Phlebopus portentosus Co-Op Buy
It is time again here at the Wabash River Mycological Society for one of our rare culture co-op buys!!!
This time our featured species is Phlebopus (Boletus) portentosus, this strain originating from Australia. This is a tropical edible bolete that occurs in Australia, Indonesia, Thailand, and China that was originally thought to be ectomycorrhizal.
Turns out it can be grown without a host. Here is a link to a study done on non-host cultivation. It fruits between 27-37C, and apparently like Sorghum (milo) for a grain. It appears to act like a soil saprobe, not really liking sawdust at all. It also likes a peat/verm mix casing.
This species could lead to a better understanding of how mycorrhizal species evolve to live without a host, essentially becoming a saprobic fungi to survive. Plus, how cool would it be to cultivate a bolete!?!
We have decided to go with just one species/strain on this co-op to make things a bit easier. Our goal is to use the extra funds to build the Wabash River Mycological Society's website, including the Official Mycology Classifieds section within it. To give OMC sellers and buyers a safe secure place to do business, I insist on a bonded professional site builder doing the work to ensure there are no problems with financial transfers or traceability.
As with the Black Reishi Co-Op, we will be getting the culture indirectly from ATCC and distributing slants to global contributors. Contributions will be $20 per slant (limit 10), plus international contributors will be charged $5 extra per slant to cover shipping costs. For those outside of the US, please provide customs regulations from your country in an email to make sure we can get your cultures to you.
As we learned from the last co-op, there is a chance tropical cultures have problems recovering from deep freeze. If this happens, be assured that ATCC does replace dead culture. It just might take a bit longer to get the slants out. That said, this is a chance to get another rare culture out to our mycommunity for further experimentation into this interesting bolete.