STEMing with Fungi Part 2 – Do try this at home!

Earlier in the year I wrote an article in our newsletter about the importance of fungi as ecosystems engineers and their plethora of applications in various industries. Today I want to talk about my iso experimentation with fungi in my own kitchen and observing and recording their fascinating growth.

I purchased the Pink Oyster (Pleurotus djamor) ready to grow mushroom kit from Aussie Mushroom Supplies and set up my growing station with the mushroom box siting on an upside down container in a tray of water. This increases humidity in the air and promotes successful growth. I kept a spray bottle with filtered water handy and sprayed the mushrooms three times a day. In as little as 24 hours, small mushroom pins started appearing and in 5 days they were ready to harvest. The video below shows a time-lapse footage of their magical growth.

To get this footage we set up the camera (Canon EOS 5D Mark II) on a tripod, with a halogen work light on another tripod to keep the area illuminated 24/7. Over three days, 428 images were taken with a 100 mm macro lens, on a full manual setting at 8/5 sec. shutter speed, f22 aperture and ISO 100. We used an in-built intervalometer (software installed on the camera) to take an image every 15 seconds. We needed to replace the battery every 7-8 hours. The images were processed in DaVinci Resolve software available for free online and Hot Swing by Kevin MacLeod (CC BY 3.0) music from Wikimedia Commons was added to enhance the viewing experience. Do try this at home! And my-goodness, they are delicious!