Sudoshroom
Don't laugh - haven't you seen Six Ways Mushrooms WIll Save the World?
Mycology experiments for fun, heath, and world-saving!
State of SudoShroom
- Some brief discussion was had at our First Annual State of the Room
- Matt has set up a bin for collecting coffee grinds in the common area kitchen.
- Many seem interested. Momentum!
- Evan suggests the name, Sudo Shroom!
- This wiki page was born.
As of 29th of January, 2013:
- Hol has brought a pump and mister.
- Morten will bring in the aquarium from Adeline that will be the host of our first growing station.
- Marina joins the group.
- The time for innoculating is near!
As of 5th of February, 2013:
- Morten has met with Farley's and they're in on giving us their espresso grounds. We can start a daily pickup at 9:30PM when we're ready (and on the days where we cannot pick up / don't need more grounds, the fallback is that the grounds are composted).
- Aquarium is in place in sudo room.
- Our next step is to create spawn. We need pretty sterile conditions for it, a pressure cooker, and some materials. Chapter 4 in the mushroom growers handbook details this part of the process rather well. Morten thinks we should set a day and time where we meet and do it.
What we need in the future
- Steady supply coffeegrounds (morten is setting up a deal with Farleys to take theirs)
- More containers for growing (aquariums, metal racks, thick plastic for "shielding", empty milk-gallon containers)
Resources (familiarize yourself with the art and science!)
The Growing Process
[the] life cycle of mushroom is divided into two phases: vegetative and reproductive growth. Vegetative growth indicates linear growth of fungal mycelia dissolving complex substrate components into simpler molecules and absorbing them as nutrients. When low temperature, high humidity, much oxygen, and sometimes light are offered,the mycelia cease vegetative growth and begin to produce fruitbodies, which we call mushroom. This is reproductive growth. Mushroom cultivation can be said the practice of obtaining fruitbodies by artificially repeating these two growing stages.
Mushroom cultivation requires enough understanding on the optimal growing conditions of each mushroomspecies and how to make favorable environment for both vegetative and reproductive growth of mushrooms.
- from "Mushroom Growers Handbook, Oyster Mushroom Cultivation"
There are numerous ways to successfully grow oyster and shiitake mushrooms, all of which share the same basic steps and principles. This section aims to describe what one needs to set it all up and get started learning and producing - first with a quick rundown followed by more details on each point.
- Creating a growing environment; humidity is key, temperature seems important as well. It also needs to reduce the risk of contamination from alien bacteria.
- Getting spores (several methods: )
- Preparing the growing medium (several methods: ). Needs to be sterilized/pasteraurized.
- Inoculation of spores into the growing medium.
- Maintaining conditions for growth in the growing environment (several methods: )
- Optional: Stopping the process and turning the mycelim populated medium into a kit that is "hibernated"
Growing environment
- Aquarium
- Empty milk-gallon container
- Rack with plastic
The last important factor for mushroom growing is providing an appropriate environment both for vegetative andreproductive growth. Not being protected by a skin layer, fungi are easily affected by their growing conditions. Soit can be said that the success or failure of mushroom cultivation depends on the control of growing conditions.Environmental factors affecting mushroom cultivation include temperature, humidity, light and ventilation.Optimal levels of them at vegetative stage differ from those at reproductive stage. - Mushworld, Oyster Mushroom Cultivation
Getting spores
- Alufoil method
- ?
Growing mediums
Coffee grounds
Morten contacted Rikke from Tastebridge about coffeegrounds preparation. Here's what she said:
From the few images I posted to Google+ at the time, it looks as though the pressured cooked, non-supplemented batch did best, i.e. colonized the medium fastest (which is good, because faster colonization means lower risk of contamination by bacterial and other fungal competitors).
Sawdust
Straw
Inoculation
Maintaining the conditions for growth
- Misting
- Arduino-controlled
Mushroom Grow Kits
- Oyster mushroom grow kit locally produced in Oakland and sold at Whole Foods: Back to the Roots
- Lion's Mane is a particularly awesome mushroom known to stimulate nerve growth factor and increase cognitive ability: Kit available to order online. And Reishi mushrooms can grow on the same substrate.
Ideas for Future Experiments
- Plastic-eating fungi! We'll keep 'em a safe distance from the 3D printer...
- Plastic-eating fungi found in Amazon may solve landfill problems
- Scholarly articles available upon request; contact Tunabananas
- Learn how to make growing kits ala back to the roots.
- Ecosystems for water-treatment.
List of people who want to set up an oyster mushroom growing operation at sudoroom
ElectricJack has some mushroom grow stuff that he wants to donate to sudoroom. We don't know what it is yet though.
sudoroom has been saving coffee grounds in the freezer as a growth medium. See recycling and re-use for more info.