Edibles on PF TEK ( Oyster + Shiitake )

[moldylogic]

synopsis
-----
To grow shiitake and oyster ( Pleurotus ostreatus ) mushrooms on standard and slightly modified PF cakes, from plug spawn generously provided by Spacecowboy of www.mycoporn.com (MMKG) . Modified PF formula has 1/2 tsp nutritional yeast.


Shiitake Plug spawn spiked into 4 jars 2/4
Equivalent of 6 Oyster jars spiked 2/7 (4 half pints 1 pint)
Full inch or more of contam barrier since jars will be fully open when spawning to cakes.
Incubated at 68-75 degrees.
Almost no growth for 3 days problably due to shock; then an explosion of mycelium from the oysters, slow and steady growth from the shiitake.

Oysters birthed at 2/14 - overlay through contam barrrier.
Oysters givin a cold dunk (fridgid water) for 10 hours double end cased and placed in terrarium.

All in all I expected to have a high failure rate corrolated to the insertion of the plug spawn. All 4 Shiitakes were without contams.. however 2 of the oyster 1/2 pints got contaminated with Pin Mold.

----------

I have yet to birth all of the Shiitake cakes... They are in tall wide mouth 1/2 pint jelly jars. I was going to birth half of them and let them bark over in the terrarium, however these jelly jars are giving me hell. They appeared to be tapered however under closer exam (and partial destruction of a cake) I noticed there is an almost non-existant rib near the 'neck' Im not sure if they are all like this or if it was a manufacturing error effecting only a few cases. Ive tried everything to get it out... im going to have to break the jars.

Next cold dunk will be for a longer period of time in the fridge, instead of just cold water.

For my next experiments, I plan on doing some bulk grows on coffee grinds, and on newspaper. I was going to use the remainder of the plugs for hardwood log innoculation, however my quest for a decent log was a failure.

[moldylogic]

Couple more pics. These ones under natural light.

[fucgubarn]

nice grow and cool pix

[safTman]

nice grow ya got

fantastic! thanks for sharing that.

[the_chosen_one]

yes, very nice indeed. you definitely got yer air flow working! prolly the hardest part of the whole grow with most edibles.

seems like the oysters really like to fruit from the bottom area of the cake where the moisture and pressure is greatest. mine do the same thing at least at first. then they will start coming out from the upper casing layer, then out of the side as well.

[spacecowboy]

Originally Posted by moldylogic

... They appeared to be tapered however under closer exam (and partial destruction of a cake) I noticed there is an almost non-existant rib near the 'neck' Im not sure if they are all like this or if it was a manufacturing error effecting only a few cases. Ive tried everything to get it out... im going to have to break the jars.

I have this problem too, pretty sure it is not the jar, and I have recently had it with the oysters too because I let them over grow in the jars for too long. Before breaking the jars I have a suggestion that may or may not work (trying it with my over grown 1/2 pint oysters right now). Simply put them in the grow chamber with the lids off. This should allow moisture to transpire from the cakes shrinking them up some for easier removal. Plus if you get a fruiting, that will also reduce the cake size too.

When I first did Shiitake 1/2 pint cakes I would run into the problem of them not coming out easily from the jar (would try to tap out the cake and half the cake would come out with the other half still stuck inside the jar). My solution at the time was to take two knives, slide the blade down the sides of the jar flate against the inside walls and chopstick out the cake.

[spacecowboy]

Originally Posted by the_chosen_one

...seems like the oysters really like to fruit from the bottom area of the cake where the moisture and pressure is greatest. mine do the same thing at least at first. then they will start coming out from the upper casing layer, then out of the side as well.

Thats a great theory TCO, here is mine...probably both are noticing the same thing...just can't put a finger on exactly what it is....my idea is made off just random observations...I have never really tested it and are not sure how too.

I believe it is because of the mycelium age as well as your idea. I have noticed that my first flushes when using plugs on composite substrate tend to appear from the plug insertion point if not the plug itself (Reishi big time, Lions Mane yes, Oysters mainly on first flush, but not my shiitake). The only way I can rationalize this is that the first flush appears from the most mature mycelium, and when using plugs it is the plug inoculation point.

As for my Shiitake they tend to start the bark over process before I get fruit appearing, and the pinning is random. With both strains I have experimented with so far now, WR and WW. The WR barked over heavily before fruit appeared, but the WW only barked over partially before fruiting.

Out of curiosity moldylogic, did those first flush Oysters fruiting at the cake base appear at the plugging point, or just random?

[the_chosen_one]

Originally Posted by spacecowboy

Thats a great theory TCO, here is mine...probably both are noticing the same thing...just can't put a finger on exactly what it is....my idea is made off just random observations...I have never really tested it and are not sure how too.

I believe it is because of the mycelium age as well as your idea. I have noticed that my first flushes when using plugs on composite substrate tend to appear from the plug insertion point if not the plug itself (Reishi big time, Lions Mane yes, Oysters mainly on first flush, but not my shiitake). The only way I can rationalize this is that the first flush appears from the most mature mycelium, and when using plugs it is the plug inoculation point.

mature myc makes sense. i use lc, but there tends to be a build up at the bottom of the jar...which is also the bottom of the cake when i birth it. i rarely if ever flip the cake like many do or the old pf tek states. the spots on the top could be explained by the inoc points.

[moldylogic]

Originally Posted by spacecowboy

...
As for my Shiitake they tend to start the bark over process before I get fruit appearing, and the pinning is random. With both strains I have experimented with so far now, WR and WW. The WR barked over heavily before fruit appeared, but the WW only barked over partially before fruiting.

Out of curiosity moldylogic, did those first flush Oysters fruiting at the cake base appear at the plugging point, or just random?

You are correct, the first mushrooms appeared to come from the oldest mycelium based around the inoculation points.

After waiting for my Shiitake's to bark over in the jars for quite some time with not much happening I decided to birth em. So far its lookin good. These are from the first one birthed, unfortunate it broke. I was growing this one to take a sporeprint. After fully barking over It looked like a chocolate cake.. with vermeculite sprinkles.

[moldylogic]

Notice in the first picture how the mushroom comes from the brown area.

The second picture is one of the other jars in the process of 'barking over'.

[Hippie3]

maybe switch to plastic jars, spacecowboy
cheaper, lighter to ship, too.

really cool pics
one question guys, can edibles be grown on bulk subs like monotubs or does it have to be on cakes or logs or whatever?

[MrMerlin]

I really want to cultivate some of these, but can't find a spawner nearby. Is it possible to ressucitate a dried specimen?

Sorry for pulling up such an old thread, just didn't think it necessary to open a new one...

[Hippie3]

uncertain on that but you can go to a grocery store, buy fresh specimens and clone them...

[MrMerlin]

Haven't seen fresh yet, but thats probably my best bet...Better start looking around, thanks H

[lyqwyd]

best way to clone w.o using agar, since i have no experience?

[Hippie3]

cardboard perhaps ?

[catdaddy]

[/quote] I have yet to birth all of the Shiitake cakes... They are in tall wide mouth 1/2 pint jelly jars. I was going to birth half of them and let them bark over in the terrarium, however these jelly jars are giving me hell. They appeared to be tapered however under closer exam (and partial destruction of a cake) I noticed there is an almost non-existant rib near the 'neck' Im not sure if they are all like this or if it was a manufacturing error effecting only a few cases. Ive tried everything to get it out... im going to have to break the jars.[/quote] THIS WAS A QUOTE-didn't work, probably because I cut some out...

You know, I'm very new at this, and this post is old, AND you probably know this already but... the 1/2 pint tall jars are regular size mouth, and the KERR brand is restricted at the neck, whereas the Ball is a nice straight taper all the way out. I know this is in one of the PF tek descriptions, but I also found out when I went to buy jars. I also found out I can fit 6 widemouth SHORT jars in my PC, but only 5 tall 1/2 pints. So I buy them now. I haven't birthed any yet, but for cakes, I bet they stand up and fruit better than the tall ones I'm about to birth tomorrow.

I really enjoyed your post, BTW.

Catdaddy