cepwise

Fungafam, I had a great evening at #mycologyodyssey Engaging talks from @darren_le_baron and @mycosymbiote on a wide breadth of material - as broad as discussing panspermia and anthropology and mycoeducation (the latter of which both have done amazing work in) - but of course a focus on fungi, and most specifically truffles! Super interesting to learn about some of the bioactive chemical constituents of truffles and potential medicinal effects (as ever, more science is needing to be done to further understand) and why it may make sense for mushrooms to end up evolving into truffles - I mean just think about it, Fungafam! Why waste a load of energy and material building a stipe simply to gain height for spores to spread, when you could be a truffle and spend all your energy on making the reproductive parts of a fruiting body, and just get an animal to do the work of spreading spores for you? And that's not even considering how much more efficient a truffle's water retention is compared with an open cap above ground mushroom! Also, we know the study of fungi is underrepresented in science - and that we only have discovered a tiny proportion of fungal species. But just think... how many hidden truffle species there must be waiting to be found under the ground! Even in the desert (see water retention comment). Fascinating! Wonderful to meet @aenshent too, and thanks again to her for the wonderful giveaway that made it possible for me and @the_bearded_gastromad to attend. Forgot to take a photo with him, so you will have to use your imagination 😆 It was also great to see my chum @mycopunks - although we also forgot to take a photo together, so you'll have to use your imagination, again 😆 ✌️ #ukfungi #fungi #fungilove #fungiphile #fungiphotography #mushrooms #forest #forestfloor #woodland #foraging #ukforaging #forage #funginfluencer #funginfluence #mycelium #mycophile #mushroomsofinstagram #mycologyodyssey #growmushrooms #truffles #mycoeducation #winner

Fungi: Web of Life Such an incredible day out at the IMAX premiere of this triumph of a film by @merlin.sheldrake and narrated by @bjork The film itself is a MUST see - both visually glorious and super interesting - and I highly recommend the massive screen 3D @imax expereimce because it just brings everything so much more alive! I've never seen agar plates look cooler, and the mushroom time-lapse footage was epic. Merlin was brilliant; a wonderful advocate for all things fungi and his passion is inspiring. After the screening, he delivered a fabulous Q&A session, including a response to a Cepwise posed question on the importance of educating the youth regarding fungi! He also generously signed books before and after the screening. Of course, another highlight was that I also got to spend the afternoon with one of my lovely followers; my giveaway winner @thefungusamongus_uk in this giveaway won a ticket to the screening with me! She is an excellent, interesting, and talented human being - although a little shy hence the sticker on that photo 😊. I bought a mushroom themed hoodie from her (epic - great quality, cotton, thin, excellent fit!) but then she was also very naughty and gifted me several of her wonderful books - one of which is limited edition - and a brilliant cep T-shirt also of her own design! Please drop her a follow, and check out her website, which is linked from her profile - all kinds of fungi clothes and books and stuff on there! #ukfungi #fungi #fungilove #fungiphile #fungiphotography #mushrooms #forest #forestfloor #woodland #afungusamongus #fungiweboflife #bfiimax #imax #bjork #merlinsheldrake #mushroommerch

Are you not entertained, Fungafam?! Shortly after the PKTEK tub sprang to life, now my home sterilised Bird seed kicks into gear with signs of Calocybe Gambosa mycelial activity... VERY early signs but there are some fluffy white grains appearing! I'm going slow with this bag; room temp incubation. The PFTEK tub was in warm conditions. Hope this bag goes well, because it's massive. Aside from the waste if it doesn't go great I'll be sad because the plan for this bag is 2 fold; use portions of the grain to inoculate various kinds of home made substrate (to see what works for CG), and then to use the remainder to inoculate the absolute S*** out of my lawn 😆 the latter will be a long day of watering the grass, making holes with a pointy thing, and then poking inoculated grain down the holes ✌️ #ukfungi #fungi #funginfluencer #funginfluence #fungiphile #fungiphotography #mushroom #mushrooms #mushroomsofinstagram #mycelium #mycophile #experiment #homesterilisedgrain #inoculate #grainspawn #calocybegambosa #stgeorgesmushroom #itsalive

BOOOOOOM - the first signs of mycelial activity in the @urban_myco PFTEK tub inoculated with St. George's Mushroom (posh name: calocybe gambosa) liquid culture!!!!!! This is the first thing that I have inoculated with this to show growth - and no surprise really because these PFTEK kits are RAPID, fungafam. I also love reusing the tubs for liquid culture - a GREAT test size so if something goes wrong you haven't really wasted much, and they are small so you don't struggle for space. In fact, the CG liquid culture was made using one of these tubs - poetic, really. This bodes well. It looks like calocybe gambosa MAY be able to be grown and fruited at home.... early days of course... but promising! I also have some uncle bens tek and some inoculated grain working away with CG in it.... watch this space! ✌️ #ukfungi #fungi #funginfluencer #funginfluence #fungiphile #fungiphotography #mushroom #mushrooms #mushroomsofinstagram #mycelium #mycophile #experiment #stgeorgesmushroom #calocybegambosa #itsalive #signsofmycelialactivity

Well, it looks like another mixed bag... this is grain I inoculated with home grown lions mane; tissue to agar to honey broth method followed by the inoculation of the grain with liquid culture. The liquid culture itself still looks clear and good - and it was a good cut from the agar so I don't think that's the issue... but it could be. At some point I need to test it on agar to be certain. Top of the bag looks funky fresh mycelium. Beautiful. Bottom of the bag looks dodgy. Seems to be a clear thickening of the mycelium there, and part of the grain just hasn't taken, so I suspect contamination there So what to do. Well after the success of 'decanting' the crud away from the flammulina velutipes grain, and proceeding to fruit it well... similar plan. Although, this time I will mix the good looking grain with substrate. I plan to give the bag a few more days and then get it going. Wish me luck! ✌️ #ukfungi #fungi #funginfluencer #funginfluence #fungiphile #fungiphotography #mushroom #mushrooms #mushroomsofinstagram #mycelium #mycophile #homelab #liquidculture #inoculation #lionsmane #hericeumerinaceus #grainspawn #contamination

Pure grain block of flammulina velutipes is fruiting yet again, Fungafam! Substrate? Why bother. Discuss 😆 So far, I've had great results from this pure grain block that I inoculated with grimey dregs of flammulina velutipes agar with contamination. And that was despite cutting out a wet patch of contamination from the middle of the block. I'm impressed! This mushroom can't be stopped ✌️ #ukfungi #fungi #funginfluencer #funginfluence #fungiphile #fungiphotography #mushroom #mushrooms #mushroomsofinstagram #mycelium #mycophile #growmushrooms #flammulinavelutipes #allgrainnosubstrate

Well, experiments don't always go to plan - but you can be sure I'll show them, warts and all! This is a large bag of master's mix which I home pasteurised and then inoculated with Lion's Mane liquid culture (no grain spawn step) and then incubated in warm conditions Definitely contaminated! Green is not good Kind of a tale of 2 halves for this block - one side looks good with plenty of mycelium and no green. The other side looks sad So, the question remains, what happens if I try to fruit this monstrosity?! Will any lions mane grow? Well, the only way to find out is to continue the experiment. Into the fruting chamber it goes. I've put it outside though!!! And never fear, the feuting chamber needs a clean and restocking with perlite so after this (whatever happens) it's getting bleached and replenished Oh and I did make another block but incubating it at room temp. It looks...better... but still not free from contamination. The lesson? Next time I will sterilise not pasteurise! ✌️ #ukfungi #fungi #funginfluencer #funginfluence #fungiphile #fungiphotography #mushroom #mushrooms #mushroomsofinstagram #mycelium #mycophile #lionsmane #hericiumerinaceus #contamination #failedexperiment #lessonslearned

The expansion of the Liquid Culture of Cyclocybe Aegerita from @jurassiccoastmushrooms is progressing well - and I've just had this at room temperature Gotta love that mycelial floof, with clear amber honey broth around it! ✌️ #ukfungi #fungi #funginfluencer #funginfluence #fungiphile #fungiphotography #mushroom #mushrooms #mushroomsofinstagram #mycelium #mycophile #homelab #liquidculture #jurassiccoastmushrooms #cyclocybeaegerita #pioppinomushrooms

1 month later and this recycled White Elm Oyster Mushroom (posh name: hypsizygus ulmarius) block has a new lease of life, Fungafam! That's some thikkkk looking mycelium! I fruited the initial block from @mycomutiny_sutton a bunch of times very successfully, and then yields went dramatically down... only because it was now running out of food! So I crumbled it up in a binbag in layers with shredded moist cardboard and left it to colonise for a month at room temperature I accidentally nicked the bag today (was planning on waiting a full month til 3 Jul 2024) so I just opened it today - close enough. Superb looking mycelium and that wonderful healthy mycelium smell greeted my nostrils. I have high hopes. So it's gone into the greenhouse and we shall see how it fruits I cannot over-stress how little complex effort or prep this required. All I did was shred and wet random cardboard, and then layer crumbled recycled white elm block with that cardboard, and then hand tied the binbag closed and left it alone for 1 month at room temperature.No sterilisation. Not even asepsis. Nothing. The carboard had even been outside before i used it. Oyster Mushrooms are metal AF and cardboard has low risk of contamination - so I just let them loose, and trusted they would be victorious Keen to see the results now - let's hope for some good fruiting! ✌️ #ukfungi #fungi #funginfluencer #funginfluence #fungiphile #fungiphotography #mushroom #mushrooms #mushroomsofinstagram #mycelium #mycophile #whiteelmmushrooms #hypsizygusulmarius

Artist's Bracket (posh name: ganoderma applanatum) Inedible Some large specimens on a fallen tree. And with the vertical orientation, the perfect canvas for my eldest son ✌️ #ukfungi #fungi #funginfluencer #funginfluence #fungiphile #fungiphotography #mushroom #mushrooms #mushroomsofinstagram #mycelium #mycophile #ganodermaapplanatum #artistsbracket

Dog Vomit Slime Mould (posh name: fuligo septica) Not fungi. Inedible Yellow plasmodium. Dark aethelium and spores ✌️ #notfungi #slimemold #slimemould #fuligoseptica #dogvomitslimemold

Spindle Shank (posh name: gymnopus fusipes) Inedible Well these were super dry, Fungafam! The heatwave continues. So, hardly the typical appearance, but enough to make the ID The caps were about 3 to 5 cm diameter. They clearly started convex, but began to flatten out, and retained their incurved margin before being 'frozen by utter dryness. They were covered in darker spots, which is typical. The gills were in really bad condition, but you could see they are widely spaced and adnexed. The stem was whiter near the apex (typical) and the stems were tan (typical) to red/rust colour (the latter presumably due to age and dryness!). The stems were quite long - at least 7 cm - and had no visible ring/ring zone. They were growing directly out of the ling tree roots (again, typical for this parasitic fungus) A bit early for these; typically pop up in July. But given the heatwave... no surprise there ✌️ #ukfungi #fungi #funginfluencer #funginfluence #fungiphile #fungiphotography #mushroom #mushrooms #mushroomsofinstagram #mycelium #mycophile #gymnopusfusipes #spindleshank