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Fungi for used cat litter sawdust?

 
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Location: Reno, NV Zone 6-7, High Desert, less than 10 in. rain per year
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I use sawdust pellets for my three (indoor) cats.  When I separate out the feces I put it into a set of metal #10 cans, put those in a fire, and once it's char I bury the contents in the compost.

I've been looking into using the used sawdust in a mushroom growing capacity. I'm not a big fan of the texture of mushrooms so I wouldn't be eating them, it would be purely for the toxin removal and break down action of the mushrooms.  I'm thinking blewits are probably the best for this idea, but having followed Eric Hanson's wine cap journey maybe they would be a better choice?
 
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I think the sticking point for what you want to do would be what the sawdust is sourced from. A lot of common 'commercial' mushroom spawn is focused more-so towards hardwoods. If you are not looking for edible species, there might be some better types available but I'm not super familiar.

Winecaps/blewits don't do well in straight softwood from my experience. If there is some hardwood, hay/straw, or leaves mixed with softwoods you might get some success.

Do you know what kind of sawdust it is?
 
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Timothy Norton wrote:I think the sticking point for what you want to do would be what the sawdust is sourced from. A lot of common 'commercial' mushroom spawn is focused more-so towards hardwoods. If you are not looking for edible species, there might be some better types available but I'm not super familiar.

Winecaps/blewits don't do well in straight softwood from my experience. If there is some hardwood, hay/straw, or leaves mixed with softwoods you might get some success.

Do you know what kind of sawdust it is?



It's the Mallard Creek "MEGAZORB ™ Bedding Pellets with mega-absorption and odor control are custom made from premium soft wood with zeolite. These premium Mallard Creek equine bedding pellets with zeolite are made with no additives other than water..." (that's directly from the website).

Maybe an oyster mushroom would be better.
 
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