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Angor
Stranger


Registered: 05/08/10
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Last seen: 6 years, 5 months
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Help in identifying unexpected mushrooms
#13509403 - 11/19/10 01:23 PM (13 years, 2 months ago) |
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I have ended up with a container that doesn't quite seem to host the Ps. cubensis I intended to grow. I've used two strains here - Cambodian and Colombian Rust Spore - which I inoculated into a substrate consisting of rice, rye flour and vermiculite. The colonisation phase was fairly long - around 40 days - and as I later would discover, the substrate was still not entirely colonised.
While keeping the container in a cupboard during the casing phase, I noticed a very aggressive mycelium growth that pretty much looked like a bunch of cotton balls. After dunking the mycelium block and putting it into a fruiting chamber, it fairly quickly started to pin. The actual growth of the mushrooms turned out to be very slow though, something I suspect might be caused by a combination of bacteria, poor humidity and a bit too low temperature.
The result is not what I expected - this certainly does not look like cubensis at all and it's been suggested to me that it might be a mushroom of the Pleurotus genus. It does look a bit like King Oyster, but as I live in Sweden it would be a bit strange for it to show up in my substrate containers...
Any help in identifying this unexpected guest would be appreciated - if it's indeed edible, then perhaps this hasn't been a complete disaster after all 
[Edit] I just realised that I probably should have included some information about spore prints etc. I'll return with such info ASAP.
Edited by Angor (11/19/10 01:36 PM)
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Mr. Mushrooms
Spore Print Collector


Registered: 05/25/08
Posts: 13,018
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Re: Help in identifying unexpected mushrooms [Re: Angor]
#13509581 - 11/19/10 01:57 PM (13 years, 2 months ago) |
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These showed up before either in the Contamination forum or here. I don't think they were ever identified. Sorry.
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German Kahuna
Facepalmer of Stoopid


Registered: 10/31/08
Posts: 15,798
Loc: On a Chemical Vacation
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Re: Help in identifying unexpected mushrooms [Re: Angor] 1
#13509770 - 11/19/10 02:22 PM (13 years, 2 months ago) |
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Whoa! 
That stuff looks mutated. Certainly not Psilocybe cubensis. First I thought Pleurotus, but not with the hairy caps.
-------------------- "Vegetarian" [ /ˌvedʒəˈteəriən/] - Ancient slang meaning "village idiot who can't hunt, fish or ride".
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Angor
Stranger


Registered: 05/08/10
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Re: Help in identifying unexpected mushrooms [Re: German Kahuna]
#13509900 - 11/19/10 02:47 PM (13 years, 2 months ago) |
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Ack, that doesn't sound all that encouraging I've got a spore print on its way and have isolated the container, but I'm starting to get the feeling that it might be best if I simply get rid of it altogether. I just hope that my other containers haven't been contaminated with this.
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falcon



Registered: 04/01/02
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Re: Help in identifying unexpected mushrooms [Re: Angor]
#13510222 - 11/19/10 03:46 PM (13 years, 2 months ago) |
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Hey Angor, it looks a lot like an Lentinus, if you have a magnifying lens, take a look at the gill edges, if they have a sawtooth appearance they probably are a Lentinus.
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Angor
Stranger


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Re: Help in identifying unexpected mushrooms [Re: falcon]
#13510314 - 11/19/10 04:05 PM (13 years, 2 months ago) |
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Nope, the gills don't seem to be serrated.
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falcon



Registered: 04/01/02
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Re: Help in identifying unexpected mushrooms [Re: Angor]
#13510371 - 11/19/10 04:15 PM (13 years, 2 months ago) |
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I'm out of ideas, interesting mushroom.
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Angor
Stranger


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Re: Help in identifying unexpected mushrooms [Re: falcon] 1
#13514839 - 11/20/10 02:29 PM (13 years, 2 months ago) |
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Alright, the mushrooms have grown a bit since last night and are starting to look rather nice, actually. I tried to create a spore print, but I reckon that the mushroom was too young as there are no signs of any spores some 24 h later.
It's probably hard to tell from the pics how big the mushrooms are - they're quite small, with the largest one being around 1.5 inches tall (3.8 cm) with a cap measuring one inch (2.5 cm) in diameter. However, as previously mentioned the conditions have probably been far from optimal and I suppose it's quite possible that this genus isn't crazy about my particular choice of substrate either.
Here are two more shots:
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Doc_T
Random Dude




Registered: 03/06/09
Posts: 42,395
Loc: Colorado
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Re: Help in identifying unexpected mushrooms [Re: Angor]
#13514860 - 11/20/10 02:33 PM (13 years, 2 months ago) |
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Awesome!
I wish I could help.
-------------------- You make it all possible. Doesn't it feel good?
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freespeech
disciple



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Re: Help in identifying unexpected mushrooms [Re: Doc_T]
#13514896 - 11/20/10 02:41 PM (13 years, 2 months ago) |
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falcon



Registered: 04/01/02
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Re: Help in identifying unexpected mushrooms [Re: Angor]
#13515670 - 11/20/10 05:30 PM (13 years, 2 months ago) |
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Those mushrooms look very happy on what you are growing them on. Seeing the mature mushroom I'm pretty sure they are Lentinus tigrinus, I can't think of anything else they could be.
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Angor
Stranger


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Re: Help in identifying unexpected mushrooms [Re: falcon]
#13515757 - 11/20/10 05:46 PM (13 years, 2 months ago) |
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I agree that it looks a bit similar. But Lentinus tigrinus is an endangered fungi over here in Sweden and you shouldn't even be able to find it in my particular location, so I can't understand how on earth it could end up in my fruiting chamber 
I'll let the mushrooms continue to live in the chamber after all - my curiosity has been piqued...
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Doc_T
Random Dude




Registered: 03/06/09
Posts: 42,395
Loc: Colorado
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Re: Help in identifying unexpected mushrooms [Re: Angor]
#13515768 - 11/20/10 05:49 PM (13 years, 2 months ago) |
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Also try again for spore prints. It will help with identification, and if it is something rare, you can send them out around the world.
-------------------- You make it all possible. Doesn't it feel good?
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The Thinker


Registered: 09/01/10
Posts: 4,000
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Re: Help in identifying unexpected mushrooms [Re: falcon]
#13515769 - 11/20/10 05:50 PM (13 years, 2 months ago) |
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Angor
Stranger


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Re: Help in identifying unexpected mushrooms [Re: Doc_T]
#13515795 - 11/20/10 05:57 PM (13 years, 2 months ago) |
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I will if I can figure out when to do it. It's pretty easy to determine when to spore print a cubensis, but in this case I feel a little lost.
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stonesun
Sclerotia Aficionado




Registered: 05/22/09
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Re: Help in identifying unexpected mushrooms [Re: Angor]
#13515821 - 11/20/10 06:03 PM (13 years, 2 months ago) |
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They are indeed L. tigrinus. For whatever reason they are pretty common "contamination". I know of 5-6 cases from the past year or so, including me. Mine supposed to be reishi, the other guys shiitake and here cubensis. Don't remember the other cases though. They grow aggressively on virtually any substrate. Drop white spores very heavily.
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knarkkorven
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Re: Help in identifying unexpected mushrooms [Re: stonesun]
#13517555 - 11/21/10 01:12 AM (13 years, 2 months ago) |
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Lentinus tigrinus has only been found in one single location in Sweden, in south Skåne near Lund.
So contamination from the outside seems unlikely. If it is Lentinus tigrinus it has to been introduced with the spore print which, probably taken from wild cubensis and therefore contaminated. (since you told me before that one of the spore prints was yours, and that you had success growing with the other before)
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Angor
Stranger


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Re: Help in identifying unexpected mushrooms [Re: stonesun]
#13523980 - 11/22/10 11:54 AM (13 years, 2 months ago) |
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Checked on the mushrooms today and now I can spot some gill serration when some of the more mature mushrooms are concerned. So, L. tigrinus does indeed seem to be a very good candidate. It's strange how it ended up in my chamber though, but I think Knarkkorven might be on the right track - my Rust Spore print might well be contaminated. However, can Colombian Rust Spore actually be found in the wild at all? Anyway, it seems like another container will yield a pretty big Rust Spore flush, so I should be able to take a bunch of prints of my own soon.
I'll still take a print of the L. tigrinus just for fun, though. Thanks to everyone for helping me out with this, I really appreciate it!
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Mr. Mushrooms
Spore Print Collector


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Re: Help in identifying unexpected mushrooms [Re: Angor]
#13525224 - 11/22/10 04:17 PM (13 years, 2 months ago) |
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There you go. Mystery solved.
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