Nature's Kinshi

[Ratmosphere]

This morning I decided to start off the season by searching for insects. On my search nothing of importance was found beside huge trees of soft, foamy white rotting wood. I also remembered that I had a huge rotting wood pile that I put on a rock in November. When searching through it, I found something special. It looks to consist of a culture of kinshi (I think). When trying to make kinshi on my own, it always turns out in a disaster. Just goes to show that mother nature knows all the ways . Would I be able to use pieces of this substrate to contaminate an existing substrate that is healthy to produce kinshi?

[Shade of Eclipse]

You will not be able to use it to start kinshi because it isn't a clean source of mycelium. It's also not recommended to start a culture if you do not know what species of organism you're trying to grow unless you've taken precautions against raising a potential health hazard.

 

What you're seeing is mycelium at equilibrium with its competitors. If you place it into a nutrient-rich environment, other microorganisms that are present but unseen may be able to grow better and will likely outcompete the mycelium.

You can use the wood for rearing your larvae, you just have to treat it for any potentially harmful organisms that are present. You can easily introduce predators and parasitoids to your larvae if you are not careful.

[Ratmosphere]

Thanks man. I will have to keep trying other ways to produce it.