Entering back into King Oyster production after taking the summer off. Usually our issues arise during fruiting, but the first two batches we have noc’d are getting some bacterial contamination during incubation. Anyone else noticing this? Think this might be an issue during shaking? I’m noticing the bottoms aren’t colonizing quite as quickly then the grossness manifests up top. Possibly over hydration too, but I know our first batch was at 60% on the dot after testing.

Thanks so much for the content Mycowizards! 

any thoughts from y’all as to what is causing this? the humidity was off earlier and in the week and then i felt it was too humid. they are turned on their sides to reduce bacteria contam. is that just what it is? i’ve seen it recently on some Black kings too, which is rare for me. would love y’all’s black oyster culture for the club and can’t wait to fruit some of your piop this week i think. 

I have a hypsozigus tessalatus-beech (spelling butchered) culture I cloned from store bought I'm thinking of growing once or twice before I buy a plate from you guys but I know almost nothing about it. On grain it grows really slowly but really dense. What kind of incubation time am I looking at? Is it fast fruiting  like oysters or need to sit a long time like chestnut or shiitake? Also just got brick caps to fruit the first time recently but really disappointed. Only 6 mushrooms and I can't even find anyone that has got them to fruit before, that was like 5 months of incubation on the successful block....... Not successful but it fruited. Cased with non sterile compost, stamets book noted they need micro organisms in the casing to initiate a pin set. Any idea how to grow them properly? If not no worries it's just a side project 

I was wondering if anyone here has experimented using UV lights to detect bacteria or contamination in general in their setups, spawn, substrate etc.

I saw that blotch is florescent and UV at 365nm would make it glow greenish yellow, so I bought a small UV flashlight and I've been testing inspecting the farm with it. So far I've seen the most use when checking out spawn bags, as I can see weird colored glowing stuff in bags that to the eye seem normal... Anyway it's still under the experimental phase but wanted to share and hear your thoughts!

Any essential equipment for tincture production that has made your process easier/more efficient? We have some pretty basic alcohol extraction and boiling extraction methods. I have seen some people talk about industrial strength grinders as a way to increase surface area and extraction. 

Workman interview.  

LOVE the new Maine Cap n Stem website format! I really appreciate the detailed strain information. Ya’ll are KILLIN it as usual! Thank you! ✌🏻

Live Free Or Die

Fantastic Forage fest in Laconia, NH next weekend.   I hope to see someone from here there, I'll have a table slinging grow kits for Cordyceps/Lions & Reishi. My lady is making art stuff with CNS antlers and I'm going to show as many people as I can how to get a nice batch of Cordyceps wicked easily.  

🤘☮️🤘

-DreamStoneFarms-

Recently joined the culture club and ordered some genetics. Very impressed with the packaging and quality of the cultures. The golden enoki and lions mane plate cultures are super aggressive. Also tried out the king oyster and reishi grain spawn. So far every thing I have received has performed well on media and grain, moved 40 blocks into my tents this morning, looking forward to seeing the final product and yields. Thank you so much for everything you do, you have a lifetime customer here. Soon I will be trialing out the maitake and 3790 shiitake to compare with my current cultures

I have been using a manual CO2 meter to read grow rooms and then on/off timers to adjust cycle times on negative pressure exhaust  for a couple of years. I have multiple grow rooms of 165 sqft.  I'm contemplating moving to CO2 controllers, primarily for greenhouses, and I see a few out there for under $150. Any preferences? Good experiences, bad experiences? 

I have one InkBird that I use primarily to exhaust the whole facility during closed up winter months.