Experiment 4.0 – Feed me rolled oats and wheat bran

Inspired by my late night findings on YouTube, I decided to use oats instead of cardboard or straw.

I was not really thinking clearly doing this one. I just poured some oatmeal that I usually have for breakfast into a plastic bag. This oatmeal has been “enriched” with fiber from wheat bran.

Glenn Coville at coldmushrooms recommends that you use unprocessed grains that still have their protective hull. You can read more about it here http://coldmushrooms.weebly.com/grain-spawn.html.

It was late so I figured it’s easier just to use something I have at home in my kitchen. I was thinking it could still work since the fibers from wheat comes from the protective hull of the wheat.

Then I poured some luke warm tap water into the bag. I don’t know how much  water I used but it didn’t seem to be that much but my oats instantly turned into porridge. If I do this experiment again I’ll probably use less water, if any.

Yummy oat meal in a plastic bag!

My friend Phellinus igniarius.

 

I then soaked the mushroom in water since  the mushroom was too dry in a previous experiment.

Lastly I tucked away the mushroom in a nice moist oatmeal bed.

I then put the plastic bag into another plastic bag containing bleach hoping it would giving it some protection.

And waited…

Experiment 3.0 – Feed me cardboard – Result : something is growing

So this is the result after one week of waiting.

Well this bag is not that impressive. It doesn’t seem to have been much activity in it…

I opened the bag and dug into the cardboard and found this.

Yay something is growing!

More pictures.

Well it’s growing. I’m not sure if it is consuming the cardboard or not, but it seemed to have stuck to the cardboard. It seems to be slow though, I’ll just have to wait and see if it continues to grow or if it will get taken over by green mold again.

Experiment 3.0 – feed me cardboard

I ran another experiment since I had some mushroom pieces left from the experiment 2.0.

I thought I should just keep things simple so I tried to grow Phellinus igniarius in cardboard. The rational behind this is that cardboard contains lignin that the mushroom likes to eat.

So I took a cardboard box and ripped it up into pieces. The cardboard box claimed it was recyclable which seemed nice.

 

I put the pieces in a plastic bag and poured scolding hot tap water into the bag.

 

Then I let the bag rest for about an hour.

 

I then poured out the water and squeeze the cardboard mush really hard. I’m not sure if this was such a good idea to compact the cardboard.

 

I then put a piece of mushroom in the cardboard mush. I had to dig into the cardboard since it was so compacted.

 

I then tied a knot on the plastic bag and let it rest in a dark room.

 

And waited…

EXPERIMENT 1.0 – Growing mycelium

Last Friday I just went ahead and did it! I’ve had this idea for about three years, but I mainly focused on all the difficulties in growing my own mushrooms so never did anything about it. But last Friday I just stopped thinking and just tried something instead.

So this is my first experiment in growing my own mycelia. It was really rushed, I should have taken more notes. For example I don’t know how large the piece of mushroom was that I used to inoculate my spawn.

Aim: To try to grow my own mushroom bricks.

Materials:

Phellinus igniarius poly-pore mushroom, fairly old and large about 20 cm diameter.

Pet Straw, dried straw for small pets to use as food for the mushroom.

Vanish Oxi Action fabric stain remover, I thought it contained Hydrogen perodixe that I could use as a disinfectant but I seem to be mistaken.

Hand sanitizer containing alcohol

Stiching awl, it’s like a screw driver but it’s just pointy

plastic bags

Pot of boiling water

A dash of sugar in the water.

Method:

I collected a poly-pore close to where I live. I had to kick it off the tree since it was hard to remove.

I never took a picture of it but here are some pictures I took the other day on some other mushrooms of the same kind.

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I boiled some pet straw in water to sterilize it with maybe two tables spoons of sugar added to it. This part was really rushed. I poured out the water and put the straw in a plastic bag. I then put that plastic bag into two other plastic bags containing hand sanitizers and washing powder (the oxy action powder).

I sanitized the awl with alcohol and cut out a piece of the mushroom with it. I put the mushroom together with the straw in the plastic bags and put it in a dark room.

And waited…

Today one week later I opened the bag and took some pictures.

Something is growing!

Hopefully it’s the poly-pore growing. It could be mold but I’m not sure. I’m thinking if it was mold it should be growing in the pet straw as well but it’s only the piece of mushroom that is white and fuzzy.

Anyway I put the mushroom and the straw in a small plastic bowl to act as a mould for the mushroom brick if it continuous to grow.