GROWING EDIBLE MUSHROOMS INDOORS
Fungi Propagation for DIY Domestic MycologistsDNA Ciccarone, Smiling Hogshead Ranch
Making Brooklyn Bloom, Spring 2016
PRESENTATION OUTLINE
• Fun Facts: History and The Fungi Kingdom
• Mushroom Lifecycle
• Three Classes of Fungi
• Cultivating Mushrooms at Home & in the Garden
• Supply List & Instructions
• Milk Crate Demonstration
MYCOPHAGYthe act of consuming mushrooms
Medicine
Deep traditional roots Early Greeks to the Aztecs of Mexico to Ancient China & Japan
to Present day NYC
Ritual Food
FIVE KINGDOM CLASSIFICATION
Evidence strongly suggests that animals & fungi are sister groups while plants evolutionary lineage diverged over 1.1 billions years ago.
Fungi and Animals break down and their own food sources.
Animals and Fungi share 4 unique protein sequences in their DNA.
TYPES OF FUNGI
MutualistsParasites
Saprophytes
MUTUALISTICTypes of Fungi
Mycorrhizae grow on plant roots, expanding surface area and digesting nutrients. It can also transfer photosynthesized nutrients from plant to plant.
Lichens are a symbiotic relationship between
fungi and photosynthesizing
organisms (like algae).
PARASITICTypes of Fungi
Corn Smut Athlete’s FootCordyceps
SAPROTROPHYTIC
Mold on bread
Mushrooms on wood
Mushrooms on coffee grinds
`
MUSHROOM ANATOMYFungal Fruit & Mycelium
Frui
ting
Bod
y
Myc
eliu
m
Hyphae
Hyphae
Underground Hyphae
Stalk
Cap
Gills
rings
GROWING YOUR OWN MUSHROOMS!
Outdoor Wood-chip BedIndoor Milk Crate (Demo)
WOODCHIP/CARDBOARD MUSHROOM BED
1. Slightly shady spot, not among conifers
2. Clear area3. Soak flattened cardboard;
first layer on ground 4. Add “islands” of Spawn5. 2 to 3” hardwood chips. Scatter more spawn. Rake. Moisten6. Cardboard— Smaller & spaced out more; Spawn Islands;
moisten7. Repeat 5 and 6 until bed is 6-8” deep 8. Cover with Straw (NOT HAY)— Water everyday for 1wk then
every other day for 2-4 wks; 1x month thereafter
Materials List: — Water — Corrugated cardboard — Wood Chips (outdoors inoculation)
MILK CRATE FUNGI PROPAGATION
Upcycling urban waste products to grow healthy mushrooms at home
SUPPLY LIST
Gloves & Rubbing alcohol
Starter Kit/Spawn
Spent Coffee Grinds
Sawdust/wood shavings
Milk Crate
Cardboard
Trash Bag
Knife
SUBSTRATE INOCULATION
Gather materials
Do you have to pasteurize?
Sterilize tools
Prepare your workstation
Mix the materials
SPAWN RUN
Spawning: full humidity great—fastest grow@ 78-84F—7-14days (larger the container the longer the run) Allow the substrate to become fully colonized by the mushroom mycelium. (called “the spawn run”)
Pinning: When the little mushrooms (“primordia”) first appear, place in 65-75 degrees, +/-85% humidity; reg misting— enough to keep the substrate from drying out. moisture in bag. 7-14days
Fruiting: 80-90% relative humidity— 60-64F— 5-7weeks
Harvest your mushrooms! Ideally, just before spores are released.
Give the spawn a rest and you’ll have another flush or two at least (depends on size of and type of substrate)
Needs and Wants Dependent on species, however… We’re all about Pleurotus otreatus today, so…
Smiling Hogshead Ranch smilinghogsheadranch.org 25-30 Skillman Ave, LIC, Queens 11101
[email protected] (347) 509-4464
Radical Mycology http://radicalmycology.com