The Old Logs Home -- Outdoor Cubensis Bed --

[hyphaenation]

I've always wanted o make an outdoor bed of fungi. Probably got my first Stamets book 20 years ago and its taken me this long to make my first fruiting. I have been growing various strains of cubensis, trying different techniques (all learned here).

After 2 flushes I decided to retire a bunch of goat poo / straw logs that had been seriously neglected at one point. There was about a dozen logs and some other material from bags and tubs.

I went out between 2 outbuildings and found a nice spot. I smoked some homegrown and proceeded to clearing the bed space.

I dug about 6 inches down in the soil and cleared a 6 foot long, 3 foot wide hole. I sprinkled potting soil about 2 inches thick all on the bottom of the hole. On top of that I put a large load of 75/25 straw / poo. The straw/poo was pasturized in poo water at 155 F for 80 minutes in a large canner.

I mixed the straw / poo in with the logs, I made sure to bust the logs into thousands of little fragments and sacttered them. On to that I put another 2 loads of pasturized straw/poo and mixed well again.

Lastly I put 2 large loads of pasturized straw / poo on top of what was quickly becoming a mound ! The pasturization took place with poo water instead of straight H20. I didnt mix the top layer, just covered with it.

Later I will likely add more material as it seems necessary. The last thing I did was put plastic over the bed and then a board. I stood on the board with all my weight and compacted the bed evenly all over. Then repeated. I draped the plastic over upright sticks that keeps the bed covered but not smothered...

Heres's some pics of the process (not very good ones unfortunately)

Thanks for the info and inspiration

H

[weed4all]

nice job bro! hope everything go's good

[hyphaenation]

I thought i'd report back on the progress. It has been quite rainy lately and the humidity has been high. I check the bed periodically just for fun and the last few times there was limited , but healthy spread of the mycelium.

Today I checked amid a rainstorm and peeled away some of the leaf debris on top and I can already see heathy mats of whiteness spreading along the surface. It looks really awesome. I was contemplating putting more pasturized starw on top of the pile , but I think i'll wait to see if there is any pinning coming this next month. The bed depth is about 10 inches or so already so i'll leave it for now.

I've left the plastic tarp off the pile as it has been raining pretty steady lately.

Hope you are all getting your beds ready , if you like that outdoor kind of thing.

Cheers

H

[joey_megabucks]

good luck! don't be too tempted to mess with it haha

i used to toss spent cakes outside under a bit of dirt and they fruited. If I can do it with neglect, you can definately do it

[chimp]

Look out for shroom flies. Those little bastards are a pain in the ass!

[golly]

Sweet..! Looks like it auta kick -Might get some bigguns too...Gluk...

[~Hippie3]

cool! outdoor beds always look beautiful! what strain are you working with? how long does it take to see pins in outdoor beds? is it any different from having tubs or FCs etc?

[hyphaenation]

Vinz, this is my first attempt outside. The logs that made up the bed were Amazon, SA, TAZ and B+. I was just trying to give them a use after a few flushes of fruit. I can now see mycelium creeping over the surface in a bout a month. I would bet anything that my outdoor temp right now and yours are WAY different. Mine are chilly and things are moving nice but slow. Over where you are I bet they would explode. Maybe you can propogate those natural strains you found...


cheers

H

[~Hippie3]

more recent pix plz.

Originally Posted by Hippie3

more recent pix plz.

yeah for realz!

lol

[hyphaenation]

I have lots of good pics now all I need is the right cord for the cam. Unfortunately the pics I took are on the cams memory not the card so until I get it from my friend they'll have to sit on the cam (weird propritory cable).

So ASAP i'll put them up.

Until then I have a question. Whats your thoughts on watering an outdoor bed (straw and poo) occasionally (once a week) with poo water left over from a pasturizing session? Is it overkill or asking for trouble? I especially was wondering once the mycelium has a solid hold on the bed.

thanks

H

[hyphaenation]

Well I finally got the pics off the camera. Unfortunately the surface shots were to blurry to post up. As I mentioned there is obvious cubensis mycelium running through the top of the bed, some of it still attached to popcorn etc. There is obviously someone elese home in the bed because when I went back there yesterday I saw something...



As I peeled back the debris on top for a look I saw clumps of small mushrooms resembling inky caps. They were everywhere. They come up white and then turn the colors that you see. I tried to pick out as many as I could so they woul'nt sporelate but it was basically useless.

So now I have a coexisting bed, complete with a fern growing out of it. Does anyone know the name of that species? Also do you think it will live in harmony with the cubensis below?

Its definately a cool pioneer species that moves in quickly.

thanks

H

[hyphaenation]

I'm going to play my first "bump" card ever...

Any guesses what this mushroom is that has moved in. Its mycelium is easy to distinguish from the Cubensis because it is brilliantly white and in "patches".

*bump*

LOL


The reason i'm asking is because I was wondering if I should remove the top layer of straw which was mostly for mulch anyways. This is where the "alien" invader is fruiting from and it would be easy to peel it back. Would it be advantages to do that and add a casing layer ? If I did I would return more straw or leaf debris on top.

[Freaky]

What you have are inky caps. They are pretty common in my outdoor projects when using horse manure. I am mainly trying straw this summer with some other non-horse manure materials to see if it works better for me.

Good thing you are picking them when you find them, they will turn to black goo really quick like and get all nasty.

Don't worry though, your cubensis should still fruit. I used to notice the inky caps would pop a few days before my cube shrooms would.

I only thought I was getting them because I didn't pasteurize any of my outdoor materials (and still don't.) To me there is no need or extra work to pasteurize whats going to be used outside.

Interesting they still popped up on you. Must of been blowing in the wind when you built the bed.

No worries though, just try to pick em out the best you can and your cube mycelium should be strong enough to kick em out.

You could try to lay grass clippings on top instead of the straw, this works well as a casing layer. Golly has used mulch before with great results. I use dry straw and grass clippings. They can take a beating from the rain and keep it pretty moist underneath.

Watch for slugs if its really been raining. I've been using a Bug B Gone product for killing slugs and its been working great for me.
Diatomaceous Earth (yeah I spelled that wrong ) works well for slugs as well.

Best of luck and just wait it out, you'll be happy in a little bit I suspect.

Thanks for the outdoor grow log. I love the season
Just have fun with it!