Home | Community | Message Board


This site includes paid links. Please support our sponsors.


Welcome to the Shroomery Message Board! You are experiencing a small sample of what the site has to offer. Please login or register to post messages and view our exclusive members-only content. You'll gain access to additional forums, file attachments, board customizations, encrypted private messages, and much more!

Shop: Left Coast Kratom Buy Kratom Extract   North Spore Cultivation Supplies   Unfolding Nature Unfolding Nature: Being in the Implicate Order   Bridgetown Botanicals Bridgetown Botanicals   PhytoExtractum Buy Bali Kratom Powder   Kraken Kratom Red Vein Kratom   Original Sensible Seeds Bulk Cannabis Seeds

Jump to first unread post Pages: 1
Some of these posts are very old and might contain outdated information. You may wish to search for newer posts instead.
OfflineBarnabey
Learner
Male


Registered: 06/19/13
Posts: 249
Loc: Flag
Last seen: 3 years, 8 months
Oyster Mushrooms first experience with zero equipment (follow up)
    #18549175 - 07/12/13 02:48 PM (10 years, 6 months ago)

Hello there !

If you're a professional mushroom head you are going to panic at multiple levels in my post, but don't leave, I need you !

Before I start, I would like to say that I am intending to buy the proper equipment when the money comes (starting from the PC)

In the mean time, here is a post where I will tell my adventure with my first experience starting with oyster mushroom from the organic market just to experiment and learn before moving to the next step.

So get ready to laugh or scream at the procedure, also, comments, bets and prophecies about the success or failure of my first experience are welcome.


So after mr. Psylocibine enlighted me in the forest, I naturally decided that I would like to grow all sort of mushrooms at home (isn't it the standard procedure ?). I read for a full week about the topic online, created an account on here, watched hours of RR videos, downloaded the most recommended books (just started to read them)... So, I decided it was time to have some fun in my kitchen.

The only thing I bought so far is mushrooms from the supermarket !

My high tech equipment :

GLOVE BOX : Remplaced by a big open space : A table in the middle of my living room / kitchen.
ALCOHOL LAMP : stove and lighter
PETRI DISHES : Small plastic boxed.
SCALPEL : A big old cutter with a dirty blade.
70% ALCOHOL : Hand Gel (alcohol based)
BLEACH-LIKE DESINFECTANT SPRAY : White vinegar in a plant spray
GLOVES : SKIN
PRESSURE COOKER : NORMAL POT
INOCULATING LOOP : Well, that's my old cutter with a dirty blade I guess.
ERLENMEYER : Ikea Jar

I decided to prepare a PDA (with honey instead of dextrose) in order to grow a piece of oyster tissue on it.

Now this is how I did that :

I found a recipe for the proportions somewhere on this forum, had to divide it by 5 because I was only going to make a small amount of agar medium. So in order to divide a table spoon of honey by 5, I can tell you it was more than approximate. Not having a PC, I put the final mixture covered with aluminium foil into a erlenmeyer-like jar and put this in a large pot filled with water and covered. I let it boil for about one hour (more of less as I was pretty convinced that I wasn't doing the right thing anyway). In the mean time, I took the two empty boxes of magic truffles I had from my forest experience and boiled them, dryed them with a clean tissue that had a little bit of this hand gel sanitizers that contains alcohol and that is supposed to kill everything (because when I say the only thing I bought was the mushroom, I mean I didn't even have 70% rubbing alcohol.)

At 3 am I was too tired to wait any longer for the agar to cool down, so I decided to poor it in my little plastic boxes (my petri dishes), of course this resulted in condensation. I did not use a glove box, I cleaned a table in the living room with vinegar spray :laugh: put a piece of glass on the top that I cleaned with soap. I had a surgical mask (my dad is paranoiac and always sends me plenty since H1N1). I cleaned my hand 30 times, filled the plastic dishes, closed them right away and put them in a plastic zip bag.

The next day I went back to my incredible laboratory, cleaned it with my white vinegar maximum security sanitizer spray and took my oyster mushroom out.

Now, instead of a scalpel I used a huge cutter with an old blade. I made it red hot under the stove because my lighter wasn't strong enough to turn this thick metal red, pull on the oyster so it would naturally open cut itself, made a horrible mess with my cutter to extract a tiny piece, and transfered to my petri dish as best as I could with my equipment (i used only 2 dishes as it's all i had). (of course the mushroom went pshhhhhh when i touched it with the blade that was still too warm as I didn't make it cool down on the agar as I thought this would increase time of opening the dish !)

Today is the third day, everything looks fine, I don't see any growth yet (the piece of oyster has tiny hair but that's about it). I keep the dishes upside down in a bag and that's about it.

In my newbie head, I'm assuming that the tissue is going to show some growth and that I will probably get a nice rainbow of contaminants as well, and i'm assuming I will have to do a transfer to a new unsafe agar mixture preparation to try to take it away from them.

So this is my story so far, I will add photo when things start to get interesting !

And here are a few questions :

What do you think are my chances of success so far ?
Do you have any advice on what's coming next considering that I still have no equipment ?
What is the dumbest thing I did ?
How dumb would I be to want to open the petri dish again in my controlled environment to try to remove the water condensation with a clean tissue ? (I do keep them upside down)


Thanks for reading and I will continue this thread if that's ok, with updates and photos.


Edited by Barnabey (07/12/13 03:15 PM)


Extras: Filter Print Post Top
OfflineBarnabey
Learner
Male


Registered: 06/19/13
Posts: 249
Loc: Flag
Last seen: 3 years, 8 months
Re: Oyster Mushrooms first experience with zero equipment (follow up) [Re: Barnabey]
    #18552239 - 07/13/13 09:34 AM (10 years, 6 months ago)

July 13 update : I did dare to re open my petri boxes inside of a plastic bag to clean the excess moisture on the sides / top of the box. No creepy contaminants yet.


--------------------
My cute contaminants


Extras: Filter Print Post Top
OfflineBarnabey
Learner
Male


Registered: 06/19/13
Posts: 249
Loc: Flag
Last seen: 3 years, 8 months
Re: Oyster Mushrooms first experience with zero equipment (follow up) [Re: Barnabey]
    #18572588 - 07/17/13 05:55 PM (10 years, 6 months ago)

Update : Still nothing going on, but something wonderful happened, the agar boxes that were stored upside down unmold on the cap of the box, squishing the tissue between the agar and the cap of the box :smile: I fixed that beautiful event by deciding to not keep them upside down :laugh:


--------------------
My cute contaminants


Extras: Filter Print Post Top
OfflineBarnabey
Learner
Male


Registered: 06/19/13
Posts: 249
Loc: Flag
Last seen: 3 years, 8 months
Re: Oyster Mushrooms first experience with zero equipment (follow up) [Re: Barnabey]
    #18593319 - 07/22/13 07:55 AM (10 years, 6 months ago)

I still have no contaminent yet with my morontek.


--------------------
My cute contaminants


Extras: Filter Print Post Top
OfflineRipjohnnyc
ninja
 User Gallery
Registered: 11/18/11
Posts: 115
Last seen: 4 years, 1 month
Re: Oyster Mushrooms first experience with zero equipment (follow up) [Re: Barnabey]
    #18593965 - 07/22/13 11:19 AM (10 years, 6 months ago)

HI, have you had any growth yet? Goodluck


--------------------
Check out my trade list :smile: http://www.shroomery.org/forums/showflat.php/Number/18693312


Extras: Filter Print Post Top
OfflineForresterM
aspiring sociopath
Male User Gallery

Registered: 02/05/13
Posts: 9,351
Loc: Northeast USA Flag
Last seen: 24 days, 13 hours
Trusted Cultivator
Re: Oyster Mushrooms first experience with zero equipment (follow up) [Re: Ripjohnnyc]
    #18596834 - 07/22/13 09:07 PM (10 years, 6 months ago)

Yeah I think after 10 days you should have seen some oyster growth...  Maybe you killed it with that hot blade?  Surprised no contaminants though!

Hopefully I'm wrong and it works out for you :smile:


--------------------
Repugnant is a creature who would squander the ability to lift an eye to heaven, conscious of his fleeting time here.
-------------------

Have some medicinal mushrooms and want to get the most out of them?  Try this double extraction method.


Extras: Filter Print Post Top
OfflineBacticinerator
Lab Tech
Male


Registered: 07/23/13
Posts: 3
Loc: Cason City, Nv Flag
Last seen: 10 years, 6 months
Re: Oyster Mushrooms first experience with zero equipment (follow up) [Re: Forrester]
    #18603777 - 07/24/13 08:40 AM (10 years, 6 months ago)

I interested to see is this will grow, I do this everyday as a job and I'm always curious to see if this lowtech method will work. It sounds like your not very interested in buying much equipment, but there are some changes you can make to the setup you have that would make it better. Your containers are probably airtight, the mushrooms need some oxygen transfer, thats why plates or slants arn't airtight and are sealed with parafilm which generally has good air transfer. Your media recipe seems okay, however dextrose is just another name for glucose, and I'm sure you could easily get your hands on some sugar, might want to retry it with that. Ive honestly never tried just boiling agar, however water's boiling point is a little low for what you usually cook media at, however if it all solidified it should be okay, but the media will not be sterile and will be a huge contamination vector. You'll have bacteria coming straight from your agar which is a bad way to start off. Your blade is fine I guess, obviously not ideal, however you might want to find a smaller knife just in interest of control. It was definitely too hot though, since you're just doing this in an open room I wouldn't suggest letting it cool in the air and cooling a red hot blade in agar will take a while and met the agar and maybe even your plastic container. You could fill another jar with your sterilent and cool your knife in there, or you can pour an extra container of agar and use that just for cooling your blade. I would not suggest opening your containers to clean off the condensation, its probably not clearing because the lack of air transfer again. If you try this again wait longer for the media to cool down. You'll still get condensation probably. Putting them upside down is a decent solution but maybe try leaving them in the microwave for longer to let them solidify and clear up before transferring them. The microwave is a relatively sealed environment and easy to clean.

I'm sure there's more but those were the glaring issues in technique that you could easily fix.

A word on sterilents. Some people are opposed to bleach because of how harsh it is and that's understandable but vinegar isn't a great alternative. Vinegar drastically changes the pH which causes organisms to die off but this doesn't kill everything by any means. Bleach works on a different mechanism that is generally much more thorough. Some better alternatives to bleach are 3% hydrogen peroxide or of course 70% isopropyl alcohol.  If you have any hydrogen peroxide around I suggest trying that.


I'm very surprised you haven't gotten any growth or any contaminants but if I had to guess it has to do with a few factors. You probably killed your oyster with the heat from the blade, and there probably isn't enough air in the containers to promote growth, there might also be a problem with how your media was prepared, if you could share the recipe and how you prepped it I might be able to help you further. Oyster is by far the best species to start with, its extremely hearty, and goes extremely fast. However I'm curious what type of oyster you used.

Ive attached some pictures of different species and strains of oyster we have here at Aloha:


Pleaurotus citrinopileatus Jan


Pleaurotus ostreatus Pearl(PL)


Pleaurotus pulmonarius 3015


Extras: Filter Print Post Top
OfflineBarnabey
Learner
Male


Registered: 06/19/13
Posts: 249
Loc: Flag
Last seen: 3 years, 8 months
Re: Oyster Mushrooms first experience with zero equipment (follow up) [Re: Bacticinerator]
    #18678331 - 08/08/13 02:01 PM (10 years, 5 months ago)

So here is the first picture after about a month :



I'm going to answer later about your nice post Bacticinerator !

In the mean time, can anyone tell me if this is actually mycelium growing or some good looking mold ? I know the picture isn't amazing but basically it's fuzzy and I'm not convinced I'm looking at mycelium !


--------------------
My cute contaminants


Extras: Filter Print Post Top
OfflineBarnabey
Learner
Male


Registered: 06/19/13
Posts: 249
Loc: Flag
Last seen: 3 years, 8 months
Re: Oyster Mushrooms first experience with zero equipment (follow up) [Re: Bacticinerator]
    #18699999 - 08/13/13 02:45 PM (10 years, 5 months ago)

Hello, I finally get time to answer you !

First off I am totally interested in buying equipment starting from a nice PC. I just don't have the budget for it at the moment but my goal isn't to stay in cheap tek all my life !

I'm not sure how air tight are my containers, I was thinking to attempt opening it and closing it inside of a sterelized plastic bag to give it some air just in case. I posted a picture below of what's going on and I really hope to get some comments about what to do next and if it looks ok to you !

I got my hand on organic dextrose by chance the other day so my next agar media should be a proper PDA.

About the blade, I will get a scalpel for my next transfer and possibly a bunch of petri dishes. By the way, can you reuse / sterelise plastic-like petri dishes ? Living in Amsterdam, I know Azarius has this and I can just go pick them up : Petri Dishes Azarius

Thank you for all the aditional notes about bleach and such, I will start upgrading my low technology slowly ! Still so far, unless someone tell me my picture is totally messed up, it looks to me that I didn't get too much horrible stuff so far !


--------------------
My cute contaminants


Extras: Filter Print Post Top
OfflineRipjohnnyc
ninja
 User Gallery

Registered: 11/18/11
Posts: 115
Last seen: 4 years, 1 month
Re: Oyster Mushrooms first experience with zero equipment (follow up) [Re: Barnabey]
    #18700787 - 08/13/13 06:27 PM (10 years, 5 months ago)

I am pretty sure that isn't oyster mycelium after a month.  P. ostreatus tends to be very aggressive in growth, the plate should be over run by now imo.  I wonder what happened, is that a piece of fruit body flesh in the middle?


--------------------
Check out my trade list :smile: http://www.shroomery.org/forums/showflat.php/Number/18693312


Extras: Filter Print Post Top
OfflineRipjohnnyc
ninja
 User Gallery

Registered: 11/18/11
Posts: 115
Last seen: 4 years, 1 month
Re: Oyster Mushrooms first experience with zero equipment (follow up) [Re: Barnabey]
    #18700831 - 08/13/13 06:34 PM (10 years, 5 months ago)

You can try and re-use, but your results won't be reliable.  Just plan ahead, and expect them to be one-time use plates as they were intended.  Or you can buy glass ones. BUT if you get glass ones, you WILL need a PC to clean them.  If this is just for fun, a sleeve should be enough for a while. It will be really tough to be successful in this hobby without at least a PC.  You don't have second hand stores there?


--------------------
Check out my trade list :smile: http://www.shroomery.org/forums/showflat.php/Number/18693312


Extras: Filter Print Post Top
OfflineCAP_TURTLE
Adventurer
 User Gallery


Registered: 03/11/05
Posts: 1,135
Last seen: 5 years, 8 months
Re: Oyster Mushrooms first experience with zero equipment (follow up) [Re: Ripjohnnyc]
    #18701993 - 08/13/13 10:17 PM (10 years, 5 months ago)

I dont know.  It looks like oyster mycelium to me, just not extremely agressive like you said.  Maybe adding a hole witha  piece of tyvek/micropore or whatever else over it will help.  Did you have your plate in the fridge?


Extras: Filter Print Post Top
OfflineBarnabey
Learner
Male


Registered: 06/19/13
Posts: 249
Loc: Flag
Last seen: 3 years, 8 months
Re: Oyster Mushrooms first experience with zero equipment (follow up) [Re: CAP_TURTLE]
    #18705731 - 08/14/13 06:54 PM (10 years, 5 months ago)

I'm going to try something to give more air exchange when i figure out what to use :smile:

The "plate" stayed at room temperature and amsterdam summer has been pretty hot under the roof. Went to azarius shop today to get a scalpel and plates, turned out they don't have what they sell online :p


--------------------
My cute contaminants


Extras: Filter Print Post Top
OfflineHT_AlohaMed
Female User Gallery


Registered: 07/23/13
Posts: 103
Loc: USA
Last seen: 10 years, 1 month
Re: Oyster Mushrooms first experience with zero equipment (follow up) [Re: Barnabey]
    #18708154 - 08/15/13 08:18 AM (10 years, 5 months ago)

Hi there,

It looks like my colleague (Bacticinerator) has informed you of some of the basics of cultivation. For your scalpel and plate problem please check out the website in my signature. Aloha Medicinals provides cultivators with everything they need to start up and continue a successful project. We have plates and scalpels available at competitive prices (as well as everything else you could need from filter bags to the cultures themselves). Cap Turtle is right usually oyster growth is thick and hearty. I can post a picture of what those plates are supposed to look like if you are interested. Do you know what strain you are using? Keep up the hard work!


--------------------
Aloha Medicinals
Carson City, NV


Extras: Filter Print Post Top
Offlinepsilocybebonsai
Not a Stranger
 User Gallery


Registered: 09/17/05
Posts: 379
Last seen: 1 month, 19 days
Re: Oyster Mushrooms first experience with zero equipment (follow up) [Re: HT_AlohaMed]
    #18712992 - 08/16/13 04:18 AM (10 years, 5 months ago)

Hey Barnabey!

Your enthusiasm is great!! i'm also doing my first oyster grow. i have grown other species previously, but not oyster.

you can check the link in my signature to see my (not-up-to-date) progress!

I find that petri dishes can be expensive. about $15 for 20 of them. cheapest i've seen is ~$7.50 plus $7 shipping. So, i searched for a PC-able alternative. Polypropylene can be used in a PC and i found these at my girlfriends work (art store). They arent as 'clear' as a petri but as you can see from:

This is my agar/mycelium in one of the containers.
This is the mycelium growing aggressively.

The thing is the lids will pop off in the PC, so i had to wrap a rubber band around it real tight and i also put tin foil over it and have not had trouble since.

IIRC, mycelium growth likes CO2, so FAE isnt necessary. At most GE is what you want, but in my little PP5 containers i had zero exchange (the lids fit real snug) and the mycelium took off really well after a couple days.

and here (hopefully) is some eyecandy for you to get excited about when moving on to your next step.

additionally.... your 'sterile' technique isnt too far from me. i, however, use my bathroom and spray lysol about 5 minutes before i work in there. this is a photo of what it looks like. i use a LOT of 70% isopropyl, though. I use it in a metal tea-lid as my 'alcohol lamp', and it holds just enough to burn long enough to sterilize my scalpal. i've noticed 'small' blade cool much quicker (i used a fork once and it sizzled for a long time).

LASTLY, here is another image of how ghetto i am. i used a colored pencil, a piece of modeling wood, that 'tea-lid' from earlier and a thumb tack to measure out 1g of weight for my agar recipe.

dont be afraid to be poor! it works! (maybe.....) this is my latest sneak peak at my grow. fully colonized straw in a little baby dollar basket.

KEEP ON PUSHING! i'll be following this thread. :laugh:


--------------------
My small photo collection here
My smaller grow log here
Some tips for taking photos of your progress when seeking help here


Extras: Filter Print Post Top
OfflineBarnabey
Learner
Male


Registered: 06/19/13
Posts: 249
Loc: Flag
Last seen: 3 years, 8 months
Re: Oyster Mushrooms first experience with zero equipment (follow up) [Re: psilocybebonsai]
    #18967996 - 10/12/13 11:37 AM (10 years, 3 months ago)

Hey all and sorry for my late answer !

First an update on my hobo project :

1. I never got any contaminant from my hobo tek but the mycelium was growing very slowly, and eventually stopped to grow and started disappearing. My guess is because the box was too air tight and stopped all exchange or that maybe I sprayed a little bit too much alcohol / vinegar in the process and this gave a very hard time for the mycelium to grow or 3. All of the above + I had a terrible tissue sample to start with ?

In any case, I decided to start over with some more equipment.

So now that I just got a PC, ordered some petri dishes, scalpel, scale, erlenmeyer and a few other toys, it's time to start a new thread as I say : "bye bye hobo tek" :laugh:

2. Thank you for all the answers I got so far and I'm confused with some answers as I sometimes have no idea what the initials you use refer to, (ex : IIRC, mycelium growth likes CO2, so FAE isnt necessary. At most GE is what you want, but in my little PP5 containers i had zero exchange) IIRC FAE GE PP5 :O (i got lost there)


I will now go open a little thread about my new adventure and add the link in here in a few minutes !


--------------------
My cute contaminants


Extras: Filter Print Post Top
Jump to top Pages: 1

Shop: Left Coast Kratom Buy Kratom Extract   North Spore Cultivation Supplies   Unfolding Nature Unfolding Nature: Being in the Implicate Order   Bridgetown Botanicals Bridgetown Botanicals   PhytoExtractum Buy Bali Kratom Powder   Kraken Kratom Red Vein Kratom   Original Sensible Seeds Bulk Cannabis Seeds


Similar ThreadsPosterViewsRepliesLast post
* Oyster Mushrooms MattyB 2,469 4 07/18/01 08:54 AM
by MattyB
* oyster mushrooms are easy to grow Mitchnast 6,588 7 05/30/01 09:54 PM
by Mitchnast
* Oyster Mushrooms felix 3,163 2 03/09/02 10:36 PM
by rungi
* Oyster Mushroom Substrates??? TrippinRhino 7,500 8 11/01/01 07:05 AM
by NDK
* oyster mushroom and ??HELP QUICK dimitri211 2,396 3 08/04/01 04:12 PM
by 40oz
* can someone help with cult. of oyster mushrooms fuzzysquirelnuts 2,708 3 07/31/01 10:31 PM
by MattyB
* Oyster Mushroom Cultivation Guide for Beginners AnnoA 4,096 2 01/31/02 12:02 PM
by Anno
* MUSHROOM SPORES Incognito 5,408 11 04/13/02 07:51 AM
by Anonymous

Extra information
You cannot start new topics / You cannot reply to topics
HTML is disabled / BBCode is enabled
Moderator: RogerRabbit, Pastywhyte, Forrester, Stromrider, SHROOMSISAY01
3,011 topic views. 2 members, 16 guests and 3 web crawlers are browsing this forum.
[ Show Images Only | Sort by Score | Print Topic ]
Search this thread:

Copyright 1997-2024 Mind Media. Some rights reserved.

Generated in 0.037 seconds spending 0.008 seconds on 14 queries.