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Mushrooms, Mycology and Psychedelics > Mushroom Cultivation
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Biochar * 5
    #29545278 -

Started playing with this stuff over winter in casings and substrate.

It's a bit of a learning curve to work with, as it needs to be rinsed well to remove ash and bring the pH down closer to neutral.  It also absorbs nutrients.  Which means it should be charged with nutrients prior to use in substrate.  Otherwise it will absorb nutrients from the substrate that the mycelium would usually have a chance to eat.


This is a cup of it I'm rinsing.


Drained.

I like the texture a lot.  And am using it in small amounts in casings still.  1 cup prepped casing to 1 tbl charged biochar.  The jury is still out on substrate, because I don't think I was charging it well during those experiments.

My biggest success with it so far has been rinsing it, charging it for four days in Mojave's liquid nutes (1ml each per cup of water), and then draining out the liquid and adding beneficial bacteria.  (An azo sp.  The product I use is Bigfoot root boost).

Here's some I charged for four days.




It's currently curing.  Meaning I drained off the excess water and am letting it dry a bit with a screened lid on.  I'll add some beneficial bacteria to half of it.

And then rerun my casing experiment with and without the beneficial bacteria to see if it's the bacteria or charged biochar that I'm seeing results from.

Anyway, denser pin set and much faster pin times.  The two I ran this way finished two flushes before other projects finished one.



I know a few other folks have used this stuff and I'm curious to hear more about those results.  And if anyone has a better understanding of cation exchange, maybe they can elaborate on the nutrient absorption properties.


--------------------
And if I only could
I'd make a deal with God
And I'd get him to swap our places
I'd be running up that road
Be running up that hill
With no problems

Edited by tree frog (04/12/26 07:57 AM)

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Re: Biochar [Re: tree frog]
    #29545331 -

:threadmonitor:


--------------------
“All Fungi are edible.

Some fungi are only edible once.”
― Terry Pratchett


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Re: Biochar [Re: Kloakk]
    #29545364 -

Oh I should add that the idea to use it as a habitat for pin inducing bacteria came from research papers.

Azo sp. produce indole-3-acetic acid.  Which is a root growth hormone. So there's been some good research done on it and biochar for agricultural applications.

But it turns out the same hormone also induces pins in mushrooms.

So this sort of application would probably be good for weed and other plants too.


--------------------
And if I only could
I'd make a deal with God
And I'd get him to swap our places
I'd be running up that road
Be running up that hill
With no problems

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Re: Biochar [Re: tree frog] * 2
    #29547406 -

After about four days of curing (sitting drained in a jar with a screened lid on it), the biochar no longer smelled like liquid nutrients.

So I split it into two smaller jars and added 1/4 tsp Azo to one of them (1/8th at a time, then stirred with a chopstick to evenly distribute).



I then marked the azo jar, put a lid on both, and shook well to distribute the bacteria and moisture.  Loosened the lids to allow GE during storage.



The plan is to add a tablespoon to one cup of prepped casing.  And do a side by side with two containers of a bisporus clone I have colonizing.  Once I get my pan india clone back on agar, I'll do 3 containers with a control on that one.

I will probably try it charged in substrate at some point too.  Since my first experiments may have been under charged.


--------------------
And if I only could
I'd make a deal with God
And I'd get him to swap our places
I'd be running up that road
Be running up that hill
With no problems

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Re: Biochar [Re: tree frog] * 1
    #29551072 -

Looking forward to seeing what you discover. The delta between charged char and the Azo will be interesting.

I have some biochar I was going to test with, glad I ran ran across this point for the rinse and charging tidbits alone!

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Re: Biochar [Re: CoolBreeze06]
    #29551109 -

It charges faster with liquid nutrients from what I read.  So if you're using compost or whatever to charge it, it might take quite a bit longer.


--------------------
And if I only could
I'd make a deal with God
And I'd get him to swap our places
I'd be running up that road
Be running up that hill
With no problems

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Re: Biochar [Re: tree frog]
    #29551713 -

I will be using Mojave’s liquid nute recipe, not compost/manure for me. You all have had enough success with the liquid nutes to convince me to go down that path.

My primary challenge will be humidity and airflow, but running modified bins works a treat for my cubes, hoping it will do the trick as a fruiting chamber for a few trays of pans.

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Re: Biochar [Re: CoolBreeze06]
    #29551760 -

Copelandia can definitely be done in bins like cubes.  The main thing to consider is mid 70s to encourage pin formation (doesn't have to be constant, just until first flush pins set).  And occassional humidity drops help with cap formation for cyans anyway (this can be done with a fan on a timer, five on, 2 hours off).

I did some later flush bisporus in a water dub tub, didn't bother with a fan, and the morphology was really good.  But they started in a warmer autochamber to get the pins going.


--------------------
And if I only could
I'd make a deal with God
And I'd get him to swap our places
I'd be running up that road
Be running up that hill
With no problems

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Re: Biochar [Re: tree frog]
    #29552527 -

:threadmonitor:

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Re: Biochar [Re: fungusul]
    #29552572 -

Yup. Gotta watch this. Glad you are separating the azo. I think it's a good idea but it's also interesting to see the combo in action. I see the azo has been producing overlay with your pans the same as my section zapotecorum. Biochar can do that too. From what I've read too much can be detrimental but too much of any good thing..

Sure do love your experiments TF. Good stuff.
:manofapproval:

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Re: Biochar [Re: the_chosen_one] * 1
    #29552725 -

The overlay hasn't been bad.  I've recased some standard peat cased pans that overlaid with grass and azo and more peat.

tree frog said:
Grass Seed Application and Tray Rescue

Sometimes they just want friends.





Two weeks of this after casing Mystery SA.

November 6th.



Recased.



Got my supplies together (bacteria optional but they love it).



Mixed the bacteria and grass seed in a jar.



Sprinkled on liberally and washed my hands.



Misted well to germinate the seeds.



Put a lid on loose and into a warm fruiting chamber while the seeds germinated.



Once the majority of the seeds did germinate, I took the lid off and gave it another mist.  Not pictured.

11 days later spotted a pin.



And this big cluster the next morning.



Today, 13 days after recasing.  It's not the best grow but it's better than a stalled tray.  Especially if I was wanting prints or just wanted to try them.  Or to put together an educational post to share with friends :smile:






Undercharged biochar in the substrate made stoney blobs in the substrate though.  At least with cyans.  Didn't overlay really, but did stall some projects.

Mostly I'd like to get away from grass and find another host for the azo.  Harvesting grass trays isn't fun.  Of course, I don't know yet if this application will have the same effect on stubborn species.

India pins well already.  The biochar/azo mostly seemed to speed it up.  Have a couple of more projects going on it with standard peat casing controls.  It will be a bit until I can separate them and test.  Need at least three containers if I want enough controls (but have four ochra colonizing and planning to do a bunch more India soon and a 'Spanish Bisporus' that might be the real tropicalis from photos etc).


--------------------
And if I only could
I'd make a deal with God
And I'd get him to swap our places
I'd be running up that road
Be running up that hill
With no problems

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Re: Biochar [Re: tree frog] * 1
    #29552791 -

I'll have to pick up some biochar. Used the last of mine for my plants lol.
The azo has become standard here with my section zapotecorum. While it's not a cure all for poor grain prep, I've noticed it's allowed me to get lazy and start casing with coir again. The overlay has been quite beneficial in reducing the trouble I have with surface contamination over time with coir.
Many section zapotecorum are extremely long lived and coir tends to pick up mildews, black molds, algae and even moss over time. It's allowed me to reach near 100% BE levels consistently when grain prep is spot on and even on the questionable side. Obvious grain prep issues that would normally trich before full colonization are still a roll of the dice but even that seems to pay off better with the azo.
I have yet to hit any detrimental levels of overlay like cubensae can experience, and everything seems to fruit as it normally would.
Now speed would be nice. :lol: Interesting observation on the undercharged biochar. I read something that said oyster cultivators were having trouble when they used too much but there was no mention of charging it.

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Re: Biochar [Re: the_chosen_one] * 1
    #29552808 -

Well it was pre-charged. But mostly with microbes and I sterilized them.  Anyway it seemed like it was leaching nutrients and then causing the mycelium to behave odd.

I used the same stuff in casing and didn't notice a positive or negative effect from it aside from improved texture.

And then I bought a big bag of uncharged.  Which is what I'm working with now.  I think uncharged in casing did okay, but the charged/azo mix took off and I mostly stopped paying attention to the other projects.

India pans are pretty quick.  I just harvested the third or fourth flush from the experimental trays and composted them.  Casing and sub looked fine still.  Just ran out of gas.

Looks like 27 days from casing to compost pile from my previous posts.

tree frog said:
Probably harvest these in the morning.





And more maturing.






This was the first flush.


--------------------
And if I only could
I'd make a deal with God
And I'd get him to swap our places
I'd be running up that road
Be running up that hill
With no problems

Extras: Filter Print Post Top
Re: Biochar [Re: tree frog] * 1
    #29554894 -

tree frog said:
Copelandia can definitely be done in bins like cubes.  The main thing to consider is mid 70s to encourage pin formation (doesn't have to be constant, just until first flush pins set).  And occassional humidity drops help with cap formation for cyans anyway (this can be done with a fan on a timer, five on, 2 hours off).

I did some later flush bisporus in a water dub tub, didn't bother with a fan, and the morphology was really good.  But they started in a warmer autochamber to get the pins going.


I’ve only some TTBVI and Eungai, we’ll see how it goes.

Appreciate all the work you’re putting in here, and thank you as always for sharing!

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Re: Biochar [Re: CoolBreeze06]
    #29554937 -

Oh I love sharing :smile:

I'm glad folks appreciate my experiments and ideas :heart:


--------------------
And if I only could
I'd make a deal with God
And I'd get him to swap our places
I'd be running up that road
Be running up that hill
With no problems

Extras: Filter Print Post Top
Re: Biochar [Re: tree frog] * 2
    #29565179 -

A couple of bisporus clones are pinning, both have charged biochar in the casing and one also has Azo.  Pinned in less than a week, which is quite quick for the species.  Two or three day casing run.

I'll have a better idea if the azo mattered in a day or two when the pins finish setting.

It's also possible and likely that there's a microbe profile in both casings, since neither was repastuerized after adding the charged biochar.

No regular casing control this run.  But I'm going to inoculate four bispo clones and four india clones today or tomorrow, and I will do a proper control with those.


--------------------
And if I only could
I'd make a deal with God
And I'd get him to swap our places
I'd be running up that road
Be running up that hill
With no problems

Extras: Filter Print Post Top
Re: Biochar [Re: tree frog]
    #29674112 -

tree frog said:
A couple of bisporus clones are pinning, both have charged biochar in the casing and one also has Azo.  Pinned in less than a week, which is quite quick for the species.  Two or three day casing run.

I'll have a better idea if the azo mattered in a day or two when the pins finish setting.

It's also possible and likely that there's a microbe profile in both casings, since neither was repastuerized after adding the charged biochar.

No regular casing control this run.  But I'm going to inoculate four bispo clones and four india clones today or tomorrow, and I will do a proper control with those.


Did you ever come to a conclusion on biochar? Charged vs not? Have you continued using it?

Apologies for the necrothread!

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Re: Biochar [Re: CoolBreeze06] * 1
    #29703191 -

Woah I thought I was the only one messing with biochar looks like I'm behind the giants tho :rockon:

I did a flash pasteurization and I didn't burn the biochar just tossed in ziplock for partial pasteurization

Got caerulescens going it's the fluffyer one and ps cyanescens going on biochar the woodlover definitely is colonizing faster though I'm not counting the caerulescens out as I've seen time n time again it can handle wetter subs and is pretty hardy




Aside from the birch woodchips spawn there's no added nutrients and I also did not adjust the pH or rinse it

as I assumed it might caused slowed growth though the fungi would naturally balance out the pH as it does with cold water pasteurizing straw with pickling lime then using that high ph straw as a sub

The straw sub with high ph did indeed take a little longer to colonize though ended up with about a 90/95% successful colonization and fruiting from the higher ph straw


--------------------





An enigma some caerulescens n a mono 😎

Edited by bloodssonnew (10/19/26 11:14 PM)

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Re: Biochar [Re: bloodssonnew]
    #29703658 -

Sorry I haven't been around much.

I do like biochar when it is charged.  And I was using it in my substrate more than casings.

Essentially the best homemade substrate I found was mimicking a weed soil product called bio flower.  1 part charged biochar, 1 part perlite, 4 parts mojave fert coir, 4 parts peat (pH balanced with 2:1 peat: calcium carb).  Pasteurized the whole thing.

It is a lot of prep. But it was very resistant to contamination and had a good balance of nutrients.

It does need to be compressed or it side pins a lot, which isn't how we typically do stuff for Pans.

And if you want to go to the consumer route of course just by the bioflower product and pasteurize it after bringing it to Field capacity 🤷‍♀️


--------------------
And if I only could
I'd make a deal with God
And I'd get him to swap our places
I'd be running up that road
Be running up that hill
With no problems

Extras: Filter Print Post Top
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