Mushroom Mycelium Incubation
So, I'm just going through the incubation uh area over here at the facility and just checking out all the different species and how uh colonization is coming along at this point. Uh most of these strains have been inoculated within the last week. Uh so, we could see different stages of growth depending on what species of mushroom is growing. Uh right here we have some of the classic blue oyster mushrooms. So this is 6 days after inoculation and we can see that the block is coming along pretty nicely.
It's a very aggressive strain. It usually has the substrate colonized within 10 days. So it's an excellent uh candidate for commercial production and uh just basically having a consistent crop of mushrooms. We also have some golden oyster mushrooms growing. This one is colonizing a little bit slower, a little bit more of a sensitive strain as far as the mcelium goes.
Uh so but yeah, we're at six days here and we can see that the mcelium is starting to get a nice grasp on the sub uh substrate. Uh I would say in about the next four days, uh this should be completely colonized. Uh with most oyster mushrooms, you're looking at about 10 days before you reach full colonization and sometimes up to 14 days before you can get it into the grow room. Um, and a lot of things I come into the incubation area to look at is just to see how the blocks are performing and to try to spot out any potential contamination or risk uh before actually introducing it into the growing environment here. So, it's a good um habit uh to get into is just walking your incubation area and just checking out uh colonization and how things are coming along with uh production.
Here we have some lion's mane. This one is a thinner mcelium. Uh this one has started to take a really nice grasp on the sub substrate. And this is uh about 10 days after inoculation. So same with lion's mane.
You're looking at about 10 to 14 days before you reach full colonization. Uh at this point, we could just throw it in the grow room uh by removing any excess air from the bag and folding it under, making a couple incisions, and uh placing it into the fruing environment. At that point, the lion's mane mushrooms will grow right out the side. One of the things I do like doing with this strain is to let it colonize a little bit more and get a nice 2-in growth of lion's mane fruit bodies on the top. At that point, I'll roll the bag down and set the bags on the shelf like this and get wonderful cascading uh lion's mane fruing bodies.
So, and we walk down here a little more and we have some king trumpets. This is another oyster mushroom species. I like to let this uh strain colonize for about 3 weeks before introducing it to the grow room. So, this one's about 3 weeks and we can see a nice dense block fully colonized with a healthy mcelium. Uh this you can do a couple different options for fruiting.
Written protocol
Southwest Mushrooms Genetic Library
The strains themselves, the same cultures used in this footage.
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Sometimes I'll fruit it just like an oyster. Deflate any excess air out of the bag, fold it really nice, and just make a nice incision. From there, you'll get some beautiful king trumpet mushrooms. And another thing is I like to kind of rough up the top of the bag or top of the substrate. Then I'll cut um cut the bag down a few inches and let the mushrooms top fruit right out the top of the bag.
Uh just depends on what you're looking for. When top fruiting you get uh kind of like a longer stem and side fruiting you get really nice clusters kind of short to medium stems and then just nice uh cap ratios to the mushroom. So, just depends on what your clients might like, what you might like, or yeah, what's preferred for your environment. So, that's kind of it for this area. Then, we'll walk over here to see some Nakco blocks.
These were inoculated a little over a month ago. And, uh, Namco is a Folota variety, kind of similar to the chestnut. This one likes a little bit longer of an incubation. I like to let it go for about 6 weeks. And it also prefers cooler temperatures.
I've seen 55 to 65 to be kind of optimum for it. Little harder to grow during the warmer months, but the cool thing is I can let these blocks sit for several months and when the time is right, just throw them in the grow room and get some beautiful mushrooms. So, and then down this aisle, we have a few more oyster varieties. And this is a pink oyster. This was inoculated a couple weeks ago, and we can see it's basically fully colonized.
With the pink oyster, you're going to see a nice pink hue to the mcelium, which is totally normal. Uh, and you can also see some precursor uh fruing bodies starting to form. So, this would be a good time to get this in the grow room. And the same with any oyster mushroom, we kind of just deflate the air, fold it up real nice, and then just make a nice incision off to the side, and you get these wonderful bouques of pink oyster mushrooms. This is actually the fastest fruing oyster mushroom.
From the time you see the pins uh to the actual harvest, it's usually only 3 to 5 days. Uh but it also has a short shelf life as well. Usually only lasting 3 to 5 days in the fridge. So this is one to grow for like local accounts or farmers markets. Doesn't do good with shipping.
Um and you got to get rid of them quick because if you don't get rid of them by day three, they're kind of not too appealing. So, oh, then down here I have some shiitake. This has actually been colonizing for about 3 weeks now. Uh, shiitake goes through several stages after inoculation. You'll notice a nice risomorphic or ropey mcelium running through the substrate.
After it reaches full colonization, it begins another stage called popcorning. So the block will get these nice uh this nice topography of these rigid little bumps and that's just totally normal. After that stage they sit and ripen and that's when the block becomes completely brown and at that stage we can get it into the grow room and get a beautiful crop of shiitake mushrooms. So yeah, when you're going through your production and looking at certain things or trying to spot out certain things such as contamination, uh I guess you got to be wary of uh every mushroom mycelium is different and they have unique characteristics. So becoming familiar with the characteristic of each mcelium of the mushroom that you work with is key to understanding uh the development and uh basically getting you uh successful mushrooms.
So, for example, even with the reishi, uh there's so many different uh varieties of reishi that I do grow, uh we'll notice that the blocks start to turn different colors as they reach maturity and right before they start producing the mushrooms. So, it'll go from a nice white mcelium at the beginning to after kind of really taking over the substrate. Uh depending on the strain you're growing, some of them turn browner or reds. Uh this one in particular turns a yellow color, which is completely normal. And we can also see at this point that little uh miniature reishi mushrooms are starting to form.
This is actually a longer uh fruing variety of the ratio that we grow. But at this point we can see some reishi mushrooms starting to grow out. So this is a totally healthy block and we can see like different colorations going on. One of the things to look for in your production is if you see like fuzzy greens or slimy uh discolorations or rotten smells or sweet smells, uh it's going to be helping you understand if there's contamination. I mean, you could walk through your incubation and if there is uh some kind of bacterial contamination, you'll probably be able to smell it.
You'll smell somewhat of a sweet, sour odor. And at that point, it'd be a good idea to dispose of any contaminated substrate right away so it just doesn't uh infect anything else in your operation. The key really is just all in your sterile technique. As long as you're utilizing proper sterile technique and practicing uh you know, proper inoculation procedures, you should be pretty good. It's rare that I ever come in here and see any contamination.
And if it does happen, there might be a bag with a hole in it and that's really rare. We can always spot that out before we actually load them onto the shelves. So, it's really easy to kind of keep things clean and uh minimize risk and contamination cuz you don't want to put in all this work just to kind of lose it. You will find out and you will learn from your mistakes hopefully. So,