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RandomFX
protege


Registered: 12/02/13
Posts: 1,015
Loc: North-East, USA
Last seen: 5 years, 1 month
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I got into growing because I am a cheapskate.
#19299149 - 12/19/13 05:44 PM (10 years, 1 month ago) |
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Seriously, that is why I initially thought about growing mushrooms, I love eating mushrooms, and the shitake, and such are expensive. So far I've spent like $160 bucks not to mention all the time, the energy cost to pasteurize and do not yet have any fruit, so guess the joke is on me, but one day I plan on having my revenge, after eating well more than $160 worth of mushrooms....ya... lol. ok, who am I kidding...I'm doing this really because knowledge and projects are addicting, and I am evidently a junky. I raise bee's, garden, have my fruit trees, can,etc.... and this stuff is just a lot of neat to learn...but darnit I do wanna eat me some good fungi year round. And no, I don't 'study' psiliums. Maybe I should, ha.
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Jeff
Addict



Registered: 10/06/12
Posts: 1,488
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Re: I got into growing because I am a cheapskate. [Re: RandomFX]
#19299164 - 12/19/13 05:47 PM (10 years, 1 month ago) |
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What do you need help with? Shiitakes aren't terribly hard.
-------------------- Myco-tek
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RandomFX
protege


Registered: 12/02/13
Posts: 1,015
Loc: North-East, USA
Last seen: 5 years, 1 month
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Re: I got into growing because I am a cheapskate. [Re: Jeff]
#19299281 - 12/19/13 06:16 PM (10 years, 1 month ago) |
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ha, 'everything'? no seriously, this forum has so much info on it already, but like everything at least with me, when you're just starting out, you are unsure of yourself and sometimes for me I am just not rock solid in the whole situation and mastering all the factors. Like for instance I really decided to grow myself and find this forum is because I actually saw those "grow kits" for like $30+, and hey maybe they are worth it, but I just got it in my head that mushrooms grow on their own, and like most people I imagine thought they were only harvested commercially on manure and soil...so figured I'd just get some oyster spawn and go to town with it.... hehe little did I know and little do I still know surely. So I did the search on ebay and found bunches of plugs for whatever, and bought em. I'd love to grow shitake...they are great tasting. I do not know much about growing them yet though. I haven't even brought my oysters to fruit yet. My questions on shitake would be I suppose, where to get the spore from, should I get spore of Liquid culture in a syringe? Is it grown like oysters? (I do have wood pellets I am thinking they would grow good on that instead of the hay?) For a fruiting chamber (Which I am assuming I need, and I do have a ultrasonic humidifier, and many 4" computer fans) is it better to have like a shotgun FC or something like a 'martha' setup? I have bins for a shotgun, but it seems so small. How big should the blocks be, and room for them to fruit? I also have a T5 light bluelight sunburst deal. 2000 lumins.
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Enigma1
Positive



Registered: 08/15/13
Posts: 977
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Re: I got into growing because I am a cheapskate. [Re: RandomFX]
#19299969 - 12/19/13 08:49 PM (10 years, 1 month ago) |
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Subscribed buy my cultures and stuff from Out-Grow Mikes a great guy . I wish he would hurry up and get the license for the syringes my numbers are fading.
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Queen of Kings
Get on with the Fascination



Registered: 12/11/11
Posts: 1,201
Loc: Pacific Northwest, almost
Last seen: 7 years, 19 days
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Re: I got into growing because I am a cheapskate. [Re: Enigma1]
#19301499 - 12/20/13 05:58 AM (10 years, 1 month ago) |
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A Martha works really well for your edibles. Keep it in a room that's on the chilly side. I have a humidifier in the bottom and a small fogger on the top shelf. It will accommodate a lot of bags. You should get filter bags from one of our sponsors. They can be pressure-cooked. Or look up Lipa's fuel pellet tek if you only need to pasteurize, not sterilize.
I started a lot of my cultures from clones - mushroom variety is always very nice at the Asian market. (Will Americans ever catch on? Apparently not.) You can get kings and other oysters, sometimes black poplar, and usually fresh shitake. Alternatively you can spend a lot of money on those cultures from a supplier.
Learn to work with agar. Start cultures then transfer to sterilized rye grains. Once colonized, expand it, or mix with pasteurized sawdust and gypsum. There are teks everywhere.
Like you I enjoy eating fresh mushrooms all the time. Plus the fun of growing them is a huge draw.
Good luck in your endeavors!!
Edited by Queen of Kings (12/20/13 05:58 AM)
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thiotimoline
Stranger

Registered: 12/01/12
Posts: 898
Loc: Bay Area
Last seen: 6 years, 11 days
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Re: I got into growing because I am a cheapskate. [Re: Queen of Kings]
#19303079 - 12/20/13 02:03 PM (10 years, 1 month ago) |
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"$30 grow kit? I can do it myself, for cheaper" --- that's how I started too, more or less. Still a bit in the hole from my early failures, but my projects in the past six months have definitely produced more value in food than I've spend on them, and I continue to improve. Just keep it up.
I recommend waiting for shiitake until you've had success with oysters. Not because oysters are necessarily easier, but because they give you more rapid feedback and that's important when you're starting out. Also I second everything that people have said above.
If your substrate contaminates, bury it shallowly in a corner of the yard and water occasionally. Odds are good that you'll get at least a small bonus crop that way, and even if you don't it's great for the soil.
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RandomFX
protege


Registered: 12/02/13
Posts: 1,015
Loc: North-East, USA
Last seen: 5 years, 1 month
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Re: I got into growing because I am a cheapskate. [Re: Queen of Kings]
#19303121 - 12/20/13 02:13 PM (10 years, 1 month ago) |
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Thanks QOK, what you replied with is invaluable. I thought a martha would be ok, but I just didn't know. Does a person actually 'need' those filter grow bags you think? I keep seeing tecs from people growing in a gallon ziplock, or a laundry basket, or just some block it appears was compressed sawdust and then I see professional growers growing in these 6 ft monstrosities that I might add look awesome covered with mushrooms, so they obviously work, but I am just starting out and want to just get something out of the money I've spent already to justify at least to myself about doing this. I might add, I've looked at walmart and manards and can't find a martha yet. it is sorta ticking me off actually. I do I think have a mini greenhouse like a martha though, but need to find the cover. I am getting close to the potential fruiting stage.
thanks thiotimoline, exactly how I was thinking of it also. get my feet underneath me with the oyster, get a grasp of how things should look, feel and develop then move to shitake. Do you think I should bury oyster culture? Do they come up from the soil? I read a tec about planting mushrooms for your garden, it evidently helps kill nematodes and such, and I thought there must be some you can put in compost piles (I have large compost piles) also...but do not think oysters are the types for that. I do have wood piles also, so was going to try to spread oyster mycelium onto the wood piles too but in the spring. I'm in Michigan and we have a -20 F winter about.
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RandomFX
protege


Registered: 12/02/13
Posts: 1,015
Loc: North-East, USA
Last seen: 5 years, 1 month
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Re: I got into growing because I am a cheapskate. [Re: RandomFX]
#19303271 - 12/20/13 02:46 PM (10 years, 1 month ago) |
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What does everyone think of something like this for growing edibles? good deal, useless, what?
http://www.amazon.com/Gardman-R687-4-Tier-Mini-Greenhouse/dp/B000NCTGQE
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liamtheloser
Advanced Idiot

Registered: 06/07/06
Posts: 1,453
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Re: I got into growing because I am a cheapskate. [Re: RandomFX]
#19303318 - 12/20/13 02:56 PM (10 years, 1 month ago) |
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That's what a lot of people use.
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RogerRabbit
Bans for Pleasure



Registered: 03/26/03
Posts: 42,214
Loc: Seattle
Last seen: 11 months, 4 days
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Re: I got into growing because I am a cheapskate. [Re: RandomFX]
#19304138 - 12/20/13 05:49 PM (10 years, 1 month ago) |
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Quote:
And no, I don't 'study' psiliums. Maybe I should, ha.
It's a rite of passage. A good percentage of the edible growers got hooked on growing mushrooms from starting with cubensis. After a few trips it gets tiring, but you still want to grow mushrooms. RR
-------------------- Download Let's Grow Mushrooms semper in excretia sumus solim profundum variat "I've never had a failed experiment. I've only discovered 10,000 methods which do not work." Thomas Edison
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blindingleaf
blue collar underworld



Registered: 07/19/13
Posts: 22,008
Loc: sub-surface unseen
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Re: I got into growing because I am a cheapskate. [Re: RogerRabbit]
#19304671 - 12/20/13 07:22 PM (10 years, 1 month ago) |
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have u tried oysters? Thats what I went to after cubes, they r pretty easy, especially if u wanna avoid the whole filter bags, martha, etc. once u see fruits, even a small harvest, the addiction deepens.
i have shiitaki (my next project) culture in a brf jar now, but did not have sawdust or wheat bran at the time, so its just brf/ver/water. i think it will work.
I can send u some blue oyster culture if u want! they r super fast. Just need a tek on how to appropriately send it in the mail (never done that).
-------------------- A few thoughts on cultivation MICROBIAL HUSBANDRY!!!! The whole is greater than the sum of its parts
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RandomFX
protege


Registered: 12/02/13
Posts: 1,015
Loc: North-East, USA
Last seen: 5 years, 1 month
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Re: I got into growing because I am a cheapskate. [Re: blindingleaf]
#19368715 - 01/04/14 03:01 PM (10 years, 26 days ago) |
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ya, just getting my first fruiting. turns out I thought I had grey oysters, and I evidently have white oysters....kept expecting them to get some color and that just isn't happening...haha. but I do have fruit, not as many as I would like but now I have faith, and more confidence. It is a magical time, and I have learned a real lot. most of which I sort of expected me to go from mycelium plug to eating mushrooms in a month....nope.... though it doesn't take much longer if done right, I used h202 which seemed to slow my mycelium spread...but I am sure it made it safer and surer. course that is because my first batch had contaminants and my second didn't, and the third may be totally different. but I am building up my roll on a type of production, cycling mycelium and having it ready for larger amounts of substrate which I am thinking will add more produce, and maybe learning tricks to up my BE also. we will see.
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