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[isaak]

Mycelial nebula

Liquid culture started from a culture slant on 24 March 2014. Rapid mycelial growth makes me happy

LC recipe: 1.5 tsp dextrose + 1.5 tsp malt extract + 1L distilled water.

3 Likes happyconcacti, Seed Collector and Turk0lok0 like this.

[Psyguy]

Gotta love that LC.

Doesn't look like you have any contams to I say your tek is spot on!  Did you start the LC from lancing fruit or a cake?

[isaak]

I've been working hard on my sterile methods and trying to stay disciplined - seems to be paying off at the moment. The LC was started from tissue culture that was grown out on an agar plate (not mine - sourced from a friend).

[Psyguy]

Very good.  Once you found a reliable sterile system that works I say you stick with it.  My last few spore prints worked out well mainly due to my glove box and I haven't been without it since. 

Can't wait to see the progress.  Keep it up!

[isaak]

Slow but steady progress since my initial post. Below is an updated photo: reishi mycelium (G2G transfer - wheat seed to brown rice).

I've been growing out the mycelium on brown rice in the hopes of drying and grinding the myceliated rice to make reishi capsules. To check progress, I opened one of my jars that is white with mycelium but has only been sitting for 3 weeks since G2G. There was a lot of brown mush once I cut past the dense outer coating of mycelium (second photo). I assume the myc was still digesting the brown rice and that I need to leave the jars much longer before cutting and drying.

Does anyone have any experience making medicinal capsules from reishi mycelium? I'd love to learn more detail about the process.

My next aim is to source oak sawdust in my neighbourhood. Then I'll begin fruiting reishi on sawdust blocks. That will also allow me to begin fruiting other varieties, such as shiitake and lion's mane.

[Saros]

I don't have any experience making capsules from myc on colonized grain, but I understand that's how it's done commercially quite often.  I let mine fruit partly because I think they're pretty, but also I'm always a little paranoid of contamination. I figure if it's fruiting, the fruit is safe. But could be harder to notice contamination in a grain jar.

I've seen the brown mush too. usually when I left a jar sit a long time and then go to use it to inoculate wood chips. I guess it could be digested grains and metabolites. But I was never quite confident that it wasn't some sort of contamination. Doesn't look too appetizing though! Did they smell ok?  If I catch a whiff of anything off, it's out to the wood pile with them.

[bluespottedfrog]

for hardwood sawdust you can get pellets for wood burning stoves, be sure to check the bag but i get 40lbs of oak pellets for $4.

[Saros]

Yup, they work great.. I haven't tried growing on straight sawdust/pellets, but I usually throw a few handfuls of these pellets in with whatever wood chips I'm pasteurizing to give the myc something a little easier to colonize while they work their way through the larger chunks.

[isaak]

I finally had some success with growing out the mycelium on brown rice. I think the issue previously was that I was leaving the rice too saturated. The excess water made it difficult for the mycelium to colonise the rice completely.

I cut up the myceliated brown rice, dried it in a dehydrator, tore/broke it up into small pieces and then used a coffee grinder to finish it up. Getting the first batch of capsules finished gave me a great sense of achievement 

I'm currently taking them daily and will soon send some to my parents. I plan on making a lot more now that I've got a better insight into the process. Medicine for friends and family!

1 Like Turk0lok0 likes this.

[oplopanax]

That is great! Way to grow your own medicine!

I really prefer a liquid extract of the Ganodermas, which would be made by first extracting your mycelia into ethanol (95% if you can get it) thru maceration for about a moon cycle, then press the tincture and decoct the marc at low heat for a few hours until you have a nice dark tea.

Mix the tea and the tincture at a 50/50 ratio and you have a very nice fluid extract that should contain the majority of the desired constituents. I usually do this with fruiting bodies but I think that myceliated rice works just as well, that is what FP does...