Basic Home Cultivation of Saprotrophic Fungi, March 6

Illinois Mycological Association Presents

Basic Home Cultivation of Saprotrophic Fungi
Presented by Lukasz Oldak



Monday, March 6, 2017 @ 7:30 pm

Niles Historical Society
8970 Milwaukee Avenue
Niles, IL 60714


Lukasz Oldak will talk about his experience with cultivation: making a culture; spawn and substrate preparation; and fruiting mushrooms. Saprotrophic mushrooms eat dead organic material and some are suitable for home cultivation. Lukasz will outline techniques for growing these mushrooms. Steps include making a liquid culture, making cultures from mushroom fruit bodies or from spore prints, making spawn and preparing substrates such as rye grain or straw, what containers to use, and how to induce fruiting. He will also recommend sources for information.

Lukasz Oldak had his interest sparked in mycology after watching Paul Stamets’ TED Talk on “Six Ways Mushrooms Can Save The World.” He started cultivating about five years ago by taking cultures from store bought oyster mushrooms and growing them on spent coffee grounds. The first couple years of cultivation were mostly trial and error with techniques that are prevalent on various forums and videos. After purchasing Paul Stamets’ books his cultivation techniques became more advanced. Currently, cultivation is simply a hobby but Lukasz hopes with time it can become a greater part of his life.

A note on our location:
Niles Historical Center is about a tenth of a mile Southeast from the Golf-Mill Shopping center. The former sheriff’s office has parking adjacent to the building. The meeting room is on the third floor and is accessible by elevator as well as a large staircase. Restrooms are available on first and third floors. A museum volunteer will open the building for us Monday evening. For public transport from the city, take the Blue Line to the Jefferson Park CTA Station, from there it is 20 minutes on the PACE #270 bus to Milwaukee and Elizabeth. The museum is open to the public Mondays, Wednesdays, and Fridays from 10:30 AM to 3:00 PM.

http://www.illinoismyco.org/?event=2017 ... 2017-03-06