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worowa
Professor

Registered: 06/29/07
Posts: 299
Last seen: 8 months, 25 days
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concrete and ceramics
#7498817 - 10/08/07 06:24 PM (16 years, 3 months ago) |
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G'day, has any one used concrete or ceramic pipes to grow and fruit shrooms? I'm pondering making some with lots of plug holes, so I can have reusable containers.
-------------------- We are all in this together. Visit my site, forestfungi.com.au, let me know what you think.
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Aberael
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Re: concrete and ceramics [Re: worowa]
#7514850 - 10/14/07 06:39 AM (16 years, 3 months ago) |
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Or PVC Pipes?
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RogerRabbit
Bans for Pleasure



Registered: 03/26/03
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Re: concrete and ceramics [Re: Aberael]
#7514879 - 10/14/07 06:55 AM (16 years, 3 months ago) |
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I did a few grows with pvc. The problem is that you can't see the substrate, so contaminants go undetected until it's way too late. 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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FreeSporePrints


Registered: 03/06/05
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Re: concrete and ceramics [Re: RogerRabbit]
#7514898 - 10/14/07 07:18 AM (16 years, 3 months ago) |
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I quote RogerRabbit, you can however use an high rate of spawn to prevent contaminations.
Another idea could be to put a bag into the pvc pipe and fill it with the substrate..and when you want to check the health of your "sausage", you can unthread it from the pipe...but it's dangerous for the integrity of the block/sausage to reinsert into the pvc...another one solution could be to cut the pipe at half like a sandwich, use the "sausage bag method", then close the pipe up and down with a lace/long band..then make holes when ready to fruit.
If you wan't to use the pvc to do not use the bags i believe it isn't possible..so tje only solution i see is the first: use a high rate of spawn.
Fabio
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Hotnuts
old hand


Registered: 02/26/05
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Personally, i'd just drill some holes into some Rubbermaid containers suitable for cultivation and would use them.
Filtered spawn bags are cheap you know?
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worowa
Professor

Registered: 06/29/07
Posts: 299
Last seen: 8 months, 25 days
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Re: concrete and ceramics [Re: Hotnuts]
#7516718 - 10/14/07 05:24 PM (16 years, 3 months ago) |
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Thanks for the tips. I've considered PVC, but prefer the concept of containers that aren't plastic. Maybe plastic is OK in regards to health issues, and disposal of waste plastic probably doesn't create problems if done responsibly, but ceramics and concrete seem durable and non toxic. Plastic does have advantages,(see through, light weight etc.) I guess that's why it's so popular.
My plan was to grow and fruit edibles in the pipes, then after harvest plant seedlings in the plug holes. After the plants are finished I would submerge the pipes in a yabbie(fresh water crayfish) pond. Yabbies love fungi and detritus, so I imagine they would loosen and clean the material in the pipes. When the yabbies are finished, I will remove the pipes and either soak them in a barrel of lime water or h2o2, or just stick em in a fire....then back to shrooms.
-------------------- We are all in this together. Visit my site, forestfungi.com.au, let me know what you think.
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Owl
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Re: concrete and ceramics [Re: worowa]
#7518268 - 10/15/07 01:26 AM (16 years, 3 months ago) |
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I like the idea of re-using spend mushroom substrate as a food source for aquaculture.
Another problem with concrete and ceramics is the risk that the substrate will dry out. Especially when these logs are colonized or left to fruit outside.
Maybe large bamboo poles would be a better material to produce artificial biodegradable logs that are less permeable to water.
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speedy
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Registered: 08/15/07
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Loc: Nth Victoria, Australia
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Re: concrete and ceramics [Re: Owl]
#7518686 - 10/15/07 08:46 AM (16 years, 3 months ago) |
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Hi Worowa, Owl's got a good idea there (something that I'd often thought of myself being a bit of a bamboo freak, but I've not tried yet) There's plenty of Bambusa balcooa up your way on farms. Also the running one Phyllostachys aurea can grow to 75mm dia up around there too.
Cut a length (2-6'long), and with a clean length of steel bar or pipe, knock through the septa(nodes) and leave the last one intact as the bottom of your container. Until you open compartments in the bamboo it's effectively sterile inside. Fill with pasteurized substrate alternating with spawn as you go (or all mixed together first) Drop the bamboo lengthways against a solid surface to pack the substrate down a bit while filling. Cover the top of the bamboo to keep rain and other stuff out. If you keep them outside it's proly a good idea to stand the lengths of bamboo off the ground on metal pegs driven into the ground while they rest against something. The most vulnerable place for bamboo to be attacked by fungi (or beetle borers) is the cut ends of a culm rather than the inside or outside skin. Drilling holes through the sides of the bamboo would allow a place for the mushies to fruit and somewhere to invade the walls of the bamboo.
If you do try this (or something simmilar) let us know how it all goes. Cheers:)
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waixingren


Registered: 03/14/05
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Loc: SW Florida
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Re: concrete and ceramics [Re: Owl]
#7519006 - 10/15/07 11:21 AM (16 years, 3 months ago) |
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Very interesting idea Owl. Great information speedy. It would be quite interesting to see this done.
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worowa
Professor

Registered: 06/29/07
Posts: 299
Last seen: 8 months, 25 days
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Re: concrete and ceramics [Re: waixingren]
#7520015 - 10/15/07 03:41 PM (16 years, 3 months ago) |
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Thanks Owl and Speedy, good idea, one that I started in Bellingen but quickly abondoned because the bamboo I had was full of those nasty little black needles, like fibreglass. With the right species of bamboo it would be a winner-a very nice package to bring to market. The only down side is having to make new pipes to replace the old, compared to concrete which could be white washed etc. I reckon the moisture could be monitored easily enough.
-------------------- We are all in this together. Visit my site, forestfungi.com.au, let me know what you think.
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