted to start a mushroom business, and I obtained my cultures from commercially available fruiting bodies, could I be exposing myself to legal repercussions later down the track? Are commercial strains normally patented in Australia? Thanks! Mimz

Hi folk, I need a large chromatography column for an experiment I'm trying to finish before Christmas. I'm guessing a few of the lab rats here probably have a spare one. Must be at least 3x30cm, with tap. Cash money. Pm me if you can help me out. Cheers, Mimz

Well, fuck.

I have run into some financial issues and reluctantly must let these go. If you are interested in any of the three plants below, pm me for exact size and price negotiation. (1) (2) (3) (4)

Hi Corroborree folk. I'm about 6 months away from being able to offer Hazelnut and Oak seedlings inoculated with T. melanosporum (Black French Truffle). I want to get some questions answered from a consumer point of view if you would help me out. (1) Would you be purchasing seedlings as a commercial enterprise (i.e to plant out in an orchard), or as a one-off plant for your back yard? (2) How mature would you like the seedling to be? They are fine to go into the ground after being hardened off (about 6 months old), but I could offer more mature plants as well. (3) What proof of inoculation would you consider sufficient? My seedlings are inoculated from a pure culture of T. melanosporum under tissue culture conditions in a laboratory setting.That said, I can offer microscopy of the roots prior to shipping (free) and rRNA PCR testing at an additional cost. (4) Would you pay $30 per seedling? (5) Would you prefer Oak (ultimately higher truffle yield, but slower to produce) or Hazelnut seedlings (higher truffle yield to begin with, but ultimately lower yield)? Any other comments would be much appreciated. Thanks!

Very cool Zen. How old are those cultures? Is it growing on peat moss/coir in the first one?

Psych0 is gone. Everything else still up for sale.

Assorted Trichocereus; pach, yowie, psycho, brigs. If you see something you like, pm me.

3 & 4 are sold. Only 1 and 2 remain.

@Zen - Yes I'm aware of that group, from what I understand they inoculate with fruit bodies under quasi-sterile conditions. With my method, I inoculate the seedling with mycelium under complete sterility. While I have not done the study, I suspect this method is superior in that the TM is allowed to colonise root tips in the absence of highly competitive endogenous ecto/end fungi. I haven't come across any research specific to T. melanosporum, but yes, the soil microbiome is immense, and it wouldn't surprise me if a third and fourth player (whether bacterial or fungal) are critical to fruit body formation. The lag time between planting an inoculated tree and harvesting truffles is a major issue. All I can guarantee is that a seedling is carrying the organism, the rest is up to nature and farmer. @NSF - My experience with isolations from fruit bodies, is that if the specimen is collected very young, there only tends to be bacterial contamination (a persistent Pseudomonas) that can be cleared up on 100mg/ml ampicillin plates. If you find a specimen, send it to me and I will have a crack. I'm guessing the problem with Boletus edulis is that on a commercial level they don't see the same return $/g as TM. Don't want to say anymore on my TM inncoulation techniques sorry!

I hope $30 will make these plants accessible to people who just want to dabble. Everything is easier to do in bulk, so a reduced price is on the cards for commercial type enterprises. I agree, people will want to know that their plants have the best chance of producing truffles, and a consultancy service would be helpful. At the moment I'm just concentrating on getting the product right, but it will all evolve together I'm sure. Ahh the Boletus! Another great mushroom. I'm not aware of anyone with a culture, but I will look into isolating my own. Thanks for all the comments.

Thanks Glaukus! Will definitely love to chat via pm.

Thanks Ethereal! The mother culture from which all seedlings are inoculated will be DNA tested every quarter to ensure no contaminating fungi are present. Unfortunately its too expensive to test every seedling, unless at the customers expense. Certification is something I hadn't actually thought about, but my first thought was that it would add additional cost. I'm set up to do DNA testing (actually rRNA) in my lab, which would be far cheaper for clients. As far as I'm aware there is only one certification service in Australia (http://trufflegrowers.com.au/tree_certification/), and no protection is afforded to either grower or consumer despite having to fork out money for testing and tag. At the moment I am only offering the French Perigord Truffle (T. melanosporum), however I intend to expand my culture bank to include the magnatum, aestivum, macrosporum and oregonese when I start deriving some income from the venture. At the moment its all been quite costly :/ Serious truffle growers are my end game market, but punters offer a good way to get into the marker. As far as I'm aware, I'm the only person in NSW currently doing this and with new markets opening up in Oberon, Bowral, the Hunter Valley, I'm confident we can start moving a few plants. Very good idea to approach farms that could successfully grow the truffle, adding value to their land with minimal investment. I may have to bring a soil scientist/ climatologist on board to seek out new regions. Thanks for following my work!

Cat is not for sale.

NSW, Sydney

Anyone have a Cordyceps strain on agar they want to trade/sell? If not I will bring it into the country under permit. Cheers, Mimster

I'm going to be honest, I can't see the mushroom. Just looks like bacterial/fungal contam to me.

If you have a clear vision about what you want to do, think seriously about what is necessary to make it a reality. University is a closed bubble; in order to do things within the University system they will make you jump through hoops A, B, C to get to D, regardless of how relevant A,B,C are to D. I can tell you that after finally working up the courage to leave the University bubble, set up my own lab, and do my own research, I have discovered the bubble doesn't apply to the outside world. If you have good ideas, they are good, whether or not you have a degree to go with them. Investors judge startups on the idea, not the CV line that says you have a degree. Science degrees are a dime a dozen now anyway, they give you a broad overview of concepts, but won't be particularly useful in any one area. Choose an area, research the shit out of it, develop an idea that has market potential, and make it reality.

Hi all. I'm down sizing and wish to sell 17 well-established pereskiopsis plants I have grown from cuttings. Would prefer someone to take the lot, but will sell individually. 9 plants are approximately 1 meter tall - $15 each 8 are 30cm - 50cm - $10 each. I will let the lot go for $200. Ideal starter stock for anyone into grafting. Cheers. Pick up is in Hills district, Sydney.

Just putting it out there, I would pay reasonable $$ for a pure Morel culture. If anyone has the resources and expertise, please get in touch.

Perhaps analyse your protein and volatiles separately? I would suggest doing your digestion as planned (enzymatic/protein?) in a distillation flask. Look at the boiling points of your volatiles and collect the relevant fractions as they come off. Depending on what your looking for, water will most likely come of last and can be discarded. If you're concerned your other fractions are too wet, dry chemically.

Ola. Some little Loph's for sale to support my laboratory pursuits. 25 available, most 15-20mm, but I can't be bother measuring them all so will sell for 10mm price - $15. Postage $7 http://tinypic.com/view.php?pic=2zp6us8&s=8#.Vb_qq0WrRho Mimz

Sorry for my absence. All gone. I will respond today to PM's. Thanks.

What a time to be a newbie, the giveaways are real! I went through a box of my goodies and found a whole lot of seed and spore prints that I'll never get around to doing much with. Tricho and Loph sp, Psilocybe sp, Syrian rue, fungal edibles, all sorts. The only morality in a cruel world is chance. Pick number between one and thirty and post. The first five that come up in my randomiser get packs. Cheers, Mimz Edit: All numbers in by 10pm tonight. Only thirty entries please, and you cannot take a number already posted

I recently conducted an experiment to determine whether some strains I had would colonise a novel substrate. I inoculated the the substrate with a small agar plug and happily watched as the mycelium spread out through substrate. I am now concerned however that the mycelial expansion is not true colonisation, and the organism is just using the agar plug nutrients to expand through the substrate. Some mycelia has is quite fluffy, and remains sparse... not the dense colonisation you see on something like grain. So the questions is; how can you tell which is which.. true colonisation vs spreading?