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holymountain

Creating an Outdoor Patch for Woodlovers or Subs

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I've been meaning to do this for a while now....there is always room for improvement. Feel free to add your suggestions.

First of all you need spawn. Spawn is basically decent amounts of mycellium colonised material. To get enough spawn together I place stem butts between layers of damp corrugated cardboard. After a few weeks the mycellium travels off the stem butts and onto the cardboard. The cardboard is then added to a bag with woodchips, sawdust, bits of hessian and smaller bits of cardboard (you can use hessian sacks or green bags...no need to be air tight but will need to be kept damp). The mycellium will then travel to the other materials. You can keep adding more and more and transferring colonised bits to other bags to increase the amount of spawn you have. The more spawn the better and it's always good to have several bags or hessian sacks full of woodchips colonising in the background whilst you go about life.

Once you have some spawn you can start a patch. I chose an area that gets lots of shade and also gets a lot of organic leaf matter naturally throughout the year.

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next i covered the area with layers of hessian, some sawdust and pieces of cardboard that i had laying around. it's pretty rough but i don't think it really matters overall how even everything is.

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i then added colonised bits of cardboard, woodchip and hessian. some i placed upside down and others i placed facing up. i didn't have huge amounts of spawn so i mixed it around as best as i could in different areas. ideally you would have bags and bags of colonised materials and you could spread it evenly. this way will still work it will just take longer to fully colonise the area.

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i then added a layer of eucalypt mulch and a layer of pine bark mulch on top. this mix isn't set in stone and there are a range of different mulches you can use. i just happened to buy these two.

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this is what it looked like once the top layer of mulch was added:

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keep watering it over summer and checking every now and again to make sure the bottom layers aren't drying up.

cross your fingers and wait till next season for fruits!!

Edited by holymountain
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Nice work HM. Beautiful spot for it.

The sloping hill should work well to keep your patch moist.

I like to use a bit more sub, leaves less room for contaminates & col's quicker. The scattered aproach is good, I like to use a handful in a grid sort of fashion, then top with a thin layer of chips then another layer of grid spawn then topped off. But theres lots of things you can play with over time.

Best n`ot to make the bed too deep your irst year otherwise it can take too long & will fruit poor, 10cm max.

I also realy like logs, they wll last alot longer than chips & after some time turn into pithy sponges that retain moisture much better than chips in the long run.

Spring is the best time to make a patch as the mycelium is just charging along.

Feedbags, the kind chook food or grain come in work well for spawn containers too. As do large plant pots 20-44 gallon drums & styro boxes, or you can just make up a patch on the ground & raid it for spawn when you need just leave a little there & replenish with more chips & it will col super fast.

Good work, :)

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That will be an awesome veiw from that seat.

As a side note - The leaves from that Pelargonium(Geranium)make the best non stick wound dressing there is !

Edited by Magicdirt
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Looking great, good luck, thanks for sharing :)

Edited by mutant

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Now what was that address again.....Looks like a lovely spot to not only grow but partake....

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Great pictorial!!

have inspired me to stop talking about making a patch and actually do it!

cheers del

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Cant wait to see pics next year!!, looking fantastic!!

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Nice patch!

Whats the warmest fruiting conditions this species will tolerate?

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Kick ass HM cant wait too see next years shroom pron :worship:

something similar found while doing random search Growing P.Azurescens

also this one is cool has plant hardiness zones so you can tell if they will grow in your area fungifun

Also remember reading about outdoor patch cultivation in entheogen review, apparently spagnum moss laid down as 1-2inch layer in autumn works well as a casing layer

"While Paul Stamets has reported good results utilizing wood chips and bark from some conifers, such as Douglas Fir, I have seen slow, reluctant mycelium growth when such Fir chips were used, and even this was only when other hardwood chips were supplemented into the substrate. For best results, I recommended using only broadleaf hardwoods rather than softwood pines. Fast-growing hardwoods such as Alder, Birch, Cottonwood, Eucalyptus, and Poplars have a greater amount of sapwood than heartwood, and thus possess a relatively higher amount of sugars conducive to rapid colonization. The trade-off is that such species will also decompose more quickly than denser hardwood species, such as Oak, which will support saprophytic mushrooms longer. The two species that I have seen the most voracious and rapid mycelium development with are Alder and Eucalyptus, and I would recommend refreshing the cultivated beds with fresh, clean wood chips once a year to ensure a healthy fall crop."

Edited by -YT-
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Yeah HM nice 'how to'. Think of all the people who will read that and spread the goodness about now :)

How cool would it be if part of shroom folklore became making decent use of stem butts...

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Edited by meanies

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Big huge massive ups to HM. I love this for so many reasons, great philosophy behind this, bit of DIY, bit of conservation. Great stuff.

May your endeavours be fruitful

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Home boys...

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this fruit is 21 days old now

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this fruit is 8 days old

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this fruit is 17 days old

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wow. thanks for the pics...i had no idea that the subs took so long to grow or that they lasted so long. i was thinking they'd be fully grown and rotting within the space of a week or two. good news i guess.

ha. you should have called them home blokes.

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wow. thanks for the pics...i had no idea that the subs took so long to grow or that they lasted so long. i was thinking they'd be fully grown and rotting within the space of a week or two. good news i guess.

ha. you should have called them home blokes.

 

This is by far the most intriguing thing about homies, the time spent watching and seeing the whole process unfold from day one to the inevitable end...they really do last a great deal of time, more than I ever imagined, I'm expecting the oldest one will easily make it to 30 days..ohmy.gif

HM your patch will be killer next year man..should have a shin dig by that tree and play some ritual beats...beautiful job man.. :wub:

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I'm guessing you have'nt had much rain/humidity chiral?, keeping them going with supplemental watering?

If you have a good rain/humidity, they will mature in the 3-5 day's you would expect for wild patches but without rain & much more important humidity they can take a month or so as chiral states. Kepping them going with suplemental watering without humidity just takes a realy long time & generaly will result in smaller fruits.

Good to see Hunab, are they subs or azures?, from memory you were trying both.

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HM your patch will be killer next year man..should have a shin dig by that tree and play some ritual beats...beautiful job man.. :wub:

wait till you see the ones i'll be working on at my new place.....when you gonna come visit by the way?

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How would one start an outdoor patch with no butts to help colonise? I also don't know squat about mushrooms. Would one of those grow-your-own box kits be transferable to the ground?

And I forgot to say that's a beautiful spot for your patch, HM :)

Edited by FancyPants

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well you'd need at least some form of mycelium or spore print to ensure that the desired species grows where you want it.

spore prints can be used to make liquid cultures or to colonise jars which you could then add to woodchips.

infact if you were doing jars from liquid culture this would speed up the process and give you a lot more spawn to use.

i actually had a vision whilst i was going to sleep last night of getting plastic tubs and lining them with cardboard, filling with colonised woodchips, sprinkling some grass seeds and a little soil on top and and then marketing them as SUB TUBS or TUB OF SUBS . in theory if left outdoors and kept damp, the tubs would fruit in winter and then fresh chips could be added allowing them to fruit next year....

who's with me?

Edited by holymountain

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i actually had a vision whilst i was going to sleep last night of getting plastic tubs and lining them with cardboard, filling with colonised woodchips, sprinkling some grass seeds and a little soil on top and and then marketing them as SUB TUBS or TUB OF SUBS . in theory if left outdoors and kept damp, the tubs would fruit in winter and then fresh chips could be added allowing them to fruit next year....

 

Sounds like a great idea. Also sounds like the kind of idea that might draw attention from any authorities watching the forums. I'd stick to collecting from the wild or, as you've done, encouraging a small private patch to grow somewhere convenient. :innocent_n:

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of course....twas only a vision. sadly one that cannot be followed up.

besides, doubt there would be any market considering its something that someone could easily knock up themselves.

still...TUB OF SUBS has a great ring to it doesn't it?

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it certainly does sir... you would just have to explain to 50% of the people that brought it from you that it wasn't actually a tub of subwoofers but a tub of subaeruginosa ;)

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"explain to 50% of the people that brought it from you that it wasn't actually a tub of subwoofers but a tub of subaeruginosa"

Then explain what the hell subaeruginosa is :P

Tubs don't fruit too well, much better yields by using the same amount on the ground. Being in contact with the ground you get better moisture content & I think probly temps aswell.

A great way to expand a little bit of spawn is to use hessian, you just take a good handful or 2 of colonized chips, wild substrate will work then grab some hessian, if you use a hessian bag cut 2 sides & lay it out flat or using it off a roll a piece about 2'x3' or 3'x4' a handful or 2 will do. Just wet the hessian then spread the spawn out along the width of the hessian then simpley roll it up lengthwise keeping it reasonably tight, then when you have a long cylindrical roll you roll it over on itself like a snail so it looks like a coffee scroll then you just tie it all up with string, just spiderweb it around until its well secure, you could also use a few big rubber bands if you had them. You can scale it up according to your materials.

Then you just put it somewhere out of direct sun & where it can be watered regularly while establishing prefereably somewhere humid. You can put the roll inside a feed bag or the like (woven potting mix bag), seems to help. When you see the thick rhizomorphic mycelium breaking out all over the surface its ready to unroll & cover with chips to about 10 cm thick.

This method is so simple, easy & expands your spawn so quickly & provides a decent size patch, the myc loves hessian & just jumps right off on to chips.

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:) what the hell is a sub air ij in o sa anyway?

sounds like a below par samosa.

shruman you are the method man. That is a wicked and simple way of expanding mycelium.

thankyou.

pin this thread for australia's sake

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yeah thanks shruman. hessian is definitely a great way to spread mycelium. i would rate it much more effective than cardboard as it allows room for air exchange and doesn't run the risk of getting too wet and soggy. cardboard works fine but hessian is the go if you've got it.

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