Mycology TEK Reference Page

Mycology, particularly in the context of cultivating mushrooms, has a variety of techniques (or “TEKs“) that have been developed by enthusiasts over the years. These techniques vary based on substrate type, sterilization method, inoculation process, and fruiting conditions. Here’s a broad overview of some of the most popular TEKs, grouped by category:

SUBSTRATES
INOCULATIONS
FRUITING
SPECIALTY TEK

Choose Your Substrate(s):

BROWN RICE FLOUR (BRF):

BRF is known for its simplicity and efficacy. It offers an ideal environment for budding mycelium & has shaped countless Patron "Success Stories", acting as a bridge between novices & the mysteries of mycology.

POPCORN:

A versatile grain, popcorn's resilient nature makes it suitable for both beginner and seasoned mycologists. Its unique texture creates spaces that allow mycelium to breathe and thrive, while its natural resistance to contaminants.

MILLET:

Boasting a fine, consistent grain size, millet offers an excellent surface area for mycelial growth. Its nutrient-rich profile provides sustenance to burgeoning fungi, while its availability and affordability make it a top choice for many cultivators.

WHEAT:

Wheat grains present an inviting canvas for mycelium. Its balanced nutrient profile is conducive to steady mycelial progression. With a history intertwined with human civilization, wheat resonates with both ancestral and mycological significance.

RYE:

Celebrated for its water retention properties, rye grains offer a moist sanctuary for mycelium. Its neutral pH and nutritional value make it a favored choice for cultivators seeking optimal fungal growth and strong, healthy fruiting bodies.

WILD BIRD SEED (WBS):

A mosaic of grains, the Wild Bird Seeds mix offers diversity, mimicking the multifaceted environment of nature. This assortment provides varied nutrients, ensuring a holistic growth platform for a range of mycelial species.

WOOD CHIPS:

Emanating the very essence of forest floors, wood chips offer an organic, natural substrate. Ideal for wood-loving fungi, these chips recreate their natural habitat, allowing species to grow in conditions echoing their wild counterparts.

STRAW:

High in cellulose and easy to work with, straw offers a network of fibrous tunnels perfect for mycelium to weave through. Straw, being airy and lightweight, it’s especially suited for bulk substrate preparations.

HARDWOOD PELLETS:

Hardwood pellets are the essence of woody substrate condensed into convenient pellets. Upon hydration, they expand, providing a rich base especially favored by wood-decomposing fungi, marrying convenience with nature.

LOGS:

Reaching back to ancestral practices, logs and totems offer a timeless method for cultivation. Perfect for long-term projects, they create a living sculpture, allowing fungi to grow, fruit, and replenish, reflecting the cycles of nature itself.

MANURE:

Earthy and enriched, manure is the culmination of nature's recycling process. For dung-loving species, it provides essential nutrients, mirroring the organic, cyclical process of life, decomposition, and regrowth prevalent in wild environments.

CARDBOARD:

An unexpected ally, cardboard, rich in cellulose, becomes a haven for certain fungi. Its layered structure offers pathways for mycelium, turning waste into wonder. This method emphasizes sustainability and the adaptive nature of fungi.

COFFEE GROUNDS:

A fragrant remnant of daily rituals, used coffee grounds offer an amazing nutrient-rich substrate for mycelium. While slightly acidic, with proper balancing, they can act as an abundant, recycled resource, symbolizing the fusion of urban life with nature's rhythm.

EGG SUBSTRATE:

This innovative TEK is tailored for simplicity & effectiveness, utilizing everyday ingredients to optimize fungal growth. At its core, the TEK blends whole eggs with malt, yeast, & water, providing a nutrient-rich environment for fungi, particularly Cordyceps.

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Inoculation Method:

Grain to Grain (G2G):

This method involves transferring mycelium from a fully colonized grain jar to fresh, sterile grain jars. G2G is an efficient way to expand one's mycelium stock, making the most of a successful culture. It accelerates colonization times, but cleanliness is crucial to prevent contamination.

Agar to Grain:

Working with agar plates allows for sectoring and isolation of strong, rhizomorphic mycelium. Once a desired strain is isolated, it's transferred to grain jars. This method offers precision, allowing cultivators to select the best genetic expressions for fruiting.

PF TEK (Brown Rice Flour):

An outstanding entry-level method, the PF TEK utilizes brown rice flour and vermiculite as a substrate. After sterilization, the mixture is inoculated with spore syringes. It's favored for its simplicity and is often the first stop for budding mycologists.

Direct Spore Syringe to Grain:

Using a multiple spore syringe (MSS) directly on sterilized grain jars is a risky age-old method. It bypasses the agar stage, making it straightforward. It's a game of genetic lottery, as the spores dictate the genetic expressions of the mycelium and the resulting fruits.

Spore Print to Agar:

Directly using spore prints on agar plates allows for germination and growth of mycelium. By using this method, cultivators can witness the complete life cycle, from spore to mycelium, ensuring genuine genetic expressions while also allowing for isolation of strains.

Grain to Bulk Substrate:

This method is post grain colonization, the mycelium can be spawned to bulk substrates like coco coir, straw, or manure. This upscales production, proving beneficial for larger yields. The marriage of grain to substrate is pivotal for sizable fruiting endeavors.

Liquid Culture to Grain:

Liquid Cultures (LC) consist of mycelium suspended in a nutrient-rich solution. Once the LC is populated, it's drawn into syringes and used to inoculate grain jars. This method boasts rapid colonization and offers a way to stretch a small sample into numerous batches.

LC to Agar:

Liquid Culture to Agar combines the benefits of both mediums. By streaking or dropping LC onto agar plates, cultivators can observe growth patterns, test the viability of the culture, and even isolate specific strains. It's a bridge between liquid and solid cultivation worlds.

Grain Layering:

This method promotes rapid colonization. By layering colonized grain with fresh grain in a container, one can create multiple strata of growth. Each layer serves as an inoculation point for the above layer, making the colonization process swift and uniform.

Master Slurry Culture:

A slurry is essentially a blend of mycelium, water, and occasionally, small bits of substrate. Master slurry culture allows for long-term storage and rapid inoculation. With a syringe, you can transfer the slurry to numerous substrates, making it an exponential cultivation tool.

Centrifuge Tubes:

Used primarily in advanced mycological studies, centrifuge tubes allow for separation of mycelium from LC or other substances by using centrifugal force. It's a method to purify and concentrate mycelium, paving the way for precise inoculations and experimental procedures.

Spore Mass Slurry:

Using a dedicated blender in sterile conditions, spore prints are mixed with sterile water to create a spore mass slurry. This slurry is then used to inoculate substrates. It's an aggressive method that offers rapid colonization due to the sheer volume of spores introduced.

Oat to Oat Transfer:

Similar to Grain to Grain (G2G), this technique specifically employs oats. Fully colonized oat jars serve as donors to fresh oat jars. The method is favored by our Patrons because its extremely cost-efficient, as oats are often more affordable than other grains.

Manure Slurry:

For species that thrive in dung-based substrates, a manure slurry provides an enriched medium. Combining water, mycelium, and manure, this slurry can be injected into bulk substrates, granting fungi a nutrient-rich environment that echoes their natural habitat.

Wild Clone to Agar:

Directly from nature, a piece of mushroom tissue can be transferred to agar. This wild clone method captures the genetics of wild specimens. It's a way to bring the wilderness indoors, offering a firsthand study of a mushroom's pure, unaltered genetic expression.

Cardboard Layering:

Capitalizing on the cellulose in cardboard, this method involves layering mycelium-infused cardboard with more cardboard, creating a sandwich. It's a sustainable technique, especially efficient for wood-loving species, tapping into recycling and cultivation.

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This is a Living Page and will be updated frequently with the most up-to-date TEK methods. Please check back occasionally!

Bulk Substrate and Fruiting TEKs:

POD-TEK:

Utilizing perlite and a small container, the POD-TEK offers a self-sustaining environment with humidity control. It's an excellent choice for beginners as it's cost-effective and easy to set up, making cultivation more accessible.

TMN RECOMMENDED!

Monotub TEK:

Popular among cultivators, a monotub combines substrate and spawn in a large container with holes for fresh air exchange. It's an all-in-one fruiting chamber and cultivation box that often requires minimal maintenance.

Dub Tub TEK:

Another popular chamber is a double-tub method where one tub sits inside another. The design creates a micro-environment that maintains humidity while allowing for fresh air exchange, ideal for mushroom fruiting.

Shotgun Fruiting Chamber (SGFC):

A popular choice for PF TEK, the SGFC employs a plastic tub with holes drilled uniformly, filled with damp perlite. It’s simplistic, yet efficient in maintaining humidity and allowing air exchange.

Shoebox TEK:

This employs small clear plastic containers, acting as mini-monotubs. They're perfect for small-scale cultivations or experiments, providing a controlled environment for fruiting.

Greenhouse Fruiting Chamber:

Mimicking commercial setups, this involves shelving units within a plastic-covered frame. It's scalable and ideal for cultivators transitioning from hobbyist to commercial production.

Straw Log TEK:

Straw logs are cylinders packed with straw and mycelium. Once colonized, they're hung or placed upright for fruiting. It's a popular method for larger-scale cultivation of species like Oyster mushrooms.

Wood Log TEK:

Suitable for Shiitake and other wood-lovers, logs are inoculated with mycelium and left to colonize. They fruit naturally, often for several years, and are perfect for a woodland or garden setup.

Deep Litter TEK:

For wood-loving species, a deep litter of hardwood chips and mycelium is spread over a plot, covered with a thin soil layer. It's an outdoor method, often yielding multiple harvests over seasons.

Bucket TEK:

A fusion of simplicity and efficiency. Layers of substrate and spawn are added to a bucket. Once colonized, fruiting initiates. Ideal for Oyster mushrooms, using substrates like straw or coffee grounds.

Martha TEK:

Inspired by the greenhouse setup, this TEK uses a freestanding wardrobe with clear plastic sheets. Equipped with humidifiers & fans, it allows for a larger scale & modular cultivation in a controlled environment.

Slurry TEK:

This involves liquid mycelium suspensions. Mushrooms are blended with sterile water, creating a slurry. It's then used to inoculate substrates, ensuring rapid colonization due to the wide mycelium distribution.

Lazy Mofo Bag TEK:

For those wanting minimal fuss, this TEK uses large, filter-patch bags filled with a substrate of choice. They're sterilized, inoculated, and left to colonize. Once ready, the bag is opened or sliced to initiate fruiting.

Zombie Tub TEK:

A variation of the monotub, this TEK uses a liner, reducing side and bottom pinning. As mycelium consumes the substrate, the liner shrinks with it, preventing unwanted moisture pockets and optimizing fruiting conditions.

Horse Poo (HP) TEK:

Horse manure or HP, due to its fibrous content, is an excellent substrate for many gourmet and medicinal mushrooms. The HP TEK prepares and pasteurizes the manure to create a nutrient-rich substrate for increased yields.

Bottle TEK:

Popular in Asia, especially for Oyster mushrooms. Sterilized substrate is packed into bottles, inoculated, and left to colonize. Once ready, caps are removed, and fruiting begins, with mushrooms growing out the bottle's mouth.

Manure Tray TEK:

Building on the Horse Poo (HP) TEK, the Manure Tray TEK involves pasteurized horse or cow manure filled into trays, inoculated, and then fruited. The tray format offers scalability and easy maintenance.

More Coming Soon!

This is a Living Page and will be updated frequently with the most up-to-date TEK methods. Please check back occasionally!

Specialty & Advanced TEKs:

PF (Psilocybe Fanaticus Technique) TEK:

PF (Psilocybe Fanaticus Technique) TEK is named after its creator, this method uses BRF jars (as mentioned above) inoculated with spore syringes and then incubated until fully colonized.

Master Slurry Culture TEK:

A slurry is essentially a blend of mycelium, water, and occasionally, small bits of substrate. It allows for long-term storage and rapid inoculation. With a syringe, you can transfer the CMS to numerous media.

Clone TEK:

Using sterile tissue samples typically from the inside portion of a desired mushroom to cultivate identical genetics on agar or directly on grain. This will then cause the same mushroom genetics to be replicated.

Grain Liquid Inoculation (GLI) TEK:

Taking the best of grain and liquid cultures, GLI involves blending colonized grain with water, creating an inoculant. This method facilitates rapid colonization of substrates due to its distribution of mycelial fragments.

Dial-a-Flow TEK:

Using a custom-built tub setup with adjustable poly tubing outlets, Patrons can dial in their fresh air exchange (FAE), controlling growth parameters more precisely for optimized development.

Sectoring TEK:

For mycologists aiming at isolating specific genetic traits, this method involves selecting and transferring mycelial sectors on agar to isolate and stabilize desired mushroom characteristics.

Black Pearl King Oyster TEK:

An advanced method focusing on cultivating the Black Pearl King Oyster variant. It explores tailored growth parameters, substrates, and conditions to yield large, dense, and meaty mushrooms.

Centrifuge Tube Culturing:

Harnessing laboratory equipment, this technique involves using centrifuge tubes to separate mycelium from contaminants or to concentrate spore solutions. It's an intricate way to achieve purity in cultures.

Aerial Mycelium Isolation:

By stimulating mycelium to grow aerially, specific genetic traits can be observed and isolated. This advanced TEK is useful for in-depth genetic exploration and phenotype selection.
This is a Living Page and will be updated frequently with the most up-to-date TEK methods. Please check back occasionally!
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