What
L3
I have been debating whether to share this or to keep it to myself and maybe share it later on after "perfecting" it...but I have decided to share it for others to experiment further with this. Here is my method for producing "kinshi jars" or my spin on what I understand the concept to be. I have past experience with growing edible mushrooms, that will help greatly if you have it. So far I have only seen major results from two of the three jars I have grubs in, the final photo is of my largest Lucanus mazama grub' jar, it is 2x-3x as large as its next largest sibling from the same group of eggs.
Materials list:
- water
- rubbing alcohol
- sugar/sugar syrup/etc
- fresh mushrooms or spore prints (fresh oyster mushrooms are my choice, shiitakes should give spores easily though)
- your choice of substrates
- canning jars (smaller for the culture and larger for substrate is my method)
- 5cc or larger syringes help but you could probably get by with eyedroppers if you dont have access to syringes
- a piece of glass or rock large enough to rattle around but small enough to not be a danger to your jar
- a paper plate
- some paper towels
- an x-acto knife or razor blade
- a lighter
First we need to start liquid cultures of whatever form of fungi we want to culture. This is done by preparing a sugar solution in sterilized water and growing mycelium in it - that might sound hard but I promise, its not. You can follow the slightly paranoid instructions over here at this site for...well you can figure it out...or you can follow my quick and less paranoid steps below.
The liquid culture:
1. Take a nail to the lid and poke a hole near the rubber rim but not too close. The jars I used had 4 holes already in them but you only need one for this. Optional: seal the holes with silicone so you dont have to plug them yourself when agitating before inoculating your substrate. Use cotton to plug one hole and cover any remaining with tape.
2. Clean your jar well with a paper towel and some rubbing alcohol, fill it with water and refer to the link above for the sugar ratio, for most jars you will probably be fine with 1-2 teaspoons for our purposes. Add your rock or glass agitator at this point also. Now you want to boil the water in the microwave (or in your pressure cooker, but I am not that paranoid). Place the lid on top of the jar and this cool in your microwave. Now is a good time for you to prepare the jars you will be inoculating with substrate after the liquid culture is able to be harvested from or just do something else.
3. Now that the liquid has cooled and has been protected from contamination by your keeping the lid on we move to the somewhat tricky part of the process. Find a place with little/no airflow for this as we do not want to introduce things to our sterile water or our tissue pieces/spores. If you have problems you can setup a "glove box" by cutting two holes in a clear plastic bin and misting the interior with a rubbing alcohol solution to knock down any airborn contaminants.
4. In your place with no airflow wet a paper towel with your rubbing alcohol and clean your hands, the exterior of the jar full of sugar water, your paper plate, and the handle of your knife - I use a paper towel for each but you can get away with one or two. At this point we also want to sterilize the x-acto knife blade or razor blade, wipe down the blade with the paper towels mentioned before and then dip the blade into some of the alcohol. After ensuring you will not light yourself on fire apply the lighter's flame to the blade and burn off the remaining alcohol. If using mushrooms see step 5, spores 6.
5. Take a new paper towel and perform the above cleaning on the cap of your mushroom. Then with your sterilized blade cut into the cap of the mushroom and remove a wedge/piece of the cap large enough for you to work on. Cut 2-4 pieces from the newly exposed flesh and with your knife blade move them to your sterile sugar water solution. Screw on the metal ring that holds the lid in place and set your culture in a dark warm place. If you did things right you should see growth within a couple days(stringy/hazy filaments in the solution), the more sugar the more mycelium you will grow. Your results should be something like the top jar in the photo below.
6. If working from a spore print simply scrape your spore print into your sterile sugar water, replace the lid, and screw the ring down to hold the lid on. Place in warm dark place and you should see growth within 3-4 days. Your results should be something like the bottom jar in the photo below.
For both if you do not see any growth within a week or if you see anything green(mold contamination) - discard and try again.
The substrate:
1. I use layers of more typical "fermented" substrate base and wood pulp but jars of just substrate base work just as well. Colonization after inoculation will take longer though.
2. Sterilizing this is highly recommended (but generally not an absolute requirement), your microwave may work but sometimes substrate likes to explode. If you do not sterilize your substrate inoculating immediately is usually your best bet. Sterilized jars of substrate appear to have 4-6 month shelf life though.
3. I have not experimented with it but I would not be surprised at all if materials not typically used as substrate might result in similar results to more "naturalistic" substrates when used in this manner.
4. Plastic containers would almost certainly be easier, I just dont have them and had the jars.
(top jars sterilized but not inoculated, bottom jars 5 days after inoculation)
Bringing it all together:
1. When you have a good amount of growth in your liquid culture it is now time to inoculate your substrate. This is the point at which your glass/rock agitator gets its use, plug the holes in your container and start shaking gently to break up the mycelium into tiny easy to suck up pieces.
2. With whatever you have for sucking up your liquid, do so and begin inoculatitng your jars. 1cc per half pint jar is likely enough, but I have been using one 5cc syringe per jar.
3. Place your newly inoculated jars in a warm dark place and let them colonize.
4. Mycelium should be visible along the glass and depending upon the temperatures full colonization will probably take 1-2 weeks.
5. Your liquid culture can serve as a "mother" for many more cultures and jars simply perform the steps above again using your liquid culture as the source of fungal material.
My house has been pretty cold lately, and I dont bother to heat my bug room so this jar isnt fully colonized, but the mycelium grow back in areas that the grub has fed previously. Very neat.
Copyright of above text and images is held by What. This work may not be reposted without consent or reproduced without attribution.
Materials list:
- water
- rubbing alcohol
- sugar/sugar syrup/etc
- fresh mushrooms or spore prints (fresh oyster mushrooms are my choice, shiitakes should give spores easily though)
- your choice of substrates
- canning jars (smaller for the culture and larger for substrate is my method)
- 5cc or larger syringes help but you could probably get by with eyedroppers if you dont have access to syringes
- a piece of glass or rock large enough to rattle around but small enough to not be a danger to your jar
- a paper plate
- some paper towels
- an x-acto knife or razor blade
- a lighter
First we need to start liquid cultures of whatever form of fungi we want to culture. This is done by preparing a sugar solution in sterilized water and growing mycelium in it - that might sound hard but I promise, its not. You can follow the slightly paranoid instructions over here at this site for...well you can figure it out...or you can follow my quick and less paranoid steps below.
The liquid culture:
1. Take a nail to the lid and poke a hole near the rubber rim but not too close. The jars I used had 4 holes already in them but you only need one for this. Optional: seal the holes with silicone so you dont have to plug them yourself when agitating before inoculating your substrate. Use cotton to plug one hole and cover any remaining with tape.
2. Clean your jar well with a paper towel and some rubbing alcohol, fill it with water and refer to the link above for the sugar ratio, for most jars you will probably be fine with 1-2 teaspoons for our purposes. Add your rock or glass agitator at this point also. Now you want to boil the water in the microwave (or in your pressure cooker, but I am not that paranoid). Place the lid on top of the jar and this cool in your microwave. Now is a good time for you to prepare the jars you will be inoculating with substrate after the liquid culture is able to be harvested from or just do something else.
3. Now that the liquid has cooled and has been protected from contamination by your keeping the lid on we move to the somewhat tricky part of the process. Find a place with little/no airflow for this as we do not want to introduce things to our sterile water or our tissue pieces/spores. If you have problems you can setup a "glove box" by cutting two holes in a clear plastic bin and misting the interior with a rubbing alcohol solution to knock down any airborn contaminants.
4. In your place with no airflow wet a paper towel with your rubbing alcohol and clean your hands, the exterior of the jar full of sugar water, your paper plate, and the handle of your knife - I use a paper towel for each but you can get away with one or two. At this point we also want to sterilize the x-acto knife blade or razor blade, wipe down the blade with the paper towels mentioned before and then dip the blade into some of the alcohol. After ensuring you will not light yourself on fire apply the lighter's flame to the blade and burn off the remaining alcohol. If using mushrooms see step 5, spores 6.
5. Take a new paper towel and perform the above cleaning on the cap of your mushroom. Then with your sterilized blade cut into the cap of the mushroom and remove a wedge/piece of the cap large enough for you to work on. Cut 2-4 pieces from the newly exposed flesh and with your knife blade move them to your sterile sugar water solution. Screw on the metal ring that holds the lid in place and set your culture in a dark warm place. If you did things right you should see growth within a couple days(stringy/hazy filaments in the solution), the more sugar the more mycelium you will grow. Your results should be something like the top jar in the photo below.
6. If working from a spore print simply scrape your spore print into your sterile sugar water, replace the lid, and screw the ring down to hold the lid on. Place in warm dark place and you should see growth within 3-4 days. Your results should be something like the bottom jar in the photo below.
For both if you do not see any growth within a week or if you see anything green(mold contamination) - discard and try again.
The substrate:
1. I use layers of more typical "fermented" substrate base and wood pulp but jars of just substrate base work just as well. Colonization after inoculation will take longer though.
2. Sterilizing this is highly recommended (but generally not an absolute requirement), your microwave may work but sometimes substrate likes to explode. If you do not sterilize your substrate inoculating immediately is usually your best bet. Sterilized jars of substrate appear to have 4-6 month shelf life though.
3. I have not experimented with it but I would not be surprised at all if materials not typically used as substrate might result in similar results to more "naturalistic" substrates when used in this manner.
4. Plastic containers would almost certainly be easier, I just dont have them and had the jars.
(top jars sterilized but not inoculated, bottom jars 5 days after inoculation)
Bringing it all together:
1. When you have a good amount of growth in your liquid culture it is now time to inoculate your substrate. This is the point at which your glass/rock agitator gets its use, plug the holes in your container and start shaking gently to break up the mycelium into tiny easy to suck up pieces.
2. With whatever you have for sucking up your liquid, do so and begin inoculatitng your jars. 1cc per half pint jar is likely enough, but I have been using one 5cc syringe per jar.
3. Place your newly inoculated jars in a warm dark place and let them colonize.
4. Mycelium should be visible along the glass and depending upon the temperatures full colonization will probably take 1-2 weeks.
5. Your liquid culture can serve as a "mother" for many more cultures and jars simply perform the steps above again using your liquid culture as the source of fungal material.
My house has been pretty cold lately, and I dont bother to heat my bug room so this jar isnt fully colonized, but the mycelium grow back in areas that the grub has fed previously. Very neat.
Copyright of above text and images is held by What. This work may not be reposted without consent or reproduced without attribution.
