Mini Herbariums for fungi collections

[FungiJohn]

Hello everyone

I’ve been thinking about starting a ‘mini’ herbarium for the odd species that may require further investigation.

Has anyone else done this? I would appreciate any thoughts or ideas in creating one’s own mini Kew

p.s. If my wife hears about this idea I’m going to be asking about cheap accommodation next … but there must be sufficient space for the herbarium .... Oh, and quite local to Clumber Park if possible

John

[NickCantle]

What a cracking idea John. I love it. In actual fact, if anyone could enlighten me as to what conditions herbariums have to house...

Okay, forget it, it's going to be hard isn't it:

[mykonik]

Originally Posted by FungiJohn

Hello everyone

I’ve been thinking about starting a ‘mini’ herbarium for the odd species that may require further investigation.

Has anyone else done this? I would appreciate any thoughts or ideas in creating one’s own mini Kew

p.s. If my wife hears about this idea I’m going to be asking about cheap accommodation next … but there must be sufficient space for the herbarium .... Oh, and quite local to Clumber Park if possible

John

You could always contact Kew Mycology Dept. since they have advice on how to preserve and curate specimens if I remember correctly.

Quite a few people keep things that may be of interest (or those that they simply cannot name) and then send then for inclusion into Kews herbarium every now and again BUT I must add that they have to be methodically identified / named and they will not just taken material, the identity of which has been literally 'guessed at' [hence you have to provide full notes on the macroscopy and microscopy etc and give reasons for your conclusions as to the diagnoses].

There are various techniques for keeping material when dried so that it is not attacked by various moulds, insects etc.

Specimens should ideally be dried over a radiator or fungus drier, then deep frozen when dried at -20 C [domestic deep freeeze is OK] for a few weeks if you are to keep them safely for any length of time before sending anything.

They don't need things like mothballs or paradichlorbenzene added to them to 'preserve' against insect attack - it doesn't work and it stinks !

There is more but it would take too long..

Nick

PS When your wife finds out please note that there is some lovely cheap accomdation in Somerset should you have to flee the marital home !
Unfortunately not near Clumber Park !!

[badgerwatcher]

I know it's not what you are talking about, John, although I don't know exactly what you mean, but I bought a pot of dying houseleeks the other day for 20 pence because there is a profusion of mosses, lungwort and other tiny plants growing in it. I am going to plant it in a large bottle garden to see what I get. I often fill a goldfish bowl or jar with soil, water it well and leave it on the window sill to watch what emerges. Sorry if I'm completely off your point. I don't mean to be irritating.
Can you say more about what you are doing please?

[FungiJohn]

Originally Posted by badgerwatcher

I know it's not what you are talking about, John, although I don't know exactly what you mean, but I bought a pot of dying houseleeks the other day for 20 pence because there is a profusion of mosses, lungwort and other tiny plants growing in it. I am going to plant it in a large bottle garden to see what I get. I often fill a goldfish bowl or jar with soil, water it well and leave it on the window sill to watch what emerges. Sorry if I'm completely off your point. I don't mean to be irritating.
Can you say more about what you are doing please?

No problem badgerwatcher, I can understand how someone could confuse a Terrarium with an Herbarium.

I hope you find some interesting plants on the houseleeks

John

[FungiJohn]

Originally Posted by mykonik

You could always contact Kew Mycology Dept. since they have advice on how to preserve and curate specimens if I remember correctly.

Quite a few people keep things that may be of interest (or those that they simply cannot name) and then send then for inclusion into Kews herbarium every now and again BUT I must add that they have to be methodically identified / named and they will not just taken material, the identity of which has been literally 'guessed at' [hence you have to provide full notes on the macroscopy and microscopy etc and give reasons for your conclusions as to the diagnoses].

There are various techniques for keeping material when dried so that it is not attacked by various moulds, insects etc.

Specimens should ideally be dried over a radiator or fungus drier, then deep frozen when dried at -20 C [domestic deep freeeze is OK] for a few weeks if you are to keep them safely for any length of time before sending anything.

They don't need things like mothballs or paradichlorbenzene added to them to 'preserve' against insect attack - it doesn't work and it stinks !

There is more but it would take too long..

Nick

PS When your wife finds out please note that there is some lovely cheap accomdation in Somerset should you have to flee the marital home !
Unfortunately not near Clumber Park !!

Thanks Nick

Some interesting points.

It would probably be more of a personal herbarium. All too often I tend not to have the time to look (using the microscope) at species brought home.

I have a suitable drying oven and possible storage system but I'm not too sure about individual species storage materials. I suppose this is where Kew can help!

PS Thanks for the Somerset accommodation suggestion. It's actually worked out better than I first thought ... I've just bought my wife a new Dyson ... so I'm well in credit

John

[solus]

Originally Posted by FungiJohn

I've just bought my wife a new Dyson ... so I'm well in credit

John

However, to stay that way you'll have to use it too!
May I suggest flowers and/or choccies might be a better way to increase your credit rating? (I am a female so I know about these things!)

[FungiJohn]

Originally Posted by solus

However, to stay that way you'll have to use it too!
May I suggest flowers and/or choccies might be a better way to increase your credit rating? (I am a female so I know about these things!)

How much training will I need ... and the noise level These flowers and/or choccies things Where can I get them from

After 35 years she knows me all too well and I love her for it

There you go, Fungijohn is going all soft now

[FungiJohn]

Anyway, back to the Herbarium. Should the master bedroom be large enough for storage

[NickCantle]

Happens to the best of us John. I even shed a tear on the train home from taking Elle back to Waterloo yesterday

No more tears once I get MY herbarium up and running She'll love that Actually, I say that, she's getting really interested in mycology

[FungiJohn]

Originally Posted by NickCantle

Happens to the best of us John. I even shed a tear on the train home from taking Elle back to Waterloo yesterday

No more tears once I get MY herbarium up and running She'll love that Actually, I say that, she's getting really interested in mycology

I know, it's horrible when you get something in your eye Nick

Listen, keep this secret Nick but my wife thinks it's for growing herbs in Not a word now otherwise Ken will jump at this opportunity

[NickCantle]

LOL, not 'The herb' I hope John

I'd love to have a herbarium of some sort, but I don't think I'd know what to do with it, what to keep in it and what to do with the things that go in it

[FungiJohn]

Originally Posted by NickCantle

LOL, not 'The herb' I hope John

I'd love to have a herbarium of some sort, but I don't think I'd know what to do with it, what to keep in it and what to do with the things that go in it

As a start Nick I'm going to dry and keep spore prints and any unusual species I find.

Given that I spend probably 2 days a week foraying with often many species found it doesn't make sense in a practical way to do it for all Unless I take Nick's advise and move to Somerset

[mykonik]

Originally Posted by FungiJohn

Anyway, back to the Herbarium. Should the master bedroom be large enough for storage

No !

I think you will actually need to buy another house John - you'd be amazed at the way these things just grow and grow once you have started it off !

Nick

[cybershot]

Originally Posted by mykonik

- you'd be amazed at the way these things just grow and grow once you have started it off !

Nick

Even after having been dried and deep frozen

David

[FungiJohn]

Originally Posted by mykonik

No !

I think you will actually need to buy another house John - you'd be amazed at the way these things just grow and grow once you have started it off !

Nick

Maybe I should just stick to photographing them

At least images only take up space on a hard drive ... Well several hard drives actually ... and on 2 pc's and my laptop plus the thousands of cd's and dvd backups. And then there's my other backups kept at University plus more cd's and dvd's

Conclusion ... I'm going to start the herbarium with small species such as the myxomycetes and progress maybe to marasmius in 5 years. 2020 should see some medium sized agarics entering too

[Steve Wurzel]

Originally Posted by FungiJohn

As a start Nick I'm going to dry and keep spore prints and any unusual species I find.

I've created a "logpile" with wild oyster mushroom sporeprints clingfilmed to logs, (as well as drilled and plugged) the clingfilm trick worked on getting my Shitake log producing again so I'm hopeful.

If I get crop of oysters at the end of the year I'll post up the photos of the technique (I tried about 4 different methods from the spores I had), I got some nice mycelium growth in a relatively warm and humid environment (a moist sealed plastic bag in the conservatory) but mold started growing too, so it was into the cold and clingfilmed onto the logs and let the best funghi win

I did read Oyster Mushrooms were fairly easy to cultivate, they grow on any wood or even paper.. I suspect unusual funghi are rare because they're fussy on what they grow, which may be a problem for you!!

[Leif]

Steve: You could always use an agar solution in a sterile petri dish. You take a few spores from a print using a sterile needle and inoculate the agar. Wait a while for some growth, then transfer using a sterile knife a piece to a jar filled with sterile cooked rice. That should fill with while mycelium. You can then fill a hole drilled in some wood with pieces of infected rice, or maybe even just allow it to fruit from the rice. I've heard that toilet rolls can even be used as the substrate as can straw. I'm sure there's lots of information on the net. This method is easy and helps avoid contamination. I'm sure places such as Brunel Microscopes can supply petri dishes etc.

[Leif]

I keep a few dried specimens, usually ones I could not id or ones which might be of interest to RBG Kew. They seem to survive in old 35mm film canisters. Jessops were happy to give me a pile of them. It might even be possible to use 120 format film canisters for larger specimens (if 120 film uses canisters?). Thse film canisters have the advantage that they survive the postal service.

Anyway, I have some dried mycenoid Entoloma to id, and I now think that my microscopy skills are up to the job. If anyone can give advice on how to hydrate and section dried material, it would be appreciated!

[FungiJohn]

Originally Posted by Steve Wurzel

I've created a "logpile" with wild oyster mushroom sporeprints clingfilmed to logs, (as well as drilled and plugged) the clingfilm trick worked on getting my Shitake log producing again so I'm hopeful.

If I get crop of oysters at the end of the year I'll post up the photos of the technique (I tried about 4 different methods from the spores I had), I got some nice mycelium growth in a relatively warm and humid environment (a moist sealed plastic bag in the conservatory) but mold started growing too, so it was into the cold and clingfilmed onto the logs and let the best funghi win

I did read Oyster Mushrooms were fairly easy to cultivate, they grow on any wood or even paper.. I suspect unusual funghi are rare because they're fussy on what they grow, which may be a problem for you!!

I'm not wishing to cultivate any species Steve, but some interesting information all the same

John