01/12/14: Different Types of Mushroom Substrate

          This past Wednesday, I spent my time again in the "dirty room" aka the room where Ecovative keeps all of their substrates. A substrate is basically any substance on which mycelium will grow on. There is an endless number of waste products mushrooms can decompose and when cultivating mushrooms, based on the particular substrate one can obtain different characteristics. Each time I come to Ecovative, I, time and time again, become amazed at the fact that mycologists can literally use almost anything we think of as "trash/waste" and turn it into a viable product that, in a nutshell, can help save the Earth!!

For instance, mycologists use most of the major debris that comes from farming or forestry.

       Of course one can not simply pick a batch of twigs from the forest floor and start cultivating. Mycelium grows best on substrates when they have been broken down into smaller pieces, 1/4 to 2 inches. 

Some of the different types of materials that can be processed by mycologists include:

• bambo
• brewery waste
• cacao shells
• cacti
• coconut/ coconut husk fiber
• coffee beans, grounds, hills, & debris
• corn, corncobs, cornstalks
• cotton & cotton waste
• fabrics
• garden waste, grass clippings, & yard debris
• hair
• hemp
• leaves
• manure
• nut casings & seed hulls
• oils (vegetable & petroleum)
• paper products (newspapers, cardboard, money, & books)
• soybean roughage
• straws (wheat, rye, rice, oats, barley, etc)
• sugarcane
• tea, tea waste, leaves, & trimmings
• textiles
• tobacco & tobacco stalks
• trees, shrubs, brush, & wooden construction waste

Stamets, Paul. Mycelium Running: How Mushrooms Can Help save the World. Berkeley, CA: Ten Speed, 2005. Print.

In spirit of Valentines Weekend, here's a cute image for you!

http://cheezburger.com/7485785344

02/05/14

I could not go to Ecovative this Wednesday because we had a snow day.

(Also, this is a very general summary of the steps that is required to create the packaging product)

01/29/14

Last Wednesday at Ecovative I helped make bags in the dirty room. What I did that day is the very first step scientists here perform in order to create their final mushroom packaging product. The dirty room is the room that contains all myriad of compost materials used to create their mushroom packaging product. For instance, there is a container that holds different waste products like saw dust and chopped up corn stalks and husks. It was a bit like cooking—like following a set recipe. After I filled the required number of bags needed to be completed for that day with compost, I weighed out a specific amount of calcium carbonate, CaCO₃ and added it to each bag. This substance, CaCO₃ has the effect of enhancing the myclelial linear growth rate. After this step, I added about a half a liter of water into each bag and thoroughly mixed all the components together. These plastic bags and their contents are then sterilized in an autoclave for about an hour and then allowed to cool. Then the mixture is injected with small pellets of mycelium and left to grow. I may have explained this process once before, but this was my first time that I actually got to start from the very beginning, with nothing but the rare ingredients. The person that I worked with, Christina, my mentor’s partner, showed me the different results/physical and chemical characteristics that one would get from using different compostable materials. When with my mentor, Courtney I mainly worked with analyzing the many different products, today I had fun stepping out of the zone and getting my hands dirty.

This video above may help you gain a better picture of what I meant in my explanation above.