The process of sectoring cultures takes time, especially if you’re doing a big stack of dishes all at once, but it’s really not complicated. To start, you need to collect a spore print from your mushroom by placing it gill or pore side down on a piece of clean paper, glass, or aluminum foil, covering it, and leaving it overnight.
Of course, the Wooly Neptune isn’t a real mushroom, however, I figured it would be amusing to find an actual mushroom that it resembles or a couple that could be merged together to create something similar.
There were fears about higher contamination rates with liquid culture, but over several months of trialing it, we have discovered that the processes and tools available have lowered that risk considerably; enough that we feel confident adding it to our store.
Fitting to its name, the Lilac Oysterling starts off a light purple color, which morphs into more of a light brown as it grows. Close growing gills start out either purple or white, but also become brown as the Panus Conchatus ages.
Doing something wrong twenty, or even a hundred, times before finally getting it right, brings a robust sense of accomplishment, one possibly surpassing that which you would’ve felt if you had gotten it perfect on the first try. This perseverance is essential when it comes to running your own business.
As you scan the ground, you spot several more of these beings, a couple still coiled inside the white egg-like sac in which they grow. Others are mid-process of ripping through the membrane, stretching out with their newfound freedom.