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socialnorm77
forager


Registered: 05/20/05
Posts: 205
Loc: north east
Last seen: 10 years, 3 months
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Re: Morels, what have you all tried? [Re: veggie]
#5263231 - 02/04/06 04:25 PM (18 years, 3 months ago) |
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Quote:
veggie said: Here are a couple of cool pics from a commercial morel grower in Michigan:

It's a company called Diversified Natural Products, Inc. in Scottville, MI - http://www.dnpworld.com/
Read about them in Shroomery News - "Western Michigan facility grows morels indoors, year-round"
Excerpt:
Quote:
How to turn cells into morels At Diversified Natural Products Inc. in Scottville, growing morels requires many steps, perfect conditions and advanced scientific techniques.
The process starts with a substrate, or growing medium, made of leaf and bark composts, plus a second medium of steamed wheat mixed with sugar and yeast. The wheat is the food for the morel's first stage of growth.
Each day, 600 one-gallon starter bags of substrate are prepared by hand, with a layer of wheat on the bottom and compost on top. The bags are wheeled into a walk-in steel chamber, where they're sterilized to kill organisms that might hinder the growth process.
After cooling, the compost is sprinkled with wheat grains covered in morel inoculate -- the microscopic cells that start the growing process.
The inoculate is continuously produced in DNP's high-tech lab, which features HEPA filters, biohazard hoods to kill contaminants, and a cryo-freezer where the company's proprietary stock cultures are held at minus-80 degrees Celsius.
After being inoculated, the bags of compost and wheat are set in a climate-controlled room.
There, over the next five to six weeks, the inoculate will grow white, weblike strands that reach down through the dark compost and into the nutrient-rich wheat at the bottom of the bag. At the end of this stage, the web-filled compost will have solidified into a black, rock-like mass called a sclerotia.
The sclerotia is broken into chunks and planted in trays of soil. Over the next six weeks, the trays are moved through a series of rooms with varying levels of heat, light and humidity.
Ten to 12 weeks after being started, a new crop of brown, elongated, crinkly-capped morels is ready for harvest.
DNP's other strains of mushrooms are less labor intensive, because they grow in the bags in which they're first planted, but like the morels, all require individual handling and carefully controlled growing conditions.
There is a small article about DNP in this month's "Mushroom growers newsletter." "gary mills, CEO reports that the patent he developed for the process has expired, the only remaining problem is getting the patent intructions to work for you. more info: www.dnpco.com"
I'm wondering how his patent has differentiated from past patents?
It seems the begining of the process of growing morels is fairly simple. it is the fruitng cycle which requires the most attention, correct? Would the adjustments regarding temp humidty and lighting, need to be matched back to the source of the original specimen. Whether clone or spore etc?
just wondering.
good luck by the way.
cheers-norm
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gourmetgrower
I'ze the milkmanwhat knocked upyer maw

Registered: 01/29/06
Posts: 170
Loc: The Old West
Last seen: 18 years, 2 months
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Re: Morels, what have you all tried? [Re: socialnorm77]
#5264509 - 02/04/06 10:22 PM (18 years, 3 months ago) |
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Well, some say getting pins is the hard part, others say it's sclerotia formation. Only one thing to do: find out. That's why I have 7 quart jars of spawn brewing. Of course, I will do a little G2G and double up sometime.
I'm thinking I'll make a terrarium for the closet, which usually stays a relatively constant temperature in the upper 60s. I may try temperature variation, but at present I don't have a budget for more equipment. I probably will use an ultrasonic humidifier on "low" and a (very) small aquarium air pump + manual fanning, or possibly rig up a $10 115v case fan.
Also, I will try a jar or two in my oyster fruiting chamber, which has a higher temperature than what I need, but I can probably find a cool spot.
Finally, I will try to pin some outdoors in a cold frame this spring, then perhaps bring back inside.
Maybe the morels will react positively to appeasement-of-the-gods. I will sacrifice several lambs/virgins in order to get results!
-------------------- Howdy, boys! Let's get down to business. I got my colt and my schofield, and they's jist itchin to be broken in.
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gourmetgrower
I'ze the milkmanwhat knocked upyer maw

Registered: 01/29/06
Posts: 170
Loc: The Old West
Last seen: 18 years, 2 months
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Re: Morels, what have you all tried? [Re: gourmetgrower]
#5286964 - 02/10/06 07:08 PM (18 years, 3 months ago) |
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OK, so about half the jars are most of the way colonized, and the rest partly colonized, with (I hope) morel mycelium.
Does anyone have a pic of a partially colonized jar full of morel myc? It looks "spotty" to me, kinda like yeast. Hope I'm not culturing what's in my beer.
-------------------- Howdy, boys! Let's get down to business. I got my colt and my schofield, and they's jist itchin to be broken in.
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