Enhanced fungal substrate and carrier

• US 20070294939A1
• Filed: 06/22/2006
• Published: 12/27/2007
• Est. Priority Date: 06/22/2006
• Status: Abandoned Application

• Current Assignee: Sylvan America, Inc. (Snyder Associated Cos., Inc.)
• Original Assignee: Sylvan America, Inc. (Snyder Associated Cos., Inc.)
• Inventors: Spear, Mark C., Atwood, Bruce
• Application Number:
  US11/472,595
• Publication Number:
  US 20070294939A1
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 47/1.1
• CPC Class Codes: A01G 18/20 Culture media, e.g. compost
• CPC Class Codes: A01G 18/40 Cultivation of spawn
• CPC Class Codes: A01G 18/50 Inoculation of spawn
• CPC Class Codes: C05F 11/04 Horticultural earth from peat growth substrates containing peat A01G24/28
• CPC Class Codes: C05F 5/002 Solid waste from mechanical processing of material, e.g. seed coats, olive pits, almond shells, fruit residue, rice hulls
• CPC Class Codes: Y02A 40/20 Fertilizers of biological origin, e.g. guano or fertilizers made from animal corpses
• CPC Class Codes: Y02P 20/145 the feedstock being materials of biological origin

Abstract

A composition and method for the formulation of ingredients for a medium for growing fungi and the like. The invention provides for a formulation of a growing medium including oat hulls for the cultivating of mushroom mycelium.

Claims

1. A growing medium to improve the growth of mushrooms or other fungi comprising:

an effective amount of oat hulls.

2. The growing medium of claim 1, wherein the oat hulls are in the range of 1-55% of the total weight of the growing medium.

3. The growing medium of claim 2, wherein the oat hulls are in the range of 15-20% of the total weight of the growing medium.

4. The growing medium of claim 1, further comprising a non-nutritive particulate material.

5. The growing medium of claim 4 wherein, the non-nutritive particulate material comprises at least one non-nutritive particulate material selected from the group consisting of vermiculite, peat moss, and coir fiber.

6. The growing medium of claim 1, further comprising a nitrogenous nutrient.

7. The growing medium of claim 6, wherein the nitrogenous nutrient comprises at least one nitrogenous nutrient selected from the group consisting of wheat bran, oat bran, rice bran and soy powder.

8. The growing medium of claim 1, further comprising a calcium salt.

9. The growing medium of claim 8, wherein the calcium salt comprises at least one calcium salt selected from the group consisting of calcium carbonate and calcium sulfate.

10. The growing medium of claim 1, further comprising water.

11. The growing medium of claim 1, further comprising a non-nutritive particulate material;

a nitrogenous nutrient;

a calcium salt; and

water.

12. A method of growing mushrooms or other fungi, comprising the steps of:

providing a nutritive layer;

providing a growing medium comprising an effective amount of oat hulls; and

inoculating the growing medium with mushroom mycelium to form a substrate spawn;

adding the substrate spawn to the nutritive layer; and

incubating the composition to produce mushrooms.

13. The method of claim 12, further comprising the step of adding a casing layer including a casing spawn formed from a growing medium comprising an effective amount of oat hulls.

15. The method of claim 12, further comprising the use of the invention as the primary nutritive medium for the production of mushrooms.

14. A growing medium that promotes rapid colonization of a mushroom crop by shortening spawn run duration by at least 15%.