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MoonRune
Stranger
Registered: 12/05/23
Posts: 5
Last seen: 6 hours, 43 minutes
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I've been struggling with lion's mane, getting strange growth patterns
#28569559 - 12/05/23 09:14 AM (1 month, 23 days ago) |
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This is an imgur gallery demonstrating the strange growth patterns
I've been growing lion's mane for a few months now, and I get very inconsistent results. There seems to be 2 major types of mutation I get, one is bald, dense (like a sponge) and often discolored in a pink or brownish. The other is an airy and branching growth pattern, which is weird but okay to eat at least. The strange morphology seems to happen more often in one corner of the tent, but not exclusively. I still get good fruit, but probably about 30%+ is in an unsellable state.
I also grow golden and pearl oysters and have fantastic results with them, this trouble is exclusive to LM. Here's an example of my average oyster growth

Stats:
- Grow tent: 4.5' x 4.5'
- Air circulation: 200 CFM exhaust at top of the tent, constant. 100 cfm computer fan pushing into the fogger container constantly. In the past I had a desk fan in one corner of the tent pointing diagonally upward to recirculate fog, it didn't seem to help
- Humidity: Humidistat turns on fogger at 84.5% rH, turn off at 87%, then it crawls up to about 95% after the humidistat turns off. Right now the humidifier blows straight up with a 90 degree elbow from about 1' high. It's a custom humidifier box with a pond fogger.
- Temp: Between 65 and 75 depending on season, but consistent day-to-day
- Media: Blocks are 5 lbs Master's Mix (1 lb hardwood pellets, 1 lb soy hull pellets, 3 lbs water) inoculated with colonized millet
- Lighting: 2' walmart grow light hung from top, 10 hours/day
Here's a high quality MS paint pic of my setup

I've asked elsewhere, some suggestions I've heard but they didn't seem certain and I'd like more input before I start making changes
- Humidity is settling on the fruit and causing strange growth. Solution is maybe adding a circulation fan?
- This one makes sense to me, it would explain why the issues are more common in one corner. But I did have a fan circulating at one point and the growth patterns seemed roughly the same?
- Not enough fresh air exchange
- Makes less sense to me, 200 CFM constant is pretty decent for this size tent and my oysters grow great
- Lighting is too intense
- Makes sense to me potentially, would like some confirmation before I go through the trouble of changing the lighting though
- Contamination through air
- Might make sense, it is a basement grow
- Contamination by pests
- I have had the occasional fungus gnat outbreak and it does seem worse when they're present, but it still occurs when no flies are present
Thanks for reading this far! I'm planning to build a new tent in the near future and I want to figure out why this is happening before I start, so I'd appreciate any insight and suggestions!
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SonOfAHooker
chingchong
Registered: 03/11/19
Posts: 108
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Re: I've been struggling with lion's mane, getting strange growth patterns [Re: MoonRune]
#28584695 - 12/15/23 11:30 PM (1 month, 12 days ago) |
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If it's browning it might be drying out. Whatever air is being brought in with your negative pressure setup will not be humidified and could be an issue. Are you cutting a slit in the bag or opening the entire top?
I had spongy LM a few times and I believe it was either a moisture of FAE issue, or both. I don't recall, sorry. I also had issues when one of my nozzles clogged and shot water all over a few fruits.
Try moving your LM to another area of the tent.
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deadmandave
Slime


Registered: 02/16/10
Posts: 3,355
Loc:
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Re: I've been struggling with lion's mane, getting strange growth patterns [Re: SonOfAHooker]
#28585026 - 12/16/23 08:14 AM (1 month, 12 days ago) |
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You might have an issue with your culture. Even if it looks clean on agar, the symptoms of balding is something I saw when a culture I used was experiencing a couple other weird symptoms.
How do you plates look? Any discoloration with viewed from the bottom? And smells?
I got the balding and weird fruit growth to resolve by chasing the edge of the myc on agar and sending the culture thru non nutrient agar to try and out run whatever was causing the issue.
Also it could be the air is not fresh enough. Might need more fresh air and more air movement. Do you use a circulation fan? Wouldn't hurt to increase the fae and see what happens.
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MorePies
Stranger
Registered: 02/09/16
Posts: 808
Loc: TX
Last seen: 1 month, 1 day
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Re: I've been struggling with lion's mane, getting strange growth patterns [Re: deadmandave]
#28599156 - 12/26/23 09:21 PM (1 month, 1 day ago) |
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Balding and dense on top can be they're getting to much direct water mist.
Branching out is usually too high co2 or can be a bacterial culture riding along with your mycelium from plate.
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