Hyphal

Dude, I read your thread already...? Just that your question had already been answered, so ther was nothing left to say.

Id agree. Subs in your garden - congrats!!

Nice pics Ronnie - looks like a similar habitat to the forest they grow in WA area.

Go to your local horse racing track - poo galore. Then go to one of the feed stores that will undoubtably be in the vicinity of the horse track - and buy a shopping bag worth of hay/straw (no more than $1 or $2) for your 'guinea pig'. Chop the straw up and mix this with the poo @ about 70/30 poo/straw. Doesnt need to be nearly exact here, just play around with the ratios.

This was a pic from a friend from last season - Still very dry in the West this year though.

Why not just get some spawn going yourself to spawn to your chips with? Sub Mycelium is very easy to get going.

http://www.bom.gov.au/fwo/IDW60224.pdf

Thats crazy you get them in QLD - why then, wouldn't they be in more places around WA, other than the heart of the South West?

Harvey and Margaret River both copped about 20mm so I think that will be enough to bring a few up. Still, we need MORE!

I'd have to agree, but what has that got to do with patch raiders?

Blue - your a generous man...

Sick! At least someone is getting some subs in WA.

22 degrees, sunny and warm - not a cloud in the sky. total rainfall recorded in Perth for June so far - 0mm.

Manisobsolete - Thanks for the heads up! At least you got a few which means are defiantely down there. Naja - thats absolutely awesome!!! Good to know it survived the whole summer without any attention - very hardy stuff.

I have to agree. This time last year there were heaps arround, but if you look at this link you will see why - http://www.watercorporation.com.au/dams/dams_rain.cfm I think the rain today may get tehe odd one to pop up, but they will be very few and far between (perhaps wetter spots by rivers). The average for May is 120mm, yet we have only had 109mm, so far, for the whole of 2006! Its not looking good... maybe a few more weeks until there are any good solid patches. http://www.abc.net.au/news/items/200605/1647778.htm?wa

Thanks for the heads up! That poor balingup forest cops a bit of a beating doesnt it? A LOT of people hunt there... A few more solid rains now after this temperature drop the past 3 days should bring on the magic

I have tried a weak seaweed extract dunk - hard to say if it increased the second flush or not, but the second flush was certainly really good. I think the key is using a weak soltion of seaweed extract when mixing the substrate to field capacity - instead of plain water.

Please man, make sure you do put up this post - Im keen to know as well. I think that the one storm today might not have a massive impact (considering just how dry its been), but it should bring a few up. Please post your results!

Dom, are you sure your not a sales rep for this pressure cooker company? Either way, Im sold!

Yes Im saying this is not true - you should be fine. I fold the prints - I dont think it matters at all as long as all the edges are sealed making a little 'parcel' that you can 'unwrap' when you want to get at your spores. Folding the print does no harm...

Yes you can man - make sure you wash the peice really really well first. So, are you saying, that our favourite fungus is popping up down south now??

I agree 100% - I always start Liquid Cultures straight from prints, in te open air on a (clean) kitchen bench. Not once has one contaminated. Even when I first started taking prints, I never sterilised the foil first - and have still never had a contaminated jar. Use your prints, dont throw them because you think they are stuffed!

Go to Coles and buy the Coles brand 'Small Wild Bird Seed' - works wonderfully.

I still think that the fact you generally havent eaten any shrooms for a few months makes the first trip of the season seem stronger than normal.

I think at a commercial mushroom farm they use only 1% spawn - but they also have bulk commercial pasturising rooms where they pasturise the substrate for 3 days, then use large machines to mix the spawn evenly through the substrate before incubating. I think that in our applications, contamination problems are more common and seem to occur at the lower spawn rates. I think you could easily get away with 1:4 but any less and you increase you chances of contamination. Its easy to make spawn so IMO, its better to use a higher ratio rather than losing your project to contamination and having to start over from scratch.