Cultivation Corner: 12/30/23

Year-End Mycelium Update: Reflect, Refine, and Resurge in the Fungal Odyssey

Solving the Morel Mysteries 🕵️‍♂️

Ah, the ever-elusive morels. When I thought I was getting a hang of them, they threw me a curveball. Here's the latest on our morel saga:

The Trichoderma Trauma: One of my morel bulk substrate blocks lost the battle against an unwanted guest: trichoderma. This notorious green fungus is a party crasher in the mushroom cultivation world. Acting swiftly, I disposed of the contaminated block to protect the rest of my bulk substrate.

The Silent Block: Our remaining morel block has been... quiet. While it's been free from contamination, there hasn't been much action on the colonization or sclerotia development. At this point, I'll take this block and spread it near some deciduous trees with excellent loamy soil, hoping that the mycelium will take hold and eventually fruit in the future. I'll be looking for these types of trees: Elm, Apple, Ash, Sycamore, Cottonwood, Red Oak, White Oak, and Tulip Poplar.

The Shiitake Showdown 🍄

Having been as long as it has since my last update, much has happened with these blocks since. With the weather cooling, I put both blocks into my garage for a cold shock, where I promptly forgot about them. Three days later, my wife came downstairs and said, "Do you know you have mushrooms growing in the garage?" I head to the garage to find both blocks with well-formed fruits. 

I decided to experiment with these blocks. I took them out of their bags, placed them on a piece of cardboard on a table, and left them to fruit in the garage. I wanted to see how well they could do in the garage by only going out to spray them once or twice a day. After five days spent in the garage with my sporadic misting, I was happy with the results. I was able to get a pound of mushrooms off each block.

While this certainly wasn't the optimal method for fruiting my blocks, and I would have gotten more had I put them into my fruiting chamber, it was still fun to see how they would do at a time when I had a lot going on between family and work.

Oysterpalooza: Lessons Learned 📉

Incoming unpopular opinion: I do not enjoy growing oysters. I have not experienced the same enjoyment from growing oysters as cultivating all the other varieties I've tried.

That being said, I have achieved quite a bit of success. Since my last update, I've harvested 1+ pound fruits from Italian oysters (Pleurotus pulmonarius) and Golden oysters (Pleurotus citrinopileatus). I gave these fruits to friends since oysters aren't my favourite.

Unfortunately, my King oysters (Pleurotus eryngii) and Blue oysters (Pleurotus ostreatus) became contaminated with bacterial blotch. I learned a valuable lesson about maintaining a clean fruiting chamber and ensuring proper cleaning of the humidifier and exhaust fan internals.

Grainspawn & Liquid Culture 🧪

The jar of Antler Reishi (Ganoderma lingzhi) was eventually transferred to bulk substrate, but that substrate was never fully colonized. I suspect some contamination in the grain spawn that I couldn't see or identify. I plan to try Reishi again and hope to have more success this time.

My Hiatus 🍄✨

The absence since September's close wasn't intentional but a result of life's whirlwind. Juggling family, work, and mycological pursuits proved challenging. Amid the quiet, however, there was reflection, refinement, and an eagerness to share the evolving fungal narrative.

Your patience and understanding mean the world. As we resume our mycological expedition, I'm excited to unveil new chapters, discoveries, and the joy of growing together.

Happy Cultivating! 🌿🍄

Scott