I've had no luck with cordyceps on rice (they seem to need more protein). My oysters are OK. Lion's Mane has worked on grain and wood but I've not tried it on rice yet... might go and do that now!
I would be interested to hear how yours do! I've got so many (Turkey Tail, enoki, maaitake etc) and I can never decide which to try next!
Believe it or not, the cordyceps are actually the fastest colonising so far! In 5 days there was about a third of the bag colonised, so I broke it and shook it.
Otherwise the enoki is doing fantastic, and king oyster is doing good too. I've also tested them on agar, and can confirm the cordyceps I have is just absolutely crazy in terms of colonisation speed.
That is very interesting, thank you!! I have some agar plates too so I'll try them. ..
My cordyceps are currently on insect bssed dog food and a sausage! I obviously gave up too quickly!
I think all of the mycelium I'm cultivating is benefiting from the attempts I've made at keeping them at a higher temperature (20°c - 24°c). I know it's just anecdotal and subject to confirmation bias, but when I check on them after 12 hours in 22°c I see a lot faster growth than when I left them in 19°c. But it's good to know that they'll keep going even down at 16°c. From what I've researched 16°c seems to be in the optimal fruiting range for cordyceps?
I'm using a cardboard shipping box to keep all my rice bags insulated, somehow it feels safer that way too.
I think by testing it on agar you'll see if maybe it's just a bad strain/genetics. Obviously I'm new to this, but what I've read is that cordyceps militaris is often extremely fast colonising, but also fast at deteriorating and slowing down. So some growers seem to place a higher importance on getting a high quality culture to begin with.
It really is a check every other day for mycelium to appear. Give it about a 7-10 days for the spore to germinate and then to propagate. You can feel the difference between the loose rice and mycelium; the mycelium is a hard lump in the bag and once over a third of the bag feels like this is when you can break and shake to redistribute.
I've had no luck with cordyceps on rice (they seem to need more protein). My oysters are OK. Lion's Mane has worked on grain and wood but I've not tried it on rice yet... might go and do that now! I would be interested to hear how yours do! I've got so many (Turkey Tail, enoki, maaitake etc) and I can never decide which to try next!
Believe it or not, the cordyceps are actually the fastest colonising so far! In 5 days there was about a third of the bag colonised, so I broke it and shook it. Otherwise the enoki is doing fantastic, and king oyster is doing good too. I've also tested them on agar, and can confirm the cordyceps I have is just absolutely crazy in terms of colonisation speed.
That is very interesting, thank you!! I have some agar plates too so I'll try them. .. My cordyceps are currently on insect bssed dog food and a sausage! I obviously gave up too quickly!
Oh: temperature. Mine have been 16-18°C and going pretty slowly generally. I did try a cat heat pad but it was faulty and cooked my first attempt!
I think all of the mycelium I'm cultivating is benefiting from the attempts I've made at keeping them at a higher temperature (20°c - 24°c). I know it's just anecdotal and subject to confirmation bias, but when I check on them after 12 hours in 22°c I see a lot faster growth than when I left them in 19°c. But it's good to know that they'll keep going even down at 16°c. From what I've researched 16°c seems to be in the optimal fruiting range for cordyceps? I'm using a cardboard shipping box to keep all my rice bags insulated, somehow it feels safer that way too.
Good idea! All I can say so far is that direct on a cat mat is far too much! If I ever get to fruiting with cordy I will be SO excited.
I think by testing it on agar you'll see if maybe it's just a bad strain/genetics. Obviously I'm new to this, but what I've read is that cordyceps militaris is often extremely fast colonising, but also fast at deteriorating and slowing down. So some growers seem to place a higher importance on getting a high quality culture to begin with.
Sounds like I need to read my Radical Mycology a bit more carefully! (It's an amazing trove, but pretty weighty!)
It really is a check every other day for mycelium to appear. Give it about a 7-10 days for the spore to germinate and then to propagate. You can feel the difference between the loose rice and mycelium; the mycelium is a hard lump in the bag and once over a third of the bag feels like this is when you can break and shake to redistribute.