Subject: Mushroom growth on "waste" effluent

From: [email-masked] (Todd Leopold)
Date: Tue, 18 Jun 1996 22:51:13

My name is Todd Leopold, and I am the Brewmaster for the Ann Arbor 
Brewing Company.  We are in the process of designing an 
environmentally sustainable brewery in Ann Arbor, Michigan, U.S.A.

I am writing to your group to ask if anyone has experience with 
growing edible mushrooms on solid wastes.  I know from my readings 
that Hericium Erinaceus and Lentinus Edodes grow rather well on a 
mixture of soil, used brewing grains, and solid brewing wastes, but 
I was hoping that someone may have conducted in-depth research in 
this area.

Please accept my sincere apologies if my question is outside of the 
normal scope of your discussion group.  From what I can read this 
is a forum for serious mycologists, and my question may not be 
appropriate.  Thank you all in advance for your time.

Best Regards,

Ann Arbor Brewing Co.
Todd E. Leopold
Brewmaster
[email-masked]

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From: Susan Jane Hogarth <[email-masked]>
Date: Wed, 19 Jun 1996 10:44:34 -0400

> appropriate.  Thank you all in advance for your time.

Sorry, I don't have an answer to your question, but I just wanted to say:

WHAT could possibly be more "serious mycology" than brewing? ;-)

(I think your question is _very_ interesting, and hope replies are poasted
as well as mailed)
-- 

Susan Jane Hogarth

"Luck is the residue of design." -- Freddy the Fish 

"Personally, I'm always ready to learn, although I do not always like being
taught." -- Winston Churchill

http://www4.ncsu.edu/~sjhogart/public/home.html

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From: Thomas O'Dell <[email-masked]>
Date: Fri, 21 Jun 1996 10:19:51 -0700

Spent grains from brewing are likely to be an excellent material for
growing some sort of mushroom, I would be surprised if adding soil would
be useful in shiitake cultivation as they are wood decomposers. the best
source of information on this type of research is the journal Mushroom
Science, it is the proceedings of the international conference on mushroom
cultivation which occurs every two to three years. i have seen articles on
using coffee grounds, cane waste etc. for mushroom cultivation there. you
should be able to get the journal through a good research library.
good luck!

[email-masked]
Dr. Thomas E. O'Dell, Ph.D.
Dept. of Botany, Box 355325
University of Washington
Seattle, WA, 98195-5325

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From: Dave Jefferies <[email-masked]>
Date: Fri, 21 Jun 1996 19:22:54 +0100

In article <[email-masked]>, Todd Leopold
<[email-masked]> writes
>I was hoping that someone may have conducted in-depth research in 
I have had reports of Lepista nuda (Blewitt) fruiting on piles of spent
hops. Not seen it myself and I don't know of exact conditions but the
person who has seen this over a number of years is reliablee

Dave Jefferies
------------------------------
[email-masked]  (Home)
[email-masked] (Work)

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From: [email-masked] (mspear)
Date: 22 Jun 1996 14:26:10 -0400

> [email-masked]

Agaricus compost can include brewers grain.  Also, growers of the
common supermarket mushroom (Agricus bisporus) would be more likley to
be able to use the quantities you probably have.

Hm, don't some antibiotic fermenters use brewers grains?

    ---- Mark

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From: [email-masked] (Weasel Tracks)
Date: Sun, 23 Jun 1996 01:09:36 -0500

Arora describes Pl. ostreatus growing on waste coffee beans.

I once tried growing Lepista nuda on leaves. Got specimens on a trip to
California and brought them back to Vermont. Propagated a piece of flesh
on agar (beautiful pale violet mycelium). Made some grain spawn and
inoculated old, old maple leaves sterilized in jars. Got tired of waiting
for it to fruit and forgot about it. Months later I came across the jars
again and found misshapen fruitbodies.
   Anyone have suggestions on getting them to fruit in jars? in nonsterile
media?

   ---Weasel Tracks

-- 
Telling the truth when    | "Just a sucker for recursive logic."
   I say that I am lying, |
no one believes me.       | http://home.earthlink.net/~weaseltrax

--pseudohaiku by Vincent Grzybowski

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From: [email-masked] (Geoff Steckel)
Date: Sun, 23 Jun 1996 22:08:43 GMT

>   Anyone have suggestions on getting them to fruit in jars? in nonsterile

I prep'ed my substrate by piling hardwood leaves (mixed oak/maple)
on a slope at the edge of my property for several years.  One year
later I broke a locally acquired L./Clitocybe/whateveritisnow nuda
into chunks and dispersed it into the decayed leaves.  No further
care was done.

The next fall and for several falls thereafter, about at first frost,
I got a crop of Blewits.  (Boston, MA area).

Have you tried 'The Mushroom Cultivator'?  It has a section on Blewits.

	geoff steckel

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From: [email-masked] (John Gilles)
Date: Sun, 23 Jun 1996 22:55:12 GMT

I'm aware of some research at Sonoma State University on growing
shiitake mushrooms (Lentinus edodes) on grape skins discarded by
wineries after the crush. The pH would have to be adjusted because
grapes are far too acidic, but that's pretty easily done. There's a
huge oversupply of such "waste," so it would be nice to utilize it
rather than take it to the landfill. Good luck.