In the recent months there has been a buzz in the
online mushroom community about the use of popcorn as a grain spawn.
It was mentioned briefly in the past year or so but it was
unknowingly overlooked by the masses. It has been said that a
Swedish guy who runs a mushroom community over in Europe was using
popcorn with great results. One member of the OMC, ran some pretty
conclusive tests with popcorn and so I decided to try it myself. I
like to make up a clean process when I embark so I decided to draft
up this tek but I do not claim it as my own. I just thought it would
make a nice contribution to the cultivation archives here at the
Shroomery.
Thanks to many on the forums I have put together what I feel is a
direct method of using popcorn as a very easy and fast colonizing
grain spawn. The one major advantage of popcorn over say rye berries
is that it shakes up easier and it seems to pop less kernels when
cooked. The grain is very nutritious and should support large
flushes when cased with 50/50 or the better yet coco coir
casings.
The supplies you will need are:
- Couple gallons of cheap spring water.
- Any sized jars you prefer but quarts are recommended.
- Strainer
- Pressure Cooker is a must!
A good thing to use for your jars would be polyfill filters. Anno
has a good site with info on this at www.fungifun.com/polyfill/.
This would greatly reduce the chances of contams and allow good air
exchange for rapid growth.
Popcorn Spawn Formula
- Take the amount of grains you desire to fill your jars around
2/3 full. Remember that the grains will expand, so it will take a
tad less to reach that goal.
- Pour the grains in a large pot and then pour in the cheap
spring water till the grains are well covered with around an 1/2
inch of water.
- Cover the pot and let soak for 24 hours.
- After the 24 hours, make sure there is still plenty of water,
if not add some more. More water is better than not enough in this
case. Now you want to bring the water to a low boil on the stove
and then let simmer for 1 hour.
- Next pour the water and grains through a strainer and let the
grains drip drain for half an hour. Important! Do not skip
or fall short on the drain, its a must or you may end up with way
too wet popcorn and contaminants.
- Now load your jars around 2/3 and place in your pressure
cooker. Cook at 15 p.s.i. for 70 mins.
- Allow to cool and then inoculate with syringe or whatever is
your preferred method.
- Shake the grains every 4 or 5 days till they are fully
colonized.
One guy used a coco coir casing mixed with some vermiculite and
the results were amazing. The popcorn colonizes very rapidly and is
very easy to shake. Hope this helps, I know I am filing this in my
archive.
Threads in the forums:
http://www.shroomery.org/forums/showflat.php?fpart=all&Board=Pictures&Number=1055081&fpart=all
http://www.shroomery.org/forums/showflat.php?fpart=all&Board=Forum4&Number=1152356&fpart=all
Drafted by Alien on Jan 11 2003
Comments on this article:
Posted by: 2685
2003-01-16
08:20:43
nice work, a few pix would be great, you can use mine if you
like.
Posted by: hazeblaze
2003-03-06
11:28:26
I have a few quick questions...1st) I'm looking for a good bulk
substrate method & this popcorn grain method sounds very
effecient for colonization...if you were to do casings, would you
transfer the colonized grains the sames as a pf cake during casing?
2nd) when the jars are filled 2/3 with the grains should there be
any excess water in the jars? 3rd) is there any special way to
transfer the colonized grain to a casing or corn cob slurry without
risking contamination?
P.S.
This will be my 1st time
trying the corn cob slurry method...have you tried it & if so is
it effective?
