How to Extend the Life of your Culture Kit
Material:
- 1 kg Mycoboutique culture kit of either Oyster or Lion’s Mane mushrooms
- 40 ml of hydrogen peroxide 30% or 400 ml of peroxide 3% (optional)
- Ethanol or 70-95% alcohol to sanitize the work space
- Two polypropylene bags with filter type 14A (8”x 5”x 19 ” or about 12.5 litres) or two containers of the same volume, well cleaned and wiped with alcohol.
- 2 kg of substrate: coffee grounds, brewery dregs, recycled paper, unwaxed cardboard or compressed hardwood pellets. Since the latter have already been heated, they do not have to be sterilized: pasteurization is sufficient. If you do not use the coffee grounds or brewery dregs within 24 hours of brewing, you must freeze them until you are ready. The yield will be low if you only use the grounds as substrate. A mixture containing 50-75% sawdust gives a better yield.
- 400 g of wheat bran (omit if you are using coffee grounds or brewery grains)
- 80 g gypsum calcium sulfate (optional)
- 4 litres of water preferably chlorine-free (can be obtained by letting tap water sit for 24 hours)
General Information:
Fungi are made up of mycelium, an entangled network of cellular filaments (what one eats is only the fructification of this organism). They release digestive enzymes that decompose sugars from their immediate environment to be able to ingest them through their cell walls. The species in question here; white, blue, pink oyster and hedgehog mushrooms, find these sugars in cellulose, lignin, manure, paper, cardboard, coffee grounds, brewery dregs, and in many other residues of the agro-food industry. In these cases the substrates only need to be pasteurized. On the other hand, other species are more selective: shiitake, for example, develops slowly on sterilized lignin and enriched cellulose.
Our kits of 1 kg are sufficient to inoculate 5 kg of substrate.
Procedure:
- Thoroughly clean the space and tools used with ethanol or alcohol.
- Add boiling water to your substrate and to your wheat bran after having added hydrogen peroxide. to the water. This is done to hydrate it but especially to pasteurize it (final dilution 0.3% peroxide). To do this, place your substrate in a pillowcase placed in a large container so that it is completely immersed and scalded. Add the peroxide. Mix well. Let stand for 2 hours and drain excess water. Add the gypsum and mix. The moisture content of your substrate is important. It should be 55-65%. To check it, squeeze your substrate until only a few drops come out.
- If the substrate is distributed in smaller containers, fragment the culture kit and place it in equal parts in the containers. Mix well. Close the bags with a square bracket or pulse sealer.
- Leave to rest at 20 ° C in a dark place for 2-3 weeks. The mycelium, white and cottony, should progressively colonize the entire substrate. If the latter becomes green, blue, pink, there is contamination. If the bag is contaminated more than 10%, discard it.
- When the bag is fully colonized and ready to fruit follow the instructions of our growing kits.