# Bioluminescent Mushroom Community Project



## Jeremy M (Oct 19, 2012)

So over the years there have been multiple threads about possibly keeping bioluminescent organisms in vivs. Included in discussion has been the use of Panellus stipticus, a bioluminescent mushroom which produces its own light from a chemical reaction (no, you don’t have to “charge up” this fungi to see it grow). This species is a tough wood-growing mushroom that lasts quite a while and has a bitter taste, so I don’t think that microfauna munching on these should be an issue. I've never seen a thread of someone who actually obtained this species to grow in a viv and posted photos of success. About a year ago I bought a strain and did some work with it, and now I have a couple jars of fruiting fungi that throw off quite a bit of light in the dark. 

I have one jar in particular which has been fruiting for a while and would like to begin a long-term experiment with forum members here to determine how viable and reliable this may be as a viv-suitable species. My idea is that for just shipping cost, I’ll mail you a small log which has been inoculated with a colonized branch. If you want to take part in this experiment, you must record some basic specs about your setup (day/night temps, humidity, placement of branch in terrarium) and post them here, as well as photo updates upon initial placement and as the log begins to fruit. I also expect updates at intervols (say, 3-4 months?) even if your log isn’t doing anything because this will provide just as much useful information as one that’s actively fruiting. It’s a pretty long-term commitment because this is a slow-growing species, and it should may take at least 6 months (probably much more) to see any action at all. I can’t be sure of the time period since there have been so few reports of growing them in vivs, but I’m hoping that the humid, relatively warm conditions combined with the small lengths and diameters of these logs will keep the waiting period on the shorter side. Despite all this, I can give no guarantee that these will even grow in peoples’ tanks.

I’d like to see others’ inputs on possible variables to try to include in the experiment. So far I think I’m going to send out different species of wood at different ages (freshly cut vs. dried), as well as inoculation method (through the pith and inserted perpendicular to the bark). Maybe I’ll make a spreadsheet of the variables and add data as it comes in, though I’m not good with that type of thing. Another thing that’s been nagging me though is that if I want to give this experiment any scientific validity at all, I would have to give at least two logs to the same person to see if they differ at all in the same condition. While I have enough to do this, I’m torn between giving a single person multiples and trying to distribute them to as many people as possible to get a larger sample size. I do have a finite number of logs I can make since I’ll just be using this one jar for the experiment.

I’d like to do more work to see if I could continue this experiment or possibly look into selling pre-made logs in the future, but it does take time and funds. If I were to begin making cultures again I would want some material upgrades to make it more worthwhile for me (eg. $30 worth of factory-made dowels to use instead of inconsistently-sized branches). I considered asking for a non-mandatory donation of a dollar or two when people pay for shipping or selling some larger pieces of inoculated wood in the for-sale section to raise money for this project. Any thoughts on this? 

Please don’t begin sending me PM requests asking if you can participate yet, I’m not at this stage and will ignore your message.

Some pics. The color in real life is a bit less harsh and a bit more blue in hue.

























and the logs, cut and waiting to be soaked and drilled:


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## Jeremy M (Oct 19, 2012)

Looks like one of the images didn't take in the last batch:










And just for shits and giggles:


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## Jeremy M (Oct 19, 2012)

For those interested, here are some cultural notes on this fungi, and shrooms in general. Most people who grow mushrooms start them off in a nutrient-media for the purpose of obtaining a pure strain. This can be done in Agar gel or by creating a liquid culture. A portion of this is then transferred to a growout medium of seeds; usually birdseed, ryeberries or something similar is used. Once the mycelium have colonized this, the seed is broken up and used in a number of ways depending on the growth habits of the particular species. Fast-growing fungi like Oysters are grown out on moist straw or cardboard. Slower-growing wood-lovers can be grown on "brf cakes" composed of sawdust and other nutrient/gel media combined, or the colonized birdseed can be mixed with wooden dowels to spread to those before the dowels are hammered into logs, sealed up and left to grow.

The most difficult part of growing mushrooms is keeping every step of the early growing processes sterile. Pro growers use a laminar flow hood (the same machine used for bottled orchid tissue cultures) which would cost half a grand to build. Many small-scale hobbyist growers use a "still air box" which tries to create a sterile environment inside a sealed Sterilite before open-jar transfers are done. I tried this and found it a major pain to use. I also had a 100% contamination rate. Granted, I probably could have improved my methods but it wasn't worth the effort for me, so I switched to making liquid cultures and directly injecting the medium into sterilized jars of birdseed and sticks through a self-healing injection port in hopes of getting fruit out of a single transfer to minimize risk of contamination. I actually haven’t made any new jars since spring last year because the prepwork was so time-consuming and because my inability to make successful grain-to-X transfers severely limited the variety of what I was able to do.

Many people have had trouble fruiting this wood-lover on artificial media (BRF cakes) in fruiting chambers. This consists of a cake of sawdust/woodchips, gypsum, maybe wheat bran and some other ingredients first colonized in a sterile jar then removed, rolled in vermiculite and placed into a fish tank/plastic container over a humid substrate with holes in the sides to try to obtain optimal airflow. Maintaining high humidity as well as high airflow (shrooms require lots of oxygen to fruit) poses a difficult challenge. Often times the blocks becoming infested with contaminants during this period. My theory is that these problems arise because people are trying to control far too many natural processes; we will never be able to mimic an ecosystem in its enterity on any level, especially if we try to sustain a monoculture.

However, we can provide a habitat for complex ecosystems to take place in, which is exactly what we try to do with our naturalistic vivariums. This is why I predict that people who keep these shrooms in vivs will have better success rates than those who try to control their growth in artificial environments. As it were, the current jar which I’m planning to use has definitely been contaminated. The contaminants only showed up after fruiting started, so instead of tossing it I unsealed the lid and let it sit. Soon the jar also became ‘infested’ with mites which completely ignored the mushrooms but devoured the unknown contaminant and kept it at bay. Earlier on (when I still used polyester stuffing as an air filter instead of tyvek) I had another jar still on birdseed which became severely contaminated with multiple types of fungi and bacteria. I forgot about it and several months later was shocked to see little P. stip fruit growing right out of the rotting black mass. When given the opportunity to develop a relationship with other organisms, in my experiences this strain is much more hardy than people give it credit for.


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## mongo77 (Apr 28, 2008)

Interesting read! Thanks for posting


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## Azurel (Aug 5, 2010)

Pretty interesting.....they are cool mushrooms.....never seen the glowing species in person....

Did you purchase these or happen to get them by chance? Never mind re-read the thread.

I always wondered how difficult they are and from reading doing the traditional way seemed like a lot of work.....But have had newmorous mushrooms sprout out of nowhere.....


I would be up for trying it out......let me know....I have quite a few long term active vivariums that still sprout mushrooms from time to time.


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## edaxflamma (Jan 18, 2014)

I actually culture edible mushroom spawn for a living so if you happen to have any pure cultures you're willing to share I can bulk it out for you/us if this takes off. 

Needless to say I'd be interested. Most of the bioluminescent strains I've worked with have never thrown off much light. If you have a more productive strain I'd love to give it another shot.


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## a hill (Aug 4, 2007)

I've played with bioluminescent algae in the past and jellyfish and the classic fireflies. Mushrooms are on my to-do list. Since I have five large vivariums my idea is that I can use them to compare and contrast things to mess around. 

One such thing is fungus. I also believe even vivs are too sterile, albeit getting better than they were in past. 

Let me know if/when I can join in. Edaxflamma and I have been discussing these things off and on for a while now, I highly recommend taking the offer for bulking it out. 

-Andrew


Smiling when unhappy makes you happier. 
Transcribed via Siri.


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## Jeremy M (Oct 19, 2012)

edaxflamma said:


> I actually culture edible mushroom spawn for a living so if you happen to have any pure cultures you're willing to share I can bulk it out for you/us if this takes off.
> 
> Needless to say I'd be interested. Most of the bioluminescent strains I've worked with have never thrown off much light. If you have a more productive strain I'd love to give it another shot.


Thanks, I think I'll take you up on that offer- though I'm not positive I have something you can work with. I have one year-old culture on agar that's pictured below. As you can see, I kind of McGuivered it to fit my needs from the materials I had on hand. I drilled a hole through the glass with a dab if silicone for an injection port, and the lid is tyvek siliconed in place. I intended to gather inoculant by adding water, swirling it around and re-extracting it, so you can't access the agar without breaking the glass.
I could also send an small liquid culture from which I've made successful transfers in the past, but I can't guarantee that it hasn't been contaminated in the time since. I drew from it multiple times, and haven't touched it for nearly a year since. Let me know if these will work!










When you say "strain", does this mean you've worked with P stip from other localities in the past, or do you mean other species? I got mine as a syringe culture from Sporeworks, and it seems to be bright, hardy and relatively quick growing for this species, though I have nothing to compare it against. 

Regards
-Jeremy


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## edaxflamma (Jan 18, 2014)

I have worked with this species before. Strain in my book refers to a specific culture line. Due to how the fungus is cultured, if done in an industrial setting, the fungus is said to take on aspects of its grower. That's not me trying to spew hippy dippy mumbo jumbo but each mycologist values different morphological characteristics. These then get selected for as the strain is further cultured and can change how the fungus expresses itself. Anyway enough of that...

Haha that is some ingenuity right there. I can honestly say I have never seen that before.

As far as the culture is concerned I'd say whatever you are willing to part with would be fine. If you have a culture that is pure (liquid, agar, or, otherwise) I can bring that up the fastest.

If not, and you can get me live fruiting bodies (mushrooms) instead, I can take a pure culture from that tissue as well. The tissue inside the mushroom itself is generally free from contaminants. This may be the better alternative.

That having been said, I'm not accustomed or really set up to extract from a liquid culture so if that is your only tube I'd rather you keep it. Everything on my end is all solid state fermentation. 

Depending on how long it takes to get a working culture from the samples, I can have 50+ lbs (unlimited really...) of sterile inoculum ready in about 4 weeks. 

Also, if we can get this going I have a trick for inoculating those logs. Don't bother with the dowels just yet. 

EDIT:
Oh and if you could take a picture of the mushrooms with a ruler next to them (in the light) that would help me a lot. If I remember right these things are only a few cm across. Generally the smaller the mushroom the more difficult it is to extract sterile tissue.


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## Jeremy M (Oct 19, 2012)

edaxflamma said:


> Oh and if you could take a picture of the mushrooms with a ruler next to them (in the light) that would help me a lot. If I remember right these things are only a few cm across. Generally the smaller the mushroom the more difficult it is to extract sterile tissue.


That's how I've always understood 'strain' as well, but some people use it for other applications so I thought I'd make sure. I don't know if the one I have would be any different or better than others, but we can certainly test it out.

Mature fruits are a couple of CM in length, but I've only fruited them in oxygen-deprived, sub-optimal conditions inside the same jars they grow out in. The ones I have really only grow as super long spindly sticks, so I think you'd have trouble obtaining a sterile piece from them. They're very slightly larger than they appear in the picture because the ruler has third rib sticking out the back, but it doesn't change the perspective that much. 










I've read about agar work and it seems that one of the ways to take a tissue culture from a living wild sample (which will have hundreds of 'contaminant' foreign organisms residing in it) is to place a piece of tissue in a dish and pour hot agar over it so it's barely covered. The idea is that the heat will shock more sensitive bacterial and fungal growth for a longer period than the mushroom piece, which will begin to grow up and through the agar. Once it reaches the surface, the process is repeated, and eventually you will have an uncontaminated source. This approach seems more approachable to me than an agar-to-agar transfer and I've been meaning to try it out on some turkey tail mushrooms (they don't seem to take to cardboard). Perhaps you could try something along those lines with one of the tiny little tubes of fungus I have.


Also... I was just rooting through some old mushroom shelves I hadn't looked at in months and came across this: 










It's a spent birdseed bottle which has shrunken and contracted over time. The plug inside is solid and moves freely when you rotate the bottle. The bottom has some of those yellow fluid enzymes which P stip loves to produce that looks like a bacterial infection, but it's pure. I think that this is our best bet for obtaining live tissue for a transfer: just crack the bottle open and treat the solid block like a giant mushroom to extract the sample from. I bet you could even use the boiling water trick to make a clean fracture so you don't have to worry about shards.


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## brendan0923 (Sep 15, 2014)

Very informative post, thank you. I am definitely interested...I have plenty of active vivariums so please let me know when you're ready!


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## edaxflamma (Jan 18, 2014)

Awesome, I agree that grain bottle is likely our best bet. If it is pure and viable then there is enough inoculum there to drop our wait time by a week or more. Any idea how old it is?

All that's left is how you decide to pass the torch so to speak. Not sure if I'd wait until after the weekend to try and ship or not. It could probably freeze with no ill effects but given it's age we might not want to risk it. I'll check my weather info and shoot you a PM for shipping info.


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## Celtic Aaron (Jun 12, 2013)

Awesome experiment Jeremy! I think it is more than fair to ask for $ to cover the cost of material in addition to shipping costs. I am looking forward to this project!


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## Wusserton (Feb 21, 2014)

Man I love this idea! I use Agar periodically myself and Im all about plant/fungus propogation! half of what I do is cloning plants for my vivs on the side! Im buying a few larger tanks 40 gal breeders for just this sort of purpose soon! I have an unfinished basement that is for the most part un utilized and Im starting various plant projects down there this year! Its a novel quest! And sterile bottles are cheap enough lol maybe just rubber band a filter over the lid, what about a mason jar? I can buy ten gal tanks at about $12 so with a simple lid I can test humidity/dry, light you name it, or a bunch of those 2.5 gal tanks, get em for a couple bucks a pop, just use plexiglass lids, drill a small hole dead center for a handle (carefully Plexi shatters) and boom insta lid lol 
Edit: I agree, I am more than willing to pay for shipping costs and a few extra bucks for the log specimen itself! If the entire log is coated I would probably quarter it and run 4 separate experiments under different conditions. 

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## Dendro Dave (Aug 2, 2005)

Well of course I'm interested to see how this goes. Been meaning to run my own experiments for years... one of many things I havent gotten around to


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## edaxflamma (Jan 18, 2014)

Like cracking a bottle of champagne on the hull of a new ship, this afternoon I cracked a bottle of Corona with a hammer to signify our maiden journey of our foray into the world of bioluminescent mushrooms.

Not really.

I did however receive the culture from Jeremy and have transferred it onto a few plates. If it grows, we should be in business in about a month. If not, I saved the bottle and we can try again. Worst case scenario I can definitely pull a culture from your fruiting bottles.

I'll update as I know more.

@Dave - Sorry I'm so behind. Had some unexpected family heath issues. I'm still trying to find shipping that isn't $30 or more.

Cheers,
-J.P.


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## edaxflamma (Jan 18, 2014)

Three days after transfer we have our first signs of fuzz! 

I fear it is going to be slow goings for the next few days until we can get it running on agar but the lack of contamination makes me relatively confident we have a pure culture. Once I can get it to fill out a plate I'll start screening it and make sure. 

So far so good! I'll post updates as things progress.


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## benjaminfrogs (Sep 26, 2014)

Ive grown mushrooms before on multiple occasions. If you have any spores for me i can help. I did it mostly for my microbiology classes


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## Dendro Dave (Aug 2, 2005)

edaxflamma said:


> Like cracking a bottle of champagne on the hull of a new ship, this afternoon I cracked a bottle of Corona with a hammer to signify our maiden journey of our foray into the world of bioluminescent mushrooms.
> 
> Not really.
> 
> ...


Ah its cool, I've had some drama with a friend of mine that has distracted me from the forums/hobby for the last couple weeks. This is actually only the second time I've even been home for more then a couple hours for the last few days... so no rush.


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## hypostatic (Apr 25, 2011)

here's an article on glowing shrooms that you guys might be interested in:

Why Some Mushrooms Glow In The Dark : NPR


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## Jeremy M (Oct 19, 2012)

hypostatic said:


> here's an article on glowing shrooms that you guys might be interested in:
> 
> Why Some Mushrooms Glow In The Dark : NPR


Thanks, that was an interesting read. I've heard many theories proposed about why some fungi glow, but this is the first instance I've heard of that a theory has been backed with a study. It's always made sense that they would at least attract insects. This is the fi One thing I'm curious about though is how the insects actually spread spores. I don't believe that they act like pollen and become embodied in the insects' body or leg hairs to be spread around. To the best of my knowledge, pollen is specifically structured to adhere to these surfaces and only detaches when it rubs against its female counterpart, while mushroom spores are designed to be as light as possible so they can travel the greatest distance through the air. I suspect that perhaps it's actually the insects' wings beating as they fly to and from the mushroom, as well as their movements around it, which disturb the air patterns and may aid in spore dispersal that way. 

I also wonder if there's a certain scent or pheromone that some mushrooms release to either attract or deter insects at different points in the fruiting body's lifecycle. This would potentially apply to all mushrooms, but especially types which attract insects through other tricks such as bio-luminescence. It would seem that it would need some mechanism to protect itself from being eaten before it could have a chance to produce spores. I know some get around this by tasting bitter, growing extremely fast, containing toxins or blooming in large numbers, but it would be interesting to learn what other tricks they may have. That the species studied in Brazil had a biological clock was fascinating though. I wonder if the glowing was a response to some stimuli from the environment or if it was somehow wired into their genes.

People traditionally think of mushroom reproduction to be fairly straightforward in that they simply produce the greatest amount of spores they can with the hopes that some small percentage of these may find ideal conditions to grow in. It's becoming more clear through further research that mushrooms have an array of techniques they use to aid in spore dispertion, much like various plants have different ways of spreading their seeds. A fairly recent study from UCLA found that mushrooms actually create their own convection currents to help their spores get a head start. Many mushroom fruit are remarkably poor at holding in moisture, and water evaporates from the outer tissue of the shroom. This evaporation cools the surrounding air, making it less dense than the surrounding warm air. Water vapor is also less dense than normal air. The tiny wind that's produced doesn't spread the spores that far, but it does get them a chance to get up into the wind column where they can be carried further. There are several summaries of the study's findings, but I find this to be the best one: Mushrooms 'Make Wind' to Spread Spores : Discovery News

Other shrooms use rain droplets as a means to spread. This remarkable video of puff ball mushrooms shows how the impact a rain droplet makes on the outer wall releases clouds of spores into the air: 
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jOKSBXUW1jE
and here's a macro vid which shows the structure and action more clearly: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VWgm322uKWI
In addition to rain, spores will be released from any small disturbance or an animal stepping on it. Eventually it will dry out, open up, and the spores will be exposed to the wind.

Another group of fungus named "birds nest fungi" has evolved to use rain in entirely different matter. They have an upward-opening cup which develop detached spore-filled eggs called periodoles inside. The cup is grows in a parabola so that when a drop of water falls in the right spot, these eggs go shooting out of the cup! Truly amazing behavior can be seen in action here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EGlaQhDi5ts

Anyways, I've rambled on like I tend to do. I hope some of you will find this interesting. There are just way too many fascinating things in nature.

-Jeremy


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## edaxflamma (Jan 18, 2014)

Don't forget Pilobolus - aptly described in this video as the fungus cannon!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=T8OAmcUnm4g

Update: This guy is a slow grower... Adjusted my pH a bit to see if I can speed things along. No bioluminescence yet but I haven't given up hope. More updates on Wednesday.


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## edaxflamma (Jan 18, 2014)

Sorry for the delay everyone. I've been sick for the past few days so I haven't been able to update.

Below are some pictures of the transfer plates. 


























































Nothing exciting yet but at least we have growth. As I'm sure you can see by the dates they are just over a week old. Once I can get them to fill out the plates I'm going to start bulking them. I have a few more plates running but I didn't take pictures because it's really just more of the same.

No light just yet : ( Some say they have their own internal clock and produce the most light between 6pm and 9pm. Not sure how much stock I'll put into that but we'll see. I'll take a few plates home tonight to check them. 

Just as a side note, I still need to bring down the pH way down on my media for optimal light production. They also supposedly need a good bit of O2 as well. I'll keep everyone updated with more info as it comes out.


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## benjaminfrogs (Sep 26, 2014)

Very interesting read guys. I have a question, Do all mycelium appear white? Is that a specific trait of mushrooms? Do the mycelium glow?


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## edaxflamma (Jan 18, 2014)

Mycelium color, shape, growth speed, and growth pattern are all dependent on a bunch of different factors: species, strain, sectoring, media type, light availability, age, tissue type, etc.

As far as the mycelium glowing, this species supposedly produces some light from its mycelium. After keeping my eyes closed for 15 mins in a dark room I was still unable to confirm light production (but.. Your eyes were closed... Of course you coul...). 

As a side note, I think I am going to abandon my efforts to drop the pH more. As the mycelium draws nutrients from its substrate it does tend to lower pH over time. I've got a few blends between 5.6 and 3.9 that should drop once we get more colonization.


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## benjaminfrogs (Sep 26, 2014)

Why do you have the ph so low? How are you dropping the ph?


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## edaxflamma (Jan 18, 2014)

benjaminfrogs said:


> Why do you have the ph so low? How are you dropping the ph?


If I told you, I would have to kill you...

We dropped the pH to get better light production as this species is known to produce more light: Mycologia 82 (3): 295, 1990

With that having been said, I figure I owe every one an update:



































Dark photos were taken with a Nikon D3200. Exposure=30 seconds. Aperture=5.6. Iso=6400

We plan on splitting these two plates into different lines based on morphological characteristics and light production. This differentiation will happen when we begin to bulk out the mycelium, likely tomorrow afternoon.

We will do this by taking agar plugs from areas interest and transferring them to a few different media and allowing them to grow out.

I'll keep everyone up to date as to how things progress. Again I apologize for how slow the project has been going. These lines grow a lot slower than what I was expecting.


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## Wusserton (Feb 21, 2014)

In your experince, is higher light a factor in producing healthier shrooms? Im willing to test different lighting methods if you throw a sample I can test in a variety of areas with a variety of lighting and humidity. I must admit before hand that I am behind the growth curve of what you have going but if you can mandate your needs I can probably accommodate it in my plant rearing areas and other areas using artificial/natural light, dry/wet (everything inbetween) and hot/cold temps. 


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## Weston (Mar 21, 2015)

Hey Jeremy: My bad on the PM haha. I misread the initial post date. Consider this me saying this sounds like an awesome project and when the time comes I'd be interested in being a part of it.


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## edaxflamma (Jan 18, 2014)

Wusserton said:


> In your experince, is higher light a factor in producing healthier shrooms? Im willing to test different lighting methods if you throw a sample I can test in a variety of areas with a variety of lighting and humidity. I must admit before hand that I am behind the growth curve of what you have going but if you can mandate your needs I can probably accommodate it in my plant rearing areas and other areas using artificial/natural light, dry/wet (everything inbetween) and hot/cold


It really depends on the mushroom. For this specific variety I'm not sure just yet. The mycelium grows best (and produces the most light) when grown in the dark. 

Depending on your set up that could be useful. However, at this point, I don't want to steal Jeremy's thunder. I'll bulk it out, figure out what media we want it on for inoculation, make some synthetic and other more natural fruiting substrates, and send him a few lbs of spawn. I think I'll let him run the show in the after math given that it was his project to start with. If he falls off the face of the earth or gives me explicit instruction to distribute that may change but I think I owe him that.


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## jdawud (Mar 18, 2015)

I would be willing to test a small inoculated log piece or two. I have a plug kit that I will use soon so I'd be curious to see how yours compares to the kit I'm the same conditions. PM me when you've got logs ready to go and I can PayPal money for shipping and materials.

Awesome idea for a community based project!


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## benjaminfrogs (Sep 26, 2014)

Any update?


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## brendan0923 (Sep 15, 2014)

Resurrecting this thread...any updates? I would like to hear how the project is progressing. 


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## edaxflamma (Jan 18, 2014)

Wow guys so it has been ages...

That's my fault. 

Unfortunately my work got the best of me and I almost immediately got swept up into another project that devoured my time.

Currently, I have been able to get the mycelium to fruit. Unfortunately, I have been unable to get it to reliably fruit in vivarium conditions. 

I can definitely bulk out the spawn without any issues - it isn't picky in that sense but once taken out of sterile culture it is either prone to infection or vegetative growth.

I'll update with some pictures when I get home.


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## edaxflamma (Jan 18, 2014)

Hey all,

It's been a while - sorry about that. I'm finally back from vacation with a few photos.



















I have been able to grow this fungus on a variety of different substrates, some more effective than others. As far as bulking it out, the easiest by far is a grain based medium with a pH of around 6.0-7.5. Darkness seems to be helpful for the duration of the spawn run (mycelial growth phase). It tends to grow quickly and fruits after about 1-2 months in its container. 

Fruiting for this species, similar to normal oyster mushrooms (Pleurotus sp.), seems to be partially light induced. If left to their own devices, a container of P. stipticus will begin to pin randomly across its surface with age. These pins will remain weak and spindly if not exposed to slightly drier air. Unfortunately, if allowed to fruit across its entire surface, the pins will begin to compete with one another for resources and stall out. They will however continue to fluoresce.

Fruiting bodies and mycelium both fluoresce given the right conditions as we have seen. Typically, in order to actually see the light produced by these mushrooms, one needs to allow their eyes to adjust to total darkness for 1-5 minutes. The light is very, very faint. As a side note, I am doing my best to isolate the mycelium that produces the strongest light. Light production over all seems to do best with pH's between 4.0 and 6.5. Given that mycelium tends to acidify its substrate as it grows and ages, a substrate with higher pH (see above) will facilitate linear growth at a faster rate while still allowing for sufficient light production at or around fruiting. 

Due to my work schedule the actual vivarium testing has been rather limited. However, I would imagine that most vivariums would have the appropriate humidity to facilitate full fruiting of the mycelium. 

I would like to try filling some baby food jars with substrate, spray painting them black and inoculating those. The plan being that after a month or so, opening the jar, planting it in a vivarium with the appropriate conditions, and attempting to fruit it that way. Unfortunately, the temperatures in most vivariums are not idea for proper fruiting (65F-75F).

I will do my best to continue working on this project but my other responsibilities are limiting my opportunity to work on this project. 

I would however like to continue the project with the live testing that Jeremy had intended. I am planning to bulk this out one more time and will offer it to those willing to do a test in their setup(s). I won't be able to send it out to everyone so I will be a bit choosy as to who receives it. I'll make a post about that when I know how much I can get through the system.

I know this isn't the most informative or exciting post on the topic but the work hasn't ended; it's just taking longer than I had hoped. 

Thank you for your patience.


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