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philipmulberry
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Registered: 08/04/06
Posts: 16
Last seen: 17 years, 8 months
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Starting spores in liquid, pH question.
#5933732 - 08/05/06 03:50 AM (17 years, 9 months ago) |
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I have had great success with starting spores in a honey water soloution. I feel like experimenting a little with the suspension, adding other stuff then honey to it and see what happens - just for fun. So I was wondering, what pH should I aim for (psilocybe cubensis)? Do they thrive in an acid enviroment?
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philipmulberry
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Registered: 08/04/06
Posts: 16
Last seen: 17 years, 8 months
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Re: Starting spores in liquid, pH question. [Re: philipmulberry]
#5933808 - 08/05/06 06:03 AM (17 years, 9 months ago) |
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I found something about most fungi spores germinating within pH 4.5-6.5. I was thinking of mixing water, honey and coffe.
I did it and 0.5 dl water, 0.5 dl brewed coffe and the pH stick tainted something like 5.
Maybe this brew would be a good starting point for the spores?
Edited by philipmulberry (08/05/06 06:03 AM)
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RogerRabbit
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Registered: 03/26/03
Posts: 42,214
Loc: Seattle
Last seen: 1 year, 2 months
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Re: Starting spores in liquid, pH question. [Re: philipmulberry]
#5933842 - 08/05/06 06:50 AM (17 years, 9 months ago) |
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I would always recommend starting spores in the two dimensional space of a petri dish so that the germinating mycelium can be visually observed and isolated away from any contaminants that may be present, as well as to isolate the dozens of strains that emerge from a single swipe of spores onto the agar.
Later, if you wish to grow truckloads of mushrooms, move the isolates over to LC once you've proved a good fruiting strain. I see little to no benefit in starting spores in an LC, because it's very easy to transfer bacteria and molds to your grains or brf, then grow them out only to find your project contaminated and all the work you've done to that point being ruined.
To answer your question on ph, spores will germinate very well in the 5.5 to 7 range. Just remember however, that molds such as trichoderma and cladosporium also prefer that range, so absolute attention to cleanroom procedures is a must for a high success rate.
I am one of the biggest advocates of using coffee in growing, but due to coffee's ability to support mold growth, I'd suggest not using it in the early stages, such as during spore germination. Good luck and happy growing. RR
-------------------- Download Let's Grow Mushrooms semper in excretia sumus solim profundum variat "I've never had a failed experiment. I've only discovered 10,000 methods which do not work." Thomas Edison
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philipmulberry
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Registered: 08/04/06
Posts: 16
Last seen: 17 years, 8 months
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Re: Starting spores in liquid, pH question. [Re: RogerRabbit]
#5934713 - 08/05/06 01:52 PM (17 years, 9 months ago) |
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Thanks for the feedback RogerRabbit. Since I am experimenting here I will try a suspension with honey, coffe and bring up the pH with milk - drop some spores and see what happens.
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RogerRabbit
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Registered: 03/26/03
Posts: 42,214
Loc: Seattle
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Re: Starting spores in liquid, pH question. [Re: philipmulberry]
#5934756 - 08/05/06 02:08 PM (17 years, 9 months ago) |
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That might make it awfully hard to see what's going on inside. Perhaps it would work better if you used distilled water with 3% by volume of Karo syrup added. This will keep things clear and there's no need for a ph balancer. RR
-------------------- Download Let's Grow Mushrooms semper in excretia sumus solim profundum variat "I've never had a failed experiment. I've only discovered 10,000 methods which do not work." Thomas Edison
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