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Capers
Man About Town


Registered: 08/15/10
Posts: 16,199
Loc: United States
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Questions Regarding a Cool Opportunity to Grow Mushrooms on Campus
#18990592 - 10/17/13 11:52 AM (10 years, 3 months ago) |
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I have a cool opportunity through my on-campus job to grow gourmet mushrooms on campus in a greenhouse room. The room will also contain cultivated plants. I was hoping to lay out my plan here and have people critique it. Here goes:
I want to start with either oyster or shiitake because those are the ones I have grown before. My preference is shiitake because I feel they require less starting material because pasteurization is not required. My plan is to buy a shiitake culture, get it started in grain jars and transfer these to bags of wood shavings/bran. Then open the bags when they're ready and fruit the blocks on racks in the green house room.
For inoculations, I plan to work in one of the flow hoods used by the chemists/biologist who do research on campus. For sterilization of grain jars and shavings bags, I can use their autoclave.
Here are my specific questions:
1) What type of flow hood should I use?
I believe there are several styles used by scientists. Do I want the kind where they suck all air away from the work area or the kind where sterile air blows toward the work area? There are no mycologists at my school. I believe all the flow hoods where air blows toward you are designed so the air comes from multiple directions. Is this acceptable? Anything else people can add about working in scientists' flow hoods?
2) How will it go fruiting them in the greenhouse room with plants growing in the same room?
I believe the room will be temperature, humidity and air controlled. It seems like the plants and mushrooms will like the same temperature and air flow, but it seems like the mushrooms would require more humidity. Has anyone ever grown mushrooms in a room along with plants? How did you balance the needs of the mushrooms with those of the plants?
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faffle
Stranger


Registered: 04/06/08
Posts: 262
Last seen: 10 years, 1 month
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Re: Questions Regarding a Cool Opportunity to Grow Mushrooms on Campus [Re: Capers]
#18991891 - 10/17/13 05:05 PM (10 years, 3 months ago) |
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I always discouraged this idea at my school, mainly because of oyster spores, and the health risks for the unwitting greenhouse crew. That's the biggest risk.
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deadmandave
Slime


Registered: 02/16/10
Posts: 3,355
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Re: Questions Regarding a Cool Opportunity to Grow Mushrooms on Campus [Re: faffle]
#18993145 - 10/17/13 09:24 PM (10 years, 3 months ago) |
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Quote:
faffle said: I always discouraged this idea at my school, mainly because of oyster spores, and the health risks for the unwitting greenhouse crew. That's the biggest risk.
There isnt much risk when growing shiitake, though. It is a slightly more advanced mushroom to begin with but it's very rewarding and delightful to work with.
I would use a flowhood that blows sterile air at you even if its from multiple directions. Pay attention to what items you have in the airflow, the most critical items (petri dish, open grain jar, etc) should be at the very front of the airflow and less critical objects (closed jars, tools, hands etc) should be downstream.
the other type of hood sounds like a fumehood and could possibly suck contaminants towards and into your sterile work area.
How big are the schools autoclaves?
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