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CozmicPsychonaut
Cozmochemist

Registered: 08/24/16
Posts: 6
Last seen: 7 years, 4 months
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Troubleshooting oyster mushrooms ..Help!
#23592507 - 08/30/16 06:32 AM (7 years, 4 months ago) |
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Hi, I'm new to this site but not to the world of fungi. I have a bit of experience using the pf-tek for cubes. I enjoyed the process of growing mushrooms so I thought I'd try my hand at white oyster mushrooms.There are many substrates that oyster mushrooms can grow on. I chose wheat straw as everyone says that this is the easiest.(supposedly) I beg to differ. There is a set of instructions I followed several times to no avail. http://permaculturenews.org/2013/01/30/how-to-grow-your-own-oyster-mushrooms-on-straw/ I don't get why the mycelium just won't grow. I've tried everything from more water to less water. More FAE holes to less. I'm using a spawn bag with a filter patch but I didn't think that was enough after the first go. Everything couldn't be more correct. I pasteurized the chopped up straw for an hour between 160f and 170f. I stuffed the bag and added several spawn dowels. The spawn dowels are viable because some growth did occur but hardly. The mycelium would start to colonize the straw and then a few days later it starts disappearing or just stalls. Incubation temp is between 68 and 75f. I've tried this 4 times already changing what I thought was wrong. I still get the same results. I can't find any information on the interweb about this either. No one seems to have this problem. Is the tek I followed garbage? It's really frustrating when it's said to be the easiest but have such difficulty. My next guess would be to scream and punch it into colonization! If any fellow shroomers know what would keep oyster mushrooms from colonizing pasteurized straw that would be a great help! Thanks!
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Bunji Fungi
Enthusiast



Registered: 04/12/16
Posts: 457
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I'm sorry to post without making a significant contribution to your question, but you are going to get better answers if you post on the correct forum. Good luck, I hope you get some good advice 
Try the Gourmet and Medicinals Forum here: https://www.shroomery.org/forums/postlist.php/Board/13
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Pastywhyte
Say hello to my little friend


Registered: 09/15/12
Posts: 37,810
Loc: Canada
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Re: Troubleshooting oyster mushrooms ..Help! (moved) [Re: CozmicPsychonaut]
#23592540 - 08/30/16 06:56 AM (7 years, 4 months ago) |
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This thread was moved from Mushroom Cultivation.
Reason: Fits better over here
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Quadman
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Re: Troubleshooting oyster mushrooms ..Help! (moved) [Re: Pastywhyte]
#23592559 - 08/30/16 07:13 AM (7 years, 4 months ago) |
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If it was a fairly large bag of straw , more spawn? Pasteurizing only covers you for so long. Someone else will chime in I'm sure.
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CozmicPsychonaut
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Registered: 08/24/16
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Re: Troubleshooting oyster mushrooms ..Help! (moved) [Re: Quadman]
#23592598 - 08/30/16 07:43 AM (7 years, 4 months ago) |
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I tried that lol. First time I put about 5 dowels. I thought maybe that wasn't enough so next time I did 25. In layers through out the bag. Thanks though!
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Quadman
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Re: Troubleshooting oyster mushrooms ..Help! (moved) [Re: CozmicPsychonaut]
#23592906 - 08/30/16 09:30 AM (7 years, 4 months ago) |
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Fresh growing grain spawn provides hundreds to thousands of inoculation points. The quicker it colonizes the better. I would go plugs>quart grains>straw. You will have to pressure cook the grains to sterilize. You could just buy grain spawn also.
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Quadman
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Re: Troubleshooting oyster mushrooms ..Help! (moved) [Re: Quadman]
#23592925 - 08/30/16 09:37 AM (7 years, 4 months ago) |
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Ah I see you are using a filter bag. That is fairly small. Plug spawn sometimes takes a while to wake up, especially if refrigerated. Plug spawn can be weak ....grain is usually preferred.
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Mycolorado
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Registered: 07/23/16
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Loc: Interdimensional Bootcamp
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Hey CP, did you allow the straw to completely cool off before spawning? Just asking as your description sounds good. Higher temps can damage or kill the mycelium upon spawning. Also, you might try inoculating a jar of sterilized grain with a dowel and use the grain when it's fully colonized to spawn to the straw. Also, the grain will give you better results than the dowels. Got pics?
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Quadman
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Re: Troubleshooting oyster mushrooms ..Help! [Re: Mycolorado]
#23592937 - 08/30/16 09:41 AM (7 years, 4 months ago) |
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CozmicPsychonaut
Cozmochemist

Registered: 08/24/16
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Re: Troubleshooting oyster mushrooms ..Help! [Re: Quadman]
#23593097 - 08/30/16 10:21 AM (7 years, 4 months ago) |
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Thanks mycolorado! I did let it cool. Usually over night. It's room temperature before I stuff it in the bag. I'll have to try the grain spawn as you mentioned and see what happens. I could throw some pictures up when I return home. I have a bag that I'm just letting sit. There's a few small patches of mycelium around some of the dowels.That's as far as I get colonization wize.
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Mycolorado
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Registered: 07/23/16
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Hmmm...where did the dowels come from? Could be bunk culture. Have you let the bags just sit or are you chucking them after growth stops? You might want to just watch a bag for a couple weeks and see if it eventually colonizes or contaminates. Some oysters have very whispy mycelium that takes a second to thicken up and it can be difficult to tell if it's colonizing the substrate. I've noticed it with pinks. You might order some spawn from a company and go from there...Your situation is kind of dumbfounding as it sounds like you're doing everything correctly. Oysters tend to be pretty forgiving...
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CozmicPsychonaut
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Re: Troubleshooting oyster mushrooms ..Help! [Re: Mycolorado]
#23594277 - 08/30/16 04:31 PM (7 years, 4 months ago) |
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I usually let them sit for 5 weeks or more. The second time it got contaminated after about 3-4 weeks.The second attempt is also the only attempt to have the very top of the bag colonize(about an inch).it was weird. At first I thought, yes! It's colonizing!then the following days it sort of started disappearing. shortly after some black mold or something started growing. The dowels came from 2funguys.com but through amazon. Just got home. here are some pictures. You can see the little bit of mycelium. I also spotted contamination. Although in my opinion, if the mycelium would stop stalling it wouldn't contaminate after 3 weeks because it should be mostly colonized by then.
this next one you can see the contamination I found today,and a small amount of mycelium. that's as far as it gets.
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Mycolorado
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Registered: 07/23/16
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Is that straw or hay? Hay is typically grass or alfalfa and straw is the stalk of cereal grains. It looks really green for straw. If it's hay, this is your problem. Other than that, I'm at a loss...
Edited by Mycolorado (08/30/16 04:43 PM)
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Quadman
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Re: Troubleshooting oyster mushrooms ..Help! [Re: Mycolorado]
#23594644 - 08/30/16 06:10 PM (7 years, 4 months ago) |
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Need some pics a foot or two away. As MyC said looks like hay, looks awfully loose too if gaps in particles are to big mycelium can't jump that far . Pack tighter? Finer chop ?
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invitro

Registered: 05/03/13
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I've mostly done grain spawn to straw, which works. I've done limited experiements ( a few dozen) in scenarios like what your doing and they never seem to work out. Sometimes I will get full colonization of straw but the yield is next to nil because there is only straw. Not enough nutrition is my guess but I've read in Tradd Cotter's book that this can be a successful method with decent yields.
I've had mycelium stall like what your describing... I have some happening like that now, I can't quite explain it myself. I've had better luck putting the straw into glass jars with sfd lids than in plastic bags, maybe the straw was drying out but that didn't seem to be the case visually, and misting didn't help either. Sometimes I get patches of contamination too, both mold and bacteria.
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CozmicPsychonaut
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Re: Troubleshooting oyster mushrooms ..Help! [Re: invitro]
#23596526 - 08/31/16 06:43 AM (7 years, 4 months ago) |
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I see your point about hay vs straw. It says that it's wheat straw on the package .That doesn't mean I wasn't sold hay though. It's tan at fist and after pasteurized it kinda gains that color. I have no clue. I thought maybe it wasn't packed enough either quadman. I'll purchase straw from a different sorce and see what happens. Glad to know I'm not alone Invitro! I'll have to look into grain spawn too.
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invitro

Registered: 05/03/13
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I second the notion that there is too much air space in there, a finer shred could help. Also the green grass could be causing problems.
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Mycolorado
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Re: Troubleshooting oyster mushrooms ..Help! [Re: invitro]
#23597208 - 08/31/16 11:56 AM (7 years, 4 months ago) |
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I swear some posts disappeared from this thread...anyway, I believe you said the "straw" was packaged...if so it may be decorative and treated with fungicide to keep it from molding. Also, I really don't think the chop and pack job on your bags is the issue...I've run unchopped straw/poorly packed bags before with no issue...it's just not ideal and takes a sec longer to colonize.
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CozmicPsychonaut
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Re: Troubleshooting oyster mushrooms ..Help! [Re: Mycolorado]
#23597500 - 08/31/16 01:26 PM (7 years, 4 months ago) |
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The description reads that it could be used for mushroom cultivation . Here's a link, check it out. This is what I bought. https://www.amazon.com/Cubic-Natural-Organic-Wheat-Straw/dp/B0055UGKHM
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Quadman
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Wish I could sell straw like that. Nothing wrong with the straw.
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Shirak
Uhhhh

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Looks like something with the pasteurization or handling afterwards allowing it to recontaminate? Or perhaps with the small amount of spawn is not nearly enough to colonize properly before contaminates get a foothold?
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Mycolorado
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Stumped.
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