Ghia's "Tidalwave" Mutant Blob Thread (aka "Brainiac" substrain stabilization experiment)
Those of you who know me well know I have a love for the truly exotic. Well, I have a new project to work on... These incredibly gnarly mutant blob genetics were donated (for scientific purposes) by SWIM (not someone from Shroomery, so please be kind admins).
Some back story of the Tidalwave strain for those who aren't aware, this strain is "B+" and "Penis Envy" genetics crossed. There are others working on the stabilization of the Tidalwave strain that have genetics ranging from normal cube taxonomy to fat stiped PE-like fruits with a slightly larger cap, that produce more spores than PE.
SWIM however got this funky brain-like mutation, that apparently is much more potent than a normal cube. And maybe more than PE... An interesting difference (he says) is that the effects are more like Ecstasy (with visuals) than normal cube trips. SWIM has shared photos from repeating flushes that continued to produce these blobs. There are a few other people working on this as well, none of which are from here. SWIM is currently working on the backstory for me to share here. I will edit the OP when he provides the text and pics for me.
My interest in this substrain is mostly the fruit formations, which seem to form like the folds in a brain. It has as of yet not produced spores, which is another goal of mine. I will also be experimenting with a few different fruiting methods and substrates to see if that effects fruit formation. The end goal is to produce a stable mutant that can produce a small amount of spores and be fruited like a "Lion's Mane" or "Hen of the Woods".
So, without further adieu... Let me introduce the star of this show..... Brainiac! Moving forward, here are my first steps I will be taking. Pasty's "No-pour" tek is a great method, but I prefer the glass half-pint Kerr brand jars and a simple modified lid. I'll start of by describing my agar method. I wrote my agar recipe on the lid of the agar jar so that I quit forgetting it.
This has been scaled so that it can be used for a large amount of dishes, or just a few. The recipe is:
1 part grain-soak water to 9 parts clean water.
1 heaping 1/8 tsp of agar powder per jar (2g per 100ml of broth).
Easy! I like that the myc starts off on the same nutrient profile as the grains it'll be transferred to later, plus you don't have to mess with any other nutrients bases (nasty malt extract, etc)
I keep my GS water in the freezer and just thaw some off in the microwave as needed. For this small application, I used a syringe to squirt 2.5ml of raw GS water into each jar. I then added the agar powder and hot clean water. For larger scale I usually mix the hot and GS waters in a jar, then use a large syringe to measure 25ml of "broth" into each jar after putting the powder in. Use a spoon to stir the contents, then PC for 30 minutes at 15 PSI. I don't often get to use my small electric PC, but when I do it's awesome!
While I've got the lil' PC out, I'm doing a few half-pint grain jars as well. Two will be used for G2G, and two I will case and attempt to fruit directly from the jars. This batch of grains is red milo with a dash of coffee in the grain soak water, PC'd at 15 PSI for 60 minutes. Next batch of grains I will be returning to my preferred mix of red milo/fescue grass seed at 1:1 ratio by volume (not weight).
I will be updating in the OP as I go, so make sure you re-check it to see progress. To be clear, this is a blob mutation, NOT a sclerotia. Cubensis do not produce sclerotia...
UPDATE: 9/14/18Colonizing wonderfully, just look at those rhizos!!!
UPDATE: 9/17/18It's finally transfer day! Took some T5 samples from the ropey rhizos in the first pic, then noc'd the 3 jars of my T4 culture to grain (1:1 milo/grass seed. One dish is a T5 transfer with samples from three T4 dishes, to see if the cloned tissue is a monoculture, or if the consecutive transfers has allowed genetic variances. The new round of agar was mixed with half my new normal nutrient level (1:25 instead of 1:12.5, hoping that the lower nutrient makes the myc go even more rhizo.
UPDATE: 10/14/18This myc is just incredible! Contrary to usual, the myc gets more rhizo the more nutrients you give it.
Here are the three cased half-pint jars of straight grain. They started pinning about 1-1.5 weeks after I cased it.
I've got six 5 pounds bags of verm/perlite substrate colonizing now as well.
UPDATE: 10/21/18UPDATE: 10/26/18UPDATE: 11/1/18UPDATE: 11/4/18So, after 25 days of fruiting I decided to call the "Brainiac" test jars done. I used a sprayer to remove the casing material, and broke up the fruits to clean them better. Got just under 70g wet weight. I'm also dehydrating the colonized milo substrate to test the myc for micro-dosing viability.
What did I learn most from the test jars? Don't use a casing with the "Brainiac", and use a large enough substrate to produce larger blobs. Otherwise the time it takes to fruit them isn't worth the harvest.
Next for the Brainiac will be fruiting 5lb verm/perlite blocks in filter patch bags. Updates will follow in the OP again when I have more to update.
UPDATE: 11/11/18And we continue.... I ended up having to get a 4'x4'x6.5' Mylar grow tent to house my new automated martha and storage shelving to keep proper colonizing and fruiting temps. I added a string of green LED's to the martha because of this
great article on the effects of monochromatic LED lighting. I highly recommend reading it. In fact, a couple days after adding it is when I noticed all the "Brainiac" blocks where covered in hyphal knots and pins.
The 9 blocks on the top three shelves in the martha are the "Brainiac" blocks. Sorry about the striping in the photos, it's the effect of the blue and green lighting.
UPDATE: 11/22/18Here's some fin pin porn!
Zoom in, my camera is a decent one.
UPDATE: 12/4/18These things are SOOOOO slow. Getting a couple good formations though. I do seem to be getting "fuzzy feet" on the blocks, which I'm assuming is from too high RH. Moved the blocks to the bottom two shelves of the Martha since they seem to run a bit lower than the top two. I'll give them about 3.5 weeks left as that's when the next batch of PE will be going into the Martha and I'll need the space. Here's pics.
UPDATE: 12/10/18I had to pull the blocks as the fuzzy blobs showed themselves to be Mycogone (Wet Bubble). In reading more on the contamination I found that Mygone usually comes from too low moisture content (below 60%), and too low pasteurization temps. Mycogone dies at 140F (60C), so proper pasteurization temps should always kill it. Oh well, it was a fun grow for sure, and I got around 311 g wet weight. Will be drying the fruits to save for when I am in the mood to test potency. I very rarely partake anymore, just like growing weird things.... Have a couple friends who have been waiting patiently to guinea-pig for me though.
Here are pics of the two largest clusters w/ weights, and the last pic is all the rest of the small clusters.
My final assessment of the initial test grow is that as aggressive as the culture is it seems to require a bit higher level of nutrient than average. Since this substrate was straight verm/perlite, the only nutrient provided was the quart of grain spawn. I'd say any normal substrate recipe would be sufficient, and would probably love Hpoo (pretty sure others have tested Hpoo already). I still think the length of time it takes for fruit formation is a problem, and could result in higher chances of contamination after first flush. Another mildly annoying point is that with the lack of a cap, it is really hard to tell when the fruit is actually ready to pick or if it'll just keep growing. I hope to see someone test just how long a single cluster will continue to grow before it stalls or shows some sign of definitive "ripeness".
I have a test dish left that has begun pinning on the agar, so I'll probably keep working with it in the background for a while. It'll probably be a few months before I re-visit fruiting this weirdo, but when I do I'll post any results here.