Quote:

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Paresthesia said:
Yes, I would like to see a diagram as well.  I can't tell where the gravel is supposed to be anymore.  I think it's...

Duff Material
Soil
Gravel
Grass seed

Who came up with this, anyways?  I got my Morchella elata culture from Sporeworks, and the site mentions success with a layer of grass seed covered in a layer of unsupplemented sawdust.

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There's a diagram.

but remember what the patent says, 20% - 40% and 80% - 60% on the right proportions.

so its hard to say from the patent if the 80% is the grain or if its the soil.

But since the patent also mentions a shallow substrate of about 1 cm - 4 cm that should be enough to say what those proportions should be.

But since its has been noted that morel don't form sclerotia until the nutrient source has well run out, it might be a good strategy to use a smaller amount of grain. You don't want it to feed too much.

I think the wheat berries are a better choice than ryegrass seed. The grass seed might not have enough nutrients to satisfy the morel.

And also assume that this jar is a half-pint. So let's say its a 500 ml half-pint jar.

Also the patent mentions a perforated aluminum foil barrier between soil and grain so take an educated guess here, however in the PBS show
Mills slipped and showed that he was using a type of screen.

But also remember what I said, pasteurization of the mulch (AT LEAST). Maybe you could get by with just cooked grains and gravel too, but the jar most definitely needs to be sterilized before anything is added.

The mulch could be cooked or pasteurized in water supplemented with dextrose sugar. Morels grow good with dextrose.
Also the grain can be cooked with and supplemented with dextrose and a pellet of yeast nutrients (for nitrogen)(food grade urea).

I'm not sure if adding dextrose to a substrate is good or not, but in a PC'd situation like this on plain wood mulch there needs to be something else to motivate the morel mycelium. Otherwise it takes a little longer for it to go hog wild.