Wednesday, April 08, 2009

Mushroom growth experiment - part 1

I hunted a little this morning in a more northern area to no avail. So, I didn't want to be stumped and headed back south to check on some I had found and left on Sunday. I found about 20 and all were small and very fresh. I think it is just getting started.

Do you remember that small pair of greys I left growing out of buried wood. Well I went back and took a bit of the log including morels, roots and all. I brought it home and planted it in my own little home made terrarium. Unfortunately one of the pair broke off in the bag on the way home so I only have one left.

I had to go to work and it was beginning to dry out on the edges by the time I got home this evening, so I placed it in a lock n lock and quickly got it in some soil and covered the exposed mycelium (roots). I dropped a bit of water on it and closed the lid. An hour later it looked as fresh as this morning, so I think this should work.

My goal is to expose it to place the container in a backroom where I can control the temp. I am starting out at 60 and measuring growth each day, after a few days I am going to take it up to 70, then 75 and perhaps 80. I wonder if I will be able to grow my own yellow. I intend to take daily measurements and record everything with my camera. Hopefully it will work and I can show once and for all that the greys do indeed become yellow for all of those doubters that are out there. Afterall this is Missouri the Show-Me state, so that's what I intend to do.

2 comments:

Ducks 'n Morels(David - SW IL) said...

Awesome idea ahistory! Hope it works out for you. I'd love to see the results.

Looks like you've had a good start too. This season is soooo sloooow, but I agree, I'd rather have cool, wet weather than hot and dry!

Good luck this season!

Ang said...

I'm excited to follow the progress on this experiment!! I'll be crossing my fingers :)