Liquid culture, direct to hardwood pellet + bran block!
Direct Innoculation to Sawdust
Trying a combo of Hardwood Pellets bought at Walmart and bran. Followed a simple mixture recipe and made some bags for Reishi, Lion’s Mane and Chestnut (August 2nd). Only the Chestnut and Lion’s Mane are taking.
Pressure Cooker vs Induction Stove
Learned almost too late you SHOULD NOT put a pressure cooker on an induction stove (glass top stove). It can cause it to crack! So, my solution was a hot plate. My pressure cooker is 16 qt, so a bit smaller than the 23 qt most people get for canning. It managed to get up to pressure, but just not ideal.
Keeping Spore Prints
Trying out storing my first prints. Laid them on aluminum and set them in a shoebox. In the shoebox, I have some silica gel, a screen on top, and then the prints. Added some labels with my label maker and all set!
Harvesting Oyster Mushroom Block
Harvested the oyster finally and there were some surprises as I just had never seen spores and the “trash” they can make. I also think I definitely waited too long to harvest the oyster. I cut it up and had it in place of chicken for some stir fry using this: Stir Fried Oyster Mushrooms, how to cook delicious mushrooms 炒平菇
Storage
I tried storing in plastic bags but didn’t feel too good about it after all my hard work. I decided on these small jars as they’re small, easy to store and organize. Added silicone packets to keep it dry inside. And to be fwancy, I got a label maker! But they ARE small, 3″ x 4″, so I might have to get some bigger ones later.
Dehydration
I happen to have a Cosori Air Fryer that has a handy dehydration function. It’s default is 150f for 6 hrs, and after some trial and error, I’ve currently settled on 130f for 3 hours for one tray full of harvested mushrooms. Great to get more use out of appliance I already had.
First Shittake
Starting the Martha off with some pre-made blocks I got on Etsy from Trailbridge Farms. I bought a combo of two blocks, one oyster and one shittake.
Starting with a Martha
After some research, getting started with a Martha. The lights are from Walmart, humidifier from Amazon and fan from dollar store. I used a pipe joiner from Home Depot, cut a hole in the top of Martha and put a black filter and fan inside it. It helped to stabilize the fan and carry its weight.
Edit: (2023-07-14) The monitor seen here appeared to work properly but never was accurate when I used the corded sensor nor even setting it inside itself inside the Martha.