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After a long wait, I got my end of a reddit trade. Two vials of "black pearl" oyster mushroom spawn. It's a Japanese hybrid between European and Asian P. ostreatus varieties, which supposedly has a lot of the qualities of king oysters, though it's not a true P. eryngii.

It's been over 90F here for a few days and they were pretty warm inside the envelope, so hopefully they haven't baked to death. I put a single grain on agar, emptied the rest of the vial into a jar of sterilized oats, and stashed the remaining vial in the fridge. Keeping my fingers crossed. If this is viable it brings my culture count up to 19. I may have to wait until fall to get a good crop of these, though. I believe they prefer cooler temps.

#mushrooms #fungi