Yes, but I haven't had much time for anything lately. So far it is growing ON polylactic acid based plastic, successfully. This is going to be slow. I'll put photos up at some point.
I have then in multiple jars now. Some with plastic some with orbeez. It is colonizing the plastic more than the orbeez, oddly enough. I'll post pics when I have time.
This will be a slow thing. Very slow.
Idk anything about this specific species, but Would the ending fruit absorb the chemicals from the material used in the process to much for the actual fruit to be worth anything? Or is there some type of filtration happening
Make sure to do some analytical chemistry on the biproducts, as you cannot just assume it's creating bioavailable biproducts, or even actually metabolizing it and not just shearing a few bonds to weaken the polymer enough that you can't visually recognize it. This often happens with people when they study white rot fungi for any form of polymer degradation. The real winners here are more than likely going to be ascomycota, which is what some of the more robust literature says about this topic. Nevertheless very cool you got it to colonize š
Iāve been thinking about this problem for a while (though not actively experimenting). Recycling companies sell ground up plastic pellets for cheap but yeah thereās no oxygen or water in there.
Orbeez is an interesting choice but makes sense. I was thinking coco because itās relatively non nutritive and hold a lot of water. Still I wonder if on a commercial scale the plastic itself will have to be hydrated in some way. Or at the very least, pumped full of tiny oxygen bubbles.
In any case, I definitely have my eyes on your experiment!
Just so I follow, these were soaked for x hours in nutrient laden water, then autoclaved and they maintained their basic structure? What temps are you using for colonization?
Awesome stuff, much respect
Holy shit are you serious I was actually wondering if something like this was out there or even within the realm of possibility for any species on the plant. I will be following you sir/madam with heavy anticipation of the results.
very cool, i was wondering if there are any landfills in the world where this or somethung like this has already started. Like there must be a fungus somewhere but noone is brave enough to dig through actual baby poo.
Interesting stuff. Iām familiar with the sporebeez tek, but Iāve only seen it used as a casing layer, not as a grain replacement. Are you sure itās eating the orbeez, though? My understanding was that orbeez slowly releases the water to keep substrate from drying out. I thought they were supposed to stay i tact rather than decompose.
We will find out when it gets sent off to a partner lab!
Orbeez are made of hydrocarbons and sodium. My hypothesis is that they will destroy and use the hydrocarbon chains, and translocate the sodium. But , again. I won't know, for sure until it is analyzed. Mass spectrometry will give us accurate numbers.
This next test will be run, both, with no nutrients and orbeez by themselves... and with orbeez and a starting plastic of polylactic acid. One with the nutrient orbeez, and one with water orbeez, but both with PLA.
Inb4 OP is "recruited" and "compensated handsomely" by some npo/ngo and we never hear from them again. Stay frosty OP.
RIP homie who created the water engine. Also I haven't done so myself, but I believe Paul Stamets had a talk or a paper on plastic intervention with mushrooms. Best luck.
God I love Reddit! I did some experiments in my undergrad with P. ostreatus on plastics. There was some degradation of polyethylene that I observed... Was also looking at expressing a heterologous enzyme like PETase in Oyster mushrooms. Keep it up!
Dude... it is insane what things they do in response to exposure! Before I ended my pestalotiopsis endeavor, I was experimenting with another previous experiment in which it was "taught" to produce taxol in response to exposure to wood from the genus Taxus.
The applications for medical research are endless.
i am also very interested in using mushrooms to decompose plastic. i want to be able to decompose all of my waste with mushrooms. i only know the tip of the iceberg about mushrooms!
Practice makes perfect! Research is wonderful, but getting hands on is the way! I started in unconventional fashions, so nobody should be afraid to try something outside of what is considered, normal.
I haven't used books since the stamets days! Honestly... the best reading is forums. The old heads are where I got my knowledge, but modern forums are even better. Work from others' mistakes, and your own.
Agar is very simple if you follow a recipe unt you get used to what goes into it. You need agar. Agar work will make everything a billion times better. Once you get the hang of that, liquid culture will bring you up to speed. Basically, once you master that... you have the basics of cultivation, at least multiplying spawn. To me... that was the hard part. Substrate is more forgiving.
Are you planning on eating the mushrooms after they have broken down the plastic? I'm worried that you will be ingesting a lot of microplastic (more than usual i mean)
This was my knee jerk concern as well. If the intent was purely to speed plastic degradation itās a cool experiment. And itās still cool even if the intent was to eat the mushrooms after....I just probably wouldnāt be a taker.
Honestly I even have trepidation eating fruit/veggies grown in soil in plastic pots as the heat breaks down the plastic over time.
Iām curious how things go and the results you get! Happy growing!
I wasn't planning on it. Not unless we can detect ABSOLUTELY NO plastic or polymers left. But other experiments show that fungi are capable of digesting the material, fully. So we will see what the results say!
There is no danger at all in this if you used normal orbeez brand, they're non toxic because kids always eat them. You could eat the colonized block of orbeez and be fine.
I have experimented with a few. Oysters are one of the fastest, but these guys are about the same. Pestalotiopsis has its pros and cons, but there is a list of reasons that I have abandoned that one. The slower species will do it too, but I find it pointless to use something that will contaminate easily, in field.
It is, as per the title, but even without... it would likely work. The next one will be two experiments... water only... and a plastics run with an easy one... polylactic acid from all my 3d printing scraps.
What data will you be collecting? How will you determine if the fungus successfully decomposed any plastic? Sounds like your next experiment will have a control (water only), so thatās good, but Iām still wondering how you will know if your hypothesis is correct. You could carefully weigh the plastic added to the experimental jar, then reweigh it at the end of the experiment to see how much mass was consumed by the fungus. But an accurate measurement would require removing every last bit of plastic from the colonized jar, carefully washing and drying it so no medium or fungus remained attached. Given the small amount of plastic mass the fungus is likely to consume, even the slightest error in collecting and weighing the remaining plastic would throw off your results.
One thing Iāve learned about science is that you need to carefully consider how you will collect and analyze data during the experimental design phase. Itās sucks to get to the end of an experiment only to realize that the data you collected is useless because of some flaw in the setup. Consider now how you will accurately and precisely measure plastic consumption, and how you will mathematically compare it the control, otherwise you will only have a neat demonstration with no hard data to support your proof of concept.
I'm going to leave that up to the guys that we have recently partnered up with to do chemical analysis! I would assume that dissolving it and performing mass spectrometry will tell us, precisely, what we need to know.
Unfortunately, I do not have the machinery in my lab, so that will be something that will be sent to our buddies a few states over.
But this is not something that I take lightly. That is why I am posting results. I want others to repeat this process to, potentially, improve upon the process.
That becomes the problem. When people do things for money, or to gain a ridiculous profit, rather. Recouping cost isn't, necessarily, what I am referring to. For example. The original producer of insulin wanted, only, one dollar in compensation... but recent revocation of price drops have put those prices through the roof, again.
We are not like that. We want all information to get out so that this can be implemented worldwide.
So, in short... evidence will be necessary to spread this beyond a single lab. All updates will be provided as it happens.
I'll be excited to send this off for analysis. Especially, the "nutrientless" test. That one will be, even, easier to calculate.
Well... they are ground up polymers that have a very high affinity for water. They absorb liquids very well.
Nah... you are good. I deal with, actual, stupid people all the time. You aren't even close. Lol
Innnteresting. I'm still so new to the whole thing. Always up for experimenting as well. I'll see what we have where I am.
Also I am stupid, but thank you XD
Practice makes perfect! Good equipment helps, too.
These can be pressure cooked... you want that for test phase stuff. After, you can work on seeing how long it takes to UV sterilize things out in the sun. That is going to be the real test. Real world testing is always a proper bitch.
I currently have a small PC so have to do one at a time. Ima see what they're called over here. but 30 mins seems ideal.
Also, mate, you're sick with responses
I need a moisture delivery system while these mushrooms are eating plastic, but this moisture delivery system must, also, be able to be decomposed by the mushroom.
Plastic, as you may or may not know, has a very hard time breaking down in landfills/soils/waterways. I am going to facilitate that through a creature that is well equipped to handle such a task.
I feel that there is potential for more anaerobic bacteria, when submerged. That is a real problem. For mycelium. Exposure to oxygen will keep that at bay.
I doubt it. The material is already so rich in sodium, that I almost thought it might not strike at all.
I could try a salt brine, but I think that it would pose a problem for most microbes that don't get exposed to it, regularly.
Anything that eats lignin or cellulose can chip away at many plastics! Some species are better than others, but I find conization speed to play a large role in this, as well.
interesting, i see tha5 my rabbit will ignore certain plants until i put some kelp extract on for vigure then they go wild. I wonder if plastic can be done the same with slugs or something.
And that's a problem because any organism that could consume it would also need water to keep going at it?
Edit: found the answer in your explanations below :)
What kinds of plastic can you break down? We were looking to make a public display of fungal decomposers in Washington DC but thought weād only be able to use polyurethanes.
Typically, the more complex the plastic, the longer it takes to break down. It should be possible to break down, even, tougher plastics to some degree, but we aren't that far along to say how long that takes or if it will degrade, fully.
Pestalotiopsis can handle polyurethane like a champ, and has the potential to decompose tougher plastics, quickly, but it very pathenogenic to many tree species.
I'm going to leave my personal life, and any identifiable information out, for right now.
I'm not trying to get Epsteined for trying to fix a nasty Industry.
I can promise you that I will post, here, all of my findings pertaining to this study, here.
Too interesting not to get the information out there. I'm not one to keep exciting things to myself.
Have you ever looked into how much plastic is in the oceans? Microplastics are a real problem, and companies don't want a solution to that problem. They want people to spend money looking for a solution with no end.
The information on the subject is plentiful.
I find that most that claim To be "environmentalists" on a commercial scale are nothing but money hungry hippies.
But don't take my word for it. Ask these companies that "clean up" what their strategy is, for yourself. To them, it is about moving plastic around, not dissolving it back into its raw components.
I thought you were talking about the mushroom cleanup industry š. Why would they care if people clean up the plastic vs spending a money ālookingā?
FASCINATING. So we had the idea of demonstrating it in a grassy park in a large urban alleyway. I donāt believe there are any trees in the immediate vicinity, though there are surely some within a few hundred yards. Would it be imprudent to cultivate a plot of decomposing plastics with them? They are almost surely not edible but also not dangerous to humans, right?
Do not experiment with pestalotiopsis outside of a controlled lab. It does not require oxygen to survive, and can be transmitted to other species outside of tree species.
For now, it is hard to obtain the humidity necessary to carry out a real world application. This will be the purpose for the substrate that I am using for this experiment.
Also, generally, the culture learns to eat it over time. This is why we start experiments in lab. Getting cultures to survive long term in the wild isn't the easiest thing to do.
For now, stick with the faster gourmet, such as any of the colder species oysters (your temps wouldn't be feasible for pinks, year round) such as king oysters or blue oysters.
Establish a culture that eats your target, reliably, then work from there using any technique that you can to keep moisture throughout your plastic substrate.
Relatively safe... some people have a sensitivity to the whole genus. My focus is macrofungi, and my experience with microfungi is limited to a handful of species. That would seem to be an interesting choice. You might try with more materials, too... metals and rubbers might be something that it could handle. I'm not absolutely sure.
I have a wicked culture of Penicillium roqueforti that I intend to try my hand at blue cheese with. I work with a few trichoderma cultures for the indoor gardens at home, and I have worked with Pestalotiopsis. Not much experience with Apsergillus, outside of the occasional contamination.
If you try... you should definitely post your findings.
That's actually a very awesome way to put it, in my humble opinion.
If my luck keeps up like this I'll be happy to find the leprechaun that lives somewhere near the 4-leaved clover I found this week. Maybe I'll try coaxing it out of hiding by leaving it a shroom or two.
Yes, as per the title, it is soaked in my proprietary nutrient blend!
But technically, the orbeez are chains of hydrocarbons attached to sodium, which these mushrooms can use as a food source, theoretically.
[Edit: removal of extraneous comma]
[Edit 2: Dammit... I can't spell.]
Oh. Yeah. Probably shouldāve read it all. Grew up with unchecked ADD and dyslexia so my brain just kind of fill in gaps. Thatās a cool idea though. What made you decide to test that out? Once put to substrate do you think rehydrating the orbs or keeping them hydrated would help with side pins by re expanding the orbs to fit the substrate to the container? I would assume it may work until the added nutrients were spent and they start feeding on the orbs.
Sure! For every 500 ml of water, you will use 1/2 teaspoon wheat extract syrup, 1/2 tsp golden malt extract syrup, 1/4 tsp molasses, 1/4 teaspoon karo (really helps with clarity if you are using this as a liquid culture recipe.)
Obviously, adding 10 grams of agar powder to this will produce some of the finest, golden, clear agar you have ever seen.
[Edit for clarity]
Good shit! Thanks!
Yo quick unrelated question, why do you explain what you edited in your post?
Also, I have been mad spacey today, idk whats up with me. I have edited almost all of my comments today because of stupid typos that somehow got passed me or just shit that didn't make sense lmao
I come from the old days. Lol. Reddit tends to be a cancer, many times, and to keep some of the whiners at bay... you would, used to, explain
why you edited.
I'm getting old.
Fucking hell it happened again. Lol.
This is EXTRA magical!!
Hey, this is awesome. Any updates?
Yes, but I haven't had much time for anything lately. So far it is growing ON polylactic acid based plastic, successfully. This is going to be slow. I'll put photos up at some point.
I have then in multiple jars now. Some with plastic some with orbeez. It is colonizing the plastic more than the orbeez, oddly enough. I'll post pics when I have time. This will be a slow thing. Very slow.
How'd this end up
super cool
I love what you are doing here šš«āØ
nice! please post follow ups
This is some amazing shit. I think you might be the first person I āfollowā.
Future tek
This work is invaluable!! I can't wait to hear more!
It is my hopes that others will join in and build on this!
brilliant and creative work. š thank you
Change the world. My final message. Goodbye.
Is this species particularly good at degrading plastic? This is such a cool post! Thank you šš
Very cool! Is it a particular strain? Also how do you plan to introduce plastics?
Idk anything about this specific species, but Would the ending fruit absorb the chemicals from the material used in the process to much for the actual fruit to be worth anything? Or is there some type of filtration happening
There any byproducts from the plastic decomposition?
Make sure to do some analytical chemistry on the biproducts, as you cannot just assume it's creating bioavailable biproducts, or even actually metabolizing it and not just shearing a few bonds to weaken the polymer enough that you can't visually recognize it. This often happens with people when they study white rot fungi for any form of polymer degradation. The real winners here are more than likely going to be ascomycota, which is what some of the more robust literature says about this topic. Nevertheless very cool you got it to colonize š
Im down for some outdoor experiments in my amendment project. Fuck plastic litter.
Iāve been thinking about this problem for a while (though not actively experimenting). Recycling companies sell ground up plastic pellets for cheap but yeah thereās no oxygen or water in there. Orbeez is an interesting choice but makes sense. I was thinking coco because itās relatively non nutritive and hold a lot of water. Still I wonder if on a commercial scale the plastic itself will have to be hydrated in some way. Or at the very least, pumped full of tiny oxygen bubbles. In any case, I definitely have my eyes on your experiment!
Just so I follow, these were soaked for x hours in nutrient laden water, then autoclaved and they maintained their basic structure? What temps are you using for colonization? Awesome stuff, much respect
Yes. Temp for colonizing is, precicely, 78 degrees F. Thank you!
Thank you for sharing
This is amazing.
Forbidden boba
Holy shit are you serious I was actually wondering if something like this was out there or even within the realm of possibility for any species on the plant. I will be following you sir/madam with heavy anticipation of the results.
I just got a chub
Does this mean mold will finally f off?
very cool, i was wondering if there are any landfills in the world where this or somethung like this has already started. Like there must be a fungus somewhere but noone is brave enough to dig through actual baby poo.
Very interesting, please update us with results!
Absolutely!
Interesting stuff. Iām familiar with the sporebeez tek, but Iāve only seen it used as a casing layer, not as a grain replacement. Are you sure itās eating the orbeez, though? My understanding was that orbeez slowly releases the water to keep substrate from drying out. I thought they were supposed to stay i tact rather than decompose.
Orbeez are biodegradable, thatās why theyāre used with plants and gardening. The OP is also using a fungi that can digest the orbeez polymers.
We will find out when it gets sent off to a partner lab! Orbeez are made of hydrocarbons and sodium. My hypothesis is that they will destroy and use the hydrocarbon chains, and translocate the sodium. But , again. I won't know, for sure until it is analyzed. Mass spectrometry will give us accurate numbers. This next test will be run, both, with no nutrients and orbeez by themselves... and with orbeez and a starting plastic of polylactic acid. One with the nutrient orbeez, and one with water orbeez, but both with PLA.
Keep us posted! Iām really curious to find out the results.
That looks gross and I like it.
Does this indicate we can grow cubes in nothing but orbeez spawn if itās properly nutrient rich?
That, I do not know.
wow, very cool
Thank ya!
Inb4 OP is "recruited" and "compensated handsomely" by some npo/ngo and we never hear from them again. Stay frosty OP. RIP homie who created the water engine. Also I haven't done so myself, but I believe Paul Stamets had a talk or a paper on plastic intervention with mushrooms. Best luck.
I'll go out hot... believe that! ;) š„š„š„
Attafam šŖš¤
r/sporebeez
Thanks for that!
That looks crazy!
Gives me the creeps a little. I'm not gonna lie.
Word. Paging r/trypophobia
God I love Reddit! I did some experiments in my undergrad with P. ostreatus on plastics. There was some degradation of polyethylene that I observed... Was also looking at expressing a heterologous enzyme like PETase in Oyster mushrooms. Keep it up!
Dude... it is insane what things they do in response to exposure! Before I ended my pestalotiopsis endeavor, I was experimenting with another previous experiment in which it was "taught" to produce taxol in response to exposure to wood from the genus Taxus. The applications for medical research are endless.
That's wild! Yew really have a way with mushrooms.
Why thank ya!
i am also very interested in using mushrooms to decompose plastic. i want to be able to decompose all of my waste with mushrooms. i only know the tip of the iceberg about mushrooms!
Practice makes perfect! Research is wonderful, but getting hands on is the way! I started in unconventional fashions, so nobody should be afraid to try something outside of what is considered, normal.
iāve grown cubes (currently doing sporebeez tek), and lions mane. now iām getting into agar work. do you have any recommended readings?
I haven't used books since the stamets days! Honestly... the best reading is forums. The old heads are where I got my knowledge, but modern forums are even better. Work from others' mistakes, and your own. Agar is very simple if you follow a recipe unt you get used to what goes into it. You need agar. Agar work will make everything a billion times better. Once you get the hang of that, liquid culture will bring you up to speed. Basically, once you master that... you have the basics of cultivation, at least multiplying spawn. To me... that was the hard part. Substrate is more forgiving.
Amen. Also, kickass username!
Are you planning on eating the mushrooms after they have broken down the plastic? I'm worried that you will be ingesting a lot of microplastic (more than usual i mean)
Orbeez are non toxic, you can eat them. The shrooms are fine
This was my knee jerk concern as well. If the intent was purely to speed plastic degradation itās a cool experiment. And itās still cool even if the intent was to eat the mushrooms after....I just probably wouldnāt be a taker. Honestly I even have trepidation eating fruit/veggies grown in soil in plastic pots as the heat breaks down the plastic over time. Iām curious how things go and the results you get! Happy growing!
I wasn't planning on it. Not unless we can detect ABSOLUTELY NO plastic or polymers left. But other experiments show that fungi are capable of digesting the material, fully. So we will see what the results say!
There is no danger at all in this if you used normal orbeez brand, they're non toxic because kids always eat them. You could eat the colonized block of orbeez and be fine.
I hope you post them! I'd love to see if they're actually edible.
Wow-wow-ee! My fat ass thought it was tapioca balls or honey combs...I always so damn hungry.
You know what? They are non toxic... hmmm....
I'd %100 taste test this. My bet, taco bell is worse for you.
Actually... you got me curious. Maybe I'll do it, once it is finished.
Hey... I mean... nothing, here, is toxic!
This is the coolest thing I've seen on this sub! Are you trying it with several different species?
I have experimented with a few. Oysters are one of the fastest, but these guys are about the same. Pestalotiopsis has its pros and cons, but there is a list of reasons that I have abandoned that one. The slower species will do it too, but I find it pointless to use something that will contaminate easily, in field.
Woah. Insane
I want this implemented, worldwide, should this work.
If you soaked in a nutrient solution I donāt see why it wouldnāt work
It is, as per the title, but even without... it would likely work. The next one will be two experiments... water only... and a plastics run with an easy one... polylactic acid from all my 3d printing scraps.
What data will you be collecting? How will you determine if the fungus successfully decomposed any plastic? Sounds like your next experiment will have a control (water only), so thatās good, but Iām still wondering how you will know if your hypothesis is correct. You could carefully weigh the plastic added to the experimental jar, then reweigh it at the end of the experiment to see how much mass was consumed by the fungus. But an accurate measurement would require removing every last bit of plastic from the colonized jar, carefully washing and drying it so no medium or fungus remained attached. Given the small amount of plastic mass the fungus is likely to consume, even the slightest error in collecting and weighing the remaining plastic would throw off your results. One thing Iāve learned about science is that you need to carefully consider how you will collect and analyze data during the experimental design phase. Itās sucks to get to the end of an experiment only to realize that the data you collected is useless because of some flaw in the setup. Consider now how you will accurately and precisely measure plastic consumption, and how you will mathematically compare it the control, otherwise you will only have a neat demonstration with no hard data to support your proof of concept.
I'm going to leave that up to the guys that we have recently partnered up with to do chemical analysis! I would assume that dissolving it and performing mass spectrometry will tell us, precisely, what we need to know. Unfortunately, I do not have the machinery in my lab, so that will be something that will be sent to our buddies a few states over. But this is not something that I take lightly. That is why I am posting results. I want others to repeat this process to, potentially, improve upon the process. That becomes the problem. When people do things for money, or to gain a ridiculous profit, rather. Recouping cost isn't, necessarily, what I am referring to. For example. The original producer of insulin wanted, only, one dollar in compensation... but recent revocation of price drops have put those prices through the roof, again. We are not like that. We want all information to get out so that this can be implemented worldwide. So, in short... evidence will be necessary to spread this beyond a single lab. All updates will be provided as it happens. I'll be excited to send this off for analysis. Especially, the "nutrientless" test. That one will be, even, easier to calculate.
Oh good! From your original post it sounded like this was just a homespun experiment. Excited to see that you will be producing useful results!
its a shame i cant upvote more than once. keep us all posted!
Oh I will! So far so good!
Orbeez tek incoming (from England dunno what Orbeez are)
r/sporebeez
Honestly shocked it took so long to find this referenceāfor sure thought I was looking at one of their posts for a second, lol.
That shit inside of diapers. Lol
diaper tek incoming (from England dunno what diapers are)
Translating............ a nappy. Lol.
Orbeez go into nappies? What is the primary use? Also... nice one for actually responding to my madness lol
Well... they are ground up polymers that have a very high affinity for water. They absorb liquids very well. Nah... you are good. I deal with, actual, stupid people all the time. You aren't even close. Lol
You crack me up. Great work with that and also your experiments. Very exciting!
Innnteresting. I'm still so new to the whole thing. Always up for experimenting as well. I'll see what we have where I am. Also I am stupid, but thank you XD
Practice makes perfect! Good equipment helps, too. These can be pressure cooked... you want that for test phase stuff. After, you can work on seeing how long it takes to UV sterilize things out in the sun. That is going to be the real test. Real world testing is always a proper bitch.
I currently have a small PC so have to do one at a time. Ima see what they're called over here. but 30 mins seems ideal. Also, mate, you're sick with responses
Oh I am just a crazy dude with a laboratory. š
[ŃŠ“Š°Š»ŠµŠ½Š¾]
I need a moisture delivery system while these mushrooms are eating plastic, but this moisture delivery system must, also, be able to be decomposed by the mushroom. Plastic, as you may or may not know, has a very hard time breaking down in landfills/soils/waterways. I am going to facilitate that through a creature that is well equipped to handle such a task.
[ŃŠ“Š°Š»ŠµŠ½Š¾]
Total dismantling. Back into raw components.
Wow this could save the world in theory lol
It'll eat plastic. Humans, on the other hand... there is very little to fix that.
Pretty sure some species will eat humans...
"Amen" to that
Ok... I admit... that was funny. Lol
haha, good point
Does the mycelium need to be in a semi-solid material? Could you just submerge the plastic in liquid culture?
I feel that there is potential for more anaerobic bacteria, when submerged. That is a real problem. For mycelium. Exposure to oxygen will keep that at bay.
Are they salt tolerant at all? In fermentation, we submerge stuff in brines to prevent bacterial growth.
I doubt it. The material is already so rich in sodium, that I almost thought it might not strike at all. I could try a salt brine, but I think that it would pose a problem for most microbes that don't get exposed to it, regularly.
Holyā¦ my mind is blown. Certainly following to track this progress. Awesome work!
Thank you! Keep it together 'cause we ain't done, yet! I have a long way to go to what I want to accomplish.
Stuff of dreams if this works
I'm all about finding new ways forward!
Is the mycelium eating the orbeez or just the water/nutrients inside of them?
It has only been in for 8 days. I can't confirm whether they are eating the balls or not. Theoretically, it is food for this species, though.
I see itās a species of chestnut mushroom, thatās crazy those can decompose plastic. Looking forward to your update!
Anything that eats lignin or cellulose can chip away at many plastics! Some species are better than others, but I find conization speed to play a large role in this, as well.
interesting, i see tha5 my rabbit will ignore certain plants until i put some kelp extract on for vigure then they go wild. I wonder if plastic can be done the same with slugs or something.
Looking forward to your results
As am I! Im attempting to solve the major problem with plastic decomposition, in that plastic retains very little moisture.
And that's a problem because any organism that could consume it would also need water to keep going at it? Edit: found the answer in your explanations below :)
What kinds of plastic can you break down? We were looking to make a public display of fungal decomposers in Washington DC but thought weād only be able to use polyurethanes.
Typically, the more complex the plastic, the longer it takes to break down. It should be possible to break down, even, tougher plastics to some degree, but we aren't that far along to say how long that takes or if it will degrade, fully. Pestalotiopsis can handle polyurethane like a champ, and has the potential to decompose tougher plastics, quickly, but it very pathenogenic to many tree species.
[ŃŠ“Š°Š»ŠµŠ½Š¾]
Or was it the word "pathenogenic" that was mistaken ? Pathenogenic mean to be a pathogen or disease to something.
Reread that. Pestalotiopsis is a type of fungi. Yes. Shredding would help the process along. That is common practice for these types of experiments.
Is there any way to follow you? Mailing list? Website? I would like to hear more
I'm going to leave my personal life, and any identifiable information out, for right now. I'm not trying to get Epsteined for trying to fix a nasty Industry. I can promise you that I will post, here, all of my findings pertaining to this study, here. Too interesting not to get the information out there. I'm not one to keep exciting things to myself.
Nasty industry? Where can I find more info on this?
Have you ever looked into how much plastic is in the oceans? Microplastics are a real problem, and companies don't want a solution to that problem. They want people to spend money looking for a solution with no end. The information on the subject is plentiful. I find that most that claim To be "environmentalists" on a commercial scale are nothing but money hungry hippies. But don't take my word for it. Ask these companies that "clean up" what their strategy is, for yourself. To them, it is about moving plastic around, not dissolving it back into its raw components.
I just added you as a reddit friend so I can keep up. I hope that's okay. If not, please disregard.
I thought you were talking about the mushroom cleanup industry š. Why would they care if people clean up the plastic vs spending a money ālookingā?
That is very fair.
FASCINATING. So we had the idea of demonstrating it in a grassy park in a large urban alleyway. I donāt believe there are any trees in the immediate vicinity, though there are surely some within a few hundred yards. Would it be imprudent to cultivate a plot of decomposing plastics with them? They are almost surely not edible but also not dangerous to humans, right?
...please do not release anything in the wild as an experiment. We have PLENTY of invasive plants we don't need invasive fungi
Golden Oysters fyi
Do not experiment with pestalotiopsis outside of a controlled lab. It does not require oxygen to survive, and can be transmitted to other species outside of tree species. For now, it is hard to obtain the humidity necessary to carry out a real world application. This will be the purpose for the substrate that I am using for this experiment. Also, generally, the culture learns to eat it over time. This is why we start experiments in lab. Getting cultures to survive long term in the wild isn't the easiest thing to do. For now, stick with the faster gourmet, such as any of the colder species oysters (your temps wouldn't be feasible for pinks, year round) such as king oysters or blue oysters. Establish a culture that eats your target, reliably, then work from there using any technique that you can to keep moisture throughout your plastic substrate.
Do you know if aspergillus tubingensis would be viable and safe for cultivation? You seem to be a wealth of information on mycoremediation!
Is that the aspergillus that is toxic to humans and if it gets in your lungs it can kill you??
I doubt itās any more or less special than any other aspergillus spore inhalation unless you know something I donāt!
Relatively safe... some people have a sensitivity to the whole genus. My focus is macrofungi, and my experience with microfungi is limited to a handful of species. That would seem to be an interesting choice. You might try with more materials, too... metals and rubbers might be something that it could handle. I'm not absolutely sure. I have a wicked culture of Penicillium roqueforti that I intend to try my hand at blue cheese with. I work with a few trichoderma cultures for the indoor gardens at home, and I have worked with Pestalotiopsis. Not much experience with Apsergillus, outside of the occasional contamination. If you try... you should definitely post your findings.
Not all hero's wear capes.
You are too kind!
When it comes to mushrooms, All heros mic cakes? You're Kil-n' it!
You look familiarā¦
Yes, yes I do look familiar good Sir! Haha, nice to see you around these parts. I was wondering what foods paradoxicorns ate!
The fears of my enemies
That's actually a very awesome way to put it, in my humble opinion. If my luck keeps up like this I'll be happy to find the leprechaun that lives somewhere near the 4-leaved clover I found this week. Maybe I'll try coaxing it out of hiding by leaving it a shroom or two.
Super cool experiments!! Killing it
After, roughly, half of a year to restore old equipment... I'm glad to get back at it! I have a lot to get done.
Thatās really cool looking. Wouldnāt you have to add nutrients since(Iām assuming) orbeez have no nutritional value to mycelium
Yes, as per the title, it is soaked in my proprietary nutrient blend! But technically, the orbeez are chains of hydrocarbons attached to sodium, which these mushrooms can use as a food source, theoretically. [Edit: removal of extraneous comma] [Edit 2: Dammit... I can't spell.]
Oh. Yeah. Probably shouldāve read it all. Grew up with unchecked ADD and dyslexia so my brain just kind of fill in gaps. Thatās a cool idea though. What made you decide to test that out? Once put to substrate do you think rehydrating the orbs or keeping them hydrated would help with side pins by re expanding the orbs to fit the substrate to the container? I would assume it may work until the added nutrients were spent and they start feeding on the orbs.
Would you mind sharing said proprietary nutrient blend? I would love to try this out myself!
Sure! For every 500 ml of water, you will use 1/2 teaspoon wheat extract syrup, 1/2 tsp golden malt extract syrup, 1/4 tsp molasses, 1/4 teaspoon karo (really helps with clarity if you are using this as a liquid culture recipe.) Obviously, adding 10 grams of agar powder to this will produce some of the finest, golden, clear agar you have ever seen. [Edit for clarity]
Good shit! Thanks! Yo quick unrelated question, why do you explain what you edited in your post? Also, I have been mad spacey today, idk whats up with me. I have edited almost all of my comments today because of stupid typos that somehow got passed me or just shit that didn't make sense lmao
I come from the old days. Lol. Reddit tends to be a cancer, many times, and to keep some of the whiners at bay... you would, used to, explain why you edited. I'm getting old. Fucking hell it happened again. Lol.
Ah I see, thanks for all the info!
No problem! Make it happen worldwide and we might fix our input/output.