Last year I half-heartedly tried to start a culture of Panellus serotinus. It was kind of a rushed job using spores and cardboard, I didn't bother to find a good container and didn't give it proper care. Oddly enough, it didn't produce anything.
Listening to Paul Stamets at Breitenbush rekindled my interest in getting t
his mushroom into culture and into a potentially larger project. Although it is edible, I'm thinking of Panellus mostly as an organism that had some potential use in local remediation projects. What started me off was the idea of feeding waste oil to Oyster mushrooms. In one of his lectures, Stamets suggested taking an oyster mushroom kit that was done fruiting, breaking it up and pouring waste oil on it as a food source for the spawn. I thought this idea (scaled up) might have some application for small villages in Alaska where waste oil is burned or shipped out for disposal.
his mushroom into culture and into a potentially larger project. Although it is edible, I'm thinking of Panellus mostly as an organism that had some potential use in local remediation projects. What started me off was the idea of feeding waste oil to Oyster mushrooms. In one of his lectures, Stamets suggested taking an oyster mushroom kit that was done fruiting, breaking it up and pouring waste oil on it as a food source for the spawn. I thought this idea (scaled up) might have some application for small villages in Alaska where waste oil is burned or shipped out for disposal. Decided to follow through on this idea and ordered a Blue Oyster kit from Fungi Perfecti, the blue one is supposed to be more cold tolerant. It is busily fruiting away on the kitchen counter.
The other leg of the project is getting Panellus into culture. Last week I looked for Panellus where I had found it last year, but didn't have any luck. Fortunately this week I found a Red alder with a number of fruiting bodies. I'm trying to spend a bit more time on the preper
ation this time. I soaked some cardboard overnight, bought a small plastic container with a lid and peeled the outer paper off this morning. Following the instructions in Mycelium Running, I layered the corrugated part of the cardboard in the container and place between 4-6 pieces of the stems of the mushroom between the layers. I gave it a bit more water and added the lid. I'll keep the container in the mudroom of the house where it is a bit cooler, but above freezing.
ation this time. I soaked some cardboard overnight, bought a small plastic container with a lid and peeled the outer paper off this morning. Following the instructions in Mycelium Running, I layered the corrugated part of the cardboard in the container and place between 4-6 pieces of the stems of the mushroom between the layers. I gave it a bit more water and added the lid. I'll keep the container in the mudroom of the house where it is a bit cooler, but above freezing. I also started a few Crepidotus and Panellus longipes (sp?) in a smaller container.
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