Growing oyster mushrooms on straw

In recent years, more and more s are fond of growing mushrooms at home. There are many substrates for harvesting. But if you are doing this for the first time, then it is best to use straw. It is, in fact, a universal substrate for fungal mycelium.

With the right organization of the case with straw for oyster mushrooms, you can get about three kilograms of tasty and healthy fruiting bodies. We will try to tell you more about how to grow oyster mushrooms on straw.

Why choose oyster mushrooms

Mushrooms grown at home are not only a useful food product, but also an opportunity to create your own business to make money.

Oyster mushrooms are considered a safe and delicious food that even young children can consume. In China and Japan, scientists have been researching the fruiting body and have proven the usefulness of oyster mushrooms in practice.

What is the role of the fungus in maintaining health when eaten regularly:

• blood pressure normalizes;
• problems with the nervous system disappear;
• the risk of developing cancer is reduced;
• the level of lipids in the blood returns to normal;
• the cardiovascular system is strengthened;
• due to the presence of antioxidants, the body ages more slowly;
• oyster mushroom is a sorbent capable of absorbing heavy metals and radionuclides and removing them from the body;
• The level of cholesterol with the constant use of this fungus is reduced by up to 30%.

Ways to prepare straw for growing oyster mushrooms

If you decide to start growing oyster mushrooms on straw, you need to know the features of preparing this substrate. Wheat straw is the best.

Quasitude

The substrate for oyster mushrooms must be soaked before sowing the mycelium, or, as mushroom businessmen say, it must be fermented. The fact is that in an untreated substrate, mycelium can infect mold fungi. To prevent this from happening, the straw is placed in water for fermentation. During this process, an acidic environment is created in which pathogens and bacteria cannot exist.

Pasteurization process

Straw must be pasteurized to eliminate the presence of harmful bacteria. The process requires a crushed substrate, no more than 10 cm. In small straws, the mycelium quickly forms mycelium and oyster mushroom colonies. In addition, it is more convenient to work with such straw.

Soak straw in water and bring to a boil. Here is how the pasteurization of the required substrate goes:

1. We fill a large container with water halfway, boil and cool to 80 degrees. In the future, this temperature should be maintained during the pasteurization stage. Use a thermometer to know the exact temperature.
2. Straw (how much will fit in the container) is placed in a net so that it does not scatter over the water, and lowered into the container for 60 minutes. The basis for growing oyster mushrooms should be completely covered with water.
3. Then we take out the grid so that the water is glass and cool to room temperature. After that, you can populate the mycelium.

Cold incubation

This substrate preparation is suitable for mushrooms that grow in the cold. For oyster mushrooms, this method is also suitable.

So, how is incubation carried out:

1. Soak the straw for 60 minutes in cold water, then lay it out to drain, but do not dry it.
2. In a large container, mix with mycelium and put in a bag or other convenient container. If the mycelium is pressed, it must be crushed before planting.
3. We cover the top with a film and clean it in a room where the air temperature varies between 1-10 degrees.
4. When the straw is covered with a white coating, we rearrange the “hotbeds” in a warmer room.

Using hydrogen peroxide

Despite the fact that this is questionable, it is still used to prepare straw when growing oyster mushrooms. Hydrogen peroxide destroys pathogenic microorganisms, but does not harm the mycelium.

Preparation stages:

• the straw is soaked for an hour in water, then washed twice;
• prepare a solution of peroxide in a ratio of 1: 1 and lay the straw: you need to withstand several hours;
• then the solution is drained and the future substrate is washed in several waters;
• after that populate the mycelium.

other methods

In addition to the above methods, you can steam the straw in a water bath or use dry heat.

With a water bath, we hope everything is clear. Let’s focus on the dry preparation method:

1. We set the minimum temperature in the oven, no more than 70-80 degrees.
2. We put the straw in a baking bag and leave for one hour.
3. After that, we soak the future basis for settling the mycelium in boiled water. After cooling to room temperature, we populate the oyster mushroom mycelium.

We talked about possible ways to prepare straw for growing oyster mushrooms. Choose the one that best suits your conditions.

What do you need

So, the straw is ready, you can populate it. But before that, you need to prepare everything you need for successful work:

• straw;
• mycelium;
• thick polyethylene bags, or other containers that are pre-treated with hydrogen peroxide or alcohol;
• a knitting needle or a sharp stick, which is convenient to punch holes;
• rubber band or string to tie the bag.

We put the mycelium mixed with straw into the prepared container and fill the container, but not tightly. Squeeze out the air in the upper part before tying.

After that, we pierce holes in a bag of straw in increments of 10-12 cm: these are holes for the exit of mushrooms.

Growing a crop

First stage

As mentioned above, for several weeks, bags with straw sown with mycelium are placed in a cool room. As soon as they turn white and white threads appear, we take them out to a warm room with a temperature of 18-20 degrees.

While the mushrooms are growing, the room is not ventilated, since oyster mushrooms require a high concentration of carbon dioxide and air humidity for normal growth. Indoors, you need to carry out wet cleaning every day with chlorine-containing preparations. After 18-25 days, incubation ends, the growth of oyster mushrooms begins.

First mushrooms

Straw bags are installed vertically, at some distance from each other, so that air circulates freely between them. For a month and a half, the humidity should be from 85 to 95 percent, and the temperature should be 10-20 degrees.

The light should not be intense, no more than 5 watts per square meter. It is necessary to irrigate the straw “container” in a dry way, for example, using a spray bottle twice a day, from top to bottom. Airing at this time is a mandatory procedure necessary for drying hats.

The first fruiting bodies can be harvested after 1,5 months.

For mushrooms ready for picking, the caps are wrapped up, and the diameter of the largest cap should not exceed five centimeters. But on this, the fruiting of oyster mushrooms on straw does not stop, you can harvest twice more. But on condition that the legs are removed, and the blocks are sorted out. With proper organization of the case, the straw substrate yields a crop within 6 months.

Instead of a conclusion – useful tips

Growing oyster mushrooms on straw at home:

It is important:

1. Water in bags should not stagnate. Noticing this phenomenon, make additional drain holes at the bottom. Overdrying of straw is also harmful.
2. If the color of the mycelium in the straw, instead of white, has changed to blue, black or brown, this is a sign of mold. Growing mushrooms in such a bag is impossible, it must be thrown away.
3. Garbage cans should not be located near oyster mushroom incubators, as bacteria spoil the mycelium.
4. If this is your first time growing oyster mushrooms on straw, then do not start a business on a large scale. Let it be one small bag. On it you will test your abilities and desire to continue growing oyster mushrooms.