Sawdust mix
Making ‘growing media’ from sawdust
Equipment:
- 10 litre bucket
- oven bags
- microwave or pressure cooker to sterilise
- autoclave tape
- thick waterproof gloves
- cotton wool
- pyrex jug
Ingredients:
- 9 cups of sawdust
- 1.5 cups of wheat bran
- 1.5 cups of oat bran
- 9.9g gypsum (calcium sulphate)
- 9.9g raw sugar
- 1.1-1.4L of water
Optional enriched media:
- Replace water with potato-dextrose broth.
Method:
Mix all ingredients together in 10 litre bucket, except for raw sugar.
Add raw sugar to the pyrex jug and dissolve in water 1L of water.
Add water-sugar mix to dry mix. Mix until everything is well combined.
Add additional water until you can just squeeze drops of moisture out of the media when you squeeze a handful hard in your fist.
Fill oven bags ¼ full with sawdust media, pack down slightly.
Leave 1/8 bag of headspace, then put cotton wool plug in top of bag, wrap firmly with autoclave tape or masking tape.
Put in another oven bag to sterilise, as oven bags tear easily.
Sterilise using pressure cooker or microwave method.