GROWING GOURMET - Anto2ni.it

duce odors which humans can recognize elsewhere
in our life experiences. Some
mushrooms smell like radishes, some like apricots,
and even some like bubble gum! Is there
any significance to these odors? Or is it just a
fluke of nature?
The Event of Volunteer
Primordia on Nutrified
Agar Media
The voluntary and spontaneous formation of
miniature mushrooms in a petri dish is a delightful
experience for all cultivators. In this
chapter, attention and insights are given for
many species. By no means is this knowledge
static. Every cultivator contributes to the body
of knowledge each time a mushroom is cultured
and studied.
The cultivator plays an active role in developing
strains by physically selecting those
which look "good". Integral to the success of
the Mushroom Life Cycle is the mycelial path
leading to primordia formation. To this end, the
mushroom and the cultivator share common
interests.The occurrence of primordia not only
is a welcome affirmation of the strain's identity
but is also indicative of its readiness to fruit.
Hence, I tend to favor strains which voluntarily
form primordia.
Two approaches lead to primordia formation
from cultured mycelium. The first is to devise
a standard media, a background against which
all strains and species can be compared. After
performance standards are ascertained, the second
approach is to alter the media, specifically
* 1/20 of a gram of gentamycin sulfate per liter of media sufficiently
inhibits bacteria to a containable level.
THE STOCK CULTURE LIBRARY 115
improving and designing its composition for
the species selected. As a group, those strains
needing bacteria to fruit do not form primordia
on sterile media.
Several mushroom species have mycelial
networks which, when they are disturbed at primordia
formation, result in a quantum leap in
the vigor of growth and in the number of subsequently
forming primordia. With most strains
however, the damaged primordia revert to vegetative
growth.The following list of species are
those that produce volunteer primordia on 2%
enriched malt extract agar, supplemented with
.2% yeast and .005% gentamycin sulfate. *The
formation of primordia on this medium is often
strain specific. Those species in bold
lettering are known by this author to benefit
from the timely disturbance of primordia.
Those which do benefit from disturbance are
excellent candidates for liquid inoculation techniques.
Agrocybe aegerita
Flammulina velutipes
Ganoderma lucidum
Hericium erinaceus
Hypsizygus tessulatus
Hypsizygus ulmarius
Lentinula edodes
Pholiota nameko
Pleurotus citrinopileatus
Pleurotus djamor complex
Pleurotus euosmus
Pleurotus ostreatus
Pleurotus djamor
Pleurotus pulmonarius
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