How to Train Fungi

Train mushrooms to eat different wood types

When it comes to growing mushrooms, there’s many different materials that can be used as a food source. In this post I cover a way to train your fungi to eat a specific wood type and isolate it so it is forced to adapt to the new substrate.

There is a term called “leap off”. That is the process of fungal tissues adjusting to a new food source. Mycelium eats by digesting organic matter with enzymes that break down the molecular structure of the material and channels those smaller units throughout the network. We go through the same process with our saliva (amylase) but we also use mechanical means to break down our food even further by chewing. The fungi can’t chew, but they can produce many different enzymes depending on the material they are trying to use as a food source

Some of the enzymes that the fungi produce are laccases, lignin peroxidase, and cellulases. These enzymes are what begin the degradation process of dense organic matter and eventually turn into soil.

Below are the steps for a low tech isolation method that I came up with. This is only an experiment and stands as proof of concept.

What you’ll need:

• Container with a lid

• Tweezers

• Isopropyl alcohol 70%+

• Cardboard

• Wood shavings, the smaller the better

• Fresh mycelium

1) Wet the cardboard so it is damp, not dripping wet. Place a few pieces to cover the bottom of the container.

2) Next, place a layer of some fresh mycelium on the cardboard. In this example, I used mycelium that tends to crawl up the side of filter patch bags if you over incubate them. You can use spent substrate as well.

3) Next lay down a layer of wood shavings. In this example I used fresh Ligustrum shavings.

4) Lastly, lay down another layer of cardboard on top of the wood shavings.

5) Place the lid on the container. There needs to be some air exchange so either place the lid on without securing it, or poke a few holes in the lid if you don’t mind.

6) Place in a dark location and let it incubate.

What’s going to happen is the mycelium is going to recover and begin growing into the cardboard. It will grow to the other side and begin to start growing on the wood shavings. Allow the container to sit for 2 weeks or so.

Stay Real,

Louis San Miguel

I picked out the pieces of mycelialed wood shavings and placed them in a glass petrii dish that I wiped down with alcohol. sealed with parafilm. Place it back into incubation for another week.

At this point the mycelium has only one food source; the wood shavings. The mycelium will begin to familiarize itself with the new substrate and produce the enzymes it needs to break it down. I would allow it to grow on the shavings for another week. You can add some more shavings to see if the mycelium leaps off as well.

From here you can transfer pieces to an agar plate to grow out and isolate a clean sector of growth to be use for a full spawn run.

Have fun with this method of isolation and find ways to improve it.