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RE: The Amateur Mycologist #30 - Cordyceps capitata - A Detailed Analysis Of The Strangest Mushroom I've Yet Found

in #steemstem6 years ago

You mentioned morels. I hear that culinary treasure is impossible to grow indoors, (unlike oyster or psilocybe).
Any idea what the missing variable is that limits its indoor cultivability?

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Yes - Morels are mycorrhizal, meaning they live in a kind of mutually beneficial relationship with certain species of trees, whereas oysters or some psilocybes are purely saprobic. The saprobuc mushrooms often take to cultivation because they simply require the correct dead organic growth medium.

Mycorrhizal mushrooms require the presence and nutritional additions derived from specific trees. Without the trees, they cannot grow. This creates an obvious dilemma for the morel grower :)

However, people still try - by literally innoculating the roots of a tree with the spore mass of morels. But this seems to have limited functionality and is totally, humorously unscalable.