Now, I was thinking about this in regards to my family and friends about having a garden enhancement. I was thinking along the lines that yes, if you put spent subs in for your compost, it will be fantastic. As well if you have a patch of Elm Oysters or King Stroph or Blewit sitting underneath a plant that will also benefit greatly. But in terms of spreading out the woodchips so that your not necessarily trying to fruit the mushroom but just using the mushrooms ability to change the nutrients from one form to another in just its mycelial form.
What I'm thinking if someone just poured innoc'd woodchips at a specific depth, perhaps an inch or two deep and just have it scattered throughout the garden 4 inches or so deep under the surface. Would that be as applicable as I'm thinking or is it more beneficial in block form? I haven't had a chance to setup my garden yet so I can't try from experience quite yet...but I also thought if one was to mix in some moist chips with the others to help spread the myc while its keeping busy digesting the existing chips which could make the effects last longer over the years.
Though I don't know how far out to lunch this is...but I wanted to get moving and start 'noccing up chips if I plan to pass this around as a garden booster before folks plant too much.
I'm also thinking that the colonized sub could last quite a while if kept cool, although I've never worked with types like King Stroph or Blewit so I don't suspect they are terribly different. But if I'm doing innoc's, I'd sooner have finished bags kept cool since they won't fruit in the bag...and they can just be held out on hold for extended periods. Although I don't know how long...I just think about how many people might want some and I'd sooner have more ready then me running out right away.
Edited by Mephistophelian (04/24/09 10:40 AM)
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Fixed nitrogen is the limiting nutrient in almost all ecosystems. Make sure to provide enough nitrogen to balance the carbon in the mulch.
If you mix your substrates so as to be complete within themselves for fruiting, your garden will benefit. If your substrates are carbon-heavy, the mycelium will deplete your soil of the nitrogen it needs to break them down, to the detriment of your plants. Gardeners are often cautioned against excess mulching for this reason.
If you are talking about using spent substrates as mulch and compost, that is a terrific idea.
These substrates will either by their nature have a carbon-nitrogen balance that will not likely deplete the soil.
The durable sheaths of dead mycelium are what gives great soils the characteristic known as tilth. This was considered an amazing discovery not so many years ago. It was previously unknown what caused tilth.
It was stated at the time that soil fungi would greatly benefit from elevated CO2 to the extent that increased soil fertility and water retention would largely offset the drying out that would accompany global warming. BS or not, (?), I don't know, but the mycelium DOES improve tilth.
I don't see that there could be such a thing as having too much spawn, if you can afford it. It does keep if kept cool.
Blewits usually grow on thatch in lawns,, leaves or compost piles, and get their water and nitrogen from the underlying soils. I have never read that anyone considered them beneficial, as I have read of Elms and King Stroph, but I have read several times that different people have assumed so. I tried growing these on MEA and PDA agar and they did living a long time, but not colonizing. I think they are adapted to use live-sourced nitrogen from bacteria and worms.
I did read that Blewits were once farmed commercially in Britain in a way fairly similar to button mushrooms, but as I recall that was more than a hundred years ago in mine shafts and few other details were reported.
I am very interested in Blewits as I suspected that they may culture well under slipshod, unhygenic methods at which I excel.:D
Good luck with your garden,
Jef
-------------------- I am my own lab rat. Tell me and I will forget. Show me and I will remember. Involve me and I will learn.
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