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oO_wombat_Oo
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Cultivation of cauliflower mushroom (Sparassis) - tips?
#26959695 - 09/29/20 03:54 AM (3 years, 3 months ago) |
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Hey guys,
Despite my long membership here, I still count myself as a complete beginner when it comes to cultivation, so maybe I'm biting off a bit more than I can chew with this one.
I have read that growth parameters are similar to Maitake mushroom which is described in Stamet's Growing Gourment and Medicinal Mushrooms.
I don't have very advanced equipment (just basic do-it-yourself stuff - a pressure cooker, some jars, a home-made glove-box, etc).
My plan was to try and get mycelial growth on agar from the flesh of a wildly picked specimen, inoculate grain spawn and transfer to jars of sawdust for fruting using a "bottle technique".
Does that sound suitable? Any tips appreciated, keeping in my I'm a total amateur.
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junk_f00d


Registered: 12/04/15
Posts: 933
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Re: Cultivation of cauliflower mushroom (Sparassis) - tips? [Re: oO_wombat_Oo]
#26960417 - 09/29/20 02:20 PM (3 years, 3 months ago) |
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While I've never worked with this mushrooms specifically, you can clone mushrooms by taking a tissue sample and placing it on agar. The trick here is getting _clean_ tissue, which is often done by first dunking the mushroom in sterile water to 'knock off' a good number of the spores, then, the more important part, carefully seperating the mushroom in order to expose it's inner flesh (which has never been exposed to the dirty outside air, and so should be very clean) and then taking a small sample from the newly exposed area (with a flame sterilized blade, of course). Generally, the tissue is taken closer to the base of the mushroom.
This would be hard with a cauliflower mushroom, given it's shape, but I think you could do it. Just make tons of copies. Make sure you read up on general sterile technique (still air boxes (SAB), hand movements, etc. Rodger Rabbit has some good videos on cloning wild mushrooms and I've basically just recited what I learned from there.
Good luck!
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Forrester
aspiring sociopath


Registered: 02/05/13
Posts: 9,351
Loc: Northeast USA
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Re: Cultivation of cauliflower mushroom (Sparassis) - tips? [Re: junk_f00d]
#26960514 - 09/29/20 03:03 PM (3 years, 3 months ago) |
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I've never tried to fruit this one, although I used to have a culture... your plan sounds pretty solid. What kind of fruiting chamber are you going to be using?
The only issue I see with bottle technique fruiting is if it takes a while to get it to pin, it's hard to keep moist enough. That's why I prefer growing new species in bags, so I can try to let them pin invitro before exposing to fruiting conditions.
-------------------- 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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oO_wombat_Oo
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Registered: 06/04/01
Posts: 812
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Re: Cultivation of cauliflower mushroom (Sparassis) - tips? [Re: junk_f00d]
#26961350 - 09/30/20 01:49 AM (3 years, 3 months ago) |
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Quote:
Forrester said: I've never tried to fruit this one, although I used to have a culture... your plan sounds pretty solid. What kind of fruiting chamber are you going to be using?
The only issue I see with bottle technique fruiting is if it takes a while to get it to pin, it's hard to keep moist enough. That's why I prefer growing new species in bags, so I can try to let them pin invitro before exposing to fruiting conditions.
My plan was to control temperature and humidity with the most basic setup... that is one plastic container inside a slightly larger one with a bit of water and peroxide and an aquarium heater in it. The inner container is the fruiting chamber and stays dry (out of the water) but will still get the ambient heat and moisture from the water in the outside box. Probably have the lid on and a few holes stuffed with pillow casing in the sides of the outside box to allow for air-flow and just fruit the mushroom from a block.
How does that sound you reckon?
I hadn't really thought too much about that stage yet tbh, I haven't even found the wild specimen yet (but I usually find a few in the forest this time of year, so I'm just counting on it).
Quote:
junk_f00d said: While I've never worked with this mushrooms specifically, you can clone mushrooms by taking a tissue sample and placing it on agar. The trick here is getting _clean_ tissue, which is often done by first dunking the mushroom in sterile water to 'knock off' a good number of the spores, then, the more important part, carefully seperating the mushroom in order to expose it's inner flesh (which has never been exposed to the dirty outside air, and so should be very clean) and then taking a small sample from the newly exposed area (with a flame sterilized blade, of course). Generally, the tissue is taken closer to the base of the mushroom.
This would be hard with a cauliflower mushroom, given it's shape, but I think you could do it. Just make tons of copies. Make sure you read up on general sterile technique (still air boxes (SAB), hand movements, etc. Rodger Rabbit has some good videos on cloning wild mushrooms and I've basically just recited what I learned from there.
Good luck!
Yes, that is more or less my plan. They do actually have a very solid mass at the base of the mushroom that provides a large amount of solid material. I'm sure I can get a sterile wedge (or 100) from the center of that! 
I've actually never even used agar before. I have already made up 10 dishes though and started experimenting with them with other wild mushrooms as a learning exercise doing exactly what you described.
The way I understand it (Stamets writing is a little bit cryptic sometimes - I'm getting the info from the book mentioned in the OP) is that you try and get mycelial growth gowing, and if any contimation appears you carefully cut away what looks like an uncontaminated square and move it to a fresh dish and repeat until there's no more contaminents showing? Is that the rough idea?
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Forrester
aspiring sociopath


Registered: 02/05/13
Posts: 9,351
Loc: Northeast USA
Last seen: 24 days, 19 hours
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Re: Cultivation of cauliflower mushroom (Sparassis) - tips? [Re: oO_wombat_Oo]
#26961373 - 09/30/20 02:39 AM (3 years, 3 months ago) |
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Sounds like a plan, let us know how it goes!
-------------------- 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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oO_wombat_Oo
Stranger

Registered: 06/04/01
Posts: 812
Loc: NSW, Australia.
Last seen: 3 years, 27 days
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Re: Cultivation of cauliflower mushroom (Sparassis) - tips? [Re: Forrester]
#26962243 - 09/30/20 03:00 PM (3 years, 3 months ago) |
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Thanks for the support/advice.
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