polyarcturus
Well-Known Member
okay welcome to my tutorial, tek, so simple a cave woman could do it. this is how to grow mushroom, cubes in particular, on popcorn straw and verm for under 200$ so lets get right into it shall we? first off you need to collect you supply and prepare your areas to work in.
to do this first you need to create your jars, very simple, some high temp silicon sealant, red or blue will work, drill 3 holes in a a lid some people like 4, and some possibly 2. fill 2 of the holes completely with silicone to form a self healing injection port, then cut your self a small square of tvek, and place sealant around the hole and place the tyvek onto sealant, and gently push down careful to not get any sealant on center of tyvek or in the hole.
then glove box is very simple. an 18gal tote, with a flap that Velcros up and down, and a viewing window taped on top(plexiglass) there are many variation of glove box, but closed ports are not really needed because you should still sterilize everything in glove box at the time of use. the last pic in the group below shows what i keep in glove box, some gloves(flipped inside out to clean the inside, if you don't you'll get a nice Bacteria infection after time from sweat), alcohol, exacto knife, labels, pen, and 2 jars, one is just a sterile jar to collect spore prints the other is full of sterilized water( and an empty syringe for making spore syringes or LC)
next is incubation, 18gal tote, not adjustments necessary, just a warm place to sit. some people like to add a tote around the tote and fill that tote with some water and a water heater its all up to you. example: https://mycotopia.net/forums/attach...8-tit-good-[wollongong-invitro]-sdc12457a.jpg then last but not least the
fruiting chamber, my design is very simple, a few ports at the top for air exchange one light bulbs and a piece of plastic hanging to diffuse light. the bottom will be fill with sterilized perlite and some water, fed air from stone underneath. once again many designs out there but i find this on to be the least maintenance.
the list of supply's:
gallon bags
heavy duty foil
aerosol (that sanitizes the air preferably like, neutra air)
spray disinfectant(makes bigger sanitizing jobs much easier than ISO)
tyvek coveralls
straw
vermiculite
perlite(remember to sterilize your perlite between fruitings)
pressure cooker
iso alchohol
distilled water(or in my case straw steep, explained later)
labels
agar-agar(you can find it at specialty markets, but most often Chinese food markets. its an oddity)
popcorn
dehydrated potato flakes
honey
PAPER TOWELS
high temp silicone sealant
mason jars (wide mouth preferably, this means they are tapered from the top meaning side are like this \ / and not parallel like this ] [)
small tray or trays
black trash bags(multipurpose but mostly used to line the inside of trays or wrap jars to fruit)
expendable pillow case or cloth bag
light bulbs
adapter
extension cord
exacto knife
gloves
pen
okay step one, now that you have you supply gathered soak your popcorn in distilled water for 24 hours, i use straw steep, i get this from the left over from pasteurizing my bulk media or steeping some straw in hot water. i then cook the corn bringing it to a boil then reducing to a simmer for about 40 min. the arrows in the pic show how the corns skin splits when i see about 3 out of groups of 10 i know its done. and i immediately rinse with cold water. then i set the corn in the strainer back on the pot to drain of the heat, for about 30min to an hours giving it gentle shakes careful not to spill my popcorn.
after that i prepare my agar media, and separate into a few jars. i only made 1/4 a cup of agar media. this is used for a multitude of things but for the most part i throw colonized agar into fridge to inoc other jars later. using this tek: http://www.shroomery.org/9427/Grocery-Store-Agar-Tek and this is the popcorn tek is used as reference when i started, http://www.shroomery.org/9035/Popcorn-Tek-w-pics
i prepare my pressure cooker and things to be pressure cooked like sterile water and exacto knife. since i dont use a rack i have to use a rag to help diffuse the heat, remember to keep the glass and metal rings on the jars OFF the sides of the pressure cooker. dont ever over pack the PC, more time for better results is worth it. try not to let the water boil inside as this means you are pressure cooking at too high of a temps. because i use an electric hot plate i tend to start at a very high heat and lower it as the steam begins to gently escape. all you want is a gentle hiss of steam escaping. rocking and whistling means your temps and pressure are too high. usually take me 15-30 min of standing with the PC before i can walk away for an hour to let it do its thing.
move your jars quickly one at a time into your sterile glove box wiping them with alchohol as you go. then after you get everything in there o in label it. so worst case scenario you forget to inoc one instead of double inoc it. get your syringes out, remove the safety cap wipe with alchohol and quickly insert in you injection ports remove and repeat. then place in your incubation chamber remembering to wipe everything down again as you move thing out.(agar is the same method less spore solution, i use about 2cc of solution per grain jar usually, sometimes more sometimes less)
next three pics show a grain to grain transfer, this is for later if you want to keep things going perpetually an dont have to work with spores. take you jar, in this a case an isolation strain of B+ shake it, remove the rings from you jar, wipe all the jar and the edge where the glass and lid meet especially, remove the lids on some sterile popcorn jars and pour a small but in careful to work in a way your hands will not pass over open jars, quickly close them wipe them down once again and place into incubation.(pick; unshook, shook, add some on top fresh popcorn)
these jars are about 1 week from a grain to grain transfer in my cool temps they grow slow, but this is the perfect time to shake if you want to shake you mycelium. the second pics is some others jar 2 days after being shook. last shows all my fresh jars and old ones, freshly inoculated agar ect.
now after your jars are colonized(week or 2 from now) its time to prepare your bulk substrate, cut your straw very fine, under an inch is ideal, add a little less than half the straw in verm add water and mix. take you mixture and place into a pillow case or cloth pouch, and put into pot to be cooked raise the temp to about 170 and cook for an hour or 2.(i cooked an hours on each side because i had such a small pot.) allow to cool remove pillow case and place into a grocery bag(prevents air from exchanging a little) cut a hole in the bottom and strain. then mix with you colonized popcorn in the tray allow that to incubate for week or 2 more(depends on the ration of colonized corn to substrate) then place in you fruiting chamber and watch the magic. anyways ill get some more pic of this project as it goes along.
to do this first you need to create your jars, very simple, some high temp silicon sealant, red or blue will work, drill 3 holes in a a lid some people like 4, and some possibly 2. fill 2 of the holes completely with silicone to form a self healing injection port, then cut your self a small square of tvek, and place sealant around the hole and place the tyvek onto sealant, and gently push down careful to not get any sealant on center of tyvek or in the hole.
then glove box is very simple. an 18gal tote, with a flap that Velcros up and down, and a viewing window taped on top(plexiglass) there are many variation of glove box, but closed ports are not really needed because you should still sterilize everything in glove box at the time of use. the last pic in the group below shows what i keep in glove box, some gloves(flipped inside out to clean the inside, if you don't you'll get a nice Bacteria infection after time from sweat), alcohol, exacto knife, labels, pen, and 2 jars, one is just a sterile jar to collect spore prints the other is full of sterilized water( and an empty syringe for making spore syringes or LC)
next is incubation, 18gal tote, not adjustments necessary, just a warm place to sit. some people like to add a tote around the tote and fill that tote with some water and a water heater its all up to you. example: https://mycotopia.net/forums/attach...8-tit-good-[wollongong-invitro]-sdc12457a.jpg then last but not least the
fruiting chamber, my design is very simple, a few ports at the top for air exchange one light bulbs and a piece of plastic hanging to diffuse light. the bottom will be fill with sterilized perlite and some water, fed air from stone underneath. once again many designs out there but i find this on to be the least maintenance.
the list of supply's:
gallon bags
heavy duty foil
aerosol (that sanitizes the air preferably like, neutra air)
spray disinfectant(makes bigger sanitizing jobs much easier than ISO)
tyvek coveralls
straw
vermiculite
perlite(remember to sterilize your perlite between fruitings)
pressure cooker
iso alchohol
distilled water(or in my case straw steep, explained later)
labels
agar-agar(you can find it at specialty markets, but most often Chinese food markets. its an oddity)
popcorn
dehydrated potato flakes
honey
PAPER TOWELS
high temp silicone sealant
mason jars (wide mouth preferably, this means they are tapered from the top meaning side are like this \ / and not parallel like this ] [)
small tray or trays
black trash bags(multipurpose but mostly used to line the inside of trays or wrap jars to fruit)
expendable pillow case or cloth bag
light bulbs
adapter
extension cord
exacto knife
gloves
pen
okay step one, now that you have you supply gathered soak your popcorn in distilled water for 24 hours, i use straw steep, i get this from the left over from pasteurizing my bulk media or steeping some straw in hot water. i then cook the corn bringing it to a boil then reducing to a simmer for about 40 min. the arrows in the pic show how the corns skin splits when i see about 3 out of groups of 10 i know its done. and i immediately rinse with cold water. then i set the corn in the strainer back on the pot to drain of the heat, for about 30min to an hours giving it gentle shakes careful not to spill my popcorn.
after that i prepare my agar media, and separate into a few jars. i only made 1/4 a cup of agar media. this is used for a multitude of things but for the most part i throw colonized agar into fridge to inoc other jars later. using this tek: http://www.shroomery.org/9427/Grocery-Store-Agar-Tek and this is the popcorn tek is used as reference when i started, http://www.shroomery.org/9035/Popcorn-Tek-w-pics
i prepare my pressure cooker and things to be pressure cooked like sterile water and exacto knife. since i dont use a rack i have to use a rag to help diffuse the heat, remember to keep the glass and metal rings on the jars OFF the sides of the pressure cooker. dont ever over pack the PC, more time for better results is worth it. try not to let the water boil inside as this means you are pressure cooking at too high of a temps. because i use an electric hot plate i tend to start at a very high heat and lower it as the steam begins to gently escape. all you want is a gentle hiss of steam escaping. rocking and whistling means your temps and pressure are too high. usually take me 15-30 min of standing with the PC before i can walk away for an hour to let it do its thing.
move your jars quickly one at a time into your sterile glove box wiping them with alchohol as you go. then after you get everything in there o in label it. so worst case scenario you forget to inoc one instead of double inoc it. get your syringes out, remove the safety cap wipe with alchohol and quickly insert in you injection ports remove and repeat. then place in your incubation chamber remembering to wipe everything down again as you move thing out.(agar is the same method less spore solution, i use about 2cc of solution per grain jar usually, sometimes more sometimes less)
next three pics show a grain to grain transfer, this is for later if you want to keep things going perpetually an dont have to work with spores. take you jar, in this a case an isolation strain of B+ shake it, remove the rings from you jar, wipe all the jar and the edge where the glass and lid meet especially, remove the lids on some sterile popcorn jars and pour a small but in careful to work in a way your hands will not pass over open jars, quickly close them wipe them down once again and place into incubation.(pick; unshook, shook, add some on top fresh popcorn)
these jars are about 1 week from a grain to grain transfer in my cool temps they grow slow, but this is the perfect time to shake if you want to shake you mycelium. the second pics is some others jar 2 days after being shook. last shows all my fresh jars and old ones, freshly inoculated agar ect.
now after your jars are colonized(week or 2 from now) its time to prepare your bulk substrate, cut your straw very fine, under an inch is ideal, add a little less than half the straw in verm add water and mix. take you mixture and place into a pillow case or cloth pouch, and put into pot to be cooked raise the temp to about 170 and cook for an hour or 2.(i cooked an hours on each side because i had such a small pot.) allow to cool remove pillow case and place into a grocery bag(prevents air from exchanging a little) cut a hole in the bottom and strain. then mix with you colonized popcorn in the tray allow that to incubate for week or 2 more(depends on the ration of colonized corn to substrate) then place in you fruiting chamber and watch the magic. anyways ill get some more pic of this project as it goes along.
didnt realize you had this up.
