Mycology!!
Is there any interest in this? should a class be taught? what day maybe?
it is super rewarding and not as cost prohibitive as many other projects. im sure there are many people of all ages that have a green thumb at the DMS.
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What did you have in mind?
start to finish build over many classes, depending on interest?
intro to mycology. types locations uses.
build
colonizing
fruiting
harvesting
cloning
automating
maintaining the setup etc etc
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Feel free to offer classes; that’s the only reliable way that I know of for gauging interest.
Science group has talked about obtaining an incubator.
Ultra filtered laminar flow hood (commercial or diy) would be a top implement for mycology success and teaching. Do we have one?
I would very much be interested. I actually did quite a bit of growing nearly a decade ago, but would love a refresher class/to be checked out on the necessary equipment in the science committee area. I’d be happy to help with an incubator build as well.
the type of fungi grown will also determine its needs. we def dont have to do it like they do in a lab either we can cheaply DIY the entire project. the first half of the project is inoculation of substrate which takes 12+ weeks. a hood is nice to have but not needed. an incubator is nice to have but not needed. also size of project will determine cost for point of entry.
IMO the NEEDS list is:
myco bags or wide mouth quart jars w/ lids (25-$50)
tyvek (free)
pressure cooker
dealers choice of substrate $50 [(also depends on type of fungi) IMO best is rye berry, WBS, BRF, or manure are all viable.]
tubbermaid tub $20
home depot buckets $10
spores of choice $20-50
heating pad or heat lamp $30
digital thermometer/ hygrometer $5
I know this thread was a revival from 3 years ago, but is this possibly a class that is going to be taught? I wouldn’t mind learning how to grow some Chanterelle’s or Shitake’s as I like to cook but I cringe every time I see the cost of fresh high end mushrooms.
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That is some impressive response time for a 3 year old post. I’m tangentially interested because my step mom is super interested in growing her own mushrooms. @Team_Science any suggestions or input on being able to do this?
same here. i hate knowing it took pennies on the dollar to grow them but $10+ at my grocery store.
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you are right this is 3 yrs old. last i was told i should just host classes and see who comes to find out whether or not its worth my time… and from the one response i did get i decided not to host classes. i would just check shroomery.com for more info and teach yourself how to since we cant get science off the ground
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Now that the thread is revived, and we have a lot more members these 3 years later, maybe the interest is higher? Looks like roughly $150 ish in startup equipment so set a class with 10 slots at $15 a piece (assuming sufficient interest), then let the students come along for the (however many month) ride and we all cash out with some fresh high end mushrooms at the end. After that we have the equipment and can propagate classes on the cheap after the initial setup.
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I’ve always been interested, but I killed bamboo once… Which I’m told is pretty difficult to do.
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you can do everything right and still kill your mushrooms. they get to a point where they are pretty impenetrable but getting them off the ground can be a chore.
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Seems to be lots of interest. Might consider the medicinals since they can be quite expensive and you never can be sure of what you are getting. Nothing wrong with doing Oysters or a common culinary fungi, however.
Ganoderma (Reishi), Turkey tail, Lion’s mane, Cordyceps (mycelium only) and Chaga, for ex.
Taking the class from spores to fruit is a long process but great way to appreciate the fungal world. I would strongly favor growth, genetic isolation and possibly cleanup on agar.
From there, go with a couple of different means (agar, grain to grain, liquid culture) to multiply the clean, isolated mycelium to generate spawn -> substrate -> fruiting . . .
Then spore collection and cloning of fruit.
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This is very true, I think at the best I got it down to losing 1 in 10 jars.
Personally, for a 101 level class I would recommend starting with Oyster mushrooms and PFtech rice cakes for the substrate. Oysters are very fast and strong colonizers that can often out race and compete contaminants and the rice cakes can be fruited as is in a simple terrarium or crumbled and added to straw/paper/woodchips/dowels to increase the bulk for fruiting or to inoculate logs.
I have a nice big pressure cooker in storage and I think I have some filter bags too but I’m not sure how many. I think we should be moving and able to get into the unit in the next month or so, I think all of my current spore collection are “FOR MICROSCOPY STUDY ONLY” species, but can 100% guarantee that if one hooks up with some of the internet mushroom forums (the above mentioned shroomery is one but personally I liked the community at mycotopia.net better as it was slightly smaller and had fewer trolls) and says they are looking to teach a class at a Makerspace you will be able to get some prints, liquid culture, agar culture, and/or live spawn at no charge.
It’s a pretty good list. I’d add a big bag of pearlite and a bag of vermiculite(make sure to get this one from the insulation section NOT the gardening section to avoid a huge markup,) and a few packs of syringes( i usually would buy the big cattle injectors from farm and fleet as the larger gauge needles got clogged less when using them with LC’s
I really would like to see this happen at the space, if I can be of any help please let me know. After being cleared to use the science equipment and a practice batch or two I wouldn’t hesitate to teach the class( more realistically a series of classes) myself if @triggerscold doesn’t want to shoulder the whole load.
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everything you said or added is 1000% correct. there are a lot of options for class ofshoots to teach. i would also assume this would have to live at someones house and not at the space. i could see it get touched or messed with when our SIG wasnt there and it would go sideways fast or leave it out in the light or unplug its heaters. im currently super busy so i cant head this up or go fund supplies etc. i get married in november and after that ill have more time to devote to said projects.
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Congrats, I should be into my new place around then as well. We would need a bit of a lead up time in any event so we could have a few generations at different stages to show off. I was chatting in DMs with @dejswa and here are some of the potential classes or points to cover in classes that came to mind off the top of my head and in no particular order.
sterile techniques from working on the oven door, to DIY glove boxes, and laminar flow hoods, using an autoclave/PC, when you can get away with just a steam bath or microwave.
Making spore prints. This could cover both sterile printing for mycology use and art and clothing printing for are and spore distribution.
Spore prints to spore syringe/agar/LC
isolation of mycelium plates and tissue culture cloning
PFtek/rice cakes, wheat/rye berries, millet/ birdseed, popcorn, sawdust, and dowel spawn
building an incubator ( I know a few different options from ghetto DIY to pro jobs)
fruiting chambers
maybe a ELab cross class in using arduino’s to automate temp, humidity, light, o2/co2 balance, and other such variables.
the differences between indoor and outdoor cultivation
Noccing up logs
casing spawn for fruiting
making straw/ sawdust logs
differences in cultivating various species eg wood loving vs poo loving
I’m sure we could come up with 2 or 3x as many. I know you said your super busy atm @triggerscold but what do you think about us setting up an IRL meeting with @dejswa myself and perhaps someone from @Team_Science just to explore timing, direction, and options? Personally due to transport issues I usually visit DMS between 7pm and 7am on the weekdays.
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For a little background on the topic, this is a favorite interview.
This is a great overview of mycology and it it makes one appreciate that we are way more related to and dependent on fungi than plants. It’s long but the whole thing is fascinating. And I don’t think I can say that about many 2+ hr youtubes. A great way to understand why fungi provide so many important compounds and hold the world together. We (animals and fungi) all had common ancestors a few billion years ago. From that came animals and fungi. Plants came from another independent branch. Fungi have developed compounds like penicillin that fight off things that are bad for both of us.
Joe Rogan Experience #1035 - Paul Stamets
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stamets is not my fave. hes claimed to be on the cusp of revolutionizing many industry but we still out here waiting for it to come down… oh wait it never did… he pretty much stays around long enough to find an applicable research topic, gets it funded, then they find oh wow that isnt scalable or doesnt work at all… i keep bees and stamets recently came across my radar there…
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