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AlCapone2k
Beginner


Registered: 10/06/16
Posts: 842
Loc: Germany
Last seen: 6 years, 4 months
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Hey guys,
a friend of mine studies Art at the university of our city and she decided to write her master thesis about art with myc bricks.
Of course she doesn't want to work with cube myc, but her Prof. wants her to work with coco fibers.
Fruiting is not the aim.
She wants the coco fibers to be pressed into a brick form and then be inoculated with rye so that the myc will colonize the fibers.
After the fibers are fully colonized, she wants to put them in the oven, so that the myc dies (and won't fruit) so that the could build her "art" with them.
Do you think that will work?
Which myc can you recommend? Brown Oysters? Or does it have to be Reishi?
Will the myc colonize coco fibers? Or will it colonize CVG?
And will the myc disappear after putting in the oven?
Actually I recommended here to use straw pellets like in the tek in my signature, but unfortunetaly she isn't allowed to, it must be a coco-based substrate.
Regards
-------------------- Since I am from Germany, my english is not perfect but I try my best    My small Agar to Oyster Open Air Grow Trek
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poponon
Quaaaack!!!



Registered: 09/10/07
Posts: 467
Loc: Canada
Last seen: 13 days, 17 hours
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Re: I grew a bowl, casually. [Re: AlCapone2k]
#24032972 - 01/23/17 10:52 AM (7 years, 7 days ago) |
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just checked the composition of coco fiber:
Lignin……………..............…45.84% Cellulose………….............…43.44% Hemi-Cellulose……………................00.25% Pectin’s and related Compound…………03.00% Water soluble……………..........05.25% Ash…………………….............02.22% http://textilelearner.blogspot.ca/2014/01/properties-of-coconutcoir-fiber.html
versus hardwood:
Aside from water, wood has three main components. Cellulose, a crystalline polymer derived from glucose, constitutes about 41–43%. Next in abundance is hemicellulose, which is around 20% in deciduous trees but near 30% in conifers. It is mainly five-carbon sugars that are linked in an irregular manner, in contrast to the cellulose. Lignin is the third component at around 27% in coniferous wood vs. 23% in deciduous trees. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wood#Chemistry_of_wood
though the polysaccs are different, the totals are virtually the same both right around 85-90%. I would test using same recipe as supp hw. This is just my guess though - maybe someone with some experience in this area could chime in
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Y e e t!! My Trade List
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Speckles
Sober AF



Registered: 09/19/13
Posts: 236
Last seen: 1 year, 4 months
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Re: I grew a bowl, casually. [Re: AlCapone2k]
#24033152 - 01/23/17 12:47 PM (7 years, 7 days ago) |
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That's a very cool thesis project!
Reishi grows well on coco-coir, and the myc will die in the oven but not disappear.
I think reishi would be better than oyster because it colonizes very firmly, substrate colonized by oysters is more easily broken apart.
Casual has been colonizing sawdust before breaking it up and filling the molds, but it should still work if your friend spawned to the coco and then put it in a mold where there is adequate gas exchange. It will obviously take slightly longer than Casual's method though. If they try to press the coco and then inoculate, it will not work very well. The spawn should be mixed throughout the substrate as if she was making a tub or bags.
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Liminal_God
Stranger

Registered: 06/05/14
Posts: 60
Last seen: 4 years, 22 days
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Re: I grew a bowl, casually. [Re: AlCapone2k]
#24034863 - 01/23/17 11:53 PM (7 years, 7 days ago) |
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A couple people have mentioned them already, but Mycoworks (Philip Ross) (use Reishi) and Ecovative (use Oyster) are two companies that have been doing exactly this for the past few years. There is even an Australian start-up that is manufacturing/marketing bricks as well. Your friend, and anyone else that's interested more in this, should definitely check them all out as they have already done and figured out so much in this field. Ecovative and Mycoworks both hold patents that are a very good read as well! Oh, and Danielle Trofe started a company making lamp shades made from mycelium.
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frog48
Peasant



Registered: 03/08/13
Posts: 612
Loc: France
Last seen: 13 days, 10 hours
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Hey Shroomery,
Thought I'd add some similar stuff in casual's thread that is being hijacked by lots of peeple now, great reading by the way. I'm making about a hundred sawdust blocks a week now, producing a nice 50 k's of shiitake weekly, partly sold wholesale, partly on a farmers market. Sterilization is done with a RR style wood fired boiler. Our farm is situated in the mountains of southern france and we got acres of woodland that we're cutting to make some grass for our sheep. Cheap fuel to sterilize sawdust, BUT, hundred sawdust blocks a week is a mountain of organic waste and a potential fuel source as well.
I'm only pulling one flush off the blocks and then I discard them. Sawdust is sweet chestnut that I get for free from a sawmill nearby. Chestnut is not ideal for compost so I actually don't do anything with the substrate. I noticed that if you dry the blocks in the sun they keep their square form for more than a year. Even frost, rain, snow etc don't affect the shape, amazingly strong. A bit like reishi.
I started using the dry blocks in the boiler and they burn as charcoal!!! The blocks form a solid red mass, perfect to maintain steam pressure for hours!! Thanks for your attention, mycelium is great stuff!!!

sawdust block starting to burn in the wood stove in the house.

boiler set up, with a steaming pot for straw to grow blues. Shiitake goest in the barrels.
Edited by frog48 (01/24/17 04:30 AM)
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casualgrower


Registered: 07/18/14
Posts: 300
Loc: Estonia
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Re: I grew a bowl, casually. [Re: frog48]
#24035226 - 01/24/17 06:18 AM (7 years, 6 days ago) |
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Al, coco fibers will definately work! The method, that your friend wants to use is the same that Mr. Ross follows to make his chairs and mycobricks. He's using binding additives in his inoculated substrate, so that he can mould the fresh sub into desired shape, remove the mould, and then let it colonize. The man seems to be more into growing mycelium based leather recently, witch is also an awesome subject to talk about.
Frog, using spent shiitake blocks as a fuel source is a great idea! I imagine the delicate shiitake mycelium burns more readily then reishi. Do they leave a lot of ashes?
-------------------- The depth of undiscovered knowledge laying before us is more vast than our minds can imagine...
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frog48
Peasant



Registered: 03/08/13
Posts: 612
Loc: France
Last seen: 13 days, 10 hours
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Lots of ash indeed. Problem is that you need a lot of space to stock all these blocks. If you don't put them in a some kind of shed or hangar they don't get dry enough to burn efficiently. If you leave them outside though the myc on the outer shell dries quite fast, wood fibers get visible again but the the block doesn't disintegrate because the mycelium network inside still holds the wood fibers together. For at least a year it remains a solid block. If you leave it outside the inside stays quite humid though. So you need a freaking hot fire to burn them. So what I do, is fire up the boiler with solid wood and once it hits target temps, I switch to sawdust blocks. Saves a lot of wood. Just have to find the time to build a fancy shed to stock them but that's a minor detail.
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Kosher
Healthy Specimen


Registered: 05/22/05
Posts: 97
Loc: Northeastern US
Last seen: 3 years, 3 months
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any ideas as to what sort of binders are being used?
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casualgrower


Registered: 07/18/14
Posts: 300
Loc: Estonia
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Re: I grew a bowl, casually. [Re: Kosher]
#24064235 - 02/04/17 03:00 AM (6 years, 11 months ago) |
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Ate some cake the other day. The box was too cool to throw away, so i grew a mushroom cake in it.
  It came out very detailed, made me wonder about the endless possibilites of growing patterns into the blocks.
-------------------- The depth of undiscovered knowledge laying before us is more vast than our minds can imagine...
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wildernessjunkie
Reshitivest


Registered: 06/13/10
Posts: 8,118
Loc: HTTP 404 Not Found
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Was that sawdust substrate there? Can you estimate the shrinkage after you bake these? That detail is pretty amazing.
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casualgrower


Registered: 07/18/14
Posts: 300
Loc: Estonia
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Quote:
wildernessjunkie said: Was that sawdust substrate there? Can you estimate the shrinkage after you bake these? That detail is pretty amazing.
yes, colonized sawdust in a mould. Surprisingly they don't shrink much at all after baking, maybe 1% They lose about 60% of their weight in the oven, though. I'm currently in the middle of an experiment with larger slabs, to find out if they warp when baked. Keep shroomin'
-------------------- The depth of undiscovered knowledge laying before us is more vast than our minds can imagine...
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TravelAgency
The ongoing "wow"


Registered: 12/25/10
Posts: 4,431
Last seen: 11 months, 23 days
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Awesome stuff!
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wildernessjunkie
Reshitivest


Registered: 06/13/10
Posts: 8,118
Loc: HTTP 404 Not Found
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I just envisioned large mycelium legos, used for non load bearing construction.
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TravelAgency
The ongoing "wow"


Registered: 12/25/10
Posts: 4,431
Last seen: 11 months, 23 days
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Quote:
wildernessjunkie said: I just envisioned large mycelium legos, used for non load bearing construction.
Hmmmmm... perhaps a large outdoor Fruiting chamber even....
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Kate1506
Stranger
Registered: 01/25/17
Posts: 1
Last seen: 6 years, 11 months
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nice cake =)
I did some fungi bricks. They are growing well! Would be very nice to know how u dry your cake =)
Regards
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casualgrower


Registered: 07/18/14
Posts: 300
Loc: Estonia
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Re: I grew a bowl, casually. [Re: ellomello]
#24096942 - 02/17/17 02:29 AM (6 years, 11 months ago) |
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Quote:
ellomello said:
can it hold soil to use as a flower pot??? thanks!
That got me thinking and i made this...  It's just about time to start seeding plants for spring, i'll test it out.
-------------------- The depth of undiscovered knowledge laying before us is more vast than our minds can imagine...
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Pistil-Whipped

Registered: 12/26/13
Posts: 109
Last seen: 5 years, 22 days
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I've been following this thread and have to say I'm intrigued. In preparation for this years farmers markets I've started a lot of lucidum, japonicum and curtissi spawn so I can have lots of medicinals on hand. Yesterday while walking through the woods I found large piles of this hemlock sawdust. There has been a lot of storms recently and this tree had some cubical brown rot at the base and was blown over.

For whatever reason it appears they cut with the grain more often than not, leaving these really nice long shreds of wood fiber. Your thread got me thinking that it would be advantageous to use these fibers to add strength to the grown item, maybe eliminating the casual breakage.
At any rate, I'll be growing out several different varieties of planters to offer at my first event of the year, the local Master Gardeners plant sale. Thanks for the good ideas!
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DailyShroomer
Stranger


Registered: 05/22/17
Posts: 106
Last seen: 8 months, 2 days
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Nice stuff casualgrower! Btw are the end products porous like terracotta??
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TheHulk69
Stranger
Registered: 12/21/13
Posts: 100
Last seen: 6 months, 8 days
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Wow, so many awesome results and potential ideas!
I'm a fairly noob grower, but am pretty versed in what it takes to grow mush.
I don't have any reishi culture, but would love to play around with making some of these sculptures/paper. Can anyone point me to the best source of where to purchase some reishi?
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Solipsis
m̶a̶d̶ disappointed scientist



Registered: 12/28/09
Posts: 3,398
Loc: the Neitherlands
Last seen: 5 months, 19 days
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Re: I grew a bowl, casually. [Re: TheHulk69]
#24489423 - 07/17/17 12:23 PM (6 years, 6 months ago) |
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Cool, dude!!
Apparently there are also mushroom bricks made (by drying) and using those to build a rather large structure as an art project, I think in Germany recently 
This makes me wanna 3D print mycelium
please make a functional bicycle next!
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