check out a site called "Fungi Perfecti." I have their catalogue somewhere, I'll try to dig it out and get back to you. There are other sites as well, try a Google search.

I have had chanterelles and morels, and they are both excellent to eat! i'd like to try the others.

I'm planning to buy a mushroom kit and it's the kind that comes in a box of soil and there are like really small mushrooms starting to grow inside. Is is possible to inplant something else with them? Such as other vegetable plants like radishes? or turnips? I've heard that mycorhiza is very beneficial for plants with mushrooms growing close by. Just in case, here's the site I'm planning to purchase the mushroom kit from one of these sites, PLEASE HELP ME CHOOSE!!!: Portabella mushroom kit
Dense White Mushroom
Oyster mushroom
White button mushroom

Thank you so very much for look at this post!!! This project means a lot to me! (as I love mushrooms
Thank you all very, very much!
R.N.

Ruishi...I would go back to the Fungi Perfecti site. The founder of that company, Paul Stamets, is probaboy the foremost autohority on mushrooms and mushroom culture in North America, if not the world. His company has developed numerous techniques that others haven't mastered yet. The word is that the company is VERY client friendly. I popped over there the other day after posting the name and saw several species specifically designed to go right into the garden. As for trying to grow some companion right in the kit that you might be considering, I would avoid doing that. Mushrooms require very specific ph and other factors, plus you wouldn't want to add soil to a depth that would allow vegetables to root. The mushroom kits that are grown indoors have "spawn," the mycorhizal "roots" of the mushroom (actually the main body of the organism...the above ground mushroom is the spore bearing fruiting portion of the organism,) permeating the growing media to the extent that it is a solid mass, capped by a thin layer of soil that stimulates fruiting. You can't just dig into this substrata or media without damaging the organism(s). Check back to the site for Fungi Perfecti, even call them and tell them what you want to do,and I think they will be able to customize a plan to suit your needs. If time is of the essence, then maybe there is a way to set the entire clump of spawn into a larger container with soil around the outer portion, but you'd have to be sure you weren't upsetting the balance of things.
Weezie...I know a lot about mushrooms, but my growing experience is limited to 2 types of mushrooms. A friend and I grew regular mushrooms years ago from spores we ordered. It is a difficult, or at least involved, process. You germinate spores in a petri dish, transfer the "spawn" to grain media, and transfer that to a straw media, sterilizing everything along the way. It's fun and rewarding, but time consuming.
Since then a friend gave me some logs he had placed shiitake mushroom spawn in, and the mushrooms fruited a few times a year for 2 years. I recently bought spawn plugs to put in some logs for a type called oyster mushrooms, but I have yet to get that done. It's an easy process, you just drill holes all over hardwood logs and put the spawn plugs you purchase into the holes, then sit back and wait.
There is a really intriguing product I'm going to get, it's chain saw oil infused with spores. You just use it in your chainsaw while you're cutting wood and the spores get worked into the pores of the wood.
Mainly I am a mushroom gatherer, but I plan to get into extensive growing one day, at least for my own eating.
Ruishi...I recall that there were at least 2 types that thrive in the garden, one type of oyster and one called shaggy mane. Both would be good companions to vegetable crops, but I am not a fan of the shaggy mane for eating. It's kind of watery and a little bland, and must be used immediately or they deteriorate. Like I say, see what information you can get from Fungi Perfecti...I'm convinced they are the pinnacle of knowledge in this area. Plus, they make take an interest in the fact that you'e a student, and give you special attention.

I watched a show on Victory Gardens once
about the log growing and drilling holes, etc...
I just thought it very cool...
*I have a ton of wild ones'/varieties growing
all around my house, and had a lady and her dad
here from Poland.. and they knew what every kind
was.. and was very well versed on which one's to eat since birth or walking I should say..

But growing them would be soooooo cool....
*not that I have the extra time to do so...*

The boys and I love to go around looking at them,
they're just so neat to look at...

* * * *
Weezie

Don't forget to be kind to strangers. For some who have
done this have entertained angels without realizing it.
- Bible - Hebrews 13:2





http://photobucket.com/albums/y250/weezie13/

The only thing that ever seriously kept me
from growing mushrooms, especially that way,
is the amount of "wild" mushrooms we have around my house...
White ones, yellow one's, orange and red one's..
Brown one's, tall one's, flat and round one's...
and I don't think, if I was to work up to eating one, that they wouldn't cross pollenate with
the wild one's and poision me...

* * * *
Weezie

Don't forget to be kind to strangers. For some who have
done this have entertained angels without realizing it.
- Bible - Hebrews 13:2





http://photobucket.com/albums/y250/weezie13/

Ruishi...so sorry about the flies or whatever. It sounds like they weren't very careful with their product at some point...I'm wondering if the peat moss is packaged somewhere else, and included in the kit at the time of packing and shipping. I'd definitely complain to the company, but go ahead and follow instructions closely and see what happens. I'd say the kit should be alright, but bugs in it shows that they weren't as cautious as they should have been about contamination. I don't know anything about the company, but since the media was dense white, it sounds like so far, so good.

Ruishi,

quote:

---

Oh, yeah! Um...weezie,
From what I know,
mushrooms don't cross-pollinate
they have chemical barriers that prevent that.
so ...
i don't know
but I would consider trying one

---

I did not know that!!!!
Honestly...
Very cool info, if it is for a fact...
I may very well try it some time..

* * * *
Weezie

Don't forget to be kind to strangers. For some who have
done this have entertained angels without realizing it.
- Bible - Hebrews 13:2





http://photobucket.com/albums/y250/weezie13/

Ok...I turned in my project and yes! I got a 100!!! Although...i tried harvesting my mushrooms (I got rid of the flies by drowning the entire box...pretty effective! >-^) the flies had alread eaten into my largest muchroom which was like...6 centimeters across in diameters...^-^ WAH! Oh well... I "complained" to the company/peoples I got my mushrooms from and they apologized and sent me a button mushroom kit (the type of mushrooms you eat on pizza...Yum!)which is worth about the same as the dense white kit I bought...and my mum has given it to her friend who is a really good gardener (handy with lots of botanics) and really good with carpentry...
I got to go now...
and THANKS SOOO MUCH TO ALL OF YOU FOR HELPING ME~~~!!!

R.N.

Absolutly Ruishi, ditto on every thing Terry said..
That is GREAT NEWS!!!
*And Thank~You for letting us know..
I've always said, that is half the fun of doing
any of this, is the great feed back..
We love it!!

Ditto on the gardening and carpentary, can't have too many skills...
*besides, when you garden, you can build yourself alot of realllllly neat stuff for the garden projects...
Thanks again, sooooooooo appreciate it..
*and thank you mom too!!*

* * * *
Weezie

Don't forget to be kind to strangers. For some who have
done this have entertained angels without realizing it.
- Bible - Hebrews 13:2





http://photobucket.com/albums/y250/weezie13/

Greenthumb Newbee,
That place looooooks great..
The mushrooms are so nice looking...
*I only like one kind, but had some
interesting other one's to look at..*

* * * *
Weezie

Don't forget to be kind to strangers. For some who have
done this have entertained angels without realizing it.
- Bible - Hebrews 13:2





http://photobucket.com/albums/y250/weezie13/

Greenthumb...actually there are poisonous puffballs, including one called the Poison Puffball...there are, however, no poisonous giant puffballs.

* * * *

Dave
Even my growlights are getting restless!