Trip Dr Posted November 19, 2002 Hi all, i know a lizard who has been madly trying to grow himself some Copper Tops. He has tried the fast food of the gods method, and the PF Tek. FFOTG method produced the biggest visible and quickest myclael(Spelling?) growth, but also had the biggest contaminated portion. 4 jars done with a method similar to the PF tek did not even show any signs of growth for WEEKS! The guide said days...Any how 3 jars became getting eaten by dark green fungus. 1 had small promising looking white fuzz spots. Mr Lizard has been watching these fuzz spots grow over the past week, and noticed they are taking up a pinkish colour-similar to the vermiculite. Any hints as to what is happening? There are still a few smaller bright white spots, just the bigger patches are going pinkish. Cheers all, Trip Dr Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
spiders Posted November 20, 2002 Youve got to stay sterile. Copper tops (Subaeruginosa) require a wood-based substrate to fruit. Id try cubies first and pressure cook jars of brf/verm or manure/verm, innoculate with mycelia/spore syringes made in a glovebox. Should workout okay. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Trip Dr Posted November 21, 2002 Ahhh...i see... Would it be possible for my lizard, to perhaps crush up the remaining vf/verm cake and mix into a suitable wood based mix? mabey he could use a piece of the white fibre, and grow jars full of it in a liquid medium??? just like in a book called the something something producers guide :0 Take care friends Trip Dr ------------------ Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Guest reville Posted November 22, 2002 What Bluemeanie said about them needing wood to fruit, doesn't mean that cakes or grain arent suitable for getting them going. If you look at what Stamets and chilton published in '78, and whats dislayed on growteks on the net, yes ill plug my old favourite at www.mushmush.nl (good on you Una) To start sterile, as per usual, then use that to spawn the preferred substrate, in this case wood based is a good way to look at it using cakes to spawn outdoors is problematic cos these woodlovers may not necessarily compete with moulds or vermin for the rich spawn material. With My shiitake and ganoderma for example i do a grain jar, about 300mls of colonised garin then use that to spawn 3 to 4 bags of pasteurised or preferably sterilised enriched wood. Then i fruit by piercing the bags or other techniques (species dependant). But for species like the one being discussed you can go further and use these bags to innoculate fresh or pasteurised fresh chips or sacks of chips (youre getting an idea of just how far one jar of pure spawn can go yes ) at a ratio of 5:1 or 10:l volumetrically. After that you can just fork in fresh chips each year to beef up the beds or take handuls of spawn to innoculate new beds etc etc. and then start on the next species - if you suceed you *will* catch the collecting bug trust me just look at BM Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Guest reville Posted November 22, 2002 oh yes ,im sure BM will agree that some species are more tolerant than others of abuse/new substrates etc. Some seem to eat anything! other are annoyingly recalcitrant. Pick the ones best suited to the wood you can get easily and in bulk. and the one for your climate Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
spiders Posted November 23, 2002 Very true! Once you get a few going, you just keeping starting on more... Most of those aussie native tend to rip through grains with woods, and fruiting shouldnt be a problem as they have all pinned within two monthes on MEA (malt extract agar) Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
