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openmind
curious


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Re: The Official Woodlovers Thread [Re: TheDuder] 3
#24692421 - 10/07/17 08:56 PM (6 years, 3 months ago) |
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TheDuder said:
Theres never a very good place to post woodlover grows/ growing questions so I've decided to make a thread dedicated to just that.
Indeed!...I often have random questions about wood lovers and outdoor cultivation and never know where exactly to post.
I'm stoked about this thread, and the incoming season around my parts.
Can a patch/mycelium dry out entirely over summer, and then bounce back and start spreading and fruiting once the rains return and temps cool?
Because that's what my patches did last year...I've been wondering about this and waiting to see what happens this time around.
I found some patches of p allenii and cyans around my town a few years ago. I took some small clumps of the colonized wood chips from a few of the patches that I found and placed them in a natural riparian woodland area around spring time a few years ago. I watered the spots once a week or so for a few weeks, the myc was spreading onto other woody material in the duff/soil and a small amount of wood chips I placed there....Then around June, I got busy with other things and I wasn't able to water the patch...All of those spots I planted went the entire summer with out a drop of water, and daily temps of 90 to 105+ (though each spot was well shaded). This is in northern California where everything is crispy dry not too far into summer, though it is a riparian area so lots of trees/shrubs and tall grass and a river within 100 yards of each patch.
When fall arrived and the first rains of the season came I was way surprised to see the myc was spreading once again at each of those spots I planted...and then a month later, 2 of the 3 spots I planted out there actually fruited. I figured each spot was dead because it went with out any water and in very hot/low humidity conditions.
My basic understanding of things...I was under the impression that mycelium has to remain somewhat moist, and if it dries out then the patch is basically dead...?....
Sorry for the totally newb rambling question . I've been around this place for years but I still have never cultivated any sort of fungi so my understanding of such is still on the newb level lol...I've just done some hunting/photographing and simple identification. I have plans to eventually plant several riparian woodland areas in northern cali with cyan, allenii, and ovoid myc since it seems the allenii and cyan myc I've planted can thrive on it's own in such habitats .
-OM
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openmind
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Re: The Official Woodlovers Thread [Re: Ferather]
#24791898 - 11/18/17 03:30 PM (6 years, 2 months ago) |
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I know I've been around this place for a decade so I should know these things by now, I know bits of the basics but I've still never cultivated any fungi, I just hunt for them....and I know this thread has lots of good info already I'm just too lazy to skim through the entire thing....and someone showing me an outline or bullet points or a simple method in a nutshell would be appreciated.
Working from stem butts, can someone suggest to me a simple method to get a bunch of spawn going? And can this be done with out a pressure cooker?
Some of my patches should be fruiting in the next couple weeks so I'm assuming using stem butts would be the easiest starting point to get some myc/spawn going?...yea?...Should I place stem butts on agar?...
I've placed stem butts in cardboard before, and the myc often starts growing/spreading onto the cardboard fine but then stops growing after a short while.
I've taken small pieces of colonized woodchips from my patches and placed them in a container with fresh/clean woodchips (which I boiled and shredded)...Same thing as the cardboard, the myc starts spreading onto the fresh chips just dandy at first but over time it stops growing and nothing is happening after a few weeks. I see pics in here of you folks having super thick bright white healthy myc spreading allll through out woodchips/substrate, that's what I want!!!
My ultimate plans....I want to get at least a bucket/container or two of healthy mycelium/spawn going. With that I want to start a small "patch" in a pot or planter box in my back yard...but my main focus is starting patches/spreading spawn (allenii, cyan, & hopefully ovoid eventually) into some natural riparian/oak woodland habitats in my area (inland northern California). I'd love to have some patches in a natural habitat and it seems like these woodlovers are totally "at home" in riparian/woodland areas anyways.
Having some patches like "liloldme" has is the dream .
-OM
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openmind
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Re: The Official Woodlovers Thread [Re: Primal Call]
#24796000 - 11/20/17 03:20 PM (6 years, 2 months ago) |
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Primal Call said: 1. Hydrate egg carton/cardboard and fresh straw/coco/sawdust.
2. Add stem butts to that mixture and keep mostly sealed (ziplock/tupperware.)
3. Once that is running strong on the straw/coco/sawdust, pasteurize woodchips. (I just cook my chips in water. 150F for 3 hours. Hydrated and cleaned up.)
4. Once the chips are cool enough to handle, combine #3 with the pasteurized chips.
5. Expand those chips to more chips prepared as above, as needed.
That's the way I would go without using a pressure cooker.
You can keep a constant running organism in buckets, large trash cans, big tubs or whatever. Then make patches using large amounts of spawn per patch.
Got some chips on my stove right now for some allenii expansion.

Sweet...thanks for that . That's similar to what I've tried before, but the myc always seems to slow down and stops growing entirely after a few weeks. I'll give it another try though.
And by "Coco", you mean coconut fiber?
Assuming the egg carton/straw/coco/saw dust should be blended up/mixed all together?
As for keeping the container with the stem butts/egg carton/sawdust sealed, I thought there needs to be some fresh air circulating? (That's what I never understood about jars being sealed while myc is colonizing grain/etc, how does the myc breathe in a sealed container?)
And yea...that's what I would like to have...basically a perpetual container/bucket of "mother spawn" going.
-OM
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openmind
curious


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Re: The Official Woodlovers Thread [Re: Primal Call]
#24797725 - 11/21/17 12:29 PM (6 years, 2 months ago) |
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Primal Call said:
Hope this helps get you some running rhizos!  
Yee!...Thanks man.
I'll be sure to report back in a few weeks once my patches fruit and I get around to doing this.
-OM
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openmind
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Re: The Official Woodlovers Thread [Re: rhizoRider] 1
#24819208 - 12/01/17 02:25 PM (6 years, 1 month ago) |
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rhizoRider said:
Leaf cover is their natural humidity dome and shelter 

I have placed allenii & cyan myc/spawn in some natural riparian/oak woodland type habitats, and the thick layer of leaf litter on the ground this time of year along with the grass growing up through the patch makes a perfect consistently humid and sheltered micro-climate, even when it's really dry and/or windy outside....The layer of leaf litter and tall grass also protects the patch/fruits from frost & freezing temps.
Perfect habitat for em'...though kinda difficult to find the fruits when they're underneath a thick layer of leaf litter.
-OM
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openmind
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Re: The Official Woodlovers Thread [Re: acidninja] 1
#24856177 - 12/19/17 04:18 PM (6 years, 1 month ago) |
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I pulled up some pieces of colonized woodchips from an allenii patch and I'm using them to get some spawn going.
I placed the pieces of woodchips I pulled from the patch into plastic bags with some woodchips/twigs/egg carton (woodchips & twigs were in hot water/simmered for about 2.5 hours, the egg carton I hydrated with the water that the woodchips were simmered in) . The plastic bags are mostly sealed, I open them up a little bit once a day to take peak at the growth and let in a bit of fresh air.
The myc is running through the egg carton pieces and spreading across the woodchips quickly and with ease ....Each bag I have going right now is looking great and better than any of my previous attempts to get some myc/spawn growing, super thick & bright white myc with rhizomorphs spreading & reaching out everywhere.
There are some small spots of mold or other fungi growing on the twigs I have in the bags. It's kinda thin/wispy and cobweb-like in form, and grey-ish in color. It appeared about 48 hours after I made the bags but it's growth hasn't spread much more since then. The myc was also not spreading onto the twigs, it was totally avoiding them and growing around them so I pulled out as many of the twigs as I could from the bags...The mold/fungi was mostly only growing on/from the twigs, a small bit is on some of the woodchips. One of the woodchips also had a spec or two of a greenish-blue mold or fungi on it, so I pulled it out of the bag.
My question is, since this spawn is going to go outside anyways, is "contamination" like this not too big of an issue?
And what's an ideal temp for growing spawn? I have the bags sitting in my closet, so probably around 60 to 68 degrees. I'm assuming that as temps get a bit warmer the chance for contam increases?
-OM
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openmind
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Re: The Official Woodlovers Thread [Re: Primal Call]
#24858134 - 12/20/17 02:46 PM (6 years, 1 month ago) |
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NothingsChanged said: I think as long as the contam doesn't out run the myc its all good. Ive had best early growth in an outdoor building or room with no heat. Anything above freezing and bellow so hot it keeps drying out should be good. You have plenty of time to experiment and try different scenarios. Light seems to accelerate growth as well IMO. From experience, The more worrying and fussing with the project, the shittiest it turns out. But then again i take a more casual approach and really don't stress about success. In my book, anything i do or try is success in the grand scheme of things.
Quote:
Primal Call said: I share NC's perspective/approach 
Wouldn't worry about the contam... the last carton spawn I made was ready to go outside after 10 days or so. And woodlovers are just so darn tough and willing to share space :hugs:
Your temp range is fine and obviously they can handle colder if you are trying to minimize that mold or w/e it is.
Thanks for the replies dudes.
Yea the allenii myc seems to be spreading across the chips with vigor and far faster than that fuzzy/cobweb like fungus.
I'm mostly just letting them do their thing, but when I saw that cobweb-like fungus was only appearing on the twigs and the myc wasn't spreading onto them at all I figured I'd pull them out.
What nothingschanged mentioned about light...That's something I was going to ask in my last post too, if light has any sort of influence on the rate of growth of the myc? The bags I have in my room are in mostly a dark area. I plan on experimenting a bit anyways.
My plans are to keep growing/expanding the amount of spawn I have over the next few months then use it to start a couple patches, while keeping a thing of perpetual "mother spawn" going.
In a month or two....If I take a chunk of spawn and put it outside, and give it a lil bit of water/moisture here & there (if it's not raining), is it possible that it will start to pin/fruit? Since the temps outdoors will still be cold enough for them to fruit in Feb/March.
-OM
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openmind
curious


Registered: 08/03/07
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NothingsChanged said: It may be too cold to trigger the pinning? 55 and wet is cyans trigger and i'm sure theres many more seasonal triggers as well? Never hurts to try.
I don't think it'll be too cold? What would be considered too cold for pinning?
The average temps around here in February are basically the same as they are during the fall when patches around here start to pin/fruit (for the month of Feb, the average low is 43 and average high is 60). 24 hour average are probably around 50 to 55 give or take.
And yea...I figure there are lots of other seasonal triggers that trigger pinning. I'm going to give it a try just to see, not with all the spawn I have but just a chunk of it, like a big dinner plates worth.
There was some other noob-eqsue question I was going to ask in this post, but I forget lol .
-OM
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openmind
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Re: The Official Woodlovers Thread [Re: moricz]
#24894467 - 01/06/18 03:45 PM (6 years, 22 days ago) |
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I have a few bags of allenii myc running through woodchips and they're on the verge of being fully colonized.
I'm trying to get as much spawn going as I can...So do I just shake/tear apart the colonized woodchips and add them to another bag mixed up with more fresh woodchips?
What's the general rule of thumb for the ratio between the amount of spawn and fresh woodchips?....No doubt I can just mix them up with any amount, but I'm curious if ya'll typically use a certain ratio...?
-OM
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openmind
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Re: The Official Woodlovers Thread [Re: Adas]
#24898841 - 01/08/18 03:49 PM (6 years, 20 days ago) |
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moricz said:
Quote:
openmind said: I have a few bags of allenii myc running through woodchips and they're on the verge of being fully colonized.
I'm trying to get as much spawn going as I can...So do I just shake/tear apart the colonized woodchips and add them to another bag mixed up with more fresh woodchips?
What's the general rule of thumb for the ratio between the amount of spawn and fresh woodchips?....No doubt I can just mix them up with any amount, but I'm curious if ya'll typically use a certain ratio...?
I recommend big totes as said before me, and start layering, you will see if the mycelium mass is undisturbed they spread much faster to the upper layers.
So pasteurize some woodchips, lay down some to the bottom of the tub, then a fat layer of myceliated woodchips, then another 2 cm of fresh moist (pasteurised) chips. When you start see a lot of mycelium to come up (like the 30% of the surface) lay more chips on them, and more and more till april. I recommend 18 C° for this kind of spawn run.
Peace
I only have a few small ziploc bags full of colonized chips so far, maybe around 1/2 to 1/3 of a gallon ziploc bag in total, not enough to make a "fat layer" of colonized woodchips in a container (or at least not much bigger than a shoe box)....
....I feel like I should grow a bit more spawn in bags before moving it all to a big tote/container of sorts..?...Seems like multiple bags would colonize chips a bit quicker than a single tote/container would?
So when moving the colonized chips into more bags or a tote/container...I should not break up the colonized chips/myc mass?....I should keep it as undisturbed & intact as possible?
-OM
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openmind
curious


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Re: The Official Woodlovers Thread [Re: Ferather]
#24936335 - 01/23/18 01:56 PM (6 years, 5 days ago) |
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I added some new woodchips to my bags of spawn, since they were almost colonized entirely....
....Will it sometimes take a while for the myc to spread onto new/different types of wood? Because the new chips have been in the bags for 5 days now and the myc isn't wanting to spread onto any of it anywhere.
The chips I previously used, the myc ran through them very quickly....like each day I could see quite a bit of new growth as the myc spread across them. But the myc doesn't seem to want anything to do with these new chips. Just wondering what's going on here?
The wood chips I just added are apple wood. The chips I previously used I'm not sure what type of wood (but they were some sort of common wood for BBQ/Smoking). The new chips are a little larger than the old ones.
-OM
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openmind
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Re: The Official Woodlovers Thread [Re: bacillus]
#24936460 - 01/23/18 03:02 PM (6 years, 5 days ago) |
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moricz said: Water content of the new chips, running temperature, threating of new chips (if there was any), does the mycelium gone dormant or you run them continously?
five day lag occur when the temps are low (like 1-8C°) and/or no heat threat was used and/or the mycelium gone dormant befor adding. :\
I don't know how to measure the water content of the chips, but they're hydrated & "moist" . They're not soaking wet, but when held in the fingers you can feel that they're moist.
The temp of the room that they're sitting in is around 65F, give or take a few degrees through out the day/night.
Assuming you mean "treating", as in were they pressure cook or boiled before?.....I had the chips on a low simmer at the most for an hour or two, I did the same thing with the old chips that are already colonized.
I don't think the myc has gone dormant because it was still actively spreading across the old woodchips, every day I could see new growth...it's just not spreading on these apple wood chips.
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bacillus said: My hunch is that apple wood isn't optimal as a substrate. No experience with it, though.
I thought I've seen posts around the shroomery, maybe even this thread, where people have said that any type of hardwood will work with woodlovers? As long as it's not a softwood and as long as it's not a type of wood that's super resinous?....
....but maybe that's not the case?
So I'm thinking I should pull out and remove all the pieces of apple wood from my bags?...
What types of wood are known to be ideal?
-OM
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openmind
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Re: The Official Woodlovers Thread [Re: bacillus]
#24936593 - 01/23/18 04:05 PM (6 years, 5 days ago) |
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bacillus said:
Quote:
openmind said: I thought I've seen posts around the shroomery, maybe even this thread, where people have said that any type of hardwood will work with woodlovers? As long as it's not a softwood and as long as it's not a type of wood that's super resinous?....
It is correct, however I wouldn't expect to find a woodloving Psilocybe in a garden under an apple tree. A morel, yes. For this reason, I'd prefer wood from forest trees. From what I know, beech and alder are very good.
I hear ya.
I wish I knew what type of wood I originally used because the myc spread across and ate that stuff up real quick. It was just an old random bag of woodchips I had sitting around.
The place I got the apple chips from had apple, cherry, pecan, and hickory wood chips. I've seen bags of alder before but they didn't have any. I'll have to look around for something different.
I'm eventually going to use some of the dyed wood chips that are used for landscaping, once I move the spawn outdoors into a patch and/or container.
-OM
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openmind
curious


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NothingsChanged said: openM: perhaps you could shake your bags and distribute them some so theres more transfer points?....
That's EXACTLY what my original plan was for adding more chips to my bags, I figured a bit more surface area would be ideal for the myc to spread onto the new chips.....but when I mentioned it, folks in this thread told me to NOT do that, and to leave the mass of colonized myc/wood chips as fully intact and undisturbed as possible....?....
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....In my experience, once the wood is colonized it's time to move to the next step. For me it is move to out doors into a more natural earthy/wood type substrate. Not sure how your going about it and i am no expert. My jars of straight wood are fully colonized and i am just leaving and consolidating until it's time to move out doors.....
I only have a few small bags of chips that are colonized so far, like maybe a 1/2 gallon jug size chunk of fully colonized myc/chips in total.
I don't feel it's time to move it outdoors yet because it's such a relatively small amount to start the patch and container that I want...I'd rather keep the myc growing/expanding onto as much woodchips as possible for at least another 3 months before I move it outdoors and into a patch or container of sorts.
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....If your trying to expand your spawn you could make some more grain spawn, in this way you can add it all together when moving outdoors.
That's basically what I'm trying to do...my goal is simply to "grow" as much mycelium/spawn as I can over the next few months so I can start a patch in the ground at my house and/or in a container/planter box of sorts by May-ish.
I never made grain spawn....I just pulled up a few small chunks of colonized woodchips from one of my patches around town, then I placed those chunks in some sandwich baggies with a layer of fresh/hydrated wood chips. Those small sandwich baggies are now fully colonized so I took out those colonized chunks and placed them into a large ziploc bag with a layer of hydrated apple chips...and that's where I am now, the myc is slowly starting to spread onto some of the apple-wood chips but it's doing so sooooo slowly compared to the other wood I originally used. (the growth of the myc has actually slowed down dramatically compared to how it was first running/spreading through the chips & egg carton pieces)
Does myc eat up/colonize grain a lot quicker than wood?
To get some grain going...Can I just take a single woodchip (or few) that's fully covered in myc and place it in a bag or jar full of hydrated grain?
What sort of grain is ideal?
-OM
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openmind
curious


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NothingsChanged said: Open m: Any grain works plus it colonizes super fast compared to wood, Bigger like rye isn't as messy as WBS IMO. Just make sure what ever your doing to expand your spawn, Time it so it has colonized everything in the bag/jar and has had a chance to consolidate awhile(Weekorso) before spawning outdoors. Seems to make the transition better? Also with grain you can't mess with it as readily unless you use sterile/clean working style. Not as forgiveing as your wood. Plus there is a super high chance of introducing a contam because your grain will be pressure cooked and your woodchips where started with woodchips from the wild.
Old wood/mycilium cleaned up on ager and then ager to knock up grain is what comes to my mind?
Disclaimer
I'm just brain storming here. I am not a trusted cultivator.
Thanks for your words dude, I appreciate it.
I've never worked with agar but that's one thing that came to mind...going from the old wood/myc > agar/cleaned up > grain.
I figured there would be a higher chance for contam doing that...I don't have a pressure cooker and I'm kinda broke at the moment so I'm thinking I'll just have to stick with wood for now....bummer.
-OM
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openmind
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Re: The Official Woodlovers Thread [Re: openmind] 1
#24976818 - 02/08/18 04:05 PM (5 years, 11 months ago) |
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openmind said: ....The chips I previously used, the myc ran through them very quickly....like each day I could see quite a bit of new growth as the myc spread across them. But the myc doesn't seem to want anything to do with these new apple-wood chips.....
Not that anyone cares lol, just mentioning this for anyone else that ends up going through this thread in the future so folks know apple wood will work.....
A little while back I mentioned how I put some apple wood chips in my bags of spawn and the mycelium wasn't spreading onto it at all, even after a week+ the myc didn't want anything to do with the new chips.
Well, over the past several days the myc has started to spread across and gobble up the apple-wood chips just fine....it took a while to get going though.
Will an increase in temperature increase the growth rate of the mycelium? Or is it not that dramatic of a difference? I'm thinking about placing the bags in a somewhat warmer location than they are now (right now they're around 65F, +/- a few degrees).
-OM
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openmind
curious


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Re: The Official Woodlovers Thread [Re: Ferather]
#24986430 - 02/11/18 03:25 PM (5 years, 11 months ago) |
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I asked this a page back but maybe no one saw....Does temperature and/or light influence the growth rate of mycelium? (psilocybe allenii)
My bags of woodchip spawn are sitting mostly at a cool room temperature, 60f to 65f at the most...and they are in a spot that's pretty dark most of the day.
Would putting the bags in a location that's warmer make any difference in how quickly the myc grows? And does light play a factor as well?
-OM
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openmind
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Re: The Official Woodlovers Thread [Re: Pokepoler]
#24999677 - 02/16/18 07:35 PM (5 years, 11 months ago) |
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Pokepoler said: So I put some p. Allenii myceliated chips into a jar with sterile moist alder chips. Will this make some spawn?
It should , maybe a bit slowly bit it'll do. That's basically all I've done.
Back in December I pulled up a few chunks of colonized woodchips from a patch (allenii), then tossed those chunks of myc/wood chips into a ziploc bag with a layer of hydrated woodchips (I just soaked the woodchips in hot water for a few hours, so mine weren't even sterile)....I started with about a handful of myc/woodchips, and now I have about a 1/2 gallon size chunk of colonized myc & woodchips, really thick & healthy looking myc.
Depending how active/aggressive the myc is....within a week, if not a day or two, you should start to see the myc spreading onto the new chips.
From what I gather, going about it this way seems relatively slow going at creating spawn compared to starting with grain...but it is one way to get some mycelium growing. I don't have any way to sterilize at the moment so this is how I'm going about it, otherwise I'd be trying to get the myc onto some grain then using that colonized grain to expand onto woodchips.
-OM
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openmind
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Re: The Official Woodlovers Thread [Re: Adas]
#25021350 - 02/25/18 04:58 PM (5 years, 10 months ago) |
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Adas said: Openmind, you could try fractional sterilization. If you don't prep the grain too wet, it works fine.
Thanks for the heads up.
I've never heard of that before but kinda figured what it is just by the term, I did a quick search about it and it's more or less what I thought it was.
I'm going to do some more reading about it...but any teks or tips/suggested ways to go about doing this?
-OM
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openmind
curious


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Re: The Official Woodlovers Thread [Re: Adas]
#25078104 - 03/20/18 04:06 PM (5 years, 10 months ago) |
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Adas said: I have noticed something with P. serbica I haven't noticed with any other woodlover - after full colonization of woodchips, the myc won't continue growing if you add new chips on top. SUPER strange, but it happened to me. No growth even after 7 days. The myc is still alive, but no new growth....
That's kinda what happened to the allenii myc that I have growing on wood chips in bags.
The myc had more or less fully colonized the chips that were in the bag, I added another layer of fresh chips and the myc didn't want anything to do with the new wood chips. The myc was still nice and healthy looking it just wasn't spreading anymore, and it wasn't leaping onto the new wood at all. It took a while, I think around 10+ days, but it eventually started to spread out and grow again onto the new wood.
-OM
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