(Rendered image above is a hand-drawn representation of this mushroom. Some mushrooms were processed or too aged before images could be obtained, and other mushrooms were found when we did not have access to a usable camera.)
Fairy Ring Mushrooms (Marasmius Oreades) that are dried in a carefully controlled environment to preserve the viability of the spawn. Instructions to extract spores are included. (Kit includes a metal tin of dried spawn, and instructions for creating the appropriate substrate and for growing indoors or in the lawn. ) Brookhaven Fields strain.
Fairy Ring Mushroom is a good edible mushroom that grows in lawns and light mulch. As the mushroom mycellium consumes the nutrients in the soil, it dies in the center and grows outward in a ring. It WILL change the way the lawn looks, but is worth it for the choice mushrooms that you get in exchange. The center of the fairy ring will have poorer soil, due to the mushroom's use of nutrients. The solution to this is to apply a scattering of good finished compost, or well-aged manure across the center of the ring, and rake it lightly into the grass so that it works down between the grass blades. Within a week or two, the grass will be covering the compost and greening up again, and your mushrooms will likely grow inward again, increasing your harvest. Just feed them, and they'll grow and produce food for you.
This dried mushroom spawn is special. Not only will it provide spores to sow, but this mushroom will actually revive! Marasmius Oreades is one of a handful of "resurrection mushrooms" which can survive total dehydration, and will revive with the addition of water. You can place the roots of this mushroom in water, and it will revive within a few hours. Once you have done that, you can either extract the spores, or you can blend the mushroom with water and sow the mycellium and spore slurry anywhere you want the mushrooms to grow.
This mushroom can be naturalized into mowed lawns, or it may be grown on compost which has a layer of dried grass clippings on top, either in containment or out doors. Avoid the use of pesticides or herbicides where you are growing mushrooms, they will absorb it and you'll end up with it in your food. It fruits through warmer months, and into the fall.
May be used to culture into grain to create spawn, or can be direct sown into your lawn.
Each order of dried spawning mushroom contains enough to create two batches of active spores, which may be cultured and expanded, and then sown into the desired substrates.
Dried Spawn is EASY to use! Just reconstitute in water, and either finely chop or use a blender, and pour the resulting spore and mushroom mixture over your substrate or onto the ground where they need to be sown.
Packaged in metal tins for longest storage and viability. We do not use plastic in handling this product (plastic leaches chlorides, which are fungicidal in effect), and our products are not exposed to chlorine or other harmful chemicals during growth, processing, or handling on our property. You may be assured of the highest quality and maximum growth potential.
NOTE: Dried spawning mushrooms must be selected and handled correctly to produce viable spores. They must also be used correctly to extract spores, and then to culture the spores into the receiving medium. Our proprietary methods ensure viable spores, and we give you instructions for culturing them in a non-sterile environment. (If cultured improperly in a non-sterile environment, things go terribly wrong.) You are not only paying for the mushroom spores, you are paying for our expertise in both the processes we carry out before you see the product, and the instructions we give you for using the spawning mushroom.
Cross contaminations DO occur with non-sterile mushroom spawn (they seem to occur with alarming frequency with supposed sterile spawn as well!). In general, these contaminations are harmless, they may produce other non-edible, or other edible mushrooms, but for the most part, the mushroom you paid for will outnumber the contaminations by many times, and will not establish ahead of the desired mushroom.
Additionally, when using non-sterile methods to culture in natural materials, prior colonizations of unwanted fungus may occur, resulting in the fruiting of unexpected, random mushroom types. This is not at all a disaster, and normally does not cause problems. These mushrooms will typically be inedible, and may be ignored - in our experience, the cultured mushroom still establishes well and will produce well in spite of the interlopers! The chance that a poisonous look-alike would grow instead is virtually non-existent - because dangerous look-alikes don't grow in the same environment as visually similar edible species.
We do advise that you KNOW YOUR MUSHROOM - and that you know what it looks like, so you correctly identify anything coming up. This is wise in every instance, because even when you are using "sterile" kits or materials, rogue mushrooms may grow.
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