Mushroom Growing Information

A very brief description....

This article(at least that's what I'm going to call it) overviews different growing media and environmental conditions. Other than that they said they used 'typical' germination techniques.

One of the most intriguing aspects in the article is the statement of 'unwanted competing organisms' being subdued. This means the chances of contamination could be substantially reduced based on medium composition.


How I stumbled on it....

The beginning of this article had the same hypothesis I did, in that proper nutritional balance for humans in a growing medium would also be beneficial for mycelial growth.

I'm sort of a health nut(even if I don't always live by it) and I've been eating a lot of chia seeds. Then, it struck me that these things are not only very nutritional but also absorb massive amounts of water. I haven't heard of them being used in a grow media before and I want to make my own grow media.

Just because there are accepted standards in growing media and way more commonly used, doesn't mean that there aren't better options for those willing to experiment.

One seed I didn't see mentioned that I plan on using is pumpkin. They are also very high in many amino acids, fats, and protein.

I've recently been intrigued by the idea of using different seeds or cultivation as well. In particular, cacao beans. It is revered by certain indigenous tribes as the "food of the gods", the same tribes that revere the mushroom as the "flesh of the gods". Made me wonder if it could literally be food for the mushroom. I'm gonna try it...

Already STAMETS was talking about positive infuences of competitive mushrooms on substrates for some species at least. After all, a lot of people submitted to these observations, some mushrooms get easier in a more natural way than in-vitro. I like the idea of permaculture in some sense inside these reflections. Nature find its way. After all of our efforts for cultivation-strategies, there is something wild...

Speaking of seeds that absorb water, there's a type of basil seed known as tukmaria that becomes very gelatinous when mixed with water. It can be found at Asian (Indian) supermarkets.