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amp244
Sporocarp Stretching


Registered: 08/05/08
Posts: 1,336
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A trip to the local nursery
#21313333 - 02/22/15 02:08 PM (9 years, 10 months ago) |
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So I took a trip to my local nursery the other day and spent about an hour roaming the isles, looking at all the products. I came across a couple of interesting things that could have some positive implications in our hobby. The first of these two products was “Happy Hen Treats” natural dried mealworms.
  The guaranteed analysis on the back neglects to describe the % of nitrogen in the worms, but upon further research on the order Coleoptera I have concluded that the nitrogen content of Tenebrio molitor is probably somewhere in the 9-11% range (probably on the lower end because they are primarily herbivorous - they really love grains). I don’t know if the research was conducted using the larva stage (mealworm) or adult beetle form of the insect, and I don't know if the two have comparable nitrogen contents, but I do know that their diet is virtually the same. http://irceb.asu.edu/stoichiometry/pdf/AmNat02.pdf
I was thinking that they would be good additions to the composting stage so that bacteria and other fungi can break them down and make the nutrients available to saphorytic fungi (This is just a hunch I have, perhaps they could be added uncomposted).
The second product I found was called “Soil Moist”. It is non-nutritional but can hold lots of water and releases it when necessary. Maybe this product could allow substrates and casings to hold more water, and therefore support larger crops. I was unable to find how much water it holds at full saturation on a cursory google search, so I don’t know if it would perform better than the tried and true vermiculite.
 
Unless somebody else has experience or insight I might just wait until I get an abundance of spawn and then do some side by side grows to see if they can benefit substrates or casings. Before I make them food for fungi, a little food for thought.
-------------------- How to Convert a Normal 24-hour Light Timer into a Short Cycle Repeating Timer
"Monopoly, besides, is a great enemy to good management, which can never be universally established but in consequence of that free and universal competition which forces everybody to have recourse in it for the sake of self-defense." -Adam Smith
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Munchauzen


Registered: 06/22/11
Posts: 14,348
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Re: A trip to the local nursery [Re: amp244]
#21313353 - 02/22/15 02:16 PM (9 years, 10 months ago) |
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here is a great post about additives that will help you with usage of the happy hen treats
http://www.shroomery.org/forums/showflat.php?Cat=&Board=255&Number=21065118&fpart=&PHPSESSID=
and the 2nd product is just hydrobeads, but it should not be considered a replacement for verm. in fact, every grow should have verm as its a widely useful item, as described in the additives post above. but to be brief, verm is literally food for the mushrooms on top of being a great moisture retainer and textural supplement.
would it benefit you to use the hydrobeads, though? IDK. try adding some to some CVG and report back to us!
Edited by Munchauzen (02/22/15 02:17 PM)
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amp244
Sporocarp Stretching


Registered: 08/05/08
Posts: 1,336
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Re: A trip to the local nursery [Re: Munchauzen]
#21313576 - 02/22/15 03:22 PM (9 years, 10 months ago) |
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Awesome man. Do you know where CH got those nitrogen percentages? I've been looking for the N% ranges of spent coffee and coir for my substrate/casing mixture spreadsheet and hadn't gotten around to testing them myself, which is what I'm gonna have to end up doing to be sure.
 **I want to add a pH column to the spreadsheet, but I'll have to do some research on logarithmic equations in spreadsheets first.
Also, I noticed he had on there that worm castings were a nice source of N P K, but this conflicts with the guaranteed analysis on the bag of 100% worm castings I have, which is 1-0-0. I'm not sure why the discrepancy.
I do know about the value of vermiculite above its water retaining properties, but perhaps the soil moist will exceed the verm in terms of water retention. As we all know water is as critical a component in mushroom growth as any additive/substrate component. When I get around to it I'll buy some of it and see what its all about, but I haven't really got a time frame.
-------------------- How to Convert a Normal 24-hour Light Timer into a Short Cycle Repeating Timer
"Monopoly, besides, is a great enemy to good management, which can never be universally established but in consequence of that free and universal competition which forces everybody to have recourse in it for the sake of self-defense." -Adam Smith
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