Moth1992 wrote: ↑Sun Jan 15, 2023 2:25 am Just made my first bags and sterilized them in the canner.

Lessons learnt:
- Dont use rolled oats just because you had a box of expired ones sitting around. Oats good but oatmeal bad. This is not going to work out. Oh well, this is a practice run I guess.

Successes
- Pressure canner did not explode and it was not too difficult to figure out the correct heat setting. Really happy about that.

I will try inoculating them tomorrow in my bathroom to practice the whole still air box, etc etc.

Garden and learn! And don't let your failures stop you. Let your failures TEACH you. You've made a great start with the pressure canner not exploding LOL. That would be awful! And yes, the still air box takes practice. Be sure to sterilize it well with alcohol, including everything you're putting inside. I don't know how you're planning to close up the bag, but if you're going to use a vacuum sealer be sure to roll the bag closed before breaking containment on the box. Then work quickly. It helps to have the sealer set up so you can seal the bag quickly. I roll mine such that I don't have to unroll much in order to fit enough under the sealer to make the seal. Does that make sense? And be sure to loosen up the substrate at some point so the spawn can make full contact! I just squeeze a bit with my hands. Remember: your mycelia are obligate aerobes. They need the oxygen as much as we do, so loosening up that substrate oxygenates. Think like roots growing through soil: looser soil is easier than hard pan. Good luck!

worth1 wrote: ↑Sun Jan 15, 2023 8:44 am I'm not impressed with spending time labor and money on a tomato plant only to get a small handful of tomatoes.
And it's the weathers and plant varieties fault not mine.

Of course not. No one is. But sometimes we learn the best that way. It could be a great many things causing the failure. Let's not discourage the new growers, right?

JayneR13 wrote: ↑Sun Jan 15, 2023 8:49 am

worth1 wrote: ↑Sun Jan 15, 2023 8:44 am I'm not impressed with spending time labor and money on a tomato plant only to get a small handful of tomatoes.
And it's the weathers and plant varieties fault not mine.

Of course not. No one is. But sometimes we learn the best that way. It could be a great many things causing the failure. Let's not discourage the new growers, right?

Wasn't trying to discourage new growers.
I was commiserating.

Thank you @JayneR13

I think the mold is blue (pic may seem a bit more green?) I did what you suggested and removed the spots and sprayed with rubbing alcohol.

It just came with a big baggie to put over top. No humidity tent. I will throw the baggie out as I noticed white mold in it. Hopefully new bag, new plate, and the alcohol spray will clean it up. If not I will contact the supplier which is pretty far away from me in Nova Scotia.

Thanks again Jayne. Have a good rest of the weekend.
T

PS Here are the pics. I didn’t wait long enough for them to upload.

@MissTee i have never grown shitake but that block looks fairly small so I would not expect a lot of mushrooms. You will get more with more humidity but not a lot a lot.

Is the block in a plastic bag you cut a hole in? Im confused about the photos it looks like its all out in the air?

@MissTee,

Those spots look suspicious to me somehow. Definitely monitor! And yes the plastic bag is the humidity tent. I would agree to toss and replace if there’s mold growing inside. The mycelia need humidity but also good air flow. If there isn’t enough oxygen the CO2 will rise, and that brings green mold.

FWIW these are my shiitake blocks pinning. It’s been a long time since I’ve grown these successfully so it’s good to see! These are generally held as more challenging to grow, more like a fuschia than a philodendron. I love fuschias but they don’t love me! Shiitake popcorns, then pins and hopefully fruits. If you look up the phrase you may find better pictures. Stamets also shows it but his pictures are all black & white.

Not to stray away from the subject matter I'm making mushroom ketchup from an 18th century colonial recipe.
Here's the start of it with mushrooms in salt and bay leaves.

I didn’t know there was such a thing! What kind of mushrooms? Does the recipe call for tomatoes?

JayneR13 wrote: ↑Sun Jan 15, 2023 2:40 pm I didn’t know there was such a thing! What kind of mushrooms? Does the recipe call for tomatoes?

The original ketchup didn't have tomatoes in it.
That's why they call today's ketchup Tomato Ketchup.
These mushrooms are portobello mushrooms.
There are about a thousand recipes for the original types of ketchup without tomatoes.
Worcestershire sauce is about as close as we get today.

Mushroom ketchup! I had no idea!!

Innoculation complete. I have no expectations on success but it was a good learning experience. I might try again next weekend appliying lessons learned.

Moth1992 wrote: ↑Sun Jan 15, 2023 4:08 pm Mushroom ketchup! I had no idea!!

Innoculation complete. I have no expectations on success but it was a good learning experience. I might try again next weekend appliying lessons learned.

You may surprise yourself. Just keep them warm so the bag colonizes quickly and keep learning! One day soon you'll harvest your very own home grown shrooms.

Now that y'all are growing your own mushrooms its time to discover the history of them and the way they were used.
Many cultures have been picking them for years and the kids are raised to learn which ones to pick wild.
Growing up we picked them wild on our place but it's been way too long for me.

Same. I grew up in a mushroomy place and my school took us on field trips every autumn to learn to forage safely.

But its been waaaay too long.

JayneR13 wrote: ↑Sun Jan 15, 2023 4:58 pm

Moth1992 wrote: ↑Sun Jan 15, 2023 4:08 pm Mushroom ketchup! I had no idea!!

Innoculation complete. I have no expectations on success but it was a good learning experience. I might try again next weekend appliying lessons learned.

You may surprise yourself. Just keep them warm so the bag colonizes quickly and keep learning! One day soon you'll harvest your very own home grown shrooms.

Oh I already do and they are the best tasting oysters EVER. Even better than the ones I get at the farm where I buy the spawn.

But spawn is pricey and I want to try different techniques so see how this liquid culture experiment takes me!

Already ordered more culture for next batch. Need to swing by the feed store to get some appropriate grain now.

Good for you! You do realize that you can use liquid culture to make your own spawn, right? You can also maintain cultures yourself and make your own liquid cultures. I have 19 species of master cultures in my fridge for that very purpose. Liquid culture expenses add up too.

JayneR13 wrote: ↑Sun Jan 15, 2023 4:58 pm

Moth1992 wrote: ↑Sun Jan 15, 2023 4:08 pm Mushroom ketchup! I had no idea!!

Innoculation complete. I have no expectations on success but it was a good learning experience. I might try again next weekend appliying lessons learned.

You may surprise yourself. Just keep them warm so the bag colonizes quickly and keep learning! One day soon you'll harvest your very own home grown shrooms.

How long approx untiI start seing any developments do you think? ( these are oysters)
Days? Weeks? Months?

Making my own liquid culture will be the next difficulty level: Level 1 - Spawn to fruit has been successful but low yields.
Level 2 - LC to spawn and fruit ( just started)
Level 3 - Making LC, buting a flow hood, agar plates, the sky and money are the limits.


Im now wondering if I can make some sort of divider in my martha. Keep it humid and shady in one section for mushrooms and dry and bright in the other section for micro tomatos until spring comes.

It all points to a terrible idea, specially to manage airflow and temperature but I have too big of a martha I bought withouth thinking too much ( as usual).

Dont post to often but just wanted to share some fungi appreciation. I got into foraging and growing mushrooms in the last few years. Lucky to be in Northern CA with access to some pretty diverse species.