Inoculating a dead palm stump with oysters?

[Cimi]

Hey guys, I was recently lucky enough to pick up two blue oyster strains on agar from Selby's Shrooms (one he included for free!) These strains are aggressive and tough.

 

I have a somewhat dead corner out the back with a long-dead palm stump with evidence of termite activity in a sunny position. I was thinking of inoculating it with spawn from these blue oyster strains. The jars are colonising nicely. I would either need to shade it or dig it out and place in the shade. I have a pond I can soak it in if needed, but I like the idea of keeping it in the ground so that the mycelium can colonise down into the tree roots and deep into the surrounding soil.

 

Just wondering people's opinions on whether these strains could work on a dead palm stump.

 

Growing mushrooms seems like a great way to repurpose dead tree stumps. Sometimes I feel like going on a drilling spree around town with inoculated dowels. Free shiitakes on every corner. Mushrooms can definitely save the world!

[Darklight]

Go for it. I'd recommend bulking up your sterile spawn using the limesoak/ sugar cane mulch tek and stuffing the trunk with some of that once it colonises.

 

I isolated a local pink oyster strain I found fruiting on a tree fern a few years back. Some strains can def handle the ambient conditions and contams, if you have one of his feral blues that can work too

 

Mushrooms can't save the world tho, sorting our own shit out is a much higher priority. Expecting another genus to do it for us is bloody lazy

[Cimi]

Thanks for the tips, Darklight. Pasteurising the cane mulch tonight.

 

Layered it with garden lime and milk powder in a bucket, about half-filled with cold water, topped up with boiling enough to almost cover. Mixed and squashed it down while hot, allowed to soak until it cooled (~15 mins?), poured off excess liquid, stuffed damp mulch into oven bags, twisted them shut and tied securely with oven bag ties.

 

Placed sealed oven bags of substrate into 2 eskies with hot water in the bottom, going to let them pasteurise / cool in there for a day or two then inoc with spawn.

 

Then when the oven bags are colonised I'll dig out the middle of the termite-eaten trunk a bit and stuff it with the colonised sugarcane mulch.

 

The results will hopefully be beneficial to the surrounding garden which has decent shade but is looking a bit dry and dead. Mushrooms will hopefully improve the micro-climate in and near the ground by making it cooler and moister, and breaking down more organic matter into the soil. The result will be increased invertebrate and mammal activity, establishing a better foundation for the overall ecosystem, and improving the garden's resistance to drying out.

 

Mushrooms allow us to rehabilitate and cool the Earth, to create soil and unlock nutrients for plants, and to provide food and shelter for insects and other animals.

[Cimi]

Update: I ended up spawning shiitake instead because I had some left over from a grow kit.

 

It seems to be colonising well. Moved it out of the laundry into a warmer part of the house to colonise faster.

 

My 2 blue oyster jars look ready to spawn as well. Might have to go buy some more fruiting chambers

Edited September 1, 2018 by Cimi
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[Darklight]

Nice. Thanks so much for the updates too