Vital Fungi

24/09/2022

Come join us for an a foraging session at the Congaree National Park. We will meet at the picnic tables at 10:30 and depart to forage at 11. Afterwards we will set up an ID table and test our 🍄 knowledge! Event shirts by .tv

23/06/2022

While it is undeniably astounding that the mycelium of this mushroom was found to be able to survive exclusively on polyurethane in anaerobic conditions, unfortunately, it is probably not the cure for our plastic illness. The true antidote lies in a combination of manufacturing, legislation, and consumption.

However, Pestalotiopsis Microspora could potentially play a key role in remediating the embarrassing amount of existing plastic waste on the earth. I’m stoked to begin working with this one!

24/05/2022

*SALE: Mental Health Awareness Month* 🧠 ❤️

✨ All Lion’s Mane and Reishi tinctures will be 25% off through the end of May! ✨

All extracts are grown or foraged locally by Vital Fungi and produced from 100% fruiting bodies. They will NEVER contain grains or fillers.

📚 Research on the effects of Lion’s Mane indicate that it has significant neurogenesis potential, including the prevention and repair of nerve damage, it also may be protective against dementia, reduce mild symptoms of anxiety and depression, and improve overall cognitive function.

📚 Recent studies also support Reishi mushrooms ability to mitigate fatigue, anxiety, and depression.

1oz bottles - normally $15, now $11.25

DM to order!

05/04/2022

One of the many unique perks of spending all your money on mycology supplies is getting to consume your wine from beakers and Erlenmeyer flasks while you sauté up a mushroom feast! Cheers 🍷 👨‍🔬

09/10/2021

We are set up farmers market until 1pm today with dual extracted tinctures and fresh Lion’s Mane, Shiitake, and Blue Oysters if you’re looking for a little immune support or to kick the weekend dinners up a notch!

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06/10/2021

Anyone interested in growing your own mushrooms from wood logs?

These Shiitake primordia are showing their appreciation of the fall by pushing through the wax cap of these Oak logs, it’s preferred substrate. With this method Shiitakes can be grown prolifically in many climates year round. It is an easy, low cost process that will produce mushrooms for years to come.

22/09/2021

A massive Black-Staining Polypore, Meripilus Sumstinei, was brought to me under suspicion of being one of its two more delicious and sought after lookalikes, Chicken of the Woods and Hen of the Woods. It is saprobic to hardwoods and grows in rosettes on the ground and at the base of trees. As it’s common name suggests one of the easiest ways to distinguish this mushroom from its aforementioned lookalikes is to cut or bruise the flesh to reveal a dark brown or black staining effect. While M. Sumstinei is edible when it’s young, it gets quite tough as it ages and should be avoided unless you also find gnawing on a nice piece of leather enjoyable. And if so, Buen provecho!

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14/08/2021

We are setup farmers market today from 9-1pm with fresh Lion’s Mane, Pink Oyster, Chestnut, and health supporting dual extracted tinctures. Come get your freshies and extracts and bring your Myco-quandaries!

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28/07/2021

We will be setup today with fresh and dried gourmet mushrooms and their extracts , located at 171 County Road S-40-54
Blythewood, SC 29016. Come talk shop and get your freshies for the week!

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23/07/2021

Big thanks to everyone who came out and supported us last week! We will be setup again tomorrow 7/24 with fresh Lion’s Mane, Velvet Pioppino, Chestnut, and Golden Chanterelle. We will also have dual extracted tinctures and dried mushrooms. Come say hi and don’t be shy with questions or conversations about the wildly diverse and intricate world of fungi!

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16/07/2021

We will be set up at the Soda City Market tomorrow 7/17 from 9-1pm with fresh and dried gourmet mushrooms, medicinal extracts, and merchandise for all your fungal needs! The first three people to mention this post will receive a special gift!! 🎁

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16/07/2021

05/07/2021

Thanks to for gifting me these stunning specimens of Gold Reishi, Ganoderma Curtisii. This photo has no filters or enhancements at all, it’s just slightly damp Reishi taken on an iPhone 7 and glowing like a pot of leprechaun’s gold in the sunlight! These vibrant yellows and brick reds are accented by this mushrooms varnished sheen. These shining colors combined with its slow fruiting cycle allow mushrooms in the genus Ganoderma to be great candidates for mushroom bonsai art by skilled cultivators.

Used for over 4,000 years in Traditional Chinese Medicine, this mushroom is corky and bitter and is used almost exclusively for its well documented medicinal properties. Ganodermas host an exhaustive range of bioactive compounds that have been studied for their anti-allergenic, anti-canceral, anti-diabetic, anti-inflammatory, anti-viral, anti-bacterial, anti-fungal, immunomodulating, and more recently for hepatoprotective effects on various liver maladies.

I wasn’t able to clone this one last year, but practice makes the master, so this year these beauties and I will do the dance!

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14/05/2021

In mushroom cultivation, biological efficiency is a simple formula used to measure a mushroom strains ability to convert its substrate materials in to fresh mushrooms. It is a ratio between the weight of fresh mushrooms produced from a given amount of dry substrate material. The formula states that 1 lb of fresh mushrooms produced from 1 lb of dry substrate equals 100% biological efficiency.

In Growing Gourmet and Medicinal Mushrooms, American mycologist Paul Stamets states that it is possible to achieve biological efficiencies of up to 250% from vigorous strains of certain species, but good growers should be consistently operating between 75-125%.

Here, I’m holding a two pound White Elm grown from 725 grams of the masters mix, a substrate recipe consisting of equal parts hardwood sawdust and soy hulls. So it could be said that this specimen of White Elm has a biological efficiency of 125% on the masters mix, suggesting that this strain is highly productive on that recipe.

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09/05/2021

I really love the sprawling, pale clusters of the White Elm as it reaches maturity. This mushroom, now understood to be in the genus Hypsizygus, was originally misclassified as a Pleurotus(oyster) mushroom due to morphological similarities. The ones in this video are at the ideal stage for harvest. Contact me if interested!

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08/04/2021

Thor the mushroom bagger is finally settled in to his new home at the Vital Fungi headquarters where he intends to spend the rest of his days happily chewing up substrate pellets and spitting them in to bags to feed our fungal friends. He has replaced my closet and wardrobe, because who needs clothes right?!

17/02/2021

25/01/2021

Had an absolutely fantastic time this weekend with and , two of my new favorite people! Big thanks to Chef Palak for her culinary wizardry and for teaching us how to properly cook our mushrooms. Look for her blog and interview of our urban mushroom farm

18/01/2021

Big thanks to my friend and fellow mycophile Nathaniel Deas for the new logo design! Check out his inspired creations and show him some love at www.bourbonsundayart.com

13/01/2021

Blue and Pink Oyster mushrooms just prior to harvest.

31/12/2020

Harvesting Lions Mane today! I believe this one is clone worthy. Since this is such a healthy specimen I will perform a tissue culture by transplanting a piece of the mushroom fruit body to nutrified agar to maintain its genetic lineage. 🦁 🍄

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19/12/2020

Just assembled and ran the inaugural batch of masters mix blocks in my new 85-gallon steel drum sterilizer. It’s a clean machine! The design is by and manufacturing by . Thanks to both for great communication and customer service!

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09/12/2020

Here I’m working with selective media formulas for wild strain isolation. I poured water agar and V9 agar(potato flakes and V8) and then transferred local, wild cloned Almond Agaricus to both formulas for propagation. Eventually, I will grow as many species as possible from local, wild harvested genetics. ❤️ 🧬

03/12/2020

Lab day!! 🍄 🧪 🧫 Transferring Lions Mane and Maitake from malt extract agar plates to liquid culture media. Genetics are from Paul Stamet’s Definitely the most agressive I’ve worked with to date. 🙏🏻 💪 🧬

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28/11/2020

I never get tired of watching Pink Oyster mushrooms grow. It’s taxonomic binomial is Pleurotus Djamor, the mushroom of love. A tropical species that makes a great bacon substitute due to its meaty texture.

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22/11/2020

The Dukester picking some fresh Pink Oyster mushrooms grown from recycled organic sawdust 🍽 🍄

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09/11/2020

Wood log mushroom bed. Here I used Water Oak logs as a natural barrier around wheat straw that I inoculated with Pink Oyster grain spawn. The water oak logs were fresh which allowed the pink oyster spawn to colonize the logs as well. Alternatively, you could begin by inoculating the border logs with a different species like Reishi or Shiitake.

21/10/2020

Paid a visit to one of my honey holes! Armillaria Tabescens, the honey mushroom, mixed with Entoloma Abortivum, commonly referred to as Shrimp of the Woods. It is believed that E. Abortivum hyphae parasitize the honey mushroom fruitbody causing them to abort into a white brain-like morphological expression known as Shrimp of the Woods. 🍄

11/10/2020

Old Man of the Woods

07/10/2020

Marasmius haematocephalus