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MadHatter333
We Are All Mad Here

Registered: 09/20/17
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Loc: Your Mom’s Rabbit Hole
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Gourmet/Medicinal Noob Questions
#26933959 - 09/13/20 06:22 PM (3 years, 5 months ago) |
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Hello all you Shroom Heads!
I have been reading a good amount of info on growing gourmet/medicinal mushrooms. I would like to try five different kinds including king oyster, pink oyster, lions main, reishi and shiitake. I’m on the search for a greenhouse that I can have outside. I live in the PNW, could I grow all the mushrooms I listed outdoors?
Was wondering what y’all recommend for bags. I have jars with sfds that I’ll be using for grain spawn but need bags for substrate. I’m low on funds so I’m waiting to get my cultures until I have the cash. I have a decent amount of equipment already, I know I’ll need some new things though.
If you’re growing outside in a greenhouse I’m assuming you don’t need a fan or is it still needed? I’m also wondering what a good misting set up would be. I’m not going to get a super big greenhouse, just enough for 2-4 shelving units. I’d like to know what I need so I can look out for cheap deals and get my stuff gradually.
Any help on where to start would be much appreciated. I have a PC, stock pot, oats, wbs, agar equipment, SAB and a few other items. Would I be able to work in a SAB using bags and all? This is all new to me so I’ll ask some questions as I go along. I do however plan to research as much as possible.
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sendmehummus
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Re: Gourmet/Medicinal Noob Questions [Re: MadHatter333]
#26934102 - 09/13/20 07:43 PM (3 years, 5 months ago) |
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I do bag inocs in my SAB. It's not enjoyable.. but it's absolutely doable. Only thing I can recommend is calla round and see of you can find some local soy hulls so you can make masters mix. You'll be alright with oats or wheat bran but soy hulls are sooooo cheap when you find a good source. 😊
-------------------- Be patient and keep it simple.
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Forrester
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Re: Gourmet/Medicinal Noob Questions [Re: sendmehummus]
#26934427 - 09/14/20 01:41 AM (3 years, 5 months ago) |
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The question is why you want to spawn your bags in a SAB. If that's all you got and no hood, just leave out the supplementation and spawn in open air.
The time you save from not supplementing and sterilizing whole bags can just be spent making more bags.
I don't know if you can get fuel pellets where you are but look into it, if you can that's what you want for a substrate.
-------------------- Repugnant is a creature who would squander the ability to lift an eye to heaven, conscious of his fleeting time here. ------------------- Have some medicinal mushrooms and want to get the most out of them? Try this double extraction method.
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MadHatter333
We Are All Mad Here

Registered: 09/20/17
Posts: 4,650
Loc: Your Mom’s Rabbit Hole
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Re: Gourmet/Medicinal Noob Questions [Re: Forrester]
#26934474 - 09/14/20 03:26 AM (3 years, 5 months ago) |
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I was reading that I need to supplement my sub bags (hwp) with ether soy hulls or rice bran. Wouldn’t they not produce as well if I didn’t supplement with something? My SAB is a pretty good size, I was just thinking of bleaching my surface and sab then putting the bags on the surface and tossing the sab over it quick with bags and spawn underneath.
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Forrester
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Re: Gourmet/Medicinal Noob Questions [Re: MadHatter333]
#26935369 - 09/14/20 03:09 PM (3 years, 4 months ago) |
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I never supplemented. I never grew commercially though, just as a hobby.
If you look at all the pics in my gallery not a single one was supplemented. It's up to you though, if you care that much about yields go for it! I just like to eat the mushrooms. To me it's easier to just grow more blocks than sterile-spawn bags.
-------------------- Repugnant is a creature who would squander the ability to lift an eye to heaven, conscious of his fleeting time here. ------------------- Have some medicinal mushrooms and want to get the most out of them? Try this double extraction method.
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sendmehummus
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Re: Gourmet/Medicinal Noob Questions [Re: Forrester]
#26935414 - 09/14/20 03:31 PM (3 years, 4 months ago) |
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Interesting. I've never considered NOT sterilizing bags and not supplementing them. Just figured that was always a necessity. Do you pasteurize your HWP for this? I also only grow to eat, just always thought supplementing would give me the most I can get. Gotta admit my least fav part of this hobby is cooking bags though.. takes forever.. if I can get away with omitting that step I'll try anything. Also that would mean I could reuse bags for much longer. Anything else we need to know for this non-supplemented method?
-------------------- Be patient and keep it simple.
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Forrester
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Re: Gourmet/Medicinal Noob Questions [Re: sendmehummus] 1
#26935569 - 09/14/20 04:55 PM (3 years, 4 months ago) |
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Quote:
sendmehummus said: Gotta admit my least fav part of this hobby is cooking bags though.. takes forever.. if I can get away with omitting that step I'll try anything. Also that would mean I could reuse bags for much longer. Anything else we need to know for this non-supplemented method?
Oh my friend do we have the tek JUST for you 
Trust me, this is the easiest, most fun way to grow edibles.
Lipa's bucket tek
-------------------- Repugnant is a creature who would squander the ability to lift an eye to heaven, conscious of his fleeting time here. ------------------- Have some medicinal mushrooms and want to get the most out of them? Try this double extraction method.
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sendmehummus
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Re: Gourmet/Medicinal Noob Questions [Re: Forrester]
#26935921 - 09/14/20 09:01 PM (3 years, 4 months ago) |
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Right, pretty straightforward just add boiling water to your pellet bags. Not sure why its called a bucket tek though ha. I will have to give this a try sometime. But Ive got two 50lb bags of soy hulls to make use of too soooo.. I wonder if anyone has ever tried only sterilizing your supplement and then adding the sterilized supp to pasteruized HWP. Seems like extra work but think about it, you could do 4 "5 lb" supplement blocks in the PC and use them to supplement 8 HWP blocks. Getting double the amount of bags per PC cycle. Getting the water content right would be tricky but not impossible.. could possibly even PC dry supplement and just add your water content later in one step like normal. Curiouss if it would stay clean. Anyway thanks for the info man!
-------------------- Be patient and keep it simple.
Edited by sendmehummus (09/14/20 09:14 PM)
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Forrester
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Re: Gourmet/Medicinal Noob Questions [Re: sendmehummus]
#26936299 - 09/15/20 02:37 AM (3 years, 4 months ago) |
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Yeah I'm not much help re: soy hulls but you should ask SHROOMSISAY I think he uses them a lot!
-------------------- Repugnant is a creature who would squander the ability to lift an eye to heaven, conscious of his fleeting time here. ------------------- Have some medicinal mushrooms and want to get the most out of them? Try this double extraction method.
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sporecap
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Re: Gourmet/Medicinal Noob Questions [Re: Forrester]
#26936792 - 09/15/20 10:48 AM (3 years, 4 months ago) |
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Quote:
Forrester said: I never supplemented. I never grew commercially though, just as a hobby.
If you look at all the pics in my gallery not a single one was supplemented. It's up to you though, if you care that much about yields go for it! I just like to eat the mushrooms. To me it's easier to just grow more blocks than sterile-spawn bags.
 I fully agree, I also don't supplement my fuel pellet bags, but instead add more grain spawn so that I have about 15% grains in the final substrate. Nothing beats the convenience of not having to sterilize your substrate, which takes a lot of time and energy, and being able to spawn in open air Ofc I could grow much more bags by inocculating with less spawn and using supplements, but since I only grow for personal consumption or friends, this is more than enough.
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Forrester
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Re: Gourmet/Medicinal Noob Questions [Re: sporecap]
#26937082 - 09/15/20 01:34 PM (3 years, 4 months ago) |
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That's what I did for most of my grows, I used a full quart per bag. I should have mentioned that at that rate it basically IS supplementation
-------------------- Repugnant is a creature who would squander the ability to lift an eye to heaven, conscious of his fleeting time here. ------------------- Have some medicinal mushrooms and want to get the most out of them? Try this double extraction method.
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sendmehummus
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Re: Gourmet/Medicinal Noob Questions [Re: Forrester]
#26937241 - 09/15/20 02:34 PM (3 years, 4 months ago) |
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Thats true it basically is supplementing at that point, I havn't used anything other than a full qt jar in a long time anyway. 1/2 qt goes too slow and Ive had too many weak bags with 1/2, not worth it. My "what if" gears are now turning again though.. I wonder if adding a small percentage of soy hulls to my grain jars would boost yields for pasteurized HWP blocks. Ive got some experimenting to do it would seem.
-------------------- Be patient and keep it simple.
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Whyterye



Registered: 02/23/18
Posts: 1,218
Loc: Colorado
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Re: Gourmet/Medicinal Noob Questions [Re: sendmehummus]
#26938289 - 09/16/20 01:42 AM (3 years, 4 months ago) |
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So you just add boiling water to the fuel pellets in filter pouch bags then after they cool add grain spawn . Then is that gonna be the block they fruit off of ? Or am I missing a final step in how to make the fruiting block. Do I just take it out the bag and set it in a shoebox?
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Forrester
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Re: Gourmet/Medicinal Noob Questions [Re: Whyterye]
#26938296 - 09/16/20 01:46 AM (3 years, 4 months ago) |
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Quote:
Whyterye said: So you just add boiling water to the fuel pellets in filter pouch bags then after they cool add grain spawn . Then is that gonna be the block they fruit off of ? Or am I missing a final step in how to make the fruiting block. Do I just take it out the bag and set it in a shoebox?
Yep that's pretty much it. That is your block.
But no I wouldn't recommend taking it out of the bag. It depends on species, but you usually fruit right off the top, or cut x's or holes in the bag for fruits to come through. Stripping the whole bag is rarely recommended because it will lose a ton of moisture being exposed like that.
-------------------- Repugnant is a creature who would squander the ability to lift an eye to heaven, conscious of his fleeting time here. ------------------- Have some medicinal mushrooms and want to get the most out of them? Try this double extraction method.
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Whyterye



Registered: 02/23/18
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Re: Gourmet/Medicinal Noob Questions [Re: Forrester]
#26938301 - 09/16/20 01:51 AM (3 years, 4 months ago) |
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Dang thanks for the quick response! I'm wanting to grow shiitake. Do bigger blocks make bigger yields? Do you have a wood pellet brand / bag size recommendation? Can I just fruit the bags in my bedroom?
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Forrester
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Re: Gourmet/Medicinal Noob Questions [Re: Whyterye] 1
#26938318 - 09/16/20 02:09 AM (3 years, 4 months ago) |
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Bigger blocks aren't generally that advantageous, I'd stick with the standard 5.5lb that's in the bucket tek.
As far as pellets, whatever you can get - just look for 100% hardwood if possible.
You can certainly fruit indoors you'll just need a chamber of some sort set up. A cheap greenhouse always worked for me, $20-$40 on Amazon.
-------------------- Repugnant is a creature who would squander the ability to lift an eye to heaven, conscious of his fleeting time here. ------------------- Have some medicinal mushrooms and want to get the most out of them? Try this double extraction method.
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DutchMyco
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Re: Gourmet/Medicinal Noob Questions [Re: Forrester]
#26938794 - 09/16/20 10:41 AM (3 years, 4 months ago) |
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Smaller blocks usually give a higher BE, but are a lot of extra work compared to bigger blocks depending on your level of automatisation. That's why smaller scale commercial farmers often use pretty big blocks, while fully automated bottle farms use smaller bottles.
Not sure how well shiitake works in Lipa tek since it has a long incubation time, but maybe Forrester has experience with it. Shiitake does need to be taken out of the bag after browning.
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Forrester
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Re: Gourmet/Medicinal Noob Questions [Re: DutchMyco]
#26939360 - 09/16/20 04:11 PM (3 years, 4 months ago) |
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Shiitake works great on the bucket tek, and I found that 1 full quart of spawn was just about the right amount of supplementation - ie; my blocks would get a few mutants every now and then so it was right on the line.
Good point about shiitake, I forgot to mention that one does indeed need to be stripped of the bag
-------------------- Repugnant is a creature who would squander the ability to lift an eye to heaven, conscious of his fleeting time here. ------------------- Have some medicinal mushrooms and want to get the most out of them? Try this double extraction method.
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SoZo
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Re: Gourmet/Medicinal Noob Questions [Re: Forrester]
#27693712 - 03/13/22 11:50 AM (1 year, 10 months ago) |
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A couple of follow-up questions. Here's what I've done so far: Followed Lipa's Fuel pellet tek. Grow bags are 12x20 - .2 Micron filter - 8mm thick. Spawn grown out on Oats from Bod's Oat prep tek. Inoculated from agar.
Shiitake: Culture is from cloning a store-bought mushroom Does the filter patch provide all the fresh air needed for the spawn run? Are normal indoor conditions good for the spawn run? How to tell the spawn run is complete? Do I need a fan if fruiting outdoors in a small greenhouse? Should I try to wait for cooler weather before fruiting?
Oyster: Culture is from cloning a grey-looking oyster growing out of a beech tree in 40 degree weather. How to tell the spawn run is complete? Is it better to poke the holes in the spawn bag at the beginning of the spawn run?
Answers will be much appreciated!
-------------------- Curiosity killed the cat Satisfaction brought it back
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Forrester
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Re: Gourmet/Medicinal Noob Questions [Re: SoZo] 1
#27695196 - 03/14/22 03:36 PM (1 year, 10 months ago) |
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Shiitake - yes, yes, the block is fully popcorned and browned or 90 days has passed, no, depends on strain.
Oyster - people do it different ways, I like to cut holes at spawning. You can tell spawn run is done when the block is fruiting
-------------------- Repugnant is a creature who would squander the ability to lift an eye to heaven, conscious of his fleeting time here. ------------------- Have some medicinal mushrooms and want to get the most out of them? Try this double extraction method.
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