General life span of a strain. So in terms of expanding a strain with multiple generations the max spread seems to be about 3 generations and then strain senescence occurs. So if you do 1 agar expansion and then use that expansion to create another line of agar plates we are creating a second generation. So we have found that just expanding as much as possible from the "mother" culture and then storing those expansions in a refrigerator is a good stable method without worrying about senescence. Lifespan on an agar plate with refrigeration in our lab has been proven out to 9 months, it does seem you can be stable for a year like this but we have not experimented with that yet. LC we have not used but I imagine it's the same timelines in terms of preservation with proper refrigeration. Cryo seems unproven but we are going to be carrying out some tests come next week. So yep cordy in sterile water with refrigeration should be perfect but as we have seen just the colonized agar plate

Hope it works out for you, Happy Growing!!

and they will start to become spottier. Also making sure when bags are incubating that they aren't touching each other has helped overlay and stroma problems.

I have done a little bit of research into stroma and at the end of the day people don't know what the exact trigger for it is except that the mycelium is unhappy. What i can say is that stroma is a genetic shift in the mushroom so once it has gone down the path of stroma that area is not changing back, even with spawning. Some people get success by scraping off the stroma and then still being able to fruit. Main idea is that it is a stress state, so it needs to go pure survival mode and create this hard section. Another way stroma happens is if there is an overabundance of bioavailable nutrients. So, if all the grains in a bag were burst and this "food" takes no breaking down and is immediately available the fungi will grow to quick and divide to quick creating a stroma area. Stroma is the main bag killer we encounter and have still not been able to pinpoint exactly why. Obvious triggers are when its too hot we see an increase in stroma and some strains don't like the reefer units

Initially seems all good and yeah just the start of that mycelial mat forming instead of existing as the wispy stage. We call it the mushroom skin, since some species make that mat like layer. The second lot of pictures could be a possible yeast infection in the grain bag. When it's like a bunch of individual colonies grouped together rather than just the appearance of this mat like growth then my mind would go to a yeast infection. We have had a couple of these in my years here and it looks like a bunch of white dots growing instead of like that one big mycelial colony. Plating some out should help you get an ID as yeast grow very differently on agar compared to filamentous fungi.

Tyler The general casing layer we see online and from farms is about a 50/50 mixture of peat moss and vermiculite, with a little bit of lime to help control any contamination. Freshcap mushrooms has a good protocol and method for applying the casing layer. Mushrooms Naturally has his own specific recipe and method for applying casing layers, so if you want a more in depth discussion they would definitely be the farm to ask.

Its an association with another fungus From the Hypoxylon Genus. The Tremella essentially parasites this fungus and then produces a fruiting body off of that association. I did research on fruiting but we just haven't pulled the trigger yet. China is definity the place to go and especially looking for patents. There is a method of cultivation mentioned in paul Stament growers guide. The Tremella exists as a yeast on culture and then explodes into mycelium once in contact with the hypoxylon. it does seem that there some cultures for sale but then also checking if that came associated with or if you also have to pick up a hypoxylon culture as well.

Definitely a little bit tricky with king trumpets but some initial places to start would be growing with a casing layer and possible scratching of substrate surface can help. Mainly I just see people point to casing layer. Yes!! there may be some fun history behind this more elusive oyster.

Lions mane can be very quick but they can also be very particular to start. Generally with lions mane I see it start off slow and then hit an exponential type of growth. This could just be the presence of lag time which is more prevalent in some strains. And yeah we will generally spawn with the bags after about 2 weeks.

No Email but this community right here is perfect for ya. We are starting to try and be a lot more active so any quickies just drop em here.