my winecap petered out last fall, and have not returned at all. a lot of the mycelia that i saw last year is now just gone and there’s none showing in the dirt and straw/chip beds.
i did get a whole lot for two years running, from 3 bags originally put in. they came back last year again but then in the fall there was only one or two in the entire big bed. now none and no undergrowth left.
I’m too beyond budget and broke this year to spend money on more spawn or bags ready to go, that cost me a hundred bucks to start with. not bad for 2 years of decent yield but ended up maybe 8-9 bucks a pound of mushrooms, more than i can swing. i still have a deep chip and straw mulch bed in most-shade, where they did well until now
i was wondering if anyone has used spent bags (i might be able to revive or kick start from). would this work, you think? i might try to email local growers.
i don’t currently have room to set up my own bags, so liquid spawn, I’m not sure if it will or won’t work? strewed in chip and straw without growing it out in bag.
looking for inexpensive ways to get this bed revived.
winecaps made the most, Italian oyster did ok but didn’t come back after winter. everything else didn’t take, it gets dry in summer here and i was using a lot of water to keep the beds from dessicating.
Your best bet is to get straight up mycelium… Liquid culture is good but can potentially come pre contaminated, takes longer to get established etc.
Someone might send you a petri dish of winecap mycelium off the shroomery.org and they can offer a lot of help. Plenty of threads to read. Similar to this app but with outlaws.
If you have mushroom growers near you then for sure get cool with them.
If you get a little bit of mycelium, soak straw and hardwood chips in hydrated lime (calcium hydroxide, also called slaked lime or pickling lime, not AG lime) solution for a day then drain for half a day, then inoculate with mycelium.
In the future dont evenly distribute the limited mushroom spawn throughout your garden. Make 4 or 5 evenly spaced beds under the woodchips. Once those piles get established they will quickly spread and connect. Put at least 5 hand fulls of spawn in a 1ft×1ft area then cover back up with woodchips.
Side note, Mushrooms are the fruit of the mycelium. They drain energy from mycelium like fruit production does to a tree.
Mine konked out after two years also. There are several youtube videos showing how to make more from the mushroom itself. I’ve never tried it, but there wasn’t much investment if you wanted to try some store bought (maybe oyster).
@KS_razerback If by replacing mulch you mean adding mulch then its unlikely to die, especially with winecap mycelium.
While the piles of spawn grow under your woodchips, once a week take a handful of freshly grown mycelium and put in an area without mycelium. Every week repeat until the entire bed is fully inoculated.
One way to help assist your mycelium is to make your own lactic acid bacteria serum and water the woodchips with it. Super easy to make, super cheap and very beneficial to your garden for many reasons. Korean Natural Farming and JADAM are great.
Okay, so as long as mulch is kept being added it won’t ever die out? I was kinda wondering if after the mycelium exhausts the energy value in the mulch it will eventually leave like a barrier where even if more mulch the mushrooms will stop going in that area unil it’s worked back in the soil or something.
What exactly does the lactic acid stuff exactly do? Does it add minerals and nutrients for the mycelium? Does it change the ph? The stuff is made by culturing milk?
@KS_razerback Yes keep adding mulch when needed. Disrupt the old mulch right before applying new mulch. No red or black dyes as im sure you know, just saying for others so they know.
The real benefits of winecap mycelium is what it does to the soil and the symbiotic relationship it has with your fruit trees roots… plus the mycelium kills nematodes
This is what it looks like in your soil, it will extend 4 to 8 inches down into your soil and turn the top 8 inches into premium soil.
this explains it better
In this case LABS (lactic acid bacteria serum) is used to initally supress competition on the woodchips like mold. Great for fruit trees and soil in general. If not cut enough it can change soil PH.
Does straw works just as good as wood chips for winecaps? I have a near unlimited supply of straw, but no source for woodchips here for me. It would probably be mostly in the garden for me, I’ve been really wanting to grow winecaps somewhat bad for a while now.
Okay that makes sense with the lactic acid.
@KS_razerback Straw works and the mycelium will actually spread faster on straw compared to woodchips, youll just need to add straw more often than you would woodchips… but straw supply wont be an issue for you.
mine did- i added hardwood chips and straw multiple times. they still petered out. i used about an inch thick of the mycelium to start with, divided out by bits over the entire beds that first year. in the autumn they made the most. then they did come back in spring but much reduced. i added more mulch. by the fall the mycelium was nearly gone and now there’s none
i spent maybe 100 at North spore to get started, they were really cool and helpful. just can’t afford it this year
Id make a shroomery.org account and connect with locals, theyll help you out. Especially in the PNW… Huge scene there. Next thing you know youll be loading up a burlap sack with P. Allenii woodchip spawn. Best of luck!
I also added mulch each year and it still only made it two years. IMO the straw may actually work better. Like @Bogovich said it will go through it better and faster and may be easier to keep it going longer. Originally I was going to use hay bales to grow them and oysters in. Just inject it in all around the bales.
Makes me wonder if youd need to till in strips every other year and fill in the gaps with mulch?
I’ve heard before that hay doesn’t work for mushrooms.
There are a lot of youtube video of people using hay bales with good results. That’s where I got the idea from and it was cheap, but I haven’t tried it to confirm.
the straw works really well for the Italian mushrooms. they eat pine needles too! which makes them great for my place as I’ve got so much pine dropping. winecap like hardwood a little more so the chip i brought in was difficult to get and even cost money.
