Oyster mushrooms in baby food jars

[spacecowboy]

Did a whole bunch of jars in different sizes, thought about using beer bottles but they are a pain in the ass to stuff sawdust into. It has been about two weeks and some of the baby food jars are almost colonized. Curious as to if they will fruit.

Strain P. Ostreatus
80%sawdust 10%wheatbran 10%whitemillet >dry weight
standard moisture content by hand squeeze

Plan on doing a grow log on the whole thing if it works.

[BuckarooBanzai]

Sounds very cool. Looking forward to this one! I loved your Reishi/Lion's Mane from a while back.

[max]

Don't expect too much off a piece of substrate that small. If you really want to harvest enough mushrooms to make your work worth the while, try something like this:

[spacecowboy]

Don't plan on much of a yield, mainly want to see how each different sized container will preform. Currently I am using bottle cultivation techniques vs columns, bags, trays and natural log. Think it would be kinda cool to see some tiny fruits from a baby food jar. I have seen 1/2 pint PF cakes produce when they are cut in half or quarters.

I also threw some plugs into grain jars couple days ago, and they seem to be taking off with some nice thick mycelium. The sawdust jars I thought were not working untill the otherday when I noticed that they were actually colonizing rather well. I have observed that the oyster mycelium grows very whispy on the sawdust, and then thickins slowly over time. This is much different then the thick colonization growth of the grain jars I am seeing. I took some pictures, but my resolution is not good enough to see the mycelium growth on the sawdust jars, but here in the next few days I will try and get some pics up for those of you out there that are "show me" kinda people.

[spacecowboy]

Here are my baby food jars, sorry for the bad resolution. I also did a side experiment with these jars by packing half tight and half loose (separate thread). They took about 15 days to colonize. You can kinda see the thick white mycelium in a few spots, other than that my resolution is not good enough to see the whispy myceluim covering the rest of the substrate. Plan on moving them to the fruiting chamber today.

[spacecowboy]

One of the baby food jars has put out pins, I noticed them last night an clicked a pic, but its resolution is really poor, will have better pics when they get bigger.

[the_chosen_one]

Woohoo! Pinning dance! Great stuff Jesse!!!

[spacecowboy]

...the pins are abhorts. Its been couple days now and they have not grown anymore, kinda cool lookin cuz they look like tiny mushrooms and more have sprouted up since then, but definatly not the results I was lookin for. My other larger jars (1/2 pt+) have put out mushrooms that already are maturing, this being after my first observation of the baby food jar pins. These mature fruit bodies kinda indicated to me that I need better fresh air exchange due to their fruit body formation and color, so i swithch the jars from my old tote terraium to a different one. The new one has better air exchange, but relys on natural lighting so currently it gets indirect morning sunlight vs the old terrium's 12 hour on/off. Will post some pics soon...sorry for the delay.

[SharkieJones]

Don't worry we are a patient breed. Nice log though keep us posted.

[spacecowboy]

Well here are a couple pics, worked but not as good as I was hoping for. I used a minimum amount of supplement and now have relized that they really like a very high amount of supplement. Even all the other jars of different sizes were the same...very slow...even now you can still see the sawdust/millet/bran through the light mycelium.

I repeated this experiment PF style with pint jars and got great results, I even got better results when I switched out the vermiculite with the sawdust. All these jars turned solid white, fruited nicly within 30 days and are still going.

First couple pixs are of the jar before I cleaned it with a knife...I pretty much just put the jars in the grow chamber and let them do their thing. The last two are of the baby food substrate followed by a pint of PF formula.

[Hippie3]

cool, right out of the jar.

[Foster]

cool project ! I checked out the site you have in your sig, very cool also I'm thinkin of trying some oysters myself and maybe a good size shiitake grow. I got lotsa 3-6 inch , green ,oak (red,tan,white)from broken tree tops after ice storm. what do you think? sorry if a little off topic? keep us updated on oysters BTW my grandmother actually was a Ford, no hard feelings though right? hehe foster

[cyberd0c]

Nice project space, did you put in the fridge for a day or two before fruiting? IME it stimulates heavy pinset this way. also the elongated stalks could mean too much CO2. I used recently the plastic wide mouth bottle and got a decent pinset.

[spacecowboy]

Originally Posted by Fosterbilly

I'm thinkin of trying some oysters myself and maybe a good size shiitake grow. I got lotsa 3-6 inch , green ,oak (red,tan,white)from broken tree tops after ice storm. what do you think?

Use the oak for the shiitake; our oak logs are usually around that size (we aim for 4"dia). As long as the logs are fresh, not already dead and old, they will work great. 3-4 feet is our average log length. Use other hardwoods for the oyster, but mainly because shiitake do much better on oak.

Just recently we started an experiment with small 2-3"dia x ~2'long logs inoculated and incubated indoors. We are curious as to how a small log like that will take to colonize an fruit.

i read this in "Growing Gourmet and Medical Mushrooms" by paul stamets recently p188 ...El-Kattan and others who have conducted extensive studies have found the accumulation of carbon dioxide during colonization has an enhancing effect on subsequent yields.Studies prove partially perforated plastic gives rise to larger fruitings than substrates fully exposed. Exposed columns not only lose more moisture, but also allow the sudden escape of carbon dioxode, resulting in a substantial reduction of the total mass of the substrate.Zadrazil(1976) showed that fully 50% of the mass of wheat straw evolves into a gaseous carbon dioxide during the course of oyster mushroom production...... granted this is for straw log/column culture and not "baby food jar" culture but i thought it might help.

[spacecowboy]

Originally Posted by cyberd0c

Nice project space, did you put in the fridge for a day or two before fruiting? IME it stimulates heavy pinset this way. also the elongated stalks could mean too much CO2. I used recently the plastic wide mouth bottle and got a decent pinset.

CO2 and light problems. Before I moved the project to that clear tote chamber it was in a solid one with high lighting but poor FAE, and the stems were even worse than that.

Currently I have taken one of the sawdust/brf jars that is in between flushes and cleaned it up...filled the jar up with tap water and covered it...then put it in the fridge.

[spacecowboy]

Originally Posted by greysRDbest

i read this in "Growing Gourmet and Medical Mushrooms" by paul stamets recently p188 ...El-Kattan and others who have conducted extensive studies have found the accumulation of carbon dioxide during colonization has an enhancing effect on subsequent yields.Studies prove partially perforated plastic gives rise to larger fruitings than substrates fully exposed. Exposed columns not only lose more moisture, but also allow the sudden escape of carbon dioxode, resulting in a substantial reduction of the total mass of the substrate.Zadrazil(1976) showed that fully 50% of the mass of wheat straw evolves into a gaseous carbon dioxide during the course of oyster mushroom production...... granted this is for straw log/column culture and not "baby food jar" culture but i thought it might help.

Thank you, great reference...it helps me more than you think....one of my next experiments was to do the oysters as birthed cakes even though I feel they would do better growing out of the container rather than outside the container. Just never had any good documentation to reference the idea.

[Foster]

So.. a question bout the CO2. Is it only beneficial in that the myc produces it/byproduct? or would it be beneficial to , for example, cib stack, cover with platsic, supplementing additional co2 from the tank/generator to increase potential yield? nice info Greysrdb. And is this only for oysters, are gourmet wood lovers in general. Damn, I gotta get that book. definately keep updating progress SC/JJ. Oh and if ya dont have it already, check out this album JJ, "White Mansions / Legend of Jesse James" 2 disc set. From clapton to emmy lou harris to levon helm and johnny cash, Tells a tear jerking tale. peace foster again sorry off topic a bit

[BuckarooBanzai]

High CO2 concentration is beneficial to myc growth, but not pinning.

I can't find the reference right now, but I remember reading that some professional mushroom farms will spike the substrate with CO2 to speed myc growth. If I am way off base on this, don't worry, somebody will correct me!

Buckaroo i just skimmed through the growth parameters for the mushrooms listed in GGMM and found what you say to be a generalizable truth ( not neccesarily fact but it works for the mushrooms in the book at least) Almost all listed required greater than 5,000 ppm for the spawn run and then required much less for primordia formation usually around 1,000-2000 ppm. Theres always someone whose gotta be different and mushrooms are no exception- hericium erinaceus needs a whopping 5,000 to 40,000 ppm for spawn run and ONLY 500-700 ppm for primordia formation. Hericums in nature love to invade tree wounds with strong sap run.....i wonder if the sap prevents air from getting to the mycelium. just a wild ass theory there...no real proof

[cyberd0c]

Originally Posted by greysRDbest

Buckaroo i just skimmed through the growth parameters for the mushrooms listed in GGMM and found what you say to be a generalizable truth ( not neccesarily fact but it works for the mushrooms in the book at least) Almost all listed required greater than 5,000 ppm for the spawn run and then required much less for primordia formation usually around 1,000-2000 ppm. Theres always someone whose gotta be different and mushrooms are no exception- hericium erinaceus needs a whopping 5,000 to 40,000 ppm for spawn run and ONLY 500-700 ppm for primordia formation.

True, and quoting from GGMM p 113 " as the mycelium digests a substrate, massive amounts of CO2 are produced", you do not need to supplement CO2, it is there,and in abundance. you only need to wash it off. the more vigourously you do it the lower the CO2.

[Foster]

Right on BB, I was thinking about the co2 being used in the early stages of spawning with dowels/Logs. To speed colonization. cyberdoc- "you do not need to supplement CO2, it is there,and in abundance. you only need to wash it off." the more vigourously you do it the lower the CO2." Is that a quote from the book? or personal observation? Thanks for the added info! Spacecowboy- sorry not trying to hijack your thred with questions,but when the people who know the answers, start, and post up in threads, i just cant help myself . hehe great thred btw Foster

[cyberd0c]

Originally Posted by Fosterbilly

Is that a quote from the book? or personal observation?

No Foster the quote is this: " as the Mycelium digests a substrate , massive amounts of CO2 are produced". if you read the paragraph page 113 you realize that CO2 is never supplemented simply because it is produced abundantly during vegetative growth. a fact that is used in a commercial patent that pumps CO2 out of a mycelium tub to boost green house plants. once fully colonized reducing CO2 by FAE (and manipulating temp and RH) will induce fruiting. Each mushroom has its preference for CO2 levels both for growth and fruiting.

[spacecowboy]

Originally Posted by captainmax

Don't expect too much off a piece of substrate that small. If you really want to harvest enough mushrooms to make your work worth the while, try something like this:

Thx for that pic CptnMax, one of the landowners I get supplies from suggested just that...I mentioned using the larger PVC 6" dia tubes like the ones in the pic...but then he told me they are expensive and you can get the 4" dia ones for really cheap...ironically that is the standard shiitake log size we use but I told him that maybe we would be better off with the oysters using tubes due to their quicker colonization. I have downloaded that pic for him...thanks again good sir.

[spacecowboy]

Noticed this and there are others too...but they are too small for my cheap camera to pick up....however this one managed to over mature into a catchable picture:

[spacecowboy]

Originally Posted by Fosterbilly

Spacecowboy- sorry not trying to hijack your thred with questions,but when the people who know the answers, start, and post up in threads, i just cant help myself . hehe great thred btw Foster

No hijackin gonin on, the more bumbs and feedback the better...have at yall, sorry if I have not been replying or postin much...tryin to start a small biz is hard work.