Home | Community | Message Board
You are not signed in.
Sign In New Account
Forum Index Search Posts Trusted Vendors Highlights Galleries FAQ User List Chat Store Random Growery

MagicBag Grow Bags
This site includes paid links. Please support our sponsors.

Mushrooms, Mycology and Psychedelics > Gourmet and Medicinal Mushrooms
Threaded Mode Threaded  Previous topic Previous  View all topics Index  Next topic Next 

Welcome to the Shroomery Message Board! You are experiencing a small sample of what the site has to offer. Please login or register to post messages and view our exclusive members-only content. You'll gain access to additional forums, file attachments, board customizations, encrypted private messages, and much more!

Shop: Myyco.com Isolated Cubensis Liquid Culture For Sale   Sporeworks.EU Spores for European Microscopy   North Spore Bulk Substrate   Mushroom-Hut Liquid Cultures   MagicBag.co All-In-One Bags That Don't Suck   Original Sensible Seeds Bulk Cannabis Seeds

Jump to first unread post Pages: 1
Some of these posts are very old and might contain outdated information. You may wish to search for newer posts instead.
Looking for input on university project
    #8830811 -

The college I attend has recently started a conservation initiative - minor stuff like sorting out the recyclables in classroom trash, e-mailing papers instead of printing them where applicable, discouraging use of disposable plastic water bottles, etc.

Coincidentally, I've also gained a big interest in growing edibles and I've been reading a lot of Paul Stamets' ideas and watching the seminars he has posted online. Basically, I was interested in proposing the idea of growing pearl oyster mushrooms on discarded paper and coffee grounds at the university.

The reason I envision this being able to work is that it will be cheap - I haven't contacted anyone yet, but I'm sure the biology club would be interested. The only money I'll be petitioning for would involve the cost of quart jars, rye berries, and gypsum (I'll likely provide the oyster culture from my own stock). I'm not sure about the amount of equipment already available, but I'm pretty sure an autoclave for sterilization of substrate, along with flowhoods, will be available for university-related use.

I'm not trying to jump head first into this - I realize I'll need a great deal more experience growing edibles on my own before trying an en masse project with a few untrained volunteers. This will probably be something that won't happen until next semester.

Anyway, I had a few questions:

1) Will the left over bulk substrate I'll be spawning to (used newspapers, etc) be suitable as yard compost? I know mushroom compost from commercial farms is sold at lawn and garden shops - but they aren't using newspaper. It'd be great if we could collect the spent substrate, bag it, and give it away as yard compost to members of the community.

2) How much more difficult is it to spawn oysters on paper than straw? I'm thinking about using a 50/50 mixture of wheat straw and shredded waste paper.

3) Commercially available paper in the United States uses soybean oil in the ink, from what I understand. Are there any sorts of paper still in circulation that use lead-based or other toxic varieties of ink? It'd be great if we could do something along the lines of giving the mushrooms away to students or a homeless shelter - but this can't be done if everything isn't 100% safe.

Any suggestions are greatly appreciated. Thanks.


--------------------
monstermitch's technique to construct a monotob
agar's GRAIN LC
THE OFFICIAL "BEST DEALS" THREAD

Extras: Filter Print Post Top
Re: Looking for input on university project [Re: Brennus]
    #8830857 -

that's such a great idea
keep us updated on how well it works for you

i might like to start doing something like this at my house, asap
:smileyfrog:


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

“You've got as many lives as you like, and more, even ones you don't want.” - George Harrison

Extras: Filter Print Post Top
Re: Looking for input on university project [Re: dirtworshipper]
    #8831226 -

1. Yes and no!  The carbon content is way too high, and should be supplemented with a high nitrogen source, like chicken manure.  The spent substrate would have to be broken up and mixed with the nitrogen source and given a couple of months to break down completely.  This involves turning the pile at regular intervals to allow aerobic bacteria to break things down.

2. Paper is a bit messier, but easier to get your hands on.  When I pastuerize paper it tends to form "nuggets" that I feel obsessively compelled to shred.

3. I am not sure.  The rule of thumb for organic gardening is to stay away from glossy paper, but even now many of the compounds used in paper production come from corn.  If you need to know for sure, contact the responsible party for the paper in question.  Generally soy and corn based paper additives are cheaper than petroleum/chemical based additives these days.


--------------------
"We shall not cease from exploration, and the end of all our exploring will be to arrive where we started and know the place for the first time."

- T. S. Eliot

Extras: Filter Print Post Top
Re: Looking for input on university project [Re: Brennus]
    #8831582 -

Quote:
Brennus said:

Anyway, I had a few questions:

1) Will the left over bulk substrate I'll be spawning to (used newspapers, etc) be suitable as yard compost? I know mushroom compost from commercial farms is sold at lawn and garden shops - but they aren't using newspaper. It'd be great if we could collect the spent substrate, bag it, and give it away as yard compost to members of the community.


They need to be composted a bit more, but I wonder if it might a secondary project to show the value of vermiculture, be a lot faster then composting them the old fashion way and you would need a lot less space.

Cul

Extras: Filter Print Post Top
Re: Looking for input on university project [Re: Culland]
    #8839083 -

Take a look at this thread where waixingren grew oysters on discarded cereal boxes. It could have as easily been shredded tests, homework, etc.

Here's a few of my grows on old telephone books.  It keeps them out of the landfill, and after the oysters fruit, you can just chop the leftover colonized substrate up into the ground as a soil conditioner.
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

Extras: Filter Print Post Top
Re: Looking for input on university project [Re: RogerRabbit]
    #8855409 -

Thanks for the replies and input. I'll be starting on my first project with oysters on straw in a few weeks to get some more experience under my belt and for pictures when I make a presentation to the sustainability committee.

I'll keep you guys informed.


--------------------
monstermitch's technique to construct a monotob
agar's GRAIN LC
THE OFFICIAL "BEST DEALS" THREAD

Extras: Filter Print Post Top
Jump to top Pages: 1

Shop: Myyco.com Isolated Cubensis Liquid Culture For Sale   Sporeworks.EU Spores for European Microscopy   North Spore Bulk Substrate   Mushroom-Hut Liquid Cultures   MagicBag.co All-In-One Bags That Don't Suck   Original Sensible Seeds Bulk Cannabis Seeds

Mushrooms, Mycology and Psychedelics > Gourmet and Medicinal Mushrooms
Threaded Mode Threaded  Previous topic Previous  View all topics Index  Next topic Next 

Similar ThreadsPosterViewsRepliesLast post
* edible shrooms - friendly substrate? (anno?) felixhigh 2,924 6 11/28/01 02:29 AM
by Elektrolurch
* Create your own mushroom compost! sakura 3,196 7 07/23/16 06:52 PM
by anthiawe
* shiitake substrate formula advice needed ksdoob 5,546 2 09/15/04 05:00 AM
by ksdoob
* Free 1 year old composted horse poo! [Tucson AZ] MonkeyPod 1,383 2 04/03/05 09:05 PM
by MonkeyPod
* Pasteurizing or composted straw? blackmold 1,424 5 07/19/04 07:45 AM
by blackmold
* Experiment using the kare kono and bulk substrate techs. shroomtoad 2,514 3 07/25/10 01:26 PM
by punkin
* Spent Mushroom Substrate mattymonkey 3,544 5 07/08/05 09:30 AM
by LouiseLouise
* Portabello fruiting substrate no-tone 5,627 4 03/30/05 01:35 AM
by Owl

Extra information
You cannot start new topics / You cannot reply to topics
HTML is disabled / BBCode is enabled
Moderator: RogerRabbit, cronicr, Pastywhyte, Forrester, Stromrider, SHROOMSISAY01
752 topic views. 2 members, 39 guests and 8 web crawlers are browsing this forum.
[ Show Images Only | Sort by Score | Print Topic ]
Search this thread:

Copyright 1997-2026 Mind Media. Some rights reserved.

Generated in 0.027 seconds spending 0.006 seconds on 14 queries.