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OfflineGitchBoi
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Gitch's Growlog
    #26735934 - 06/11/20 02:50 AM (3 years, 7 months ago)

Apologies if this post is in the wrong place. I deleted my first post as I thought there was a subforum for growlogs. Turns out it's in the archive, and you can't post to it. So I'm posting again here.

Before I get into the details of what will hopefully be an informative and successful cultivation journey, I wanted to start with a story. In fact, before I do that, I wanted to show a picture.

This is a photo I took a couple of days ago. It was taken in a park very close to my house. While we have been in lockdown due to covid, I have been walking through this park a lot. I had been hunting for well over two weeks with nothing to show for it, so the mushrooms growing in that park became a source of frustration for me. There were a lot, and I knew they weren't anything active.

One day, I decided to slow down and explore that small park a little further. I noticed this patch in a more secluded corner. They looked different to the rest, but nothing like the subs I had seen so many hunters proudly showing images of. I photographed them, with the intention of posting an ID thread, but I forgot about the photo and didn't.

That night, and the next day, I started seeing pictures people were posting of mushrooms, and others identifying them as subs. I knew I had seen some like it, but I couldn't remember where. I looked on my phone and voila, that photo jumped out at me. It was in my local park! Down I went, in the evening with only my phone for a torch (I'd been going there that much that I knew exactly where they were) and picked as many larger ones as I could, leaving the younger ones for a future visit. I came back, requested an ID, and low and behold, I had indeed found subs!

This was most pleasing, for several reasons. The extremely close distance to my house (sub 300m) was important, without doubt, but perhaps more important was something I personally have been struggling with about hunting. Something about it feels wrong. It's not the legality or lack of. It's the fact that I feel like I'm intruding into another community. In a strange kind of 'village dwellers' way, whenever I travel to another park, I feel like I'm disrespecting someone else's patch. This is a park that is created, not for me or my community, but for another community. Why is it my place to travel from another suburb and take from them?

But I did it anyway, despite feeling uncomfortable. I always made sure I cut the stems off at the base, to keep the patch alive for myself and others in future weeks/years.

Discovering a patch as close to my house as this felt like I had discovered 'my community patch'. It was the most amazing feeling once I realised that there was a healthy patch growing in the playground my children had grown up playing in. It felt very 'cycle of life'. I had all but decided at that point that I wouldn't go hunting elsewhere any more. That I would just harvest sustainably from my community patch, and venture no further than my own street.

Well, today I went to see how the younger mushrooms had been doing. Much to my utter shock and disgust, I found the entire patch had been torn up, mycelium and all. At first, I wondered if it was blackbirds, but in time I just had a sinking feeling about it. The increased number of people I had seen wandering around bark gardens in the evening lately has been proof that I am not alone in my hunting. It's a nice fairytale to think that everyone will be respectful and pick by cutting stems, but in this world, some people are just dicks.

I felt, and still feel awful about the whole thing. Many would brush it off and move on, searching for the next patch. For me, this feels different. These people, who I imagine came from another community, invaded my community and likely destroyed our patch. All for a small handful of young subs.

At this point in the season, hunting for more mushrooms doesn't feel right any more. I've managed to score myself 16 grams of dried subs, which is far more than I thought I'd get. Clearly though, there is something about moving into other communities that just doesn't vibe with me. I felt crappy whenever I did it, and I feel worse when it's done to me.

So, now I am using this experience as a motivator to ensure I stay in touch with these lovely fungi through my own efforts. Hopefully, this will result in a much better outcome.

I saved some stem butts from a few semi-local mushrooms I picked on the weekend. I placed them in wet cardboard after boiling it for about 20 minutes, and this is how they are currently faring:


My home propagation method has yet to be determined. There are two critical success factors for it:

1) It must be discreet
2) It must be able to survive the prospect of me not being in my house for at least two weeks in December/January

I'm picking it's going to need to be an outdoor patch. Subs appear to struggle indoors. Besides, growing indoors technically doesn't comply with CSF #1 above anyway.

Also, when I've grown other illegal plants in the past, I always like to do things to increase my odds. I don't intend on running as many trials as the likes of Olive have done, but I would like to produce a lot of spawn, and potentially store some in case my growing flops abysmally. I also have several spore prints as an absolute last resort, though it's fair to say I'm investing all my effort into propagating from mycelium for now.

So I'm thinking of propagating as much mycelium as I realistically can, before I really need to start putting it in the ground. Probably via an intermediate process of woodchips, sawdust, potting mix etc. Then, I imagine I will configure several different outdoor beds, in locations out of direct sunlight, prone to rain, and somehow disguised.

I'll be reading more and more on this topic, now I have time to focus on it rather than traveling all over the city hunting mushrooms. Hopefully I'll get more ideas on how this would work best for me.


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OfflineGitchBoi
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Re: Gitch's Growlog [Re: GitchBoi]
    #26738661 - 06/12/20 04:47 AM (3 years, 7 months ago)

Today I did a couple more things, one for closure and one for revenge, after having my local patch torn up.

I went back to the patch today, in the middle of the rain, to inspect the damage more closely. Where the subs were, I saw mycelium on the wood chips. I decided that the difference between leaving them there versus taking them back home was essential whether I wanted to risk the regrown patch falling victim to the same process or not. I took them back, along with a few other bark chips. These have been placed in a sealed, sterilised container, which is sitting inside. I'm really just interested to see whether the mycelium will spread. Not totally sure what I will try next. I'm torn between letting the spawn grow inside versus just putting it straight outside and seeing if it takes.

I also went for a wander to my semi-local park - the one where I had my first find - and pulled a couple of small, slug-eaten subs. The butts have gone into my cardboard for the weekend, and on Sunday afternoon I'll try my next step, which will be to try colonising wood chips and a broken pine cone I took from a pine forest yesterday.

So, all up, there are three separate plans so far. I have also selected at least one outdoor garden, underneath a rhododendron bush. Lots of shade and discreet.


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OfflineGitchBoi
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Re: Gitch's Growlog [Re: GitchBoi]
    #26743193 - 06/14/20 02:02 AM (3 years, 7 months ago)

My cardboard tek is going swimmingly well, and showing some really nice lines of mycelium after just one week:




After the kick in the guts I endured after my local patch was destroyed, it feels quite symbolic to see the life of the mushrooms persisting.

I have decided that the wood chips I borrowed from the playground where the chaos took place last week can go in a cardboard sandwich. I've picked out any wood chips that I saw with obvious signs on mycelium, and laid them mycelium down on wet cardboard, then placed another layer of cardboard above them, then place a whole lot of wood chips on top. It's a bit tricky to get at to inspect, but it's in a clear plastic container, so I might be able to see white spots on the underside of the cardboard if it decides to take. I'll keep 'burping' it every day or so for the next 3 or 4 days, then I might see what I can see.

Today I went and bought some Manuka wood chips. These are meant for smoking fish. They are a lot smaller than those in playgrounds and gardens, but not as small as sawdust. They are soaking in water for the next two weeks or so. By that stage, the mycelium above might be ready to inoculate it.



I'm also getting closer to settling on a place where I will grow one of my patches. The site I had in mind (under the rhododendron) carries too much risk. It's close to the fence between my and my neighbour's property. The fence is well past its use by date, and needs to be replaced. My neighbour and I have already agreed we will go 50/50 on the cost, but as yet nothing has happened. At some stage, however, that will change. But I just don't want to risk having construction workers trampling over my precious patch.

There is a redundant garden behind my garage, which has nothing growing in it except for weeds. I think that would make a great site.


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OfflineManifoldPrime
Per Ardua Ad Astra
I'm a teapot


Registered: 03/16/17
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Re: Gitch's Growlog [Re: GitchBoi]
    #26743288 - 06/14/20 03:43 AM (3 years, 7 months ago)

:pipesmoke: camping to see what happens :pipesmoke:


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OfflineBiscuits
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Registered: 06/29/17
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Re: Gitch's Growlog [Re: ManifoldPrime]
    #26743307 - 06/14/20 04:06 AM (3 years, 7 months ago)

I did something similar, rescued a patch of subs before destruction. I took the mycelium, buried it beneath some brown mulch and soil outside, and gave it a good watering for a week. Next year they fruited nicely and have been ever since, here is their 3rd year fruiting:



They have been slowing down though, possibly running out of food, so I covered them again in about 150 litres of different wood mulch and will leave them for next year now...

If you are opting for the indoor option, I have found that they do enjoy growing on brown mulch, even indoors at 25 degrees with my cubes. Here is the jar (first pic is like 3 days in, last pic is 1 month of growth) that I am trying to transfer to a shoebox with eucalyptus, brown and hardwood mulch to see if it will grab a hold of it (still trying to keep it inside):



That being said, I think they will still need to end up outdoors to fruit next winter... So if you like you could try growing them indoors for a while before you spawn to outside.


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OfflineGitchBoi
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Re: Gitch's Growlog [Re: Biscuits]
    #26818167 - 07/11/20 08:03 PM (3 years, 6 months ago)

My current view is that cardboard tek seems like an unnecessary step. I say this, because this is what my current indoor mycelium spawning container looks like.



This is purely from stuffing stem butts into the substrate, and also from some growing directly off wood chips. Most my cardboard mycelium has stalled. I think it may have gotten too wet. But there is still one patch that's alive and growing:



Since I've been making a few visits to my trusty local patch, I've been letting the stem butts work their magic. Here's some that I put in between two sheets of coconut fibre. I also threw in a bit of garden mix, just to see whether the mycelium likes it or not. It seems to, although I do think it's still a little too wet:



I'm not really doing anything with any of these, other than opening them every couple of days, and misting every week or two when I think they look too dry.

But I decided I would hedge my bets somewhat, and today went looking for any plants containing P.Angulospora. I've been around a few stores in the past, but today I gave it a really good go. At only my second store, I stumbled upon this beauty:



I have no idea how to take care of angulospora, so I'll have to do some reading. But expect to see two species covered in this growlog :smile:


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OfflineGitchBoi
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Re: Gitch's Growlog [Re: GitchBoi]
    #26851049 - 07/29/20 02:10 AM (3 years, 5 months ago)

Been working steadily on the components for my ongoing supply of shrooms. I'm now running four different mycelium containers, plus my angulospora pot.

  • One features stem butts from the most solid patch I found, growing in old woodchips and eucalyptus leaves, with a hint of compost.
  • One features stem butts from the same patch, growing in coconut fibre with my own woodchips scattered on top
  • One features stem butts from the closest patch to my house (the one I got sentimental about) growing in woodchips and a little compost
  • One is using the cardboard tek that I have all but given up on, stuffed under some wood chips just to see what happens.


I mowed my lawns on the weekend, and put all the clippings in a large pile in the corner of my garden. I've been doing an experiment, leaving reasonably fresh wood chips in the middle of it, hoping to speed up the aging process.

Also, today I went for a walk and collected some horse manure, which I'll eventually feed to my angulospora. I've put that in the decomposing grass as well, hoping to speed that up. The pile is incredibly hot in the middle (the thing was steaming).

While I was out, I found some trimmed branches from pine trees lying on the ground, so I lugged a couple the 2.5 km home, and have mulched them. Subs seem to love pine, apparently, so I'll find a way to use them somehow.


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OfflineGitchBoi
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Re: Gitch's Growlog [Re: GitchBoi]
    #27277509 - 04/21/21 10:07 PM (2 years, 9 months ago)

Well, I thought I would celebrate the fact that this place is back online again by giving something back. I owe a great deal of gratitude to the work of Olive in helping guide my first grow of P. subaeruginosa.

Through June/July of 2020, I had a few finds, which I put in cardboard to propagate the mycelium. This gave good results initially but then stalled. I think I probably just let the cardboard get too wet.

In July, I had my last find of the season. I didn't know it at the time of course. I added the stem butts to the wood chips I talked about earlier. Pasteurised chips made up of Pine, Manuka, and random hardwoods from branches lying around my yard. All were aged by soaking in water, and in some cases, placing in the centre of a compost heap to try and accelerate the process. I also added small amounts of compost to the wood chips. I then sealed the chips, compost, and stem butts in a plastic container and placed up high in a cupboard in the dark.

The first problem I had was cobweb mould. This seemed to be particularly prominent around the pine needles. I'm not sure why this happened, because I certainly boiled the chips for a very long time. However, I think in hindsight the chips were still a bit wet.

I killed the cobweb mould by leaving the containers outside with the lid off, and in direct sunlight, for a few days. Once I was happy I could see no trace, I then re-misted and re-sealed it, then placed it back where it was before.

I still had occasional battles with cobweb mould (some containers more so than others) but this process was largely a hands-off one. At times, I would see other fungi that had fruited in the container, which I would remove, along with the wood it grew from.

As the contents of the containers became more and more colonised, I diluted them with more wood chips, at a ratio of about 50/50, breaking up the existing substrate to help it spread better. After doing this, one of my containers developed a big issue with cobweb mould, and I was unable to shake it. So I caved and planted it outside in a garden of wood chips. This is producing a lot of fungi, but not a single sub. I'm not sure what went wrong there.

I started with two containers (divided up by patch location). I then divided this into four, and one of the four was planted out. The two that I still had both containers for seemed to be a lot healthier than the other one.

This was the configuration they stayed in over summer. The temps here were generally between 25-27 most days, and the myc seemed happy enough.

Not too long before I planted them out, I decided I would be keeping two containers in plastic, and planting one out. The two in plastic were again broken up, and layered in a lasagne of chips and sterilised dirt (microwaved for several minutes). It went back into the cupboard for roughly a month of so.

As it started to cool here (temps dropping under 20 most days) I relocated the three containers to their home. The sole remaining one from one patch was planted directly into the soil and is yet to fruit. The two others were placed 'in' the ground. That is, I dug holes perfectly sized so they can sit flush with the surface. I did this to try and avoid side pinning, and to make it easier to add a top layer of protective mulch. Unlike a wild patch, the very top of containers contains raw mycelium, and I wanted to try and protect this. So I collected some eucalyptus leaves and added some sawdust from recent renovations.

I then left these containers for about a month or so. I honestly can't remember what the overnight temperatures have been, but there was a bit of dew around most mornings. Then it rained quite heavily for a few days, and voila...

Here's what I saw a week ago:

Pins were evident on top, but hard to see against the orange sawdust.


Here's what one container looks like today:




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