Hi Philip, no it doesn’t affect the flavour of the mushrooms – the mycelium just makes use of the nutrients present in the same way as it does with wood, and there is no discernable difference in flavour.

There may be some difference in mineral composition of the mushrooms – as has been previously observed when comparing Oyster mushrooms produced on sawdust, corncob & sugarcane bagasse substrates: https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4731647/

We’ve not tested this yet but plan to next year as part of a number of other experiments.

Hi – yes we add the mycelium in layers like this when growing in larger bags as we found it speeds up the colonisation time when growing in larger quantities of substrate. You create a really strong mycelial layer that races though the column faster than when the spawn grains are all mixed through.

It doesn’t seem to make much difference in smaller growing bags holding 4kg or less.

Wow! 43C in pretty damn hot – not something we’re used to here in the UK 😉

certainly presents problems for growing mushrooms, but if you can cool your space to anywhere below 20C you should be fine.

We probably won’t cover the whole spawn production from spores process, but you might want to consider getting the downloads of Marc Keith’s set of videos which covers spawn production techniques: http://www.mushroomvideos.com/

cheers, Adam

Spore prints are just a collection of spores from a mature mushroom fruit body. They are usually collected on paper by just placing the mushroom spore-side down for a few days whilst the spores are dropping.

To cultivate from spores however, is a much more tricky and uncertain process than from spawn. You have to germinate the spores, usually in sterilised petri dishes, and then grow them up a couple of generations onto sterilised grain. By doing so, you will be growing lots of different variants of that strain, some better performing than others, and often you won’t know the traits until you have gone through the whole growing process. It’s an interesting process to learn, but very time-consuming and requires learning a whole extra process and equipment.

When you buy spawn, you are buying it at the end of the process I’ve just described and you are buying a variant of the strain which is known to have good qualities.
Although I couldn’t easily find anywhere in Australia selling the Phoenix Oyster, the strain in the link below looks very similar to it, so could be worth contacting them to ask a bit more about it?
http://www.aussimushroomsupplies.com/index.php?route=product/product&path=101_127&product_id=237

• This reply was modified 9 years, 5 months ago by Adam.
• This reply was modified 9 years, 5 months ago by Adam.

Yes – if it’s relatively fresh grain spawn then you can store it in the fridge for at least 2 months in good condition. If you are quick, clean and careful when opening the bag, then you can re-seal it and put the bag in the fridge for next time. Be sure to wipe the bag down with alcohol before using if it has been in the fridge to make sure it’s clean before tipping the spawn out over your coffee mix.

Hi Phil,
In all honesty I’m not that familiar with growing mushrooms on hay – I have done it a couple of times a few years ago and it contaminated both times. From reading around I understand that one of the main problems with hay is the likelihood of seeds being amongst it which are nitrogen rich and tend to contaminate and foster mould easily, unless sterilised at high temperature.

Straw tends to be just the cut stalk and doesn’t usually have so many seeds in – if you have access to this then it’s probably your best option, but always good to experiment if you’re interested to know first hand.

Let us know how you get on.
Best wishes, Adam

Hi Josue,

You can use other materials in place of straw, but the degree to which they would be pasteurised just by a soap or lime bath may differ.

Pasteurisation tends to work better with materials that are high in carbon and low in nitrogen – like straw, sawdust pellets, cardboard.

Anything relatively high in Nitrogen (which I believe rice bran is) is normally sterilised at a higher heat of 120C with an autoclave/pressure cooker, otherwise it tends to contaminate with moulds much easier.

This is just a general rule that I have seen adhered to in  commericial mushroom cultivation, but I thin it’s always worth experimenting to see if it holds true for you in your situation or not. Certainly if this material is easily available for you.

If the rice bran is available near to you – could there also be rice straw available?

best wishes, Adam