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  • April 21, 2015 at 3:32 pm in reply to: Bags inoculated #548
    Adam
    Keymaster

    Hi Karla,

    It can be difficult to stop the mushrooms fruiting once the bag is fully colonised. Closing over the filter patch and refridgerating the bag below 2C can help to prevent mushrooms from forming, but to a large degree it will also depend upon the strain you are using and how well it will keep like this.

    It is always best wherever possible to fruit the bags when they are at their optimium soon after full colonisation.

    Hope this helps!

    Best wishes,

    Adam

    April 21, 2015 at 3:28 pm in reply to: Bags inoculated #547
    Adam
    Keymaster

    Karla asked:

    Hi, i was wondering if:

    once the bag is completely inoculated and its all white, ready for fruiting, can i stop the growing and saving the bags for a few more months before fruiting? And How? Can I just close the little filter windows of the bags?

    Like you do with the self growing kits.

    Regards.

    April 15, 2015 at 4:15 pm in reply to: Where to Buy Micro-hole column bags #543
    Adam
    Keymaster

    Hi Anthony,

    Most of the suppliers listed in the ‘Suppliers List’ PDF stock the Unicorn bags and you can get the microperforated columns bags from the following link (it’s the product at the top of the page):

    http://www.eblaak.com/eng/materialen_en.htm

    Hope this helps.

    Best wishes,

    Adam

    March 30, 2015 at 2:23 pm in reply to: Holes on Bags #537
    Adam
    Keymaster

    Hi Alison,

    Although you could just cut off the top, it is much better to cut a few small holes on the side of the bag instead. This enables better shaped clusters of mushrooms to form, and stops the substrate from drying out so much between flushes.

    If you cut the top off, you tend to get lots of smaller individual mushrooms of a lesser quality growing and they are more work to harvest, plus the substrate dries out quicker and is more susceptible to contamination.

     

    Hope this helps,

     

    Adam

    • This reply was modified 11 years, 1 month ago by Adam.
    March 27, 2015 at 5:50 pm in reply to: what species grow on coffee? #535
    Adam
    Keymaster

    Question from Alison:

    I’ve grown some shimeji mycelium from mushrooms I bought at the supermarket. Its growing really well. Will shimeji grow on coffee?

    ——————————————

    Hi Alison,

    We’ve not tried growing on coffee grounds with Shimeji so if you give it a go, do let us know how it goes!

    Generally, Oyster mushrooms perform best as they grow so fast and outcompete the moulds before the mould gets a chance to take hold of the substrate. We’ve tried with Shiitake and King Oyster and had mixed success, with a few colonising but then struggling to fruit.

    If you’re just wanting good results and some encouraging grows then I’d say to focus on Oysters, but if you’re feeling like a bit of experimenting with the Shimeji spawn you’ve got, then go for it and report back – we could all learn something!

    best wishes,

    Adam

    March 27, 2015 at 5:42 pm in reply to: Bag Sizes #534
    Adam
    Keymaster

    Hi Alison,

    Yes, definitely best to base the amount of coffee you add primarily on the amount of spawn you have available.

    It is generally good practice to fill a bag like that to at least 1/3 full in order to create a combined mass inside the bag, but you could fold the bag seams in a little along the sides to make the bag inner bag volume smaller.

    Best of luck and let us know how you get on.

    Adam

    March 23, 2015 at 6:19 pm in reply to: Photos and attached documents #529
    Adam
    Keymaster

    Hi Diana,

    Thanks for your feedback and understanding. We’re still looking into whether a private Facebook group is the best solution or not, but if you’ve got photos you want advice with in the meatime – feel free to send them by email to us at

    support@growmushroomsoncoffee.com

    best wishes,

    Adam

    March 18, 2015 at 4:56 pm in reply to: Photos and attached documents #527
    Adam
    Keymaster

    Hi Diana,

    Yes this is something we also feel is lacking in the capability of the forum as it is. The software used to run this forum appears to have a few problems which mean it is not as good as we would like, so we’re thinking of running it as a private Faceboook Group instead, which would make it much easier to share photos, comments and ideas.

    How does this idea sound to you – is it something you’d make use of?

    best wishes,
    Adam

    March 18, 2015 at 4:53 pm in reply to: Photos and attached documents #526
    Adam
    Keymaster

    Diana’s message:

    ——————————–

    He guys,

    I Want to share with you my initial set up and trials, but I can´t find the way to attached photos in the forum. Help Please¡¡

    March 13, 2015 at 4:13 pm in reply to: Holes on Bags #523
    Adam
    Keymaster

    Diana,

     

    You’re absolutely right – we have neglected to mention this in the course and it’s a key point, so thanks for mentioning it. We’ll add it on the first update of materials for sure.

    The best place to make the holes is directly where the white colonised substrate is. If you are using small bags, you may be best with just one cut appprox 5cm x 5cm on one side of the bag. If you are using larger bags you could cut more holes of the same size but space them apart by  10-15 cms around the bag. You can cut a X shaped hole with clean scissors or a sharp knife. Introducing contamination at this point is less likely as the coffee is already colonised by the mushroom mycelium, but it’s still good practice to keep everythiing as clean as possible.

    Best wishes,

    Adam

    March 13, 2015 at 4:07 pm in reply to: Holes on Bags #522
    Adam
    Keymaster

    Diana’s question (the forum appears to be having a problem showing the first message of each topic, we’re trying to fix it, but for the meantime we’ll re-post each new topic so all can see):

    ———————–

    Hi,

    I just finished Module 4. I didnt understand where would the mushrooms grow. I think I have to make some holes to the bags, right? where? how many? how big? what form? any precuation procedures to avoid contamination on them?

    March 13, 2015 at 4:05 pm in reply to: Bag Sizes #521
    Adam
    Keymaster

    Hi Jon,

    When using coffee grounds in bags with filters you would tend to fill them to around 50% full, in order to allow sufficient space in the top of the bag for air exchange. You will find that if you fill them too much above that, the spawn can sometimes struggle to grow towards the bottom of the bag. This is particularly the case with coffee as the substrate is quite dense, so air exchange becomes even more important than with something like straw which has lots of channels for air exchange.

    Hope this helps,
    Adam

    March 13, 2015 at 3:46 pm in reply to: Bags #520
    Adam
    Keymaster

    Hi Diana,

    1. Yes, if you can’t find those bags easily, you could try a similar sized plastic bag with small holes (approx. 1cm) cut at regular intervals (every 10cm) all the way round.

    2. Good question – the big bags we use are covered in lots of micro-perforated holes for air exchange, but where the smaller ones only have the one filter patch they need the top half of the bag empty to enable good air exchange. So, this space is useful to stop overheating and to allow exchange unless you have lots of good micro-perforated holes. The are those also out there who have grown successfully in buckets. See:

    http://www.stormthecastle.com/terrarium/how-to-grow-mushrooms.htm

    https://www.google.co.uk/search?q=mushrooms+grown+in+bucket+coffee+grounds&biw=1366&bih=633&tbm=isch&imgil=FY1JkPl02_R_nM%253A%253Bra8-_C27y_x0FM%253Bhttp%25253A%25252F%25252Ffivegallonideas.com%25252Fmushroom-farm%25252F&source=iu&pf=m&fir=FY1JkPl02_R_nM%253A%252Cra8-_C27y_x0FM%252C_&usg=__AM63_chDjvIsk3TCqaqh0BIcLww%3D&ved=0CCwQyjc&ei=GgUDVbqmJeOe7gaJ5oDACQ#imgdii=_

    Best wishes,
    Adam

    March 13, 2015 at 3:36 pm in reply to: Bags #519
    Adam
    Keymaster

    Diana’s question (the forum appears to be having a problem showing the first message of each topic, we’re trying to fix it but for the meantime, we’ll re-post each new topic so all can see):

    ———-

    1. I´m from Colombia. I havent found bags with “respirator window” needed for air exchange. ¿What could be an alternative? Holes? open bags?…

    2. In the Incubation video, the bag is fill about 50% and the other 50% is like an air bubble. Is this air space necessary? the Big bags you use dont look like that…

     

    Thanks.

    March 13, 2015 at 3:13 pm in reply to: Collection frequency #518
    Adam
    Keymaster

    Hi Diana,

    yes you can try to stretch this timing a little, especially during the winter/spring months when there are less mould spores present in the air. We’ve certainly had good success doing 2 day collections at these times of the year.

    However, you are likely to find increased contamination rates when doing this in the summer in particular, when there are more mould spores in the air and warmer temperatures (this means the mould spores will already be growing on coffee by the time you inoculate). If the cafe can keep the grounds in a fridge/cold room for you this would help, or it may be worth looking to collect from larger cafes if there are any near to you. Also if the grounds are collected in a sealed container this also helps to keep them clean.

    Hope this helps and your first bags are starting to grow well?

    Adam

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