Shimeji Mushrooms

[El Presidente Hillbillios]

Hey Guys..

Mrs Hillbilly just bought some Shimeji mushrooms from woolies and one of the clumps still had a big chunk of mycellium on it...

i cut off the chunk as sterile as i could and put a little bit on an agar plate a bit in some birdseed and a bit into a liquid culture. My question is do i have any chance of getting some life from supermarket bought mushrooms like this?

Hillbilly

[paradox]

i don't see why not as long as it's fresh...

you don't need myc to clone it tho...you can do it with a piece of the fruit body. cut a piece from inside the fruit body (underneath the outer 'skin') & it should be pretty well sterile.

[Ace]

Hypothetically, depending on if it were fresh and sterile conditions were used at all times. Sterility would probably be the key issue - who knows who packed it and what the environment was like. Still, no harm in giving it a crack

[gecko]

If you're gonna do sterile culture, then tear the shroom stem in half from bottom to cap and cut a small piece out with flamed scalpel or, tear a piece out with flamed tweezers then use on agar.

...like Paradox said....

the tree options you mentioned would most likely contaminate if you used the exposed stem bases.

Particularly given the nutrient concentration of the substrates you propose to use .

I have , however successfully fruited 'Shimeji' or Elm Oyster by using the parts you mention to inoculate recycled paper pellet kitty litter.

In a container pour boiling water over paper pellet to which a tspn or so of gypsum, a pinch of lime and a pinch of malt sugar is added for about every 2 cups.

stir to mix thoroughly, add more water if too dry.

I don't have exact measure of water , I just do it by eye.

Then half fill plastic freezer bags with mix and allow to cool.

Put the stem buts into bags and loosly tie up the tops and incubate indoors til colonized.

It doesnt have a lot of nutrient so wont yield as much as heavily suplemented substrate but wont contaminate as easily either.

If you want you can use it to spawn logs of poplar or willow and lay them in the garden to fruit when the season is right .

[watertrade]

I recognize that name - welcome back old chap ;) (Gecko )

hillbilly, if you find you do get some good healthy growth you could be ready with some agar plates to transfer away from any possible contams.

I have found white elm to be very good to work with - its quick, has a diverse appetite and doesn't shy away from contams. If all fails and you still want to give it a go, give me a shout.

[El Presidente Hillbillios]

I recognize that name - welcome back old chap ;) (Gecko )

hillbilly, if you find you do get some good healthy growth you could be ready with some agar plates to transfer away from any possible contams.

I have found white elm to be very good to work with - its quick, has a diverse appetite and doesn't shy away from contams. If all fails and you still want to give it a go, give me a shout.

Thanks WT, thats what my plan was.. i really just need life then i can work from there, with plates, to clean up the contams. I really want to challenge myself and see if i can get a strain going from the supermarket LOL.

[El Presidente Hillbillios]

well, i got contam free life going and im really, really happy. i never thought i would be able to get a sterile culture going from mushies from wollies. It seems to be pretty strong too.

Could one of you knowledgeable guys or girls please help me out with how i should be fruiting these bueties? at the mo i have a couple of colonised jars of bird seed and a couple of agar plates, but i dont really know what to do from here.

Thanks heaps Hillbilly

[watertrade]

Hi hillbilly,

I'm 99% sure the shimeji we get in Australia is not the true Shimeji (Hypsizygus tessulatus) but an immature Hypsizygus ulmarius which is similar but not the same - Ulmarius is easier to grow and tastes pretty good too so its not a bad thing.

There are a number of ways to achieve fruiting including sawdust logs, logs etc but by far the easiest way in my mind is to just use pasteurised straw.

1: chop straw into short bits.

2: pasteurise in an esky -soaking the straw in 70 degree water for just over an hour - when done cool by throwing it from the esky onto a table and toss it in the air.

3: when cool to the touch stuff into plastic bags layering spawn every couple of inches.

4: when the bag is full, tie the top closed (it should feel pretty solid)

5: chuck this into another bag and hang it up in the darkest corner of the shed. Poke holes in the bottom of the bag to drain the excess water that will pool.

6: wait a couple of weeks until the straw is fully covered with mycelium.

7: when it is cut a couple of holes in the plastic. And wait.

8: it will fruit shortly after

(Another idea is just wait for it to fruit in the bag then cut holes for the mushrooms to poke out.

Cut them off when they are small and enjoy!

Don’t worry about low yields from smaller fruit - small fruit = more mushrooms.

Good luck!

[El Presidente Hillbillios]

Thanks heaps man, maybe, hopefully i can get get some fruit and Beat wollies at their own, farmer crushing, game LOL.

[educate]

Hi Hillbilly. Originally you mentioned you tried agar, birdseed and a liquid stock.

Did they all give results or was it just the agar? (after cutting some out again?)

Thanks

[El Presidente Hillbillios]

The bird seed and the agar both took pretty well and pretty quickly too. The Lc appeared to do nothing, but im not to sucsessful with lc's so it could be just me.

After i got some mycelium growing i then transfered onto agar. Then i selectively transfered again to get a clean culture going. It was pretty easy really and im going to try something else from wollies next, maybe some oysters as WT said there another one of the easier ones to grow.

[klip247]

Sorry to bring up an old thread, but I thought this would be a question suitable to post here, is it at all possible to use the store bought Shimeji mushroom myc? I was thinking of planting or 'seeding' some woodchips/soil with it, would this work out or would it just rot away?

[El Presidente Hillbillios]

it might work, but i think a better way would be to use the myc to grow some spawn. Then start a bed with a bit more volume of spawn

[klip247]

Taking your advice I looked it up and found a tek for creating spawn using cardboard pieces, it looks fairly simple and straightforward, I'm thinking of giving this a go, did you get any mushrooms in the end?

[klip247]

Well I ended up sourcing some Shimeji mushrooms from the local grocery store, they are the beige/grey capped ones (buna-shimeji?), I ended up chopping about an inch from the bottom to use for spawning, the rest is in transit, the destination... my stomach.

So it's been three days and I'm already noticing growth, there are white patches spreading along the cardboard!

I would like to grow morels and boletus edulis but since these are mycorrhizal is it possible to grow on mulch/soil with any success?

Edited December 26, 2012 by klip247

[El Presidente Hillbillios]

yeah i got mushrooms from it, it wasnt as hard as i thought it would be really.

I havent heard of anyone that has grown morels or bolets,dont mean it aint possible though

[klip247]

It's good to know that you had success with your experiment!

It really does seems to grow quite rapidly, I'm thinking of just incorporating some wood mulch once the mycelium takes over the cardboard then transferring the inoculated mulch into the garden.