Triple Variety Tomato Graft Experiment

[Delerium]

Ella i wish i had sometime to graft tomatoes but ended up just starting plants from seed. For sure in the spring i will have grafted plants. I only have about 24 tomato plants for the fall garden and spotted a few tomatoes already. Need to start planting some Leafy greens, garlic, onions and finish up the fall garden. We have lots of mushroom projects outdoors (part of our composting/soil building process) for next years spring garden. Today we made 2 lions mane grows which is all the time we had for mush projects but we have so many great projects coming up (Heirloom Portabella, Shiitake, Black Poplar & many more). We did a small King Oyster grow and Jiana loved the taste of them so we made a big grow which is almost fully colonized (bottom grow is King Oyster - top smaller container is Reishi). Reishi Tea is also starting to become an everyday drink for us to keep us all healthy

1st pic - King Oyster Big Tote / Reishi smaller container.
2nd pic - Liquid culture of Portabella which i started from a spore print from one of my earlier grows. Gonna setup a portabella bed outdoors once i have made some grain spawn.

[efisakov]

I drink twice a year for 10 days chaga mushroom tea for my allergy. It helps. Will read more about Reishi. Thanks for sharing.
Nive looking colonies.

[Delerium]

Ella - Links to Reishi Mushroom / Health Benefits.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7CUhwY13s-M

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vm33bzTa8u4

[efisakov]

thank you

[Dutch]

Hi Delerium, thank you for all your posts here at Tomatoville! From the work on your new technique of side graphs, to your mushroom adventures, your posts have been fantastic. Thanks for posting such great pictures of your work and your darling daughter, who adds a special quality to them.Your latest posts about your mushroom grow outs has renewed my interest in them and below is a picture of my Lions Mane. Thank you again!
LionsMane.jpg
Dutch

[KC.Sun]

Delerium,

I'd say I have to agree with Dutch. I started gardening again to help facilitate recovery from invasive therapy/surgery.

Your thread here really helps stimulate my mind. I'll be experimenting with side and stacked grafts next year so I can grow 4 tomatoes per plant.

Your mycology adventures definitely made it to my must experiment list.

And to add on to it, your cute daughter definitely makes me smile.

I'm so happy I found this community!

Sylvia

[Delerium]

Thank you both. I enjoy posting our gardening/mushroom adventures on TV.

Dutch - your lionsmane grow looks great! How long did it take to colonize your LM block? I just made 2 kits a few days ago for a test run before I do a full size grow - similar to the King oyster grow in a 10-18 gal tub hehe. I cloned my LM culture from a dowel plug from Fairwest fungi. Looks like a great strain - will see how they turn out.

I got some new cultures I'm real excited to get started on - one of them being Paddy Straw mushrooms. They are soo tasty. We loved eating them when we were kids we would find them growing in piles of Rice straw back when we were growing up in Sri Lanka. The Culture I have now so far is running nicely on grains. If i can get them to fruit oh my - I'd be in heaven. One of my favorite mushrooms. Now with fall approaching - i have planted some Morel beds too. Keeping fingers crossed.

It's amazing how this all started with just simple cardboard cloning. Now i have over 200+ cultures in my refrigerator. The ones in the picture are the ones i plan grow soon for the fall. I've been saving spore prints then germinate the spores to create new lines just in case i need back up strains.

All i need now is to build myself a flow hood. Even without it - everything seems to work out just fine. It's just one of those things on the wish list.

[Dutch]

Hi Delerium, Thanks for the compliment on my Lions Mane. I wish I could say I built the block of LM, but I am still an amateur and just getting my feet wet. I bought the block from “Fungi Perfecti” (Paul Stamets’ outfit). I had to see what the fruits of my labors would be like before jumping in.

Pappy Straw mushrooms sound interesting and very well may have been in some of the local food I ate in the late sixties. I don’t recall seeing that listed as a side dish by themselves, but perhaps some places did.
200+ cultures in your refrigerator Wow! I tip my hat to you!

I’ve tried growing some grain spawn (cleaned and boiled bird seed), but have gotten black and/or green patches in the jars. I used Poly-Fil filters and pressure cooked at 17 lbs for an hour and a half. I will try double “Tyvek” filters on my next batch. Growing spawn I think is one of those things that if at first you don’t succeed, try and try again.I too would like to build a flow hood, but have settled on using a spare bedroom running a Hamilton Beach Hepa air cleaner filter with an internal UV light 24/7.
Thank you again Delerium!

Dutch

[Delerium]

It's been weeks in the 100's. But glad to see our fall tomato plants are setting fruit. Season 2 is just getting started. Also this past few days we were at the national heirloom expo and visited the Petaluma Seed Bank. That place is a gardeners disney land.

Thanks to Fred Hempel for the Orange Jazz tomato.. oh boy oh boy oh boy a new tomato for 2016.

[Delerium]

Some Fall Gardening Pics

[Zenbaas]

Any easy to understand DIY tomato grafting tips or videos anyone cares to recommend please

I haven't managed to read through the entire thread but I saw some references to diamatacious earth (DE) being used..? Where exactly does it factor into the grafting process?

[PhilaGardener]

Someone's been to the Expo! Glad it was so much fun!

[efisakov]

Delerium, thanks for the pictures. Expo looked like a great place to spent few dollars and lots of fun too. Jiana looked very happy.
What are you doing different this season?

[chancethegardener]

Hi Delerium,

I regularly look at your page. Enjoying your posts. You have a very impressive garden!

I have one question about the mushroom production: I have been experimenting with grain spawn. My spawn batches really look healthy all the way through the grain mass except on the surface. A black layer (not mold/I don't see a sign of contamination) forms on top.

I use a synthetic filter disc for the air exchange through the mason jars. I was wondering if you have any idea what the black layer is? Is it happening because of undesired CO2 levels? Have any idea how I can resolve this?

[Zenbaas]

Originally Posted by Zenbaas

Any easy to understand DIY tomato grafting tips or videos anyone cares to recommend please

I haven't managed to read through the entire thread but I saw some references to diamatacious earth (DE) being used..? Where exactly does it factor into the grafting process?

So nothing then.