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Price: $12.50
Our King Trumpet is a first-generation Pleurotus eryngii isolate, the largest oyster species and the only one grown for its stem. It forms thick, dense white stems topped with small tan caps, and a well-grown fruit can top two pounds.
Thick white stems with a scallop-like texture. Sliced into rounds and seared, it's the most convincing meat substitute you can grow.
Single fruits can pass two pounds. Most home grows land in the quarter- to half-pound range, still far bigger than any other oyster.
It fruits at 55–69°F, so it pairs with Pink and Golden Oyster as the fall and winter strain.
Let the syringe reach room temperature, then shake it gently to break up and spread the mycelium through the broth.
Flame the needle until it glows, let it cool a few seconds, and wipe the injection port with the included alcohol pad.
Use 2–3cc per quart jar or 3–5cc per 3–5 lb grain bag. One 10cc syringe inoculates about 2–4 containers.
Keep it at 68–72°F in the dark. Shake once at about 30% colonization to speed things up.
Airflow makes or breaks it: King Trumpet is more CO2-sensitive than any other oyster. Give it more fresh air than you would Blue or Pearl, or you'll get tall, pale stems with tiny caps.
From our lab to your grainRun it into jars with wide-mouth cultivation lids or your own lids with self-healing injection ports. Spare 16G needles and sterile Luer Lock syringes are sold separately.
Use 2–3cc per quart grain jar and 3–5cc per 3–5 lb spawn bag. One 10cc King Trumpet syringe inoculates roughly two to four containers. Using more doesn't speed colonization much; it just uses up the syringe.
About 12 days at 68–72°F. Fruiting is slower and less predictable than other oysters, anywhere from 18 to 44 days after conditions start.
Supplemented hardwood sawdust or Master's Mix gives the thickest, heaviest stems. Straw works, but the extra nutrition in a supplemented block is where the size comes from.
Carbon dioxide. In stale air the stems stretch while the caps stall. Increase fresh air exchange well beyond what you'd use for other oysters and the fruits come in short, thick and heavy.
Refrigerate it at 35–45°F in the bag it shipped in and never freeze it; freezing ruptures the cells and kills the culture. Bring it to room temperature and shake gently before you inject.
Liquid culture is living mycelium from an isolated culture, so it skips germination, colonizes days faster and gives genetically consistent fruits. Spores have to germinate and pair up first, which is slower and more variable from grow to grow.
Liquid culture is living mycelium, so every syringe leaves our lab in a foil-lined insulated mailer. The insulation buffers it against summer heat in a delivery truck and against sub-freezing winter temperatures, so it arrives viable either way.
When it arrives: refrigerate the syringe at 35–45°F until you're ready to inoculate. Never freeze it. Bring it to room temperature and shake gently before use.
I continue to purchase my liquid cultures from Midwest. The selection is great, the shipping and prices are affordable…the customer service is terrific too.