In the recent months there has been a buzz in the online mushroom
community about the use of popcorn as a grain spawn. It was mentioned briefly
in the past year or so but it was unknowingly overlooked by the masses. It
has been said that a Swedish guy who runs a mushroom community over in Europe
was using popcorn with great results. One member of the OMC, ran some pretty
conclusive tests with popcorn and so I decided to try it myself. I like to
make up a clean process when I embark so I decided to draft up this tek but
I do not claim it as my own. I just thought it would make a nice contribution
to the cultivation archives here at the Shroomery.
Thanks to many on the forums I have put together what I feel is a direct
method of using popcorn as a very easy and fast colonizing grain spawn. The one
major advantage of popcorn over say rye berries is that it shakes up easier and
it seems to pop less kernels when cooked. The grain is very nutritious and
should support large flushes when cased with 50/50 or the better yet coco coir
casings.
The supplies you will need are:
- Couple gallons of cheap spring water.
- Any sized jars you prefer but quarts are recommended.
- Strainer
- Pressure Cooker is a must!
A good thing to use for your jars would be polyfill filters. Anno has a good
site with info on this at http://www.fungifun.org/English/Polyfil.
This would greatly reduce the chances of contams and allow good air exchange
for rapid growth.
Popcorn Spawn Formula
- Take the amount of grains you desire to fill your jars around 2/3 full.
Remember that the grains will expand, so it will take a tad less to reach
that goal.
- Pour the grains in a large pot and then pour in the cheap spring water
till the grains are well covered with around an 1/2 inch of water.
- Cover the pot and let soak for 24 hours.
- After the 24 hours, make sure there is still plenty of water, if not add
some more. More water is better than not enough in this case. Now you want
to bring the water to a low boil on the stove and then let simmer for 1
hour.
- Next pour the water and grains through a strainer and let the grains drip
drain for half an hour. Important! Do not skip or fall short on the
drain, its a must or you may end up with way too wet popcorn and
contaminants.
- Now load your jars around 2/3 and place in your pressure cooker. Cook at
15 p.s.i. for 70 mins.
- Allow to cool and then inoculate with syringe or whatever is your
preferred method.
- Shake the grains every 4 or 5 days till they are fully colonized.
One guy used a coco coir casing mixed with some vermiculite and the results
were amazing. The popcorn colonizes very rapidly and is very easy to shake.
Hope this helps, I know I am filing this in my archive.
Threads in the forums:
http://www.shroomery.org/forums/showflat.php?fpart=all&Board=Pictures&Number=1055081&fpart=all
http://www.shroomery.org/forums/showflat.php?fpart=all&Board=Forum4&Number=1152356&fpart=all
Drafted by Alien on Jan 11 2003
