PDA

View Full Version : Seeds and more seeds (and spore too)!



skid
13th February 2011, 08:36 PM
Well, I ordered all my garden seeds this weekend. Looking forward to working in the soil soon. I got most of my seeds from Stokes and West Coast seeds. Also got some mushrooms spore/dowels from Fungi Perfecti, as I want to grow some Shitake, Oyster and Reishi mushrooms. Super easy to do, just drill some holes in a fresh fallen log, hammer in the mushroom spore impregnated dowels and keep moist.

As usual I ordered far more vegetable seeds than I could ever use, but it won't hurt to have some extra. I will not grow large pumpkins/squash this year. My back still hurts from moving last year's around, and I still have quite a few left. I did get pelleted carrot seed so I won't have to do much thinning. I haven't ordered any yet, but may get some wheat seed as well. I have a spare 1/2 acre I could plant some wheat in.

I also ordered 24 pounds (many thousands) of assorted tree seeds. I'll have to pick up a few thousand 1 gallon containers and some potting mix to get going on that as well. I wish I didn't have/need a day job...

Glass
13th February 2011, 09:09 PM
cool. I've been harvesting lots of seeds from my tiny city garden. Some plants are prolific seed producers. Sounds like you have quite a bit of dirt there.

I also wish I didn't have a day job. I've been looking at plot with 1100 acres for a very cheap price but the catch is the council wants it kept bush and say only 10 acres can be cleared. I'm sure over time this could be fudged.

skid
13th February 2011, 09:30 PM
10 acres of intensive gardening/orchards/ is about all one person/family can handle. I'n not talking commercial mono farms or 1000acre wheat/ cornfields, but veggie gardens, orchards, and few livestock. At least that is my experience. A job kinda gets in the way too.

Glass
13th February 2011, 10:20 PM
10 acres of intensive gardening/orchards/ is about all one person/family can handle. I'n not talking commercial mono farms or 1000acre wheat/ cornfields, but veggie gardens, orchards, and few livestock. At least that is my experience. A job kinda gets in the way too.


Yes the land has it's pro's and con's. 10 acres is probably enough area for accomodation and an intense use type of growing setup. My ideal is for an aquaponics system. The pro's are that its all bush, it doesn't have a blacktop road just a graded access track and it's tucked away in a nice part of the world between a couple of national parks, very good rainfall and a few other things besides like being a long way from major towns or cities.

I'd be splitting it with a couple other people, 2 or maybe 3, who will have dependents. Probably have to support 10 - 12 people over all.

Cons are too far away for weekend trips, hassle with the councils thinking they can tell you what to do with your dirt. To make it work would probably need a major break from the current life to pursue the "plan". Still I think on balance it looks promising. Hope to get into that area and take a good look in the next few weeks.

SLV^GLD
14th February 2011, 10:55 AM
Also got some mushrooms spore/dowels from Fungi Perfecti, as I want to grow some shitake, Oyster and Reishi mushrooms. Super easy to do, just drill some holes in a fresh fallen log, hammer in the mushroom spore impregnated dowels and keep moist.
Congratulations on your foray into mycology. A few corrections from someone who has been growing shiitake on logs and in bags for over 10 years. 1stly, there are very likely no spores on your dowels. The culture you have purchased comes in the form of mycelium impregnated oak dowels. That said, you do not want to use fresh fallen logs. Also, the variety of wood will greatly effect colonization times and how well the bark is retained during soaking and fruiting. There are enzymes and fungicides present in live wood that serve to protect the tree from invaders like fungus. These enzymes must break down and deactivate over the course of about 2 weeks before you can inoculate the logs with dowels and be assured of rapid and complete colonization. Once inoculated you will likely want to cover the inoculation points with cheese wax (food grade) to prevent the dowels from drying out and to block competitor fungi at the site. Failing to do this will see several dowels shrivel and fall out over the course of colonization. Well barked oak and maple logs make some of the best woods to use. during colonization temperatures and humidity play a major role in the speed and success of the colonization. You would be best served to select logs that are straight and true and less than 8" in diameter but over 4" in diameter. This has a lot to do with getting the log colonized sometime before you die and also making sure you can actually move the logs, stack the logs and get the logs in and out of a soaking vessel. Soaking, yes, you probably want a vessel, either a trough or a large trash can in which you can submerge the logs for 24 hours. In this way you can control when the logs flush and maximize efficiency by getting prolific flushes instead of sporadic and minimal flushes. Strike the logs on the end sharply with a rubber mallet immediately prior to soaking. This provides a natural stimulus the fungi would receive in the wild where dying wood will fall and hit the earth.


The best and most concise and easily available resource on thsi topic is Growing Shiitake Commercially by Bob Harris. You can read the book in an afternoon and you will be glad you spent the 10FRN it takes to procure the book. Paul Stamets Growing Gourmet and Medicinal Mushrooms is a great reference as well but it is more spendy and much more dense. I've probably read that and The Mushroom Cultivator and Mycelium Running over a dozen times each and I still pick up new stuff every time.

Good luck and happy growing. what method do you intend to employ for propagating the Oyster (pleurotas) mushrooms? Are they on dowels as well? Pleurotas are much more aggressive and forgiving and the biggest concern with them is keeping them from parasitizing your general area (dead trees or rotten siding for example). they are rather easy to cultivate indoors or outdoors although the spore loads can make indoor cultivation a health hazard.

skid
14th February 2011, 07:50 PM
Well it sounded easy in the catalogue :D Yes all three mushroom types come as dowels, and you are correct that it is mycelium growing in the birch dowels. Supposedly you have to wait 9-12 months for the mushrooms to grow to harvest. The oyster mushrooms are the easiest to grow with the Reishi/Shitake being much more difficult.

I was planning on using red alder or bigleaf maple as the host for the dowels. I have plenty growing on my farm, and I cut fresh wood every year for firewood. I live in a fairly humid place (PNW), and the native fungi do really well here.

From the instructions in the catalogue they recommend recently cut or fallen trees cut into lenghts of 3-4 feet, with diameters no larger than 8 inches. They say they have a 10 page instruction booklet that comes with the dowels. I have a grapple loader on my tractor so handling logs is no issue. I also have a pond and river on my property so dunking the logs is no issue either. I was going to prepare an area in the shade to place the logs/rounds with easy access to water, but will wait for the detailed instructions before I do anything.

I was going to order all 5 of Paul Stamet's books (they have all 5 for $125 and Fungi Perfecti is his website), but haven't ordered them yet. I did buy the field guide to mushrooms in the PNW. What got me interested is I have wild Morels growing on my property and Chanterells growing up at higher elevations in the mountains near me.

SLV^GLD
15th February 2011, 05:28 AM
What got me interested is I have wild Morels growing on my property and Chanterells growing up at higher elevations in the mountains near me.
Lucky you! It sounds like you are pretty well geared up for your shiitake foray. When you get flush hit me up for some recipes.

Cobalt
25th February 2011, 07:44 PM
Well, I ordered all my garden seeds this weekend. Looking forward to working in the soil soon. I got most of my seeds from Stokes and West Coast seeds. Also got some mushrooms spore/dowels from Fungi Perfecti, as I want to grow some shitake, Oyster and Reishi mushrooms. Super easy to do, just drill some holes in a fresh fallen log, hammer in the mushroom spore impregnated dowels and keep moist.

As usual I ordered far more vegetable seeds than I could ever use, but it won't hurt to have some extra. I will not grow large pumpkins/squash this year. My back still hurts from moving last year's around, and I still have quite a few left. I did get pelleted carrot seed so I won't have to do much thinning. I haven't ordered any yet, but may get some wheat seed as well. I have a spare 1/2 acre I could plant some wheat in.

I also ordered 24 pounds (many thousands) of assorted tree seeds. I'll have to pick up a few thousand 1 gallon containers and some potting mix to get going on that as well. I wish I didn't have/need a day job...


What I do to deal with those tiny carrot seed is I don't plant single rows, I make a row about 16" wide, smooth the soil and pat it down with my hand then I lightly sprinkle the seed, pat it down again and then I have a small hand held shaker box about 20" square with small wire screen (hardware cloth), I fill it with soil and shake it over the seed to get a nice even coating then pat it down again.
It makes it a lot easier to thin since they are spaced out more even to begin with.

skid
25th February 2011, 08:34 PM
Good idea. Building on that , I was thinking with a 16" wide row one could use a salt shaker (with holes sized for carrot seed) and sprinkle it evenly over the seed bed. It might take a bit of trial and error with the size and amount of holes in the shaker, but that could work too.

skid
25th February 2011, 08:42 PM
I received all my seeds already, and today I picked up 2500 lbs of fertilizer (1/2 organic) for my gardens and orchard. I've got around 25 tons of aged composted manure as well. I also purchased a 20 x 100 greenhouse as well, that I will pick up tomorrow. Now if only the temperature warms up and the snow melts I can get to work! :P

Mouse
26th February 2011, 01:50 AM
Looks like you are going to be busy. I wish I had that kind of budget for building the future. Congrats and let us know how it goes......pics with the greenhouse :)

skid
26th February 2011, 10:00 AM
Thanks Mouse. The only way I can get away with spending all that money is to tell my wife I might make a profit some day. ;D That plus it keeps me out of trouble and she likes it better than my previous past time (racing/restoring cars).

muffin
28th February 2011, 06:38 AM
Thanks Mouse. The only way I can get away with spending all that money is to tell my wife I might make a profit some day. ;D That plus it keeps me out of trouble and she likes it better than my previous past time (racing/restoring cars).

Well, you sound just like Mouse ;) I too wish we had the resources to build a garden like that. The mushrooms would be awesome! Can't wait to see the pics....

gunDriller
11th March 2011, 06:01 AM
speaking of spores, there is company called "Mychorrhizal Technologies" in Oregon that has experimented with various strains of Mychorrhizae fungus (one of the beneficial organisms that help deliver nutrients to plant roots) and CLAIMS to have isolated super-strains that boost growth, etc.

i just planted about 50 cedar, fir, and pine trees, so i have a good way to test the claim. you deliver the Mychorrhizae by mixing with water and watering.

per gram, it's very expensive.

SLV^GLD
11th March 2011, 06:07 AM
Weren't they the guys that sold saplings with truffle treated rootballs? 10yr turnaround on a truffle orchard for roughly $15K and an acre or two. I almost did it then move to the city.

skid
11th March 2011, 07:40 PM
speaking of spores, there is company called "Mychorrhizal Technologies" in Oregon that has experimented with various strains of Mychorrhizae fungus (one of the beneficial organisms that help deliver nutrients to plant roots) and CLAIMS to have isolated super-strains that boost growth, etc.

i just planted about 50 cedar, fir, and pine trees, so i have a good way to test the claim. you deliver the Mychorrhizae by mixing with water and watering.

per gram, it's very expensive.


My neighbor is a big time biodynamic farmer/lecturer. He recently gave me a quart of his "preparations". They mix up various natural substances and bury them in cow horns in the earth for a period and then dig them up. The preparations can be diluted with water and mixed with the soil, or used to break down compost/manure. Supposedly it contains fungi and beneficial bacteria. He sells his produce in the farmers market so it must work well, plus he does get top dollar for his produce.

In regards to your pine trees, I've read that digging up the soil around existing pines and mixing a tiny bit in the soil around the trees that you are planting is extremely beneficial.

PatColo
29th October 2014, 04:44 PM
an offbeat post from Jim Stone,


October 29 2014
Ordinary store bought popcorn does grow when planted

http://jimstonefreelance.com/popcorn1.jpg http://jimstonefreelance.com/popcorn2.jpg http://jimstonefreelance.com/popcorn3.jpg

Jim Stone, October 29 2014
Permalink (http://jimstonefreelance.com/ordinarypopcorngrows.html)

To dispel any doubt I had that ordinary popcorn bought at the store would grow if planted as seed, I planted 8 kernels of popcorn to see what would happen. The germination rate was 100 percent (one seed somehow got uncovered and laid on the surface and did not germinate because of that, so I am not including that in the germination average). This confirms that ordinary store bought popcorn is indeed a good source of corn seed, and though popcorn may not be as nice to have as ordinary sweet corn during harvest, it stores perfect and can be used throughout the year.

I am going to let these grow until they produce corn to see how it turns out. Most likely the undesirable traits of popcorn will be less pronounced because popcorn is grown from hybrids, and the resultant seed from growing popcorn is not likely to have the traits of the original seed. Pop corn is NOT GMO, this is one area that Monsanto did not delve into.


Since it grows when planted, I strongly suggest people have a few bags of this to plant, because when you consider the cost difference between this and corn seed that is marketed as corn seed, and this corn which actually is also seed if it will grow, it amounts to a no-brainer choice - you can plant a small field with a bag of popcorn that costs 99 cents, how much would it cost to do that from corn that is marketed as seed? This is too cheap an opportunity for seed storage for people to skip.


Other seeds

Pumpkin seeds are easy to get and are also very valuable. There should be plenty to be had this time of year, and you should definitely have those. Even though we think of pumpkins as ornaments, when it comes down to food and survival pumpkins are actually quite good. Ditto for squash, especially acorn squash. Pumpkins and squash are super easy to grow, and far better than cucumbers and many other garden foods for survival because they have higher energy content and produce protein rich seeds.

You can get enough tomato seed for an entire garden from one rotten tomato, do not overlook that option either. Tomato seeds should be pre planted in tiny containers and then transplanted for best results.


By far, however, Corn is the most valuable crop you could possibly plant, and now a proven source of super cheap corn seed is available anywhere.

mick silver
30th November 2014, 10:14 AM
http://www.fungi.com/catalog-request-confirmation.html

Glass
1st December 2014, 12:18 AM
I have had talks with people about retaining fruit seeds and so on. We are told from a very long time ago now, that all food is irradiated and as a result the seeds won't grow. I've proven this to be wrong again and again and I tell people, the reason you are told this is so that you won't grow your own tasty fresh food.

I like pop corn. Might have to grab me some for deep storage. I actually have a bit of preps I need to dispose off. Well past use by now.