worowa Posted July 3, 2008 (edited) Ok, so I'm going to attempt to put some photos up for your pleasure and inspiration. These mushrooms went from agar (thanks to Watertrade) Like this, but different species From there I grew them on popcorn, like this Then I took a piece of colonised popcorn and placed it in a ziplock bag with shredded newspaper, moistened with coffee and milo. The bag colonised nicely, and has been used many times. The mycelium sticks to the plastic, so after using the paper spawn I just fill the bag up with more substrate-it's been living and growing in the bag for almost a year now, with about 4 changes of substrate. Here's a pic Next it was onto some coir mixed with left over cooked brown rice, and these are some of the results Next, after harvesting about 6 nice sized King oysters, I broke the substrate up into small pieces, and mixed them with woodchips in a trench I dug in the garden. Now I've got another half a dozen mushies popping up in the trench-I better go and take some more photos! Edited July 4, 2008 by worowa Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
worowa Posted July 3, 2008 Great, it worked. BTW, i let those mushies get bigger before i picked them. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
watertrade Posted July 4, 2008 nice one Worowa, I look forward to seeing them growing in your garden. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
worowa Posted July 4, 2008 Ok, so here's what they look like in the garden, look for the red match heads Here's a close up And in a pot, a different oyster There you go. Now if a lazy, dirty fool such as me can do it, YOU can. Turn your waste into food. Go on, I dare you Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Pixel Posted July 4, 2008 what / who is Watertrade? Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Hyphal Posted July 4, 2008 Spectacular and very inspiring as you hoped! Nice work... Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
worowa Posted July 4, 2008 Thanks Hyphalknot, I feel you're already beshroomed. Look at the third post Pixel-a generous member here. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
watertrade Posted July 4, 2008 what / who is Watertrade? Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
MORG Posted July 4, 2008 Ha! Awesome hat. Nice work Worowa... I've got some cultures from the very same and finally have the time to play with them! Looking forward to having King Oysters like your own. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
watertrade Posted July 4, 2008 haha.! its not me! I typed 'serial killer' in google and this is one of the pics. I'm much more handsome. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
watertrade Posted July 4, 2008 although... I have met both Worowa and Morg and they thought it was me. ! Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
worowa Posted July 4, 2008 Well he was holding a beer....didn't think it was you at first. I did mention I'm a fool Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
watertrade Posted July 4, 2008 I don't know if anyone has noticed the picture of the take away container on the dashboard of the car growing mushrooms. not having enough space at home isn't an excuse! I love that pic Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Undergrounder Posted July 4, 2008 wow wicked man! i recognise that handwriting lol... I just finished adding my first agar wedges of Enoki and Reishi to WBS, so far they seem to be colonising nicely... (although i just did the reishi today)... I think i'll spawn them to a number of different things, myco-style bags with chips, sawdust, straw, a couple of solid hardwood blocks, pack of sugar cane mulch (?) and see what works best... Ill take photos as well and keep updated. Still have some other edibles as well, much agar spawning left still to do.. AND ALL THANKS TO WATERTRADE YOU ROCK MAN THANKS! P.S. WT: are the strains you have on culture a particular strain that you're trying to preseve via culture, or are they multispore variety? Not sure if i need to eventually clone a few mushrooms to keep them going or just collect a few prints.. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Undergrounder Posted July 4, 2008 BTW i spied a nice looking Cymbidium in one of those photos worowa, do you collect orchids? The number of people i know that are into both mushrooms and orchids, .... crazy. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
worowa Posted July 4, 2008 Hmmm...I think that's my hand writing, but hey, fools seldom differ. The Orchids are my wifes, and those particular ones have been flowering in our kitchen for well over a month-must be closer to two months. Amazing. If you're thinking of buying some flowers for someone special, get a living Orchid-year after year of long lived flowers. While I'm showing off, check out these shiitakes I grew in Tassie 2 years ago Those travelling mushies survived for months in my car, along with a box of other experiments. We ate those mushies, and used the dried out substrate to start more. Temperatures varied from stinking hot to freezing cold. Some transfers involved no pressure cooking or glove box-and I've had more success than failures to date. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
gerbil Posted July 4, 2008 nice one worowa, especially like the shiitake log thats some good work sexy orchids too Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
watertrade Posted July 5, 2008 P.S. WT: are the strains you have on culture a particular strain that you're trying to preseve via culture, or are they multispore variety? Not sure if i need to eventually clone a few mushrooms to keep them going or just collect a few prints.. Most of the cultures I have are proven performers, I have saved and maintained these because they have characteristics we all want in fungi - heavy fruiters, characteristics true to species etc. In the short term you can keep transferring agar to agar although the more you do that the quicker the strain will age and lose its good characteristics. To overcome that you can keep going back to spores. It’s also a good idea if you want to keep a strain alive for a long time is to keep a master culture that is suitable for long term storage. Then reculture from this. So the mycelium you’re using is still very close to the original. For example, from one master culture you can make say 50 new Petri dishes of 2nd generation. If you transfer mycelium 50 times on consecutive plates you will have 50 plates each one generation older than the last. I should note that a lot of the cultures I have are because of the good work done by lots of other people. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites