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 CuriousGeorge83
Super Conscious Monkey
 
Registered: 02/21/09
Posts: 182
Last seen: 4 days, 20 hours
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 Question about Lion's Mane and Pink Oyster on sawdust/coir/bran (with pics) 
#9841138 - 02/21/09 07:26 PM (3 years, 3 months ago) |
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Hello shroomery;),
First time poster here; just joined today. Been a longtime looker though, and I've realized after about a year of browsing endless topics here, that I'm in love with this place and it's time I join up and start talkin'. Aside from Stamets'(and I suppose I'll give credit to some others') books, you guys are where I spend most, if not all of my time - looking up such precious, precious info...I THANK YOU ALL.
Anyways, I'll try and make this short but I'm also gonna cram in as much info as I can to get you people in on this grow here - bare with me...this is my first time growing these two species (and unfortunately I only have pictures of the fruiting stage).
SetUp:
2 liquid culture syringes from the Spore Works: one Hericium erinaceus and the other Pleurotus djamor - used to knock up two quart jars of rye (one for each with say 3cc's of culture used per jar(roughly)). Incubated around 80F and in darkness; colonization initially started off slow for both but I've found it takes a good bit longer for the culture syringes I've gotten from the Spore Works to show anything vs. some of my own fresher agar or liquid culture spawned to rye. Once growth started though, the pink oyster exploded with growth and was fully colonized in no time with pink lightning bolts flashing upwards to the top of the jar *very cool*. The lion's mane on the other hand was slower, which I thought made sense as I have read they are slower to colonize rye; but soon enough and even when it looked as if the jar wasn't yet fully colonized, I saw little tiny lion's mane pins popping up all over the top of the grain. I decided it was time to act.
Spawning:
Here's the fun part, but I must remind you that these are very rough estimates (meaning I followed no real recipe to the tee). I took equal amounts each of sawdust (from hydrated wood pellets for pellet stoves) and coir (from hydrating a brick of ecoearth) - these two ingredients were mixed together well moist. Next I threw in about a little under half a pound of dry wheat bran and I'd say about equal parts or less vermiculite to soak up some of that excess moisture. I should say that I have gypsum but this time around I spaced and did not add any (I'll also add that in general I'm still not really comfortable "winging it" as I am doing now, with the adding of gypsum to supplemented sawdust blocks). After all this was thoroughly mixed, the mixture was still too wet, so I spread it out on a large garbage bag and let it dry for a little under a day until I gave it the ol' squeeze test until just a drop came out when I clenched pretty hard. This amount of mixture perfectly filled two autoclavable bags about half way up. I then pressure cooked for 3 hours, let cool, spawned the two jars to the two bags respectively, and sealed. After dispersing the grain into the mixture I put the bags into incubation at around 75 degrees, in the dark. I should mention that I currently use TIT incubators as the frigid winters here in Maine keep my house chilly even while keeping my heat set to the upper 60's.
Fruiting:
In just a day I see regrowth, in about a week the spawn was actively spreading throughout most of both bags, with the pink oysters showing more vigor and speed and seemingly better colonization overall. Just a couple days later I see pins forming on the top surfaces of each block. The lion's mane, similar to the grain jar before, looks not yet fully colonized but with nice pins across the top. So is the same with the oysters. I decided to cut a few slices (to form an 'x') next to the places that showed the best primordial growth on both blocks and then proceeded to put them in my automated martha setup (which basically holds a coolmist humidifier and an ultrasonic humidifier inside of martha herself, on the bottom shelf --- the coolmist (which has a fan) runs constantly --- the ultrasonic kicks on twice a day for an hour --- on the next shelf above I have a tupperware with holes all over it, a quarter full with moist perlite (you will see this tupperware in the picture below) - the coolmist humidifer situated right below it, blows its fanned moist air right up into it). All in all humidity generally fluctuates between 90 and 100%; generally being the highest for the few hours before and after the hours of ultrasonic operation (so is true for the temperature). The temps are anywhere from 65 (on the coldest nights) to the lower 70's (when the ultrasonic operates).
So...Here come the questions and pictures. I've had these bags in martha for just about 2 weeks now. For the first week I was trying to get them to grow themselves out of the bag through the little 'x' I made on each bag. Neither started to do so, so about a week ago I cut the bags off around the tops of the blocks, exposing the blocks' upper surface to the environment of martha.
Here is the Lion's mane a couple days after cutting the bag off the top:
Here it is again from this morning (about a week's additional growth):
Here's Pink Oyster from this morning (unfortunately I don't have a pic from a week ago):
A close-up:
Here's both of the blocks together (you can see the temp/humidity says 72/99):
And again:
*by the way I have the pink oyster layed down on its side to promote side growth...I did the same with the lion's mane in the last pic just to try a better perspective.
I guess my main question is, are these mushrooms growing slower than normal for the two weeks worth of growth they've shown? - And/or could the slowness (if they are growing slow at all) be because of my mentioned environmental conditions?
Do the pink oysters look wierd to anyone?
When should I harvest the lion's mane? I'm starting to see a pinkish hue, which I think I've read is a sign of getting mature? What about elongating tubes?
In general, how do they look to you?
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 imnotthere
Registered: 02/23/08
Posts: 343
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 Re: Question about Lion's Mane and Pink Oyster on sawdust/coir/bran (with pics) [Re: CuriousGeorge83]
#9841233 - 02/21/09 07:48 PM (3 years, 3 months ago) |
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Welcome to the Shroomery! I too lurked for a bit before signing up and posting. You are doing good. I can mainly comment on the Lions Mane. They look just like my grow from Sporeworks as well, more like cauliflower, and never really elongating. Definitely pick them when they turn that pinkish hue for best taste. They tend to fruit even before full colonization, and they are known too be slow colonizers.
The best way to fruit them after colonized is probably to squeeze all the air out of your bag, and before you get any primidoria on the block, cut a nice quarter sized hole in the bag, so hopefully with the right timing the Lions Mane will fruit through the hole into 1 or 2 nice, well developed bodies. Too many pins and they won't fully mature.
Both of those species would do best to stay in the bag when fruiting. This slows evaporation, and more moisture will go into the fruit bodies. Any kind of Oyster is better to fruit through just the top of the bag, or even thru a hole or several holes. Your blocks are probably evaporating too much, and your fruits are lacking because of this. I beleive GGMM goes into pretty good detail on fruiting methods in each species categories.
Browse through my gallery for some visual examples.
Happy growing!
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nw_shroomy
NoN-stranger
Registered: 01/02/06
Posts: 1,328
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Re: Question about Lion's Mane and Pink Oyster on sawdust/coir/bran (with pics) [Re: imnotthere]
#9841351 - 02/21/09 08:14 PM (3 years, 3 months ago) |
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Welcome to the Shroomery,CuriousGeorge83 
--------------------
Spawn Ratio Calculator
http://www.shroomery.org/forums/showflat.php/Number/7803673#7803673
I only grow edibles.Any info I give ONLY applies to gourmet mushrooms.
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