Pastwhyte's Easy Invitro Straw - Mushroom Cultivation

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Pastywhyte
Say hello to my little friend

Registered: 09/15/12
Posts: 37,842
Loc: Canada

Pastwhyte's Easy Invitro Straw

32
#22512011 - 11/11/15 11:15 PM (8 years, 5 months ago)

My Invitro Straw method

Welcome to my invitro straw method! I am always looking to find cheaper and easier ways to grow mushrooms and this is one of the hands down cheapest and easiest ways to do this. This invitro straw method is pretty much the cheapest way I know to produce good quantities of our favorite fungi. The cost in materials for the quart size containers is under a nickel. So the upfront cost of the PP5's to do this is worth it I promise :awesomenod:

Thanks must be given to Mudafuka and Violet, for their work with PP5s and similar grow methods, great stuff guys :rockon:

This is something I have done a fair number of times, but I am still learning. I am quite happy with the recipe as it stands but I will caution that I may change things without warning :hehehe:

It has long been known that straw is an excellent medium for cubes but is tricky. Straw logs or tubs are often regarded as one flush wonders and the heat genereted during spawn runs puts it at risk of contams. Because of this people usually seem more comfortable using it as an additive only which is a shame. Straw can be the main substrate without risk of contam and with the water it holds, can really push out weight and support lots of fruits.

Before we get started I will caution that the inoculation of these containers requires the use of liquids so if you can't use agar to make LI or inoculate a LC then I suggest you get familiar with that first. A great tek to make agar real cheap and easy can be found here :wink:

How I make LC

Good way to make LI

A decent method for LC

Good writeup on GLC.

Substrate Prep & quart PP5 containers

Okay so ya got yerself some liquid inoculate and wanna do some straw! This recipe will make 4 quarts of substrate, enough to do 4 of the large PP5 or 8 small ones.

First you gonna need:

160 grams chopped straw. I buy straw by the bale for a few bucks. Cheap.

90-100 grams flour. BRF is fine but I find generic whole wheat flour is cheap and works great :thumbup:

900-1000 ml water (800 ml if you use the 200ml of coffee in the recipe).

Optional ingredients:
5 cups vermiculite, any grade is fine. Optional. I like it for the way it helps fill in the gaps but is not needed. I have done fine without it. If you choose not to use it then substitute it with an additional 40-50 grams straw.

200ml of liquid coffee. This is optional. I have had great success without it. If you do not use it then you will need to up the water needed to 1 litre

5-10 grams malt extract. Also optional. Does just fine without.

*The ratios above are dependent on your straw being well cured and kept very dry. Slightly damp straw from weather or poor curing will result in you needing to lessen the amount of water and increase the amount of straw used.

So the first thing you need to do is prep your straw. I like to just run the lawnmower over it and then just empty it into bags for use when needed. Weedwhackers work as well as many other things so however you do it just make sure that most of the straw is in around 1" pieces. I then weigh out the straw I need and put it in a bucket. Sometimes I like to chop it up a bit more with some hand shears to get the long pieces down to size.

Then if I am using the verm I measure it out and add it to the straw. Just dump it on top, don't mix it in.

Now I measure out the flour and malt and add em into a container or two.

Then I get my 200 ml brewed coffee and add 800 ml water to it. If you skip the coffee then just use 1000 ml water. Then pour it into the flour and stir well. I like to microwave it a bit and get it warm. You want the starch to get suspended in the water somewhat.

Before pouring into the straw verm mix give it a good stir. If you let it settle when you go to pour it in all the settled flour will be glopped up on the sides of the container. Giving it a good stir and then pouring in prevents this. Once poured in start to mix up the straw and verm with nutrient water. Pack it down in the bottom of the bucket, this will help force it into the straw. Mix and pack a few times, the straw will get soft and pliable. This will be messy, try to not get it everywhere :lol:

Then you're ready to load it into containers.

Load the containers with the straw mix. Do not be afraid to press it in especially at the edges. Its springy and will push up a bit anyway. Load each container with the mix evenly. This will also be a messy process, be sure to take a paper towel after and wipe the threads and top inch of each container clean. You don't want stuff stuck up in there as contams can grow through it into the container.

So I just use the lids unmodified, no filter, no holes. I got used to it the first time I tried V-tek and I will say it works. If you want to drill a hole and silicon a SFD or stuff with poly feel free. Peace of mind is priceless. But this is how I do it. Put the lid on and then loosen it, you want it about 1/4" of a turn loose. Then I cover with foil and stuff the edges up into the overhang rim. This will prevent a vacuum from crushing the container yet keep any contams out when transferring the containers from your PC to SAB. If you are using a presto and find it drops temp quickly then you might need to crack the lids a little more to keep the vacuum from pulling it down and crushing it in.

We are ready to sterilize these now. If using BRF a hour cycle at 15 psi should be sufficient. But I use whole wheat flour most of the time so I do 90 min. Once finished let them cool completely and then transfer to the SAB.

I use liquids to inoculate these. If you cannot make clean liquid inoculates these might not work as well for you. I have colonized from the top down with wedges but usually it stalls and pins before it gets to the bottom. These are tall containers. So to achieve faster colonization I will remove the lid once and squirt towards the opposite rim of the container in a 180 semi circle. Then replace the lid and tilt the container to allow the liquid to drip down to the bottom. Then rotate and repeat with the other side. If a generous amount of inoculate is used and the inoculate travels the circumference of the container colonization will be much quicker.

Fruiting

Once colonized I do like to let these consolidate for a few weeks. But don't consolidate too long, these will pin like crazy invitro if you leave em too long. When ready to fruit simply remove the lid, case and fruit. I prefer to case with coir, but verm, coir verm and peat based casings will all work fine. Then you can fruit in a SGFC, monotub, or even just place a cut off two liter pop bottle overtop. It will twist on pretty damn snug.

These went too long and had started to grow invitro. Only one was a candidate to be cased. Straw can pin like a motherfucker invitro.

Using the pp5s allow for two liter tops to be placed in lieu of using a FC. However these do fine in SGFCs and monos. If using a mono you need to use enough to fill it 2/3 capacity in order to keep up RH.

These are ready for harvest :thumbup:

I like the pop bottle or SGFC if I only have a small number of these. If I have sufficient numbers then I use the monotub to fruit. Simply stuff holes as per normal. Be sure that whatever size monotub you use, that you can fill it at least 80% full or it may get dry and will have a harder time moving the air. Tho these do generate a lot of heat and will do a very good job exchanging air.

This method is also great for other edible species like;

Hericium. . .

Alternative containers and Fruiting methods

This is almost so simple I almost don't feel its worth a mention. But these things always come up as questions so I am gonna nip it in the bud. In addition to the full quart containers there is another size of container that works well. The pint size pp5's that are used in the V-tek will work fine for this. They actually colonize quite well given the shorter height. Prep of the straw is exactly the same just more containers are used. So if you use 4 quart containers for the above recipe, you can split that into 8 of the pint size PP5.

Like most things these can be fruited in SGFC, Greenhouses, and my favorite the mini monotub. The shorter size makes them great to fruit in a mini mono. These are also easily birthed and rolled. There will be no need for a dunk in most cases as the straw retains a lot of the original water. If a heavy pinset comes in then they can be bottom watered or set in saucers of water. Top fruiting still works well, I am experimenting to see which I prefer.

You can also fill the quart size PP5 with a third to a quarter of the original amount. This is handy for a really clean invitro grow. MS LC or LI or even wedges or spores can be used. The small substrate size will colonize quite fast and yet still produce a comparable amount to a PF cake. Pins taken from this will be clean and prints from fruits grown invitro will be very axenic. The above recipe can be halved to give you between 6-8 of these containers.

If you want to case them but still maintain an aseptic fruiting environment simply sterilize some verm or coir and then in the SAB shake it into each container, then shake the container to level it out. Works great.

Essentially this is a less a tek about the container and more a tek about substrate prep. But the PP5 containers can be versatile.

Disclaimer: This is still a work in progress, I will be fleshing this out as time progresses.

Extras:

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