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 Chad1
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Registered: 12/02/10
Posts: 279
Loc: USA
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 King oyster questions 
#13575137 - 12/02/10 09:54 PM (2 years, 5 months ago) |
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I'm new to growing mushrooms, am wanting to grow king oysters, and have some questions. I'm wanting to use a straw substrate and add nutrients. I have read to add some kind of bran or alfalfa. I'm wondering what other people are using to get the best results. Is poly tubing an effective way to grow these oysters? Also, do I need to put the tubes in a terrarium of any kind or will they do alright without one?
Thank You. Any help is appreciated.
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 BlueVision
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Re: King oyster questions [Re: Chad1]
#13578098 - 12/03/10 06:37 PM (2 years, 5 months ago) |
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No, don't bother with tubes. KOs are not like other oyster species. I've had best results growing them from bottles on shelves, and just using plain ol'quart jars. My single flush yield is about 4 pounds per 12 jars, with a top end max of about 1/2 pound per quart jar. Most commercial operations in the world do it from jars.
You can easily grow a couple pounds or more a week this way on even a single shelf in a modest home made fruiting chamber (small fridge size) by rotating colonized jars into it. I'm doing about a kilogram (2.2 pounds) each week of this species right now. Along with the other species I grow, our family eats a LOT of mushrooms! 
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Chad1
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Re: King oyster questions [Re: BlueVision]
#13578160 - 12/03/10 06:54 PM (2 years, 5 months ago) |
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Thinks for your reply. What kind of substrate do you use in your jars? Do you spawn on rye grain? Also do you have any pics?
Thanks Agin
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Chad1
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Re: King oyster questions [Re: Chad1]
#13578181 - 12/03/10 07:03 PM (2 years, 5 months ago) |
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I'm also interested in other peoples knowledge of growing king oyster, and other mushrooms. Also wanting opinions on what other good tasting mushrooms there are.
Edited by Chad1 (12/03/10 07:06 PM)
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eLShaMukO
from couch potato to sex tornado
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Re: King oyster questions [Re: Chad1]
#13578230 - 12/03/10 07:21 PM (2 years, 5 months ago) |
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BlueVision
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Re: King oyster questions [Re: Chad1]
#13578959 - 12/03/10 10:08 PM (2 years, 5 months ago) |
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Quote:
Chad1 said:
Thinks for your reply. What kind of substrate do you use in your jars? Do you spawn on rye grain? Also do you have any pics?
Thanks Agin
I do 1/2 rye jars knocked up with clone juice, and top up with Paul Stamets' basic sawdust/chips/bran mix once colonized. When that's done, I scratch 1/4" to 1/2" off the top, put in fruiting conditions, and harvest in 2 weeks. Nothing could be simpler really.
Unlike the commercial kinds, I let the caps grow:
Yummy 
Edited by BlueVision (12/03/10 10:09 PM)
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Maverick
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Re: King oyster questions [Re: BlueVision]
#13579338 - 12/03/10 11:30 PM (2 years, 5 months ago) |
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I want :o
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kelfio
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Re: King oyster questions [Re: Maverick]
#13581331 - 12/04/10 01:54 PM (2 years, 5 months ago) |
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Wow Blue Vision, those are beautiful!
I am also trying out KO for the first time. I've been using straw in trays used for plant nurseries. They seem to be working okay, but I might try the jars next.
From what you said about colonizing the grain jars and then topping off with sawdust - Do you shake the jars during colonization (just like you would with other species) and wait for full colonization of grain and then basically case it with sawdust? Or do you just put it all in at once and wait?
And, what are your parameters for fruiting conditions?
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BlueVision
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Re: King oyster questions [Re: kelfio]
#13584622 - 12/05/10 08:46 AM (2 years, 5 months ago) |
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I don't shake the jars during colonization because I shake the jars right after inoculating my grain jars directly with vegetative clone juice. The tiny particles of mushroom tissue are spread evenly throughout the jar from the beginning, and the entire jar turns white evenly during colonization.
Once the half filled grain jars are totally colonized, I just fill the rest loosely with the sawdust/chips/bran substrate without mixing the two. I used to mix outside the jars (and still do for trays and blocks) and then refill them, but this lazy method works fine and normally results in full colonization within a few days.
This method is only economical if you have a source of cheap 50 pound rye bags because the spawning rate is really 1:1 in the jars, which is ridiculously high when you consider some commercial operators get away with 1% spawn rates!
My fruiting conditions are:
- probably at least 1000 lux 12/12 cool white LED lighting
- temperature of 14 degrees C (58 F)
- about 85% RH
- maybe 2 air exchanges per hour
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kelfio
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Re: King oyster questions [Re: BlueVision]
#13585689 - 12/05/10 03:22 PM (2 years, 5 months ago) |
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Sweet! Thanks! I will give this method a shot - and yes, I get 50 lb bags of rye at the farm supply store for $14/bag. I don't know how cheap that is, but it seems pretty good to me.
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BlueVision
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Re: King oyster questions [Re: kelfio]
#13587292 - 12/05/10 09:38 PM (2 years, 5 months ago) |
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Yup, that's cheap and about what I pay. You're good to go, especially considering that stores are selling these KOs for $5.99 per 300g package (less than a pound).
For my clone juice, I just wash a store bought stem in alcohol, then carve away the effected external parts with a sterile scalpel. Then into the blender it goes, with distilled water. I then suck up my milky juice in 20cc syringes, and the same day inoculate my grain jars with them, squirting around the edges and a good one in the middle. Then shake the hell out of it to mix that juice evenly, and let incubate for a couple weeks at room temperature.
No need for "isolating" to agar and whatever. I do agar for wild species, and those store bought kinds that have skinny stems where this technique wouldn't be practical.
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Chad1
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Re: King oyster questions [Re: BlueVision]
#13591543 - 12/06/10 06:30 PM (2 years, 5 months ago) |
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Is there a difference between rye grain and rye seed? I guess the seed would be germinated ready to plant, and grain would be for cooking.
Also do you think KO would colonize on wheat seed?
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flugelizor
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Re: King oyster questions [Re: Chad1]
#13591646 - 12/06/10 06:53 PM (2 years, 5 months ago) |
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I think they are different things. The seeds of different plants.
Rye seed (winter rye) is a small dark seed.
Rye berries are a bigger cerial grain. <<< This is what you want for expanding mycelum.
Because it's got a good nutritional content and it's easy to break apart when colonized by shaking the jar.
(Someone correct me if I'm wrong)
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kelfio
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Re: King oyster questions [Re: flugelizor]
#13595913 - 12/07/10 03:29 PM (2 years, 5 months ago) |
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Yup...
"Rye seed" is a small dark seed that is used to make perennial or annual rye *grass*. This is pretty common in lawns and can be found in the garden/lawn center of most stores. For people who live in cities or less agrarian areas, it's probably easier to find. I know that it works especially well when cultivating psilocybe mexicana and other sclerotia-forming strains.
"Rye berries" or "rye grain" is the bigger, lighter, rounder seed of the common grain crop. It's similar to wheat or oat berries in that it can be ground into flour (or just cooked and eaten straight) to make rye/pumpernickel bread. You would probably only be able to purchase rye berries from either the grocery store or a farm supply company.
Mushrooms seem to eat just about anything (including phone books!) so you could probably use rye grass seed, but I think the two have different protein/carb/sugar/etc compositions, as well as the fact that rye grain would be easier to shake.
Do a google image search on the two and the difference will quickly become apparent. I hope that helps!
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