I have some jars of p. mexicana that have been sitting for almost a year now that I plan to fruit soon. They have some very large sclerotia within. I'm not sure if the jars will break up very easily; everything seems very compact.

1. How does one efficiently and safely break up the mycelium so they may be put into a fruiting chamber?

2. When fruiting this type of mushroom, do you filter out the sclerotia or just fruit with the stones and take them out later once fruiting cycle is complete?

It seems like the smart thing to do would be to take the stones out since the substrate will invariably become contaminated at some point after a few flushes. How does one filter the stones out?

Thank you!

-smoothmonkey

Put on an oven glove and bang the jar against the sole of an old shoe. If it's really grown in and compact it will take some effort, but you'll get it.

ps

Go ahead and open up the jars and peel away the stones from the substrate. They are delicious fresh and will keep well in a paper bag in the fridge for a few weeks or so. When dried they are quite literally hard as rocks, so don't try nomming them with your teeth when they are dry.

After removing the stones just crumble the substrate and spawn to bulk as normal. Let it colonize, case it good, and pray to the great shroom for abundant fruits.

Sweet, thank you both!

I have read somewhere that banging the jar gently on a bicycle tyre works well.

Any hard rubber surface will do. sneaker sole, tire, head of any Trump supporter.