Menu
Assign a 'primary' menu

Mycelium Not Fully Colonising Coffee

Home Page › Forums › Forum Area › Cultivation Area › Incubation › Mycelium Not Fully Colonising Coffee

Tagged: , ,

Viewing 5 posts - 1 through 5 (of 5 total)
  • Author
    Posts
  • June 24, 2016 at 10:45 pm #1464
    Nathan Crichton
    Participant

    Hi,

    I’ve been collecting coffee grounds from a couple of local cafes and trying to grow oyster mushrooms on them. I’ve bought some oyster mushroom(phoenix) spawn from a local provider here in NZ.

    I’m using 10L plastic food buckets instead of grow bags because they’re re-usable and readily available.

    I’ve used 20% spawn to straight coffee(no straw or lime) in 2 buckets so far. I’ve drilled holes in the buckets about every 6 inches.

    Problem is the mycelium looks like it’s growing alright when I peek inside the lid but it isn’t growing through all of the coffee grounds when I look in the drilled holes. It’s been about 4 weeks since I inoculated them.

    I have the buckets in a room inside and the temp ranges from 15 – 22 C as it’s winter here.

    Any ideas why the mycelium is not making it right through the coffee grounds?

    I can post photos if that would help?

    Thanks

    June 26, 2016 at 5:33 am #1465
    Nathan Crichton
    Participant

    Hi,

    I’m growing oyster mushrooms in 10L plastic food buckets with holes drilled around every 6 inches.

    I’ve had 3 buckets incubating for about 4 weeks now. The mycelium looks good when I peek in the lid but when I look through the holes I’ve drilled in the sides it looks as if not all of the coffee grounds are being colonised.

    I’m wondering if it’s to do with airflow? Maybe I need to use less coffee in each bucket and more holes?

    I used spawn bought locally and have about 20% by weight to coffee grounds.

    Any ideas?

    June 28, 2016 at 2:51 pm #1468
    Adam
    Keymaster

    Hi Nathan,

    my first thoughts are either that:

    1) it just looks uncolonised near to the holes because the substrate is drying out at these points

    2) the mix may be a little too dense and is preventing good airflow and growth for the mycelium. A 10 litre bucket will hold quite alot of substrate and to ensure good air exchange right to the core of the mix, it may require more pastuerised straw than what is used in a smaller grow bag. If you try adding around 25-30% pastuerised straw, this will help to break the mix up when using a larger amount of substrate.

    If you send a couple of photos to support@growmushroomsoncoffee.com I’d be happy to take a look and offer any additional advice.

    Best wishes, Adam

    June 28, 2016 at 10:46 pm #1477
    cully borodenko
    Participant

    i have seen bucket in bucket to help with maintaining moisture…. the bucket with holes is placed inside the uncut bucket until the the its ready to fruit, then you simply pull the inner bucket out and begin your fruiting regiment…. this is how i have also opted to go. i will keep posting as my project developes as im still in the opening phases.

    June 29, 2016 at 2:40 pm #1480
    Adam
    Keymaster

    sounds like a nice simple technique Cully – keep us posted on how it goes and add the odd photo if you can 🙂

  • Author
    Posts
Viewing 5 posts - 1 through 5 (of 5 total)
  • You must be logged in to reply to this topic.