Mushrooms on Sawdust: Day 2

Well, today I finished inoculating the first few bags of sawdust spawn sterilized with hydrogen peroxide. Keeping everything somewhat clean was a hassle, let alone keeping it sterile.

I took the mixed sawdust and rice bran from yesterday and set it aside. Then, I boiled 3 quarts of water. After letting the water cool to room temperature (actually I got hasty and only let it cool most of the way), I mixed in a half a cup of 3% peroxide (like you get at the drug store) and dumped it into the bucket. Then, using a container rinsed out with boiling water, I scooped 3 quarts of moist substrate into the bags with filter patches I bought from MushroomPeople. I took the bags into the kitchen, cleaned everything, and then poured a bit of spawn (like a half pound maybe? I was just guesstimating) into each bag. After pouring in the spawn I shook the bags and kneaded them until the spawn was mixed throughout.

Two bags of Oyster, one bag of Lion’s Mane and one of Miatake.

I think I did some stuff wrong. For one, the substrate is way to wet. I tried draining some of the water out of the bag with moderate success. Hopefully, the mycelium (the main body of the fungus that grows in the substrate) will still grow despite the soggy conditions but I sort of doubt it. Bah.

Tomorrow, if I get a chance I will prepare some bags using wheat straw instead of sawdust as the substrate. This should be easier. See you then!

Trying to Grow Mushrooms on Sawdust

Oyster Mushroom, By nordique on Flickr

Lion's Mane by frankenstoen on Flickr

Maitake by kthread on Flickr

High Tunnel Arrived!

I’ve been talking about buying a high tunnel for a long time now. Now I’ve actually done it.  It was purchased several weeks ago but took it’s time shipping since it was a custom order. I bought a High Roller High Tunnel by FarmTek. What I customized was the rafter spacing. Up north where the cold winds blow, it’s usually recommended to have a tighter rafter spacing to facilitate snow load. Down here, that’s hardly necessary, so to keep the price down (pretty significantly, actually) I had them ship it with 6′ spacing instead of 4′. The length is 96′.

I was really excited about getting it, even after the headache of arrangeing delivery. It came on a big frieght truck, and we have a tiny driveway (and road for that matter). It would have been like squeezing an ocean liner through a creek. Wasn’t going to happen. So we arrange to meet at the local feed store, who was so kind as to let us use their frieght unloading area to transfer the cargo from truck to my trailer.  They even used their forklift to help out. Big kudos to Spencer’s Feed and See! Huzzah!

Truth be told, I was a tad dissapointed in FarmTek’s packaging. It all came in two Big cardboard boxes reinforced with lumber on the inside and sitting on a pallet. The two boxes together weighed 2300lbs! This was way too much weight for the pallet it was on, and it was a job to get it on the forklift without the pallet breaking into pieces, which it pretty much did anyway.

From Drop Box

So anyway, I’m hoping to get it set up next week. For those unsure of what a high tunnel is, it’s basically and unheated greenhouse that gives decent protection from extremes in weather and keeps the soil temperature and interior air temperature significantly higher. This allows earlier (or later) crops then would otherwise be possible. Also, these crops are often of higher quality and have less disease and insect problems due to the fact that it’s enclosed and no subject to rain.

Crops are grown in the ground just like in the field, but there’s a hoophouse covered with clear plastic above it. The tunnel is tall enough to drive a tractor through and then some.

My plan is to grow lettuces and other high value fall veggies throughout the winter in it, and then start early next year (late January or so) with transplanted heirlooms tomatoes. I’ll still grow lettuce in it during that time, and then comes March I’ll start some curcurbit seeds and hope I can keep them alive.