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 MycoManChester
Stranger
Registered: 02/13/10
Posts: 12
Last seen: 14 years, 1 month
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 Blue Oyster Grow 
#12035226 - 02/15/10 04:43 PM (14 years, 2 months ago) |
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Hey guys, I thought I'd throw up my blue oyster grow here. Hopefully someone will find it interesting or otherwise useful.
This project is in milk crates, growing on pasteurized bermuda grass hay (sold for animal feed, I believe). I'm not having any problems with the hay so far, haven't noticed any bacterial colonies. This is great news, because this hay is virtually free, whereas straw is relatively expensive and hard to find.
It's been 4-5 days since I first noticed primordia formation. Here's a picture from the second or third day:
And here are a few from about an hour ago (the fourth one is of the same location as the picture above):
 
 
It's important to note that it's been about 48ºF today, and I'm near the Gulf coast, so it's relatively humid and has been raining quite a bit in the past week. When it isn't raining, I've been watering the baskets once or twice a day. Yesterday I started misting a few times a day instead of watering, to keep encouraging primordial growth. In one of the pictures above, you can see a few of the pins have dried out a bit, so I've been a bit off my game!
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 TacoHerder
Bluedavenger
 
Registered: 06/10/09
Posts: 10,107
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looking good. way to take andvantage of the outdoors, mine have been coped up in a container to keep them safe. def gonna be a challenge to get them out of the crate. nice work
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MycoManChester
Stranger
Registered: 02/13/10
Posts: 12
Last seen: 14 years, 1 month
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Thanks. I've grown these in a martha in a hot apartment, the results were...less than stellar. I hope yours turn out much better!
Quote:
def gonna be a challenge to get them out of the crate.
Meh, I'm not too worried about it. They're a little deep in there, but they're forming in clusters, I think they'll break off from the thallus pretty easily.
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punkin
Friend of a Friend Who seems OK
Registered: 01/29/10
Posts: 361
Loc: Northern NSW Orstrayllya 
Last seen: 8 years, 6 days
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That's excellent mate, and what i'm aiming to do.
I was thinking of using bags for the straw substrate though and putting them in the milk crates and then stabbing them through the slots after a couple days.
i figured that would help wih humidity and moisture, while still making them stackable and fruitable.
Can you say the difference (and why you chose to go straight in the crates) between the two methods?
Can anyone else?
Can you tell me something about your wheather? And if you are in the shade or the sun? And if you think i may need a humidity tent? Did you use one?
Top stuff and nice photos, it's an inspiration to me
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nexus1946
Rebel
Registered: 06/25/09
Posts: 2,315
Loc: In the moment
Last seen: 7 years, 9 months
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Re: Blue Oyster Grow [Re: punkin]
#12037927 - 02/16/10 01:17 AM (14 years, 2 months ago) |
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Nice!
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MycoManChester
Stranger
Registered: 02/13/10
Posts: 12
Last seen: 14 years, 1 month
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Re: Blue Oyster Grow [Re: nexus1946]
#12040305 - 02/16/10 02:16 PM (14 years, 2 months ago) |
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Thanks guys.
punkin, the bag-in-a-crate method sounds like it would work great to keep humidity levels up. If you're in a drier area than I am (Gulf Coast) it could be especially beneficial. I'm not sure about stating the difference between the methods, as using crates like this is new for me, and I haven't used bags at all (aside from preparing hay spawn). My suspicion is that you will have to water much less if you use bags, which would be nice for low-maintenance grows.
However, as the mycelium eats up the substrate, it's going to shrink back a little, probably pulling the bag with it. That might make it harder to access the fruits from later flushes, but it may not be a problem at all. You could probably correct for this by just keeping a weight on top of it (mine each have 15-20 lbs on them  ) to ensure the substrate stays squished out as wide as possible.
I chose to go straight to the crates simply because I have quite a few of them lying around, and didn't think of the bag idea. I don't plan to use bags in the future unless I have more humidity issues than I have so far. I flooded them with the hose once or twice a day until I saw pins, then I've just been misting 2 or 3 times every day, just whenever I go check on their progress. Takes about 20 seconds.
The weather here has been pretty perfect for blue oyster cultivation. It's 49F outside right now (3pm), with 43% humidity (not high enough alone, obviously, but misting fixes that). Over the past two weeks, it's been raining way too much for me, but has been perfect for the oysters. I don't bother watering at all when it rains. It's gotten down to 30F a couple times since I put them outside, and hasn't been getting any higher than 60F, I don't think. Been hovering around 45F during the day. What else...oh, light! They're in full sun for probably 4-5 hours a day, and partial sun to partial shade the rest of the time (pretty sure you could get away with just partial sun for a few hours a day, but with oysters, the more the merrier, to a certain point). I should be aiming to mist around 12 when the sun really gets on them, and again at 3 or so, but I've really just been doing it when I think of it, and haven't had problems.
Oh, and I doubt you'll need a humidity tent if you use the bags. Unless it's really dry where you are, I bet you could just get away with watering with the hose or misting, even without bags.
Whew, hope that's not too long to read...
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punkin
Friend of a Friend Who seems OK
Registered: 01/29/10
Posts: 361
Loc: Northern NSW Orstrayllya
Last seen: 8 years, 6 days
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No, definately not too long at all, and i appreciate the info. I've been told i need the growhouse, but i'm happy to see you say to try it without. I think that's what i'll do and then if it doesn't work i'll fix it.
Wouldn't have a clue about my humidity, but suspect my temps atm are a lot higher than yours and i'll try the reflected sunlight rather than the full sunlight. That's enough threadjacking for me, but i apppreciate your info for sure
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MycoManChester
Stranger
Registered: 02/13/10
Posts: 12
Last seen: 14 years, 1 month
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Re: Blue Oyster Grow [Re: punkin]
#12047569 - 02/17/10 02:35 PM (14 years, 1 month ago) |
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If you try without a greenhouse, it may be a good experiment to do one basket with plastic and one without. Then just water them as much as they need, and see which method you prefer. My hypothesis is that plastic will help you a bunch, yielding more with less waterings. If it's particularly dry where you are, the one without plastic may not work at all. I saw a thread earlier this week where someone was growing blue oysters in the desert (Arizona?) in a laundry basket with plastic around it. He said the basket would dry out in one day without the plastic; his fruits were looking good last I saw.
Anyway, here's some pictures for today:
 
(those are both of the same location)
 
(first one is the same location as the first picture in this thread, sorry for the blurriness in that last one)
You'll notice that many of them don't look blue at all. The last picture above is about as blue as it gets with this strain (sporeworks, I believe). Most pins start off with a dark blue, almost greenish, color, which quickly fades to dark brown and now, apparently, a lighter tan color. It's 51F outside right now (3:30pm), with a humidity of 41% (according to weather.com, though it doesn't feel quite that humid to me).
One more thing: I noticed today that some of the hay has tiny black spots on it. I assume that'd be some competitor fungus, hopefully my guys can fight it out until the second flush!
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ratdog
wild capture trader
Registered: 08/16/09
Posts: 959
Loc: Colorado mount. top
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looking good
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so here is a video or two or three for you guys
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punkin
Friend of a Friend Who seems OK
Registered: 01/29/10
Posts: 361
Loc: Northern NSW Orstrayllya
Last seen: 8 years, 6 days
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Re: Blue Oyster Grow [Re: ratdog]
#12050966 - 02/17/10 10:30 PM (14 years, 1 month ago) |
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Looks great ,mate
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MycoManChester
Stranger
Registered: 02/13/10
Posts: 12
Last seen: 14 years, 1 month
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Re: Blue Oyster Grow [Re: punkin]
#12070772 - 02/21/10 12:31 PM (14 years, 1 month ago) |
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Hey guys, sorry I've been neglecting this thread a bit. I've still been taking photos along the way, and here are some of them:
  
(those three are all from the 18th or 19th)
  
(all from the 19th or 20th)
 
 
(all from today)
So things are coming along well, I think those "black spots" I noticed a while back were a false alarm, or not very intrusive, because I've noticed no signs of increased activity from competitors. It's warmed up in the last few days, it's around 65F outside right now (1:30pm). I spotted my first fruit fly/fungus gnat hovering around last night, and found my first spider this morning! I expect gnats to really become a problem when it really gets hot, but I haven't grown mushrooms at this location in warmer weather yet, so we'll see.
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ratdog
wild capture trader
Registered: 08/16/09
Posts: 959
Loc: Colorado mount. top
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they need water man they are screaming for water........its torture........i can't look any more.
but i bet they taste good.
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MycoManChester
Stranger
Registered: 02/13/10
Posts: 12
Last seen: 14 years, 1 month
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Re: Blue Oyster Grow [Re: ratdog]
#12073677 - 02/21/10 08:24 PM (14 years, 1 month ago) |
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Quote:
they need water
I assume you're talking about the cracked caps on a few of them? That happened a few days ago, when I skipped the morning watering and neglected to water them until the evening. It got pretty warm that afternoon, direct sunlight and everything. Otherwise, I soak them down with a hose a couple times every day. However, I've been wondering if the weight that I have on top of each basket has been hindering the water penetration, so I'm going to change them out for something smaller. I just don't really want them fruiting from the tops of the baskets...
Edit: I just went out and lifted up the weights from each basket, then used the hose to totally soak each "block" from the inside out. The interior was doing great, mycelium so thick it was clinging to the bottom of the weights. It was damp, but not wet enough, so I think I'll keep watering like this from now on.
Also, I moved the stack of baskets underneath my lime bush, so that they'll get dripped on after each watering for another hour or so, which should dramatically raise the average humidity. This also exposes all four sides to light, and prevents them from getting direct sunlight most of the day, which should be good.
Edited by MycoManChester (02/21/10 08:50 PM)
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