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ABC111
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Registered: 01/11/14
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Last seen: 10 years, 1 month
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Back To The Roots Oyster Mushrooms
#19404302 - 01/11/14 03:10 PM (10 years, 1 month ago) |
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Hi this is my first attempt at growing mushrooms. I purchased a Back To the Roots Oyster Mushroom grow kit a few weeks ago, and need some advise.
Everything started out fine. I cut an x in the bag filled with mycelium, soaked it overnight, and misted it regularly in the days following. In a few days it pinned out, and began fruiting tons of mushrooms. Only 5 or so made it to maturity, and the rest died. I read somewhere that sometimes extra fruit is aborted. I am not sure if that is what happened, or if something went wrong.
Here's were the real problems start. The directions say that it should fruit a couple more times if you repeat the process. So I cut another hole, soaked overnight, and misted. Nothing happened. It seemed like too much water might have got into the bag because the top of the log seemed to be growing mold. Later I read about metabolic waste and now I'm not sure if this is just "pee".
After some time of frustration I thought I would try something different. I took the block out of the bag. Re-soaked it over night. and placed a bell Jar over it with some blocks on the bottom to allow some airflow. The mycelium seems to be regrowing where there were some bald patches caused by removing the tight fitting bags but zero fruiting.
I am not sure what to do from here. I will be pretty disappointed all I get out of a $20 kit is 5 or 6 mushrooms. Hope this is not the case.



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Ganzig
It's for the street cred


Registered: 11/29/06
Posts: 8,206
Loc: Oregon
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Re: Back To The Roots Oyster Mushrooms [Re: ABC111]
#19404928 - 01/11/14 05:40 PM (10 years, 1 month ago) |
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How much time did you give it to fruit again before you decided nothing was happening?
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I must keep reminding myself of this. I must keep reminding myself of this. I must keep reminding myself of this. I must keep reminding myself of this.
Edited by Ganzig (01/11/14 05:40 PM)
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ABC111
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Registered: 01/11/14
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Last seen: 10 years, 1 month
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Re: Back To The Roots Oyster Mushrooms [Re: Ganzig]
#19405210 - 01/11/14 06:38 PM (10 years, 1 month ago) |
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I left it in the bag a little over a week before I removed it.
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Ganzig
It's for the street cred


Registered: 11/29/06
Posts: 8,206
Loc: Oregon
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Re: Back To The Roots Oyster Mushrooms [Re: ABC111]
#19405238 - 01/11/14 06:43 PM (10 years, 1 month ago) |
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You should have given it more time probably.
And yeah the little ones that never matured are normal. You did not do anything wrong.
They are called "aborts"
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I must keep reminding myself of this. I must keep reminding myself of this. I must keep reminding myself of this. I must keep reminding myself of this.
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ABC111
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Registered: 01/11/14
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Last seen: 10 years, 1 month
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Re: Back To The Roots Oyster Mushrooms [Re: Ganzig]
#19405285 - 01/11/14 06:54 PM (10 years, 1 month ago) |
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So at this point can I place the block into a Ziploc bag and poke some holes in it?
Does the orange / brownish looking goo on the top look normal or some sort of contaminate.
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Ganzig
It's for the street cred


Registered: 11/29/06
Posts: 8,206
Loc: Oregon
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Re: Back To The Roots Oyster Mushrooms [Re: ABC111]
#19405447 - 01/11/14 07:35 PM (10 years, 1 month ago) |
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Hmmmmm, I dunno.
Not sure how well it will do now.
You surely could try that. I would just have one hole.
There is not enough substrate/food for the fungus to fruit out of many holes me thinks.
The goo is probably metabolites and bacteria. Am I wrong to assume that that was the bottom of the bag?
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I must keep reminding myself of this. I must keep reminding myself of this. I must keep reminding myself of this. I must keep reminding myself of this.
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ABC111
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Registered: 01/11/14
Posts: 5
Last seen: 10 years, 1 month
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Re: Back To The Roots Oyster Mushrooms [Re: Ganzig]
#19405586 - 01/11/14 08:05 PM (10 years, 1 month ago) |
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Actually it was the top of the bag. But some water seemed to be accumulating there.
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t3chnobily
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Re: Back To The Roots Oyster Mushrooms [Re: ABC111]
#19409988 - 01/12/14 08:20 PM (10 years, 1 month ago) |
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Those kits are dehydrated for shipping and storage. Not ideal for mushroom production. Oyster generally take 10-14 days between flushes but that can vary widely,
If you have a interest in cultivation look into purchasing some spawn online and search the boards for straw log tek or lipa's pellet tek. Either of these will net you many pounds for similar outlay in cash.
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ABC111
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Registered: 01/11/14
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Last seen: 10 years, 1 month
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Re: Back To The Roots Oyster Mushrooms [Re: t3chnobily]
#19413994 - 01/13/14 07:21 PM (10 years, 1 month ago) |
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Quote:
t3chnobily said: Those kits are dehydrated for shipping and storage. Not ideal for mushroom production. Oyster generally take 10-14 days between flushes but that can vary widely,
If you have a interest in cultivation look into purchasing some spawn online and search the boards for straw log tek or lipa's pellet tek. Either of these will net you many pounds for similar outlay in cash.
Thanks for the tip. I have been considering trying a culture, but I am quite intimidated by the level of sanitation recommended.
I've heard that oysters are really aggressive and might not need such sterile conditions.
But on the other hand I see lots instructions involving very careful preparations with glove boxes, flame sterilized tools, and pressure cookers.
I will definitely check out those teks though. Thanks again.
Currently I am experimenting with my Back To The Roots log by breaking off chunks of it and mixing it in with my daily coffee grounds.
I've been taking my coffee grounds and putting them in a plastic container and heating it up in the microwave, with the hope that the extra heat will pasteurize them enough. Then mix in some mycelium after it has cooled.
The first one I tried last week seems to be colonizing, but I'm not sure cause it also looks like white mold to me.
The mycelium on the kit I bought looks so dense, and the stuff I'm trying to cultivate looks fluffy.
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thiotimoline
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Registered: 12/01/12
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Loc: Bay Area
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Re: Back To The Roots Oyster Mushrooms [Re: ABC111]
#19414960 - 01/13/14 10:47 PM (10 years, 1 month ago) |
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You can get away with pasteurization on substrates that are mostly cellulose, like straw, sawdust, or newspaper. But coffee grounds are much more nutritious (e.g., higher in nitrogen) and attractive to competitors, and there's a substantial risk of mold. Might work if the ratio of mycelium to coffee grounds is high, though.
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