Mushroom seeds

[Sallubrious]

Obviously they're not seeds <___base_url___>/uploads/emoticons/default_tongue.png

I was at Bunnings today cruising the garden section & I found some packets of dry spawn grains under the Mr Fothergills label next to the seeds. I've never seen them before has anyone tried them ?

They are also selling a board that looks like a piece of masonite to grow them out on.

I got a packet of Golden Oysters (Pleorotus cornucopiae), they also had two other Pleorotus species, a Shiitake and common Agaricus brunescens.

I didn't find them listed after a half arsed search on the Fothergills website, so maybe it's a new product. If it's alive it could be a good way to aquire some new cultures.

Edited May 16, 2014 by Sally

[waterboy 2.0]

http://www.mr-fothergills-trade.com/marvelous-mushrooms-sid2.html

http://mrfothergills-seeds-bulbs.com.au/skin/2-columns/images/2column/pdf/Mushrooms-Fact-Sheet.pdf

Marvellous Mushrooms range....

Will have to keep my eyes open for them...pdf link has some info on the "mushroom boards".

EDIT - boards are made of poplar wood

https://www.shaman-australis.com/forum/applications/core/interface/imageproxy/imageproxy.php?img=https://2ecffd01e1ab3e9383f0-07db7b9624bbdf022e3b5395236d5cf8.ssl.cf4.rackcdn.com/Product-800x800/991589c4-252e-4aa3-b7f4-51edf9db0916.png&key=09b9441cea61376ac7ef8827967774a4a9177b7d35ef911ad9213e971c3dbcf4

Edited May 16, 2014 by waterboy

[Sallubrious]

Thanks for adding the links WB, like I said I only did a half arsed search. I think I must have found an old web page, it looked different to the one you linked.

They're the ones I got. I don't think I'll use the boards to grow mine. I'll probably go for a straw bag.

BTW they cost $10 for 50 grams of dried spawn. They're calling it dried spawn anyway, it must have some moisture content to keep the culture alive.

Edited May 16, 2014 by Sally

[waterboy 2.0]

^ Fothergills trade website sally, could only find info on that one.

Dunno if they will let Bunnings bring these onto the Island (?).

[myco]

i spotted these in bunnings a few weeks ago to

grabbed myself a pack of golden oysters, pink oysters, and some shittake

i saw the boards next to them but didnt bother to get any i think i'll also use another method for growing em should be interesting

[theuserformallyknownasd00d]

Yeh I got some of these a few weeks ago, did a G2G and they took off nicely but the shittake contamed, the oysters all good

[Cubism]

Would the growing boards be good for a complete novice to have a crack at?

If so I might give it a go

EDIT : Just saw the pdf link in WB's post. Looks simple enough

Edited May 16, 2014 by Cubism

[lindsay]

I tried 2 different oyster of these but they both were contaminated.

[myco]

Would the growing boards be good for a complete novice to have a crack at?

If so I might give it a go

EDIT : Just saw the pdf link in WB's post. Looks simple enough

i think that is exactly what they are made for

[Sallubrious]

Yeh I got some of these a few weeks ago, did a G2G and they took off nicely but the shittake contamed, the oysters all good

Let us know if they fruit dude

Edited May 16, 2014 by Sally

[Trayto]

I bought the shiitake and they're contaminated too. I might just chuck them out in the mulch and see what happens.

[gnome82]

An Italian company Funghi Mara does a similar product,

currently am trying to rehydrate some pleurotus eryngii on h2o2 agar and also hessian cloth, no luck yet

the Hessian is showing signs of at least 5 diff color contams-not looking good so far =(

[Berengar]

I bought several species in dry spawn form from Funghi mara several years ago, tried spawning them directly, G2G, isolating on agar, in all cases the only thing I managed to cultivate was Dactyllium and pink molds. I have never heard of anyone who has successfully grown mushrooms from their dry spawn, no idea how they are still on the market.

[gnome82]

Any luck with these sally?

would love to hear any succes stories

found this... http://www.faqs.org/patents/app/20130280791

a patent on using dehydrated mycelium/fibre pellets to form custom molded products to replace styrofoam

so in theory these products must work?

its a shame to hear about the high contam rate- wondering if the culture is contam before dehydration or the spores just arrive through the not even sealed paper packet

grain is probably not the best for this, wood/cellulose pellets probably more resistant to contam

this is what grew for me...

got a feeling its not pleurotus mycellium though!

[sillysyban]

I brought the Shitake and Oyster and both contaminated. Ended up ok though as it lead me down the path to proper technique. Just starting now with an oyster agar plate and grain spawn.

[rottenjonny]

When I saw these I was amazed. It was obviously grains that had been colonised however I have no idea how that would stay alive on a shelf in bunnings without appropriate conditions.

A+ however for the "Mushroom seeds" marketing approach.

[Sallubrious]

No Gnome, I never tried to grow them out. I was a bit discouraged after reading some of the stories others had posted, so I didn't bother dragging the PC out. I might have a go over the weekend and probably end up growing lipstick mould or some other nasty crap.

[theuserformallyknownasd00d]

got a few fruits off the pink oysters whilst moving house, they were in terrible conditions tho and were tiny.

picked up another shiitake today and will try a few in LC before sending the rest into a coir bucket.

[Zen Peddler]

My advice is don't waste your hard earned

[emcat]

I tried these too and all contaminated.

[poisonshroom]

Im having a go at the golden oysters now - pasteurizing some straw as we speak. Im not too hopeful but figure its worth a go - especially oysters, which are usually regarded as the easiest type of mushroom you can grow (apart from maybe cubes, but I wouldnt know anything about that ). Whether they work or not its an interesting idea, but I agree with what someone said above - colonized dowels would probably be a better way to sell this kind of thing, but I think they are aiming for long shelf-life rather than high success rates.

[emcat]

I actually think some of the shitake may not have contaminated after all. I thought they were contaminated with bacteria because they suddenly stopped colonizing part of the jar. I hadn't got round to emptying the jars and just left them outside for a few weeks. Anyway just looked at them and they've continued to colonise very slowly. May have just been too high a moisture content or something. All the oysters contaminated with mould though.

[emcat]

Checked again and discovered some green mold in the shitake jars. Seems like it just slowed them down rather than took over, I might try making an outdoor bed with them or something but definitely not going to use them for transfers.

[Darklight]

I put some of the grain from a fresh ( surface sterilised pack opened in the flow hood ) Bunnings/ Mr Forthergills Pink Oyster packet onto some MEA agar + 8ml/L peroxide

All plates contaminated within 4 days with cobweb mould

None of the other plates and species from that same batch of agar contaminated at all, including some ex-field initiations from the paddock

Conclusive for me. I have all the kit. How they managed to fuck this one up is beyond me

[Hyphal]

Has anyone tired growing them out on the board as directed? Of couse going to agar will contamiante, but wood is always more resitant to contaminant growth.