Inoculation Time

There can't be many teaching events that include  barrowloads of damp straw being wheeled in but today was one.

 Younger son gave me a mushroom growing day course for Christmas and today was the day. So we headed for Crymych village hall  and spent an enthralling few hours with this enterprising young couple who, with a lot of hard work, trial and error, have built a business growing and selling edible and medicinal fungi on a small patch of land.

After the explanations and technicalities, the morning was devoted to creating our own miniature growing chambers using a variety of repurposed containers (buckets, plastic pots and jars) in which we layered the straw with spent coffee grounds and oyster fungus mush. In a few months we can  expect to see shrooms emerging from the holes we made in the sides or even pushing off the lids. (This growing technique is known as the lasagne method and doesn't require a sterile substrate.)

The afternoon session commenced with the delivery of a fresh, metre-long beech log to each person. After scrubbing off the moss we drilled rows of holes along them and then, with a sort of cylindrical dibber, we inoculated them with fungal spore material. Next, each hole was sealed with melted wax. It may take a while but eventually we can hope to see shiitake mushrooms budding from the logs. We were advised that the spores may need to be shocked into fruiting eg. with a cold bath or even an electric shock [don't try this at home perhaps].

Finally we all headed off with our buckets and logs, full of respect for Emma and Anthony who  have worked so hard to establish their business and who communicated their passion for fungi with enormous enthusiasm and expertise.

Extras for those interested

Hyphae Shroomery Hermon, Pembs.
https://www.facebook.com/hyphaemushrooms