Backyard Aquaponics
A place to discuss aquaponics

I'm in the ACT.

Funky is for cactus, for now.

Anyone know what kind of mushroom this is? Is huge.... 20cm across

Interesting... very big, <- that bit's cool, I would assume from the pics that it's a kind of toadstool, not a mushy. So likely to be unhealthy to eat, if not down right poisonous. I can't tell you it's species though.

I found a site of ppl who take photos of mushies and toadstools and stuff... it was on flicker.
http://www.flickr.com/photos/stevegreaves/3059693406/
http://www.flickr.com/groups/28669448@N00/pool/with/2889875050/

you may find what you're looking for there. In 5 minutes I didn't, but then I'm lazy there are HEAPS of photos, and comprehensive IDs and Descriptions. Perhaps you could post your pick, however a ground leve shot would be a great help in identifying it

Thanks KP. Will take a looksee. I wonder what makes something a toadstool as against a mushroom.

Edibility?
I dunno, toadstools, they just look uglier

Well this thing sure is ugly
3 of them. Never seen ones like this before here.

been on a search......here are a few links to help.....generally if it grows a fungi out of a tree Its shite and you wouldn't want to eat it.......if you can pick a few and then the rest just grow as your comming to .....they might be Blue Meanies or Gold Tops, ......or feild mushies in disguiese

http://www.fungibank.csiro.au/topic_2_5.htm

http://www.wisegeek.com/what-is-the-dif ... hrooms.htm

http://www.rolawndirect.co.uk/aftercare ... _turf.html

Thanks Jess. I sure have hoped it is some highly prized culinary delicacy.... Not that it looks promising! Bit grotesque to look appetising......

The one does look like it is growing out the tree but more a case of the tree got in the way of it shaping properly. The other two were stand alone.

I buried some bamboo right there that I got from the coast in hopes it would grow. Got these things instead!

Well, they're not truffles, they grow underground, and are worth $1000's /kg
Maybe you should start digging?

Yeah!

Is it too late to dive into the offer for the msdoc that was sent out? Can someone send it puleeeasee!!

im quite familar with growing mushrooms

my guess is AP could meet mushrooms in a few ways

shiitake logs could be soaked in the soak tank
then laid out between the veggies on the grow beds horizontally , just slightly nesteled into the gravel.

oyster mushrooms could be used as biofilters when grown on strawbales
this has been done to filter effluent.
or they can be grown as above

but the main thing i wonder is fish food
i wonder if our omnivorous and herbivorous species can be coaxed into eating oyster mushrooms
they are rich in protein and can be produced off waste material easily
the spend substrate can then be fed to worms, so this alos feeds the fish

Pleurotus pulmonarius is a very adaptive and aggressive species but not 100% gourmet. But if jade perch or tilapia would eat it then theres potential

What a fascinating idea....

I was under the impression that mushrooms did best in low light... are some different? Would you put some kind of lid over them JM?

There are lots of species of mushrooms

Pleurotus species (aka oyster mushrooms) are the easiest of all to grow for most people
Ive grown them on Phonebooks, waste paper, coconut fibre, straw, bamboo, any woody or grassy wastes

they like light. in fact they need it to trigger fruiting and form colour and fully developed fruitbodies. In low light levels the etiolate.

nutritionally another thing of note
in Paul stamets books theres a chapter on the nutritional componenets of mushrooms.
by turning many mushrooms gills up while drying it causes the conversion of the ergosterols in them into Vitamin D. even a few minutes in sunlight makes a difference, the levels can get very high with prolonged exposure.

now oily fish are one of our other sources of vitamin D
presumably they have or make a lot of it because they need a lot of it
so maybe fresh mushies for fish is a good thing, or dried as a nutritional supplement in home made pellets

Maggots certainly like mushrooms. Maybe BSF do too.

we have a lot to learn

Waste paper? Wow. I got enough here to do a mushroom farm. What about the ink and print...etc. ... that not poisonous to the spore? I have noticed that magazine glossies are lousy to start fires with. Just no real burnability... wonder what they do to it. Maybe lousy for mushrooms too. I could just chop up woodchips for them in my mulcher. What would I put them in? I think I have seen Oysters in plastic bags somewhere. I like the idea of using those bags they put oranges in... lots of holes for the fruiting bodies already there... but maybe not humid enough inside?

Nice word.. .. etiolate... had to look it up

You've got me really interested in Oyster mushrooms. Wonder where I can get some here.

That is worth knowing... never heard of that before... not that I have ever dried any mushrooms!

Sounds good to me. Makes me think that quality grow media needed for the mushrooms to grow in... so squash the glossy magazines as an idea.

Maggots can have what I don't want... mushrooms I want

Interesting post JM.