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

smilinghogsheadranch@gmail.com (347) 509-4464

Radical Mycology http://radicalmycology.com