GROWING GOURMET - Anto2ni.it

GROWTH PARAMETERS 405
thousands per cubic foot whereas the scierotia of theYellow Morels are comparatively few in number.
The differences between these two groups of Morels are soon seen after the clones or spores are put
into culture.
Although Ron Ower (1986) was the first to note that Morels arise from sclerotia, the first to propose
a complete Morel life cycle was Thomas Yolk (1990), a rendition of which follows. Not fully
illustrated in this life cycle is the asexual phase wherein sterile cells are borne on short hyphal
branches, similar to oidia. An abundance of these asexual spores forms a powdery mildew, and has
been called Costa ntinella cristata Matr. (Costantin (1936)).
The Development of Indoor Morel Cultivation
All attempts at controlled, indoor Morel cultivation failed, until Ron Ower succeeded in 1982. By
his own admission, the discovery of Morel cultivation was more by accident than design. And, Ron
Ower told me that his experiences growing Psilocybe mushrooms combined with an "accident in the
laboratory" led to success. (He revealed he had used the casing formula outlined in my first book,
Psilocybe Mushrooms & theirAllies (Stamets (1978)) as the sclerotia-forming formula.) Under pressure
from venture capitalists, Ron Ower applied for and was awarded two patents, along with G. Mills
Figure 361. Six day sequence of the growth of Morchella angusticeps (Stamets strain # M-11). Note rapid rate
of growth and the formation of "micro-sclerotia". This strain looses the ability to form micro-selerotia when
propagated more than 5 petri dishes from the original culture. Downstream inoculations into all bulk substrates
are similarly affected.
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