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The Corroboree
punkin

My Oyster Grow Setup

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Thought i'd give anyone interested a look at the way i've adapted the information and methods i've found on the net to the gear i have and how i'd be able to most efficiently grow mushrooms.

My motivation was the damn price (and lack of quality) of decent mushrooms in a provincial country town. Agaricus are cheap at our local Woolies, but anyone who's tried oysters and shitake will find it hard to shop for button mushrooms after that... :drool2:

The local fruit shop often has fresher Oysters, but the same price...ie 100grams on a small tray = $3.99au. $4.99 for shitake.

When the brain clicked into gear and timesed that price by ten for a kilo rate, ol punkin figured he could be eating lobster for that money, so started researching growing my own.

The idea is to sell a few round the traps here for half the price and double the quality to cover some costs and keep me in free shrooms. B)

So here's where i start...

Glovebox made from a sheet of perspex and a storage tote...

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Then i go to liquid cultures..

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I sterilize grain jars in my boiler from the still. I have ordered the weight and pressure gauge from the states and built that into a modification for my fifty litre boiler that runs on lpg. The only drawback is that the boiler has only a 5 inch hole in the top, which restricts what i can put in there. Litre grain jars fit fine though, and it's easy to put twenty of em in there or more...

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This is yesterdays charge..

10 grain jars and 5 bags..

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After the grain jars have cooled i innoculate with the LC in my stinking damn glovebox..(did i mention i hate working in a still air box? Well i do.. :BANGHEAD2: )

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When the jars are fully colonised i steam sterilise some bulk grain bags in my big steam injection pot, Black Betty. It's a 180 litre pot that runs off steam generated in the boiler next to it..It's insulated with rubber sheet and is cool to the touch while running.

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I haven't loade it right up yet, but there is three shelves and i'd guess i could put 24 full spawn bags in there with ease..

10 hours of steam later.. and i innocultae the bags in the boiler with the jars. I just use the boiler as a large stilll air box and have the lid ajar a bit and spray regularly with 70% alchohol. Gives me room to get my gloved hands in there and there is enough height to manouver the jars and bags. Cable tie the bags shut as i go... :uzi:

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After innoculation the bags are left in one side of my fruiting greenhouse outside (under shelter and out of sunlight)..

The green house is 2400 wide X 2100 high and 800mm deep. 5 shelves give an enourmous amount of room and a steam vapouriser takes care of the humidity..

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So, after that's all colonised i go to the pastuerization of straw for my bulk substrate. ATM i've settled on a mix of straw, cardboard chunks and sawdust for the Kings. Seems to work pretty well. I mostly follow the instructions in RR video. Pastuerising for 1.5 hours at 60-65 degrees in a large 120l or smaller 60l eskie...

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At the moment i'm buying straw by the bale and running over it with the mower, but certainly looking for a better, cheaper method.

Straw is then mixed with the colonised grain on a large table and crammed into 8-12 litre buckets with 25mm holes drilled round the sides..

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The buckets are placed in large plastic bags with a polyfill breather and cabletied shut. Then placed in one side of the greenhouse to await pinning.

Once pins are seen, the bags are stripped off and i harvest the fruit as it shows.

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Weighed to tween 160-190gms put in paper bags and sold the same day to friends and workmates for $5 a bag, they are snapped up as soon as someone see's me with a bag :innocent_n::drool2::shroomer:

Hope this is interesting to some and happy to answer any questions :lol:

My latest idea is some kits based on the buckets that will save me the space of fruiting and the labour of picking, packing and marketing the shrooms.

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Love your work punkin.

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well done Punkin. very nice.

I get the feeling you were once a homebrewer... ?

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very nice, you've sure got a great setup going, makes culture so easy when you can have those semi-permanent fixtures like the boilers and such in place. Sounds like you'd have a shitload of good compost too, or even more substrate for running a different species on the spent substrate. Keep us updated on the productivity!

The straw shredding is a pain in the arse, i'm usually doing it by hand, if not just ripping off chunks and using the finer stuff, chipper/shredders are ideal, but good ones are pretty $$$$, saving for one, can't be bothered spending less only to have it break, especially as it'd be better having one for wood and straw instead of just straw.

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great work, thanks for the pics and explanation

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That's awesome !

Did you make that boiler yourself ?

Does it handle 15 psi ?

That rig could be adapted for all sorts of purposes.

I was on the lookout for an all american PC, but after seeing your all Australian one I'm having second thoughts.

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nice set up mate! well done!

they sure look tasty :drool2:

could straw be put through a wood chipper? seen a cheap one at cash converters a while back...

keep up the good work mate!

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Thanks people for the kind words. Hope the pics and explanation helps someone in some way.

I do a lot of homebrewing, i'm a big beer drinker, but only kit beers. i have a nice keg setup in my lounge room. Distilling is my other main hobby (if you don't count my obsession with angling) and i have a pretty extensive setup to make a lot of different spirits. The missus keeps me brewing bourbon hard :lol: :lol:

Although i rarelt drink it, i love the art in making it and giving as gifts to friends. I don't use any cordials and all my brews are naturally flavoured and coloured in the artisan way.

there's much more on my distilling hobby here if you like pictures. I build plenty of these setups for sale.

http://www.artisan-distiller.net/phpBB3/index.php

http://www.artisan-distiller.net/phpBB3/viewtopic.php?f=17&t=1089

The keg is my main boiler and handles 15 psi just fine (they are rated for 60psi). The other pot is not for pressure, just a cook pot, so steam is run for 10 hours to sterilize bags.

The shredding of the straw works remarkably well with the mower, only takes a half hour from start to finish to spread a bale out and bag it back up again after a couple of runs over it. Gets it as fine as you like, rake the bulk and then pick the fines up with the catcher :lol:

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That forum is awesome mate. Thankyou so much. Ive been looking at going up a few levels:) but have not found info as good as that

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You are very welcome. stop by and say hello :innocent_n:

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I find a chainsaw or hedge trimmer is good for cutting little bits of straw. chainsaw is best.

Keep the bale bound up and slice the straw off inch by inch. eventually you cut through the last string and the whole thing falls apart.

its messy but effective.

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ah yes :blush: you've reminded me we've got a barely used portable electric hedge trimmer in the garage :rolleyes:

got the chainsaw too, but fuck that's a bit drastic LOL you beast you, i'll eat my words though when the hedge trimmer clogs :wink:

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wow very nice setup, thanks for the share great read.

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Ya makin me drool :drool2:

As for shredding I've found a 60 buck blower/vac/mulch works well......

oh and Pantera :lol:

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Thats a great setup!

I'm interested about your steam Vapouriser, I've killed a few eBay ultrasonics trying to humidify my greenhouse, and I gave up and switched to tubs and misting. All of the American mycology sites swear by the Vicks V400 coolmist, but I can't find them in Aus.

Does your vaporiser provide FAE as well?

Thanks!

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Thats a great setup!

I'm interested about your steam Vapouriser, I've killed a few eBay ultrasonics trying to humidify my greenhouse, and I gave up and switched to tubs and misting. All of the American mycology sites swear by the Vicks V400 coolmist, but I can't find them in Aus.

Does your vaporiser provide FAE as well?

Thanks!

 

No the wind does that. The vapouriser isn't keeping up with the warmer weather in the big space. I'm going to reduce the size of the greenhouse by cutting it in half and using half uncontrolled as racks for the spawn bags and the other half as a grow room. I'm still looking into the best way to humidify it.

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Punkin are you looking for signs of humidity?

Do you have a hygrometer?

The R/H might be high enough not to see vapour,as long as the produce is going as planned.

You may not be able to increase it much more if the whether is like what it is here atm,especially with a vicks jobby.

Just a thought in case you were looking for visible signs of moisture,that's all.

Insulation,water surface area and heat are the best options.

(shallow flat bed tub(s) and aquarium heater(s))

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Ya makin me drool :drool2:

As for shredding I've found a 60 buck blower/vac/mulch works well......

oh and Pantera :lol:

 

Whats the make?

I've been looking for a decent way to shred bulk straw!

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Talon I think...the orange one :rolleyes:

I'm sure Bunnings would have one similar in the GMC range cheap,3 year warranty too.

BTW it's not a shredder,but a blower/vac/mulch.This one comes with 2 extenders,one with the wheels I removed and you can't get your arm down far enough to get near the blades which are heavy duty plastic.Modify the lid on a plastic bin to fit the outlet,put breather holes in the sides,place shredder in the lid(outlet into the bin),mask up and feed it in!

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