David Medlock yep, we are still experimenting with that idea but that is the goal.

David Medlock For saprobic fungi, it seems more based on the total linear growth in our cases. This is why cryo is so important so that we can "capture" the fungi early on in its total linear growth.

We are looking into it! Thank you for such amazing enthusiasm!!

David Medlock in our experience we are simply going off the amount of transfers rather than actual linear total growth. I haven't seen any studies looking at total linear length only people looking a subsequent generations. Yes, the transfers themselves are not the issue and it is a matter of total growth from spore. This is also general in what we have seen and people online. The interesting thing is that in some strains of cordyceps people have had double digit transfers and encountered zero degradation. Which opens the door to what is causing the degradation? Is it linear growth from spore, transfers causing a reset of growth, or just a genetic trigger that can be bred out or examined. I like the way your mind is operating, and this is a world we are hoping to explore one day as the true mechanism behind cordyceps degradation is unknown. Great discussion!! 

Eric So the label is the breakdown of different macromolecules within the soy hull. Protein, fat, fiber, and ash are all different parts that make up the entirety of the soy bean hull. the label should just be their quick test of how much of each part contributes to the total weight. The percentages not mentioned my guess would just be like carbohydrates which make up the majority. Anyways little ramble but you should be all good!

Tyler On the dish a lot of growth will start out as white and then when exposed to light can start to turn orange and very yellow, since light acts a trigger for fruiting body production. Our plates have gotten yellow and some orange after the 6 months of storage but they we still perfectly viable since on the plate it didn't keep going and try to escape the plate so to say. It just kinda reached the end of the plate and then went into a more dormant state of metabolism instead of creating much more aerial mycelium or mycelia mat creating (stayed fluffy). For cross breeding you need individual spores and then pairing up these isolation to see which ones combine and create clamp connections, or with PCR test for MAT mating types and match viable pairs. Cordyceps is notorious for senescence and after the 3rd generation this becomes super apparent. so, the idea of LC, to slant, back to LC, and then onto grain or substrate is doing a lot of generations and you may get degradation quicker.

David Medlock Whole oats work great as a substrate for cordycep production and yes OM foods does pure oat. Sometimes there can be an issue with the cordyceps being able to break down the cellulose into glucose but overall it has been proven as a viable and reliable substrate. Based off of research Brown rice helps to produce the most cordycepin and bioactives within the cordyceps mycelium and mushroom. We are thinking of trying a nice mixture of the 2 grains as pure glucose has also been proven to help cordyceps growth and so if you supplement brown rice with oats maybe you are helping to satisfy that glucose requirement. Research has shown that Magnesium Sulfate, Dipotassium Phosphate, naphthalene acetic acid (NAA) have all been shown to help with the cordycepin production and fruit body yield. These are all in low amounts like 1.0 g/L and NAA at 1.0mg/L

We just have a dymo labeler that prints the labels onto stickers and then we by hand attach the stickers. The "code" we use is nice and easy where we have General name of mushroom (blue oyster, piopinno....), date of production, our code for the strain of mushroom (POCNS,POSNOW), and then just the lot number. I don't have the best experience with fresh mushroom retail boxes but what you are doing sounds like what I see across the market and of course in stores and whatnot. We only sell the blocks so it's a nice easy box but I understand the fragility of the actual mushroom. Anyways the plastic wrap and green produce carton are generally what i've seen everyone use.

For our master mix it is 50% soybean hulls and 50%red oak sawdust, this works for all strains except shiitake they do a slightly different ratio and mixture. So not a problem at all and just may have to mix in with a hardwood substrate to ensure the full range of nutrients.

I don't think anyone here has interest in writing a book just yet lol, but I do agree it can be a bit of a pain sometimes to find the specific information mentioned in a long form podcast, especially if you've already heard the banter. I think we are going to try and think of an easy timestamped way for people to go back and find specifics if needed, kinda like you may have seen on youtube or Spotify for other long form shows.