What type of fungus can I easily grow that produces lots of mycelium?

[justBonsai]

This is a bit of a random thread, but I see people here posting and talking about fungi all the time so I thought I might as well ask. For a project I need to grow a ton of mycelium. Preferably something that does not form fruiting bodies and can grow easily on variety of mediums.

The fruiting body issue isn't a big deal actually--I just need a fast growing fungus that will set its mycelium root structures on some organic substrate of my choice within a week tops.

Thanks,
Julian

 

[wireme]

This is a bit of a random thread, but I see people here posting and talking about fungi all the time so I thought I might as well ask. For a project I need to grow a ton of mycelium. Preferably something that does not form fruiting bodies and can grow easily on variety of mediums.

The fruiting body issue isn't a big deal actually--I just need a fast growing fungus that will set its mycelium root structures on some organic substrate of my choice within a week tops.

Thanks,
Julian

It would help to know more about your project.
Oyster mycelium is one of the easiest and quickest to grow. Reishi is pretty aggressive and grows mycelium quickly too. Reishi produces a dense, strong and durable mycelium that is used to grow packing styrofoam alternatives, insulation blocks/panels, building materials etc.,,

 

[justBonsai]

Thanks a lot for the reply. I work in a research lab and we want to 3-D print some organic medium and have fungi mycelium grow on it thereby giving us an chitin structure in our printed shape. Similar to what people do with packaging materials but our intended purpose will be entirely different. I don't have any experience growing fungi so I wanted to experiment with some easy to grow varieties first.

 

[wireme]

Thanks a lot for the reply. I work in a research lab and we want to 3-D print some organic medium and have fungi mycelium grow on it thereby giving us an chitin structure in our printed shape. Similar to what people do with packaging materials but our intended purpose will be entirely different. I don't have any experience growing fungi so I wanted to experiment with some easy to grow varieties first.

That sounds interesting.
Your organic substrate will need to be something the fungi can consume, moist and sterilized before you inoculate it (also in a sterile setting ie: in front of a laminar flow hood) then it will need to be contained in a sterile environment such as a bag with a filter patch while it colonizes. Otherwise you'll just grow mold and bacteria.
You could mix a liquid culture into your substrate prior to printing maybe, not sure it would survive the process.
For the purpose I would recommend reishi I think, it's fast to grow and very durable. As easy as oyster really in terms of mycelium growth just a bit harder to fruit.
None of them are easy really, well, like anything it's easy once you know how and have the necessary tools/equipment.
It's pretty easy to colonize a block of sawdust inside a filter patch bag. Could you do that then carve the shape with a CNC machine rather than 3D printing?

 

[justBonsai]

That sounds interesting.
Your organic substrate will need to be something the fungi can consume, moist and sterilized before you inoculate it (also in a sterile setting ie: in front of a laminar flow hood) then it will need to be contained in a sterile environment such as a bag with a filter patch while it colonizes. Otherwise you'll just grow mold and bacteria.
You could mix a liquid culture into your substrate prior to printing maybe, not sure it would survive the process.
For the purpose I would recommend reishi I think, it's fast to grow and very durable. As easy as oyster really in terms of mycelium growth just a bit harder to fruit.
None of them are easy really, well, like anything it's easy once you know how and have the necessary tools/equipment.
It's pretty easy to colonize a block of sawdust inside a filter patch bag. Could you do that then carve the shape with a CNC machine rather than 3D printing?

I understand that it would need to be kept in a sterile environment. For now I just want to experiment with growing the fungus. I never considered cutting down a pre-made mycelium block. I'd have to look into that. Thanks!

 

[wireme]

I understand that it would need to be kept in a sterile environment. For now I just want to experiment with growing the fungus. I never considered cutting down a pre-made mycelium block. I'd have to look into that. Thanks!

Cool, feel free to ask me questions here as you go along. I've been supplementing my income by growing mushrooms for the last two years now, pretty successfully. Lots of trail and error. I can lead you to some cheap reliable sources of fungi cultures, ideas for d.i.y. filter patches etc..
There are lots of options from dirtbag countertop tissue cloning techniques to full on laboratory set-ups.
Spores, agar plates, tissue clones, liquid cultures are all ways to start.
You can do a lot with only a pressure cooker and a still air box ( Rubbermaid with holes cut in the side). Or you could start tomorrow with a Tupperware container, a bit of tape, a bit of tyvek, oyster mushroom from a local store and moist cardboard.
That's what this is in the pics below I just pulled it out of the cupboard to check on it. We started this as a demo for a mushroom growing workshop we gave a while back. I topped it up with coffee grounds a couple times after the workshop, completely forgot about it until tonight and its ready to fruit now.
You could pick almost any of the commonly grown edibles to learn, mycelium expansion methods are pretty similar for them all.

 

[justBonsai]

Cool, feel free to ask me questions here as you go along. I've been supplementing my income by growing mushrooms for the last two years now, pretty successfully. Lots of trail and error. I can lead you to some cheap reliable sources of fungi cultures, ideas for d.i.y. filter patches etc..
There are lots of options from dirtbag countertop tissue cloning techniques to full on laboratory set-ups.
Spores, agar plates, tissue clones, liquid cultures are all ways to start.
You can do a lot with only a pressure cooker and a still air box ( Rubbermaid with holes cut in the side). Or you could start tomorrow with a Tupperware container, a bit of tape, a bit of tyvek, oyster mushroom from a local store and moist cardboard.
That's what this is in the pics below I just pulled it out of the cupboard to check on it. We started this as a demo for a mushroom growing workshop we gave a while back. I topped it up with coffee grounds a couple times after the workshop, completely forgot about it until tonight and its ready to fruit now.
You could pick almost any of the commonly grown edibles to learn, mycelium expansion methods are pretty similar for them all.View attachment 113036View attachment 113037View attachment 113038

Thanks, that would help a lot! I'll let you know if I have any questions down the road.