I’ll be really curious to see how that Broke Boi Tek does for ya. I’m planning on trying it out myself this weekend, as I’m getting kind of tired of dealing with the bags.
New tub, four days after spawning
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Oyster mushroom or some sort?
I’ll have to go back and get better pics and maybe dig down to be base. Had to watch the kids when I walked by it.
Nope, gills don’t continue down the stipe
Actually it might be, the gills do taper out down the stem, I was looking for it to be continuous. Either way it’s past the point I would harvest even for a tissue sample at this point, it’s pretty gnarly and the sun came out and it’s looking even worse lol.
Just went and cut it off the piece of wood, doesn’t look right that I completely turned it over.
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Very hard to tell from such a aged specimen
I’d say maybe something from the Gymnopilus family
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I noticed another mushroom with a completely round cap growing on the same woodpile, not sure if they’re related. A fun to find though, I need to get out into the woods. A buddy just sent me a pic of a tree with some beautiful reishi growing on it.
Always take a print when trying to ID a new mushroom.The colour helps narrow things down a little.
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If I was going home I prob would of. but since I’m pretty sure it’s not oyster, I’m not going to bother, especially at my friends house and the kids around.
Updates on my cultivations.
Rice bag shoe box 11 days after mixing to spawn, Zstrain
Cordyceps nearing the end, no closeups due to heavy condensation
Jars and pupas behind the bin
No pictures yet, but I also got two jars with a commercial Asian strain of C. militaris started. I’ll be comparing the yield, though I believe this Asian strain is likely older and may not perform as well. I might get spores from both strains and try to cross them.
Next batch, 4 pints of broke boi tek rice with Mazatepec x TAT
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anyone want to share the following with me?
- why do you do mushrooms? (what are your experiences like or what are you looking for when you consume)
- how frequently do you do them?
- have you had any bad experiences? (what was it like)
- what is the dosage you usually consume?
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- I do them to see inside myself and what I can change about myself for the better.
- I used to microdose twice a week and trip monthly or three weeks apart.
- Worst experience was I tried to go to sleep while still tripping. Got the drunk spins laying down and puked.
- Started at 1 then 2 then 3. Went to 5 and then worked up to 18 once. Ate 8 grams a couple months ago. Great time.
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Cordyceps bin got harvested last night. The block had patches that didn’t produce fruit, but I’m happy with my first grow of these.
Break n shake done on the 4 pints of Mazatat
Before
After
No updated pic of the rice bag shoebox, not much visually different.
Edit: scratch that, just peaked at the shoebox when I got home.
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Don’t use string filters for grain jars 
. The two on the left barely recovered, and they were both slow to begin with. Likely not enough oxygen. I’ll swap out the kids when I go to spawn the two that are nearly done.
Also, I believe I have some bacterial contamination in them, but they should be fine and still produce at least one flush.
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I didn’t really know what I wanted to do with my last few bags of 90 second rice since they were essentially leftovers that I didn’t have plans for, so I decided to experiment with trying to fruit them in spawn bags just to see what happens.
I was too lazy to properly seal the bags, but I might do that today. Or I might not, as I doubt it’s very important to do so.
I also got some Wine Cap, Oyster (not pictured), and Lion’s Mane cultures, which I’ll be getting into very soon. The Lion’s Mane is more for a friend, since I don’t tolerate it well, but I still want to grow it 
The Wine Cap will be going out in the garden once I’ve got enough colonized spawn to take it outdoors.
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As long as the grains are fully colonized and it’s not a nutrient substrate, you don’t need to seal the bags, it’ll just colonize and start to fruit (if enough air is there)
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That’s kinda what I figured, but I felt self conscious about showing everyone my sloppy tape job
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Looks like there are going to be some good clusters to grab clones from. Is that something you plan on doing?
I’m getting some pretty sparse pinsets but large fruits from my current culture, and now I’m kind of wishing I’d cloned clusters instead of big fruits 
I feel like I may want to go back to spores after this run and try for something with better pinsets 
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I got this as a clone culture, I haven’t played with spores yet 
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Yummy 
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Prob be picking these in the next couple days. Man these things just ballon up
Next set almost ready to spawn.
Just put two newly matured LC to agar to test before using them.
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@VenusFL here ya go! Info on Making spore prints, plus lots of info online in general.
You’ll need sheets of aluminum foil, and preferably a clean Tupperware/tote to place upside down over the whole setup. Take prints from the cleanest looking caps, Take the stem off the cap, avoid touching the gills. Optional but preferred, lay the caps on some foil for an hour or two before making the prints to keep, hopefully most of the contamination falls in this first printing. Cut rectangular sections of aluminum foil more than twice the width of the caps. Place the caps on them and cover with tubs/tote leave them for several hours to overnight, longer makes them more dense, but really if you see a print on the foil there’s already enough. You can make several usable prints from each cap. After removing the cap from the print, let them dry for a day or two with a plastic tub over them to keep extra contamination out. then fold over so clean foil is covering the print. Put into plastic bag. Maybe put that against a index card or cardboard for mailing.
Of course being spores from wild mushrooms, these will need lots of cleanup work on agar. A tissue sample would be awesome but it’s a bit much for someone that unprepared to jump into sterile agar work
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Boom, 12 hrs later
Honestly how I started was super easy. you can just buy a bag of pre sterilized grains (Etsy, Amazon, 90sec microwave brown rice like the box I just posted 
). get a clean spore syringe (some sources are cleaner than others) or preferably a clean liquid culture syringe (requires knowing the right people/source or making your own down the line, most sources only send spores), it’s the same as seeds vs clone. The bags of grain or jars with modified lids can be wiped down with rubbing alcohol and injected directly through the injection port. No special equipment required. Once colonized, you mix with some pasteurized coco coir and vermiculite, put into a sanitized plastic tote, put the lid on but not sealed. As long as it stays humid, you just wait and harvest.
Or with a bit of careful prep, this is easy
https://youtube.com/playlist?list=PLSbJjSukZXqTvn3GLExvvIr17ayJ09t7o
Get some rtv silicone and make a glop on a bag of 90sec rice, inject the bag through that so it seals itself after the needle is removed. Make the breathing holes in a still air box to minimize contamination risk.
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