So you want to grow mushrooms?

[ffj]

Hello All

In the spirit of sharing, I'd like to demonstrate how I have learned how to grow gourmet mushrooms. My plan is to sell at the Farmers Market in a few months and that means I need to get started now in preparation as some species take a while to fruit. You guys can follow my preparations as I do them in real time.

Once you acquire enough knowledge, you'll learn it isn't crazy hard to grow mushrooms, but getting to that point can be frustrating as there are so many inputs you have to deal with that it can be overwhelming. But I am going to try to simplify the process not only for others to learn but to make my efforts worthwhile.

I am not an expert by any means, barely competent would be a better description of my skills. But I am good at following directions from people I trust and I am not afraid to research until I find a satisfactory answer. You guys can be the beneficiary of my efforts hopefully.

O.K., let's get started. I want to grow Shiitake, among other mushrooms, but Shiitake take a while (couple months or more) before I can take a colonized block of substrate and fruit it. That is one of the reasons why they are more expensive as they take up valuable real estate in limited spaces while you play the waiting game. Here is an image of Shiitake I grew a couple of years ago:



The is a company I buy mycelium from ( there are many others but here is a good, reputable example):



They send you a syringe filled with the mycelium of the mushroom species you've selected:



Now this syringe cost me $25. I want to be able to make this last as long as possible as well as start growing, so I am doing two things to make this happen. First, I want to inoculate grain spawn, which in this case is rye berries. And the first thing you have to do is to make one bag of grain spawn is to measure 6 dry cups of the rye berries and soak them overnight.





Basically I will be putting some of the mycelium into the finished grains and then using that to inoculate fruiting bags, but I'm getting ahead of myself. This step is done for today.

The second thing I want to do to continue the life of the mycelium is to create a liquid culture which will grow the mycelium and then I can take some of it and inoculate future grain spawn bags. You can also use agar for this step but LC makes life much easier. To make LC you need four components:



Peptone, corn sugar, malt extract, and water. Also a jar with a specialty lid for this purpose.

Measure out and add to a quart jar:

16 grams corn sugar
4 grams malt extract
1 gram peptone
350 ml water



Add a stir bar if you have a magnetic agitator/stirrer. Or you can just shake the jar manually in the future.



Put the lid on and create a solution.







That's it for day one. Our next step tomorrow is to sterilize the grain and liquid culture. Until then.

[Seppia]

I am so following this thanks ffj!

[ertyu]

agreed, this is great

past instruction manuals i've encountered always made it seem very complicated. you must keep a sterile room, you must keep your temperature/moisture conditions precisely optimised ... i'm curious to see to what extent that's true and to what extent this was maybe a sales pitch, a "this is such a complex process therefore you need our content and coaching" sort of sales pitch

[ffj]

@Seppia

Good!

@Ertyu

There is a steep learning curve that is rife which competing opinions and advice, as well as people that want to protect their trade secrets. It is maddening as a complete noob trying to figure this stuff out and that is one of the reasons I am doing this for the friends of ERE. The end result will seem relatively simple but getting to that point is not simple, I can assure you! Lots of unnecessary noise out there.

The only reason I was able to figure this stuff out was because there were generous people willing to share their successes. And if you research and read and listen long enough it starts to make sense.

[ffj]

Let's take a look at these lids:





The big red thing is a filtered air exchanger and the two black things are self healing injection ports. These are expensive if you buy enough of them so in the future I will make my own through this company: https://microppose.com

I'll use regular lids with 1/4 inch holes drilled and then sealed with adherable lid filters and ports. Much cheaper in the long run as I will be growing multiple types of mushrooms.



We need to sterilize our grain and liquid culture today. We do this because we want to kill any bacteria or mold spores before we introduce our mycelium. If you skip this step, then most times your substrates will become contaminated. Now there are other ways to accomplish this, mainly pasteurization with lime but that's for another day.


First, let's take our overnight soaked grains and simmer them for 20 minutes. This makes them soft and puffy and the reason we use grains for spawn is because of the tremendous surface area as well as the nutrients involved.



Drain afterwards.



Let's talk about grow bags. Here is a good example:



This is a Unicorn bag, size 14T for a 5lb block. It's bigger than I need it but that's what I have so I'm using it. Unicorn is a very common supplier of grow bags and it's worth spending some time learning their size differentiations. It's a bit confusing but the T stands for a .2 micron filter, which is the white patch on the bag. Remember that all mycelium has to breathe and exchange their CO2 output for fresh air.

I will also note that mushroom cultivation is very plastic intensive, and there are ways around this if you want to limit your exposure. We can have that conversation in the future.

Anyway, put the grain in the bag and fold it so that the patch is protected and place it in a pressure cooker. Note that I've placed the LC in there also to be sterilized and that I've put a piece of tin foil over the lids to protect the filter.



Cook for 90 minutes.





Day two is complete. Tomorrow we inoculate!

[guitarplayer]

Cool that you are sharing, DW and I did that too but much more low key. We also tried growing Shiitake on beech logs but failed at that. This was after we took the indoors and outdoors mushroom cultivation courses that @sky recommended.

[kumasan]

I wrote a list of things I could do to generate income in my spare time. Growing mushrooms was right on top haha.
Thanks a million for sharing ffj!

[ertyu]

There is a steep learning curve that is rife which competing opinions and advice, as well as people that want to protect their trade secrets. It is maddening as a complete noob trying to figure this stuff out and that is one of the reasons I am doing this for the friends of ERE.

Much appreciated, ffj! I won't comment on every single post but im following. i appreciate you taking the time to share.

[ffj]

Tomorrow turned into 3 days but I'm back. Apologies

@guitar
Growing on logs is both simple and tough. As far as predictability and timing and I don't see how anyone can make a living doing that method unless they just had access to massive amounts of fresh logs. It does look cool though. If you want to grow outdoor mushrooms there are always oysters of course which are easier but look into wine caps: https://northspore.com/blogs/the-black- ... t-wine-cap

@kumasan
Enjoy and come learn with me.

@ertyu
You are welcome.




Let's inoculate!

You are going to need a few items (anybody notice a theme here?) We are now at the point where cleanliness and germ killing is paramount so don't skimp on what you need.

Here is a montage of what is necessary:



A stillbox (clear tote), isopropyl alcohol (70%), a lighter, spray bottle filled with the alcohol, a mask (do not breathe on these cultures, your mouth is nasty), gloves, impulse sealer ( might be able to fudge on this for small batches), and of course your liquid culture and substrates.

The first thing you need to do is stage all of your equipment so that it stays in the clean zone (the box) and spray everything with the alcohol. Everything! If you take your hands out of the clean zone to grab a substrate you must spray your hands and anything that is introduced. Remember, you have created a perfect environment for mold, yeast, and bacteria in regards to the substrate, do not introduce them as they will outcompete your mycelium.





When you are ready to inoculate, take the syringe, pull the cap, and insert the needle. Then take the lighter and heat the needle until it is hot enough to kill any germs. Then take a saturated cotton swab and cool the needle. Insert the needle and inject.



For the grow bag simply open the top a bit and squirt. Then immediately seal the bag shut with the impulse sealer that has been sprayed and decontaminated.



Next stir the liquid culture and break up the rye berries in the grow bag and try to mix everything together.



You are done!



Now it is a waiting game. You should see growth within a week and total colonization within two weeks or so, which I will document. Don't be surprised if some of your examples still get contaminated even with all of your precautions. Professional growers use flow hoods to limit this but that is a $1000 investment at the minimum. Put your samples in a dark, somewhat warm place like a kitchen cabinet, around 70 degrees F. or 21C.

In a week or two I'll have to start making grow bags which the rye berries will inoculate, about 1/2 cup rye berries per bag. This will be the where the mushrooms will grow.

[guitarplayer]

Yep, did everything right until the point of hammering the dowels in, then letting the logs cure for months on end. Then when we tried shocking them in a nearby river next two summers in a row, did not work. We left the logs at our old place, who knows maybe in a few years someone will have a pleasant surprise.

Yeah now that you mentioned, we did grow wine caps outdoors! (did many things in that environment, I forgot them all).



There was also an old beech with wild oysters, heaps and heaps it would give each year.

[ffj]

@guitar

Did you slap the logs? Growers swear that you have to slap your grow blocks with Shiitake, and I've always done it just because why not? The water immersion I believe should occur after the first flush to start the second. But all of this info is from growing on 5lb sawdust blocks.

I've never eaten wine caps. Are they good? I've never had time to grow them because I was always fooling with other species.

[guitarplayer]

Yep we did, well we bounced them against tarmac a little.

Wine caps are okay, I don't recall any distinct experience. Taste like mushrooms and mushrooms taste good. In terms of texture much more on the side of a portobello than a slippery jack.

They bruise wine red like red cabbage when cut, hence the common name.

[ffj]

It's been two weeks. Let's see how my mycelium are doing?



They are really liking this sugar water. Both jars look great and probably in another week I'm going to put one in the refrigerator to make it go dormant. This jar will be my back-up and I will start taking 10CC's from the other to inoculate more grain spawn.

I didn't take a picture of the grain spawn because the mycelium is still light and wispy and the camera doesn't pick it up. If this were an oyster strain the entire bag would be white but this is Shiitake, and they take longer, which is the reason I've started so early.

Now my plan is to make money off of this endeavor so that means I have to invest in equipment that will make my yields consistent. I'm going to list my latest expenditures to give an idea of how much this stuff costs. But don't think you can't grow mushrooms without all of this equipment, as you absolutely can. I'm trying to make some money.

$75 150 grow bags
$89 scale, stirrer, LC ingredients
$32 Shiitake culture
$16 jar lids
$50 25 lbs rye berries
$24 LC filters and injection ports
$148 two fans for grow room
$230 9-head ultrasonic fogger for humidity
$52 large tote to house the fogger
$625 grow tent (4 x 8 )
$14 mason jars with lids

I've spent $1355 and haven't sold the first mushroom. But almost all of these purchases are one-time costs, at least every few years or so. But I'm not done, I still have to buy a mini-split for air conditioning in the grow room.

I am funding all of these purchases by performing outside work. And my goal is to recoup my money my first year which is quite feasible if I do my part correctly. All in I'm looking at $2500 to get started but we'll see.

[kumasan]

Everything is looking beautiful ffj! I want to try some chicken of the woods. Do you have experience with those?
I'll try to forage some velvet shank this weekend. The little bit I tried in December didn't kill me so fingers crossed hehe

[ffj]

@kumasan

I'm not much of a forager unfortunately. Chicken of the woods does grow around here in the wild and I've seen it before but I'm a bit of a chicken myself when it comes to wild mushrooms. I don't like the thought of poisoning myself and as I don't have a mentor to learn from around here ( a real person ) I am sticking to known cultivars.

Now in the future I may try to grow maitake, which is hen of the woods. Or even the chicken of the woods strains available. But for right now I'm sticking to oysters and Shiitake as I try to get this business off of the ground.

I had to look up velvet skank, so thanks for the learning experience.

[sky]

When you are ready to inoculate, take the syringe, pull the cap, and insert the needle. Then take the lighter and heat the needle until it is hot enough to kill any germs. Then take a saturated cotton swab and cool the needle. Insert the needle and inject.

Do you use the entire contents of the syringe?

[ffj]

@Sky

I did. It's a 10CC syringe so I put 5 into the rye bag and roughly 2 plus into each jar.

Now if I didn't mind waiting longer for colonization I could have used half of that and stored the remainder of the syringe in the fridge. But there is really no need as the jars are my expansion of the culture. So are the rye berries but they are going to be put to use here soon. They have a job ahead of them.

[ertyu]

Can one propagate mushrooms "from seed" like other plants or does one need to order fresh syringes every time -- question is a bit ignorant but i guess what im asking is, can you cultivate stuff to inoculate with from the mushrooms you're already growing

[guitarplayer]

It is difficult to grow from 'seed' i.e. getting spores and growing from them. The chances of a spore growing into mycelium are low.

It is very easy to grow a lot of mycelium ('roots') from a little bit of mycelium; so long you follow the process the chances it will work are high. Think of it as growing plants 'from cuttings' of the parent plant.

When we were propagating mushrooms, we went ere way about it because we did not want to use money to solve the puzzle. DW got a little of inoculated rice or barley (it was something like 30g, you can get it for peanuts), and we then sterilised more rice and grew the mycelium in it, then used the bulk of rice for the rest of the process to end up with oysters.

It is satisfying to see your base mycelium growing in the grain. You want to grow it in a glass jar or something to be able to inspect things are okay, so you see how it spreads. Sometimes there is another fungus, like some sort of mould (when you don't follow the process to the jot), and you see the fight between the two. It can be quite an epic drama, which fungus is going to overtake the other and conquer the rice territory.

[ertyu]

It is very easy to grow a lot of mycelium ('roots') from a little bit of mycelium; so long you follow the process the chances it will work are high. Think of it as growing plants 'from cuttings' of the parent plant.

Does the mycelium ever "die" like a tomato plant would die at the end of summer and you need to start from scratch the next growing season, or do mushrooms keep growing from the same mycelium as long as you add more "food" for them (new sterilized rice, I assume)

-- you can tell im an absolute doofus noob so thank you for indulging me