Backyard Aquaponics
A place to discuss aquaponics

So I have one of those mushroom in a box kits... I scraped away the white layer, as per the instructions, to water it. However, the white layer has grown back and is excluding water. It has been a couple of weeks and, according to the instructions, I should have mushrooms by now. What am I doing wrong?

Did you soak it overnight yet? I used one of these kits that has the spawn in coffee grounds and remembering having to soak it first.

Is the water clear or have an orange tint to it? In an earlier post of mine in this thread you can see some metabolite oozing (orange tint liquid) but mushrooms still grew. What kit are you using?

Hi All

Thought I would update my mushroom experience so far.

I decided to go down the PF Tek system of growing mushrooms as I felt in the long run it

is cheaper and easier and less likely to suffer contamination.

so far I have 11 cakes on the go and in one fruiting chamber you can see an oyster mushroom

trying to escape.

Great looking Oysters Kimo and Trout! They remind me of Shrek's ears.

No fruit to report on my end. I think the temps and humidity just need to level off for a week or so, been fluctuating heavily. Have had plenty of moisture. At the mercy of Mother Nature with outdoor patches and log culture I must say.

Soon though, I can feel it. The wild ones are starting to flush, and if the conditions are right for one mushroom they are generally right for all mushrooms!

The liquid is orange. The instructions did not say to soak overnight. The coffee and spawn were all wrapped in plastic. When you cut inside, the media is already moist.

Looks like the main heat of summer is gone so time to start mushrooming again. Made up a basket of sugar cane loaded with oyster mushroom inoculated grain. Into a cupboard in the shed for a few weeks

Are you guys all buying your spawn or starting it with store bought mushrooms ?

I am lazy. Bought a 1kg bag of oyster inoculated grain.

Don't feel lazy, I tried to start some oysters from store bought mushrooms and the run was very slow and didn't finish.. I think Ill just get a syringe of spores or something..

I started with a kit that I bought at Vic Market.

I used the mushroom that grew the fastest and largest and cloned that onto agar.

Mushroom viability drops as soon as you pick them, therefore cloning or spore collecting from

store bought mushrooms will present usually inferior results. (according to Paul Stamets)


cheers Lou

Bloody ants have found my basket so I put it in a small bar fridge thats not being used. should be able to keep the humidity up better in there anyway.

Yeah agreed. It is possible to get decent strains but like you said, you just don't know how far it has already run.
The other option I suppose is to get the spores. Sounds like a PITA though to isolate the good strains on a few agar runs. Sounds fun though.. the first time

I started with laundry baskets but then one developed a an ugly green mould.

So I lost the whole crop and wasted the four weeks of growth, hence the decision to use agar.

I had worked with agar plates before, so I knew what I was doing and it is really easy and

guarantees you start with a pure sample. haven't had a problem since.

cheers Lou

There is something cool about fungus in petri dishes

Got a pic of your work area/chamber for the cloning/agar work ?