Growing From Mycelium

[Ishmael Fleishman]

I am not a fungus guy - I enjoy eating them but not much into psilocybin.

 

I looked into growing edible mushrooms from liquid/spore on grain and it was all to much for me. I just do not have the space or equipment to make a clean space to undertake work that I perceive to be like a laboratory. So I never got past the research stage.

 

Then one day I found some mushrooms growing on some eucalyptus mulch in a hospital garden. I went home got some x-large zip lock bags, disinfect the bags with alcohol and washed my hands with alcohol and I dug up a few good handful of mycelium.

 

I then took a clear shoe box size plastic tub, I washed it out, and again flooded it with more alcohol. By this time I smelled like a cheap distillery.

 

I then took the cardboard and packed it into a pot and boiled it for an hour until it was sterile. I drained the hot water off and then transferred the cardboard to the plastic tub pulling the cardboard apart into sheets. Between each layer I sprinkled some of the mycelium.

 

I then covered with a lid and left the plastic tub in the garage on a shelf.

 

To be honest I was not expecting anything. I did not have clean air and I did not have a spore free, bacteria free laboratory setup. I honestly expected that I would maybe end up with some mycelium, and some mold and some other funky stuff.

 

Over winter their was little action, the container environment was moist but not flooded. However after a few months I saw the Mycelium spreading, the fine white tendrils spreading over the cardboard. As spring has advanced those tiny patches have spread. It still has a long way to go. Maybe 15% of the cardboard is covered - looking from the outside. However their are no other growths or colors forming. Fingers crossed. Probably by the end of summer I expect to get a nice white mass of mycelium. I have not opened the lid fearing contamination.

 

Now I hope to have the same mycelium growing that I put into a larger tub, but I do not know I might have button mushrooms growing. But it is not about the end product it is about the exploration of ideas and process.

 

QUESTIONS:

 

• Why is direct propagation of mycelium not more common practice?
• Is their anything I can do to help it along or speed it up. - It has just been sitting in a dimly lit garage for a few months on a shelf. Simply ignored for the most part.
• I was planning once I got enough mass of mycelium to relocate it into the garden. Or maybe getting a large shallow tub and filling it with sterile eucalyptus mulch and seeing if the mycelium will eventually fruit. Keen to find out what I have been growing all this time.

 

I realize that this method is bloody slow. However if it works and I do not need thousand of dollars of lab equipment - then I am happy to wait. On YouTube I have seen people growing edible mushrooms in a outdoor raised garden beds. Just dumping spores and mycelium into organic material and later harvesting oyster mushrooms and more just from an open garden. Which I think is kind of cool. Closer to gardening then a laboratory.

 

But so far so good fun in my little experiment, watching the mycelium grow in the clear tup is rather exciting. - I need a girlfriend me thinks.

 

 

 

 

 

Edited November 5, 2023 by Ishmael Fleishman

[rottenjonny]

Great experimentation! it becomes actual science if you write it down.

 

Why is direct propagation of mycelium not more common practice? - I think because its more advantageous to have a culture that is "clean". There might also be mixed mycelium in there from another species (just guessing). It isn't totally unheard of and pretty common for people trying to grow woodloving species like subs

Is their anything I can do to help it along or speed it up. - It has just been sitting in a dimly lit garage for a few months on a shelf. Simply ignored for the most part. - Get it into a purpose built bed

I was planning once I got enough mass of mycelium to relocate it into the garden. Or maybe getting a large shallow tub and filling it with sterile eucalyptus mulch and seeing if the mycelium will eventually fruit. Keen to find out what I have been growing all this time. - For the benefit of science why not do both.

 

Keep us updated, sounds like fun

[Ishmael Fleishman]

I am interested in growing edible wood loving mushrooms on logs in the garden when things settle in my living situation.

 

I will then look into putting my mycelium into a purpose built bed.

 

If I have a variety of mycelium then that it is what I have. Less efficient but it is simpler in my situation.