# mushroom plugs



## ab1502 (Jun 27, 2007)

Does anyone know of a source for mushroom plugs which would be safe to use with the wood in our vivs? I remember finding a site a long time ago but I can't find it now for the life of me.


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## Eric Walker (Aug 22, 2009)

The Spore Works

try here


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## ab1502 (Jun 27, 2007)

Thats the site, thanks a ton. Do you know if the glowing variety of mushrooms is viv safe?


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## puremanb (Apr 10, 2009)

I thought you have to use newly cut logs with a high sugar content for use as food for the mycelium and if most people use old dry wood for their vivs I doubt that it will survive.


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## frogparty (Dec 27, 2007)

they are fine, but I think they only come as syringes or slants, not pugs. You'll need to do agar or grain cultivation ofmycelium and transfer to a different wood based substrate, or plugs into a log like alder. You definitely need new wood for cultivation, old ghostwood won't support good fuitings, and the log you do innoculate will only last a short time before its decomposed by fungi
The Spore Works :: Edible, Medicinal, and Novelty Mushroom Cultures :: Panellus stipticus : Luminescent Panellus
looks like the panellus is the only glow fungi they sell anymore


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## ab1502 (Jun 27, 2007)

Alright, sounds like a bit more effort than anticipated. I currently have two different pieces of drift wood in two different vivariums that pop several fairly large mushrooms almost weekly, is there anyway to transfer this fungi to another viv successfully?


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## frogparty (Dec 27, 2007)

you can rub a fruiting body onto the wood in the other viv and see if you get spore germination


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## ab1502 (Jun 27, 2007)

the fruiting bodies usually last 20 hours or so from germination to death in one viv, while the other gets larger stronger yellow fruiting bodies that last a few days.. when would the spores be mature enough for me to harvest the mushroom and spread them?


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## frogparty (Dec 27, 2007)

when the fruiting bodies are fully formed


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## Dendro Dave (Aug 2, 2005)

No they still have the other bioluminescent one "ghost fungus" also
The Spore Works :: Edible, Medicinal, and Novelty Mushroom Cultures :: Omphalotus nidiformis : Ghost Fungus

They should be safe as long as not ingested by the frogs.

I've been wanting to try this for years, but I only seem to remember that when i'm broke 

I wanna try those 2 bioluminecent ones plus some of the edibles like the pink oysters.

Can you just take a syringe and squirt a piece of say moist manzanita (a hard wood) down with it...any chance that will take? I've been meaning to research this more. 

I know contamination is a potential problem, but they have to deal with that in the wild, and a well established viv like the outside should have reached an equilibrium of sorts. Being different then just introducing spores into an unnatural growing environment where a pathogen is more likely to explode unchecked by other organisms. Mushrooms pop up in vivs all the time....Just a theory.

I use a mix of peat/coco bark/husks, spagnum moss as the base for my soil, I wonder if that would be a decent growing medium in and of itself? I've often had other mushrooms fruit off this substrate in my vivs and also off the partially buried mazanita and ghost wood.

Perhaps growing the mycelium artificially and then transplanting it into the viv would increase survival chances?


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## frogparty (Dec 27, 2007)

Manzanita will be harder to colonize than a softer wood like alder. Peat based soils won't have the nutrient levels necessary for good fruitings. You will ned a wood based soil, basically chips or sawdust based. Contamination will be a BIIIIIG factor unless inoculations are done in a sterile environment, then transferred to the viv once establshed. I highly reccomend Paul Stamets books The Mushroom Cultivator" or "Growing Gourmet and Medicinal Mushrooms" to learn more. The up side is that viv conditions are prime for fruiting once the mycelium is establishd

The bioluminescent 'shrooms I really like are more mycenoid in shape, not so much like oyster mushrooms. Ill have to look up the genus


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## Dendro Dave (Aug 2, 2005)

I found this site... MYCELIUM SYRINGES

Which sells a liquid solution of mycelium thats actually alive in the syringe instead of a typical spore syringe...Slightly more expensive, but perhaps this would be a better route to ensure it takes hold in a vivarium?


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## Dendro Dave (Aug 2, 2005)

Perhaps we could mix up a special layer of "mushroom soil"...there are several reptile substrate that use various wood/mulches in their mix, and I saw coco fiber on a couple mushroom sites so I assume it can have a role as a growing medium? 

Anyways perhaps it would be possible to mix up a soil, maybe even with some grain in it and spread it as top layer of substrate and/or mix in with the subsrate in general. Maybe adding small piece of more acceptable wood throughout the top layer as "growing spots". 

My soils are mostly coco/spagnum based with some added peat, but I assume the decaying plant matter from fallin plant leaves and frog poop along with other biological processes associated with breaking down the various organic components would increase the nutrient load. Seems like the more established the evironment the better...meaning a new viv may not be biologically active enough in its first few months to be suitable.

Perhaps the mycelium syringes I posted above would be the better route especially given what you said frogparty?


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## D3monic (Feb 8, 2010)

I ordered some luminescent panellus going to give it a try in my Escudo and varadero tanks.


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## james67 (Jun 28, 2008)

i would think inoculating jars and incubating the mycelium until you have enough to spread would work well.

here is a link to some REALLY cool mushrooms discovered in South America, smaller and still luminescent.

http://www.ncrs.fs.fed.us/pubs/jrnl/2010/nrs_2010_desjardin_001.pdf

id really like to see some Mycena luxaeterna available. i contacted the research group that discovered these a couple years ago trying to find if they produced spores for the acedemic community (where i might be able to locate some) but i never got a reply.

james


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## Dendro Dave (Aug 2, 2005)

james67 said:


> i would think inoculating jars and incubating the mycelium until you have enough to spread would work well.
> 
> here is a link to some REALLY cool mushrooms discovered in South America, smaller and still luminescent.
> 
> ...


I thought the same thing too...but I'm lazy and wanna take the easy way out. So I'll probably try the spore or mycelium syringes and hope I get lucky before I go through the extra effort of doing grow bags, cakes or whatever 

Thats a cool looking species...I too favor the "classic mushroom" over the oyster types.

A year or several back after another thread about this I also emailed some of the researchers but I cant remember if i got a reply...i think if i did it was something to the effect of "we can't, or won't do that"...I just remember that it was definitely fruitless ;(

It would be cool to add some harmless fresh water bioluminescent bacteria to our ponds also, and have glowing zebra fish swimming around in them 

Hopefully as more people become aware of, and interested in these they will make more species available...assuming they wouldn't be invasive.

Ever since I saw that text book picture of a glowing tobacco plant I wanted one...ethics be damned!!! Come on bioengineering! I want glowing plants in my viv... as for glowing frogs and even plants really, in all seriousness Im not sure I'm for all that from an ethical stand point...but if they existed and were legal, and affordable..I'm not sure I could stop myself either. I definitely don't wanna see germ line stuff that can pass the traits on their own unless some form of control could be built in or used to stop it if we needed to.


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## davecalk (Dec 17, 2008)

These are some sites that I have researched in the past. I have them bookmarked, but I actually haven't played with actively cultivating them for my tanks yet.

http://www.dendroboard.com/forum/members-frogs-vivariums/45537-share-your-fungi.html
Mushroom Farming - Hobby Farms
Shroomery - The 9er Tek
Shroomery - Shroom Wizard's Grow Guide
http://www.unapcaem.org/publication/TM-Mushroom.pdf
Mushroom Cultivator: A Practical Guide to Growing Mushrooms at Home
Growing Wild Mushrooms
The Great Morel - Morel Mushroom Links
Trial field key to the BOLETES in the Pacific Northwest
Pacific Northwest Key Council mycology keys for mushrooms
lichens, education, taxonomy, database
Pacific Northwest Key Council mycology keys for mushrooms
Mushroom Photos - David Work Mushroom Photography - MycoFiend Photos
Mushroom Links
The Great Morel - Morel Mushroom Links
Everything Mushrooms :: Grow Your Own Mushrooms :: Mushroom Plug Spawn :: Luminescent Panellus Mushroom Plug Spawn - Panellus stipticus

Not mushroom related but a good one on moss.
Moss propagation, care, and general info - Vivarium Forums


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