Growing oyster mushrooms: where to start

Mushrooms have great nutritional value. They are rich in proteins, carbohydrates and minerals, and for vegetarians they are one of the meat substitutes. But “silent hunting” can only be practiced in ecologically clean places – mushrooms tend to accumulate radiation and salts of heavy metals. This makes harvesting them in industrial regions deadly.

In order not to deprive ourselves of a valuable and tasty food product, we buy artificially grown champignons or oyster mushrooms on the market. They are not cheap, but still less than pork or beef. Many residents of private houses are thinking about how to grow oyster mushrooms on their own. Let’s say right away that breeding even a small amount of mushrooms will not be cheap, and the lion’s share of the costs will be spent on acquiring high-quality mycelium. There are two methods of growing mushrooms – extensive and intensive, we will briefly consider both.

Growing mushrooms in an intensive way

Growing oyster mushrooms in large quantities all year round is possible only with an intensive method, which implies the presence of a special room and equipment.

Preparation of premises

Before you build a new mushroom growing room, look around, it might be cheaper to refurbish an existing shed or cellar. In the absence of heating, obtaining marketable products is possible only in spring or autumn.

The technology of growing oyster mushrooms requires the separate maintenance of sprouting and fruiting mushroom blocks. The easiest way to achieve this is using two rooms, using the so-called multi-zone technology. Single-zone, on the other hand, implies the passage of the entire cycle in one space separated by a partition, if there is special equipment for growing oyster mushrooms.

First, make sure that oyster mushroom farming is the type of business that your family is going to be in for a long time.

When starting to equip a mushroom growing room, free it up by starting with cleaning. Remove mold with special tools, plaster, whitewash the walls and ceiling with lime. The floor should be concrete or brick, in extreme cases, cover it with a thick layer of rubble or sand. For year-round cultivation of oyster mushrooms, you will need electrical outlets to connect heating and humidifying devices, artificial ventilation and lighting systems.

Blocks for growing mushrooms during fruiting should be raised above the floor level by at least 15-20 cm and fixed in such a way as to exclude the possibility of collapse. You can install them in one row or in tiers.

This is a simplified description of the preparation of a production facility that makes it possible to grow oyster mushrooms for beginners. The arrangement of areas that allow the cultivation of mushrooms on a large scale may require the installation of:

• device “artificial fog”, consisting of a compressor, to which water is supplied, and an aerosol generator;
• fresh air supply systems capable of operating in automatic mode;
• adjustable heating;
• automated lighting system;
• special multi-tier racks.

substrate for growing mushrooms

When starting to deal with oyster mushrooms, think in advance on what substrate they will be grown on. Wheat straw is best in our conditions. Oyster mushrooms can also be grown on other substrates containing cellulose, lignin, proteins and fats:

• straw of barley, oats, soybeans, rice;
• hay from clover, alfalfa;
• sunflower husk;
• crushed corn on the cob;
• cotton tows;
• flax fire (lignified part of the stem, which is a waste product);
• sawdust.

The most available materials for growing oyster mushrooms are straw, sawdust and husks. We note right away that it is not so easy to prepare a substrate from the waste of the woodworking industry.

Comment! The harvest of oyster mushrooms grown on wheat straw will be the largest. The record holder is cotton tows.

Substrate processing for growing oyster mushrooms

You can’t just fill the blocks with a substrate, sow mycelium and grow oyster mushrooms. Of course, they rarely get sick, but it is not worth specially creating conditions for the development of mold and other pathogenic microorganisms. We will assume that we use straw as a substrate for growing oyster mushrooms, and we will describe processing methods using it as an example.

1. Chop the stems into pieces 5-10 cm long in any way. The purpose of this operation is to increase the specific surface of the substrate, which allows the oyster mushroom mycelium to master it faster and eliminate voids.
2. Pack the crushed material in bags of sugar or flour and place in metal containers. Pour boiling water so that it covers the straw bales by 5 centimeters, press down on top with bricks or other cargo. Leave until completely cool.

This way you get rid of many pathogens, soften the substrate for growing mushrooms and transfer the nutrients contained in it into a form more suitable for oyster mushrooms.

There are many other ways to process straw:

• thermal;
• hydrothermal;
• xerothermic;
• fermentation;
• radiation;
• chemical;
• microwave radiation.

But they all require appropriate equipment, and bags and large metal containers can be found in any private household.

Sowing oyster mushroom mycelium

When the substrate for growing mushrooms cools down to 20-30 degrees, it is squeezed out, leaving a humidity of about 60-75%. You can simply squeeze a handful of straw in your fist – if the water no longer flows, and the palm remains wet, you can start sowing mycelium (inoculation).

The technology for growing oyster mushrooms for beginners involves the use of high-quality mycelium. It is expensive, stored at a temperature:

• from 15 to 25 degrees – 5 days;
• from 5 to 10 degrees – 1 month;
• from 0 to 5 degrees – 2 months;
• below 0 degrees – 6 months.

To create blocks, you need from 180 to 200 g of mycelium, since it is easiest to grow mushrooms in plastic bags measuring 350×750 mm or 350×900 mm. You can use new garbage bags for this.

Before using oyster mushroom mycelium, you need to get it from the cold and let it warm up at room temperature to 20-24 degrees. The table on which you will sow the substrate for growing mushrooms and your hands should be clean, it is even better to use sterile medical gloves.

1. Gently mash the oyster mushroom mycelium to individual grains in a pre-scalded or alcohol-treated bowl.
2. Put a bunch of steamed straw into a new plastic bag and distribute the mycelium (about 1 tablespoon) so that most of it is on the outer edge. It is often advised to thoroughly mix the mycelium with the substrate. This is the correct approach to growing mushrooms, but irrational. Oyster mushrooms will grow from straw adjacent to the sides of the bag.

   

3. Lay out a new portion of the substrate, inoculate with mushroom mycelium and compact well with your fist. Be careful not to leave any voids at the bottom of the bag, especially in the corners.
4. Fill the bag completely, leaving room at the top to tie it.
5. Fasten with twine. Inoculation of oyster mushrooms for beginners presents a certain difficulty, and the first mushroom blocks often turn out to be crooked, oblique, with swollen sides. What to do? Take the usual wide adhesive tape and use it to correct all the flaws by pulling the bag where necessary. Just don’t get carried away and turn it into a cocoon of duct tape.
6. Leave the block for growing oyster mushrooms in a clean, warm room for a day or a little more. Then make in a checkerboard pattern up to 16 straight cuts 5-7 cm long, or cruciform ones – 3,5×3,5 cm in size. Approximate dimensions are given, you do not need to measure them with a centimeter.
7. Poke a few holes in the bottom corners of the mushroom growing bag to help drain excess moisture.

Mycelium sprouting oyster mushrooms

Install mushroom blocks vertically at a distance of at least 10 cm from each other. The most important requirement of the incubation period when growing oyster mushrooms is the strict observance of the temperature regime. The room should be 16-22 degrees, inside the bag – 4-6 units higher. If inside the block for growing mushrooms it crosses the mark of 29, it will be necessary to urgently save oyster mushrooms – ventilate, arrange a draft, turn on powerful fans.

After 1-2 days after inoculation, white spots will appear on the surface of the straw – this is the growth of the mycelium. After about a week, the substrate for growing mushrooms will turn beige, the temperature inside the bag will be only 1-2 degrees higher than the ambient. After 10-12 days, the straw will turn into a dense, white, homogeneous block penetrated by oyster mushroom mycelium.

In places of incisions, a temperature difference, humidity, air exchange and illumination will naturally form. This significantly accelerates the rate of maturation of the mycelium and the formation of foci of fruiting (primordia).  

Humidity during the germination of mycelium should be 75-90%. At normal temperatures, special ventilation is not needed, and lighting is kept to a minimum. You may need to water the floor, use a sprayer or install a humidifier, as it is impossible to grow oyster mushrooms in a dry room.

Fruiting oyster mushrooms

Fruiting begins 14-20 days after sowing oyster mushroom mycelium. The appearance of primordia is a signal for a change in the content of blocks for growing mushrooms. They need to be moved to another room, slowly lower the temperature to 15 degrees, start lighting and ventilating. Optimal conditions for growing oyster mushrooms:

• Water must evaporate from the mushroom caps, despite the high humidity, for this a ventilation system must be established.
• The required illumination of the room is 100-150 lux. These are 2-3 bulbs with a power of 100 W per 15 square meters. m, working from 5 to 10 hours a day. If the legs of oyster mushrooms stretch out and stretch towards the light source, then it is not enough.
• Humidity in the room for growing mushrooms should be maintained at 80-85%. If it falls below 70%, this will lead to a decrease in yield.
• The permissible temperature for growing oyster mushrooms is 10-22 degrees, the optimum is 14-18.

Primordia in about a week turn into a full-fledged mushroom druse. It needs to be cut off or unscrewed completely; leaving small oyster mushrooms to “grow” is unacceptable. After removing the main crop, the block is able to bear fruit for another 2-3 months, however, there will be less and less mushrooms.

If you have put the cultivation of oyster mushrooms on stream, it makes sense to replace the spent mycelium after the second harvest.

We offer you to watch a video that tells about the first steps in growing mushrooms:

Growing oyster mushrooms using the extensive method

The easiest way to grow mushrooms is extensive. If you not only do not know where to start breeding oyster mushrooms, but also doubt whether it is worth doing it at all, start with it.

There are no blocks here, mushrooms are grown on logs, thick (at least 15 cm in diameter) branches, and stumps of deciduous trees. Logs are sawn into pieces of 30-40 cm and soaked in water for a week, then they are infected with oyster mushroom in one of the following ways:

• wet bars are set in rows, 100-150 g of mycelium are poured onto each end and wrapped in cellophane; 
• holes are drilled in the upper part of the log, oyster mushrooms are poured into them and plugged with moss;
• a disk is sawn off at the bar, mycelium is poured onto the end, the stump is nailed into place.

Logs infected with oyster mushroom mycelium are placed in a shaded room with a temperature of 15-20 degrees, wrapped in cellophane and watered from time to time. If you regularly moisten the bars and do not let them dry out, after 2-2,5 months a white fluff will appear on the surface – overgrowing was successful.

Set the mushroom growing logs in their permanent location, dug 2/3 into the ground, choosing a damp, sun-protected spot. Maintain moisture by watering the soil around them.

With this simple method of growing, you can harvest oyster mushrooms for 5-6 years, until the wood falls apart, and you will get the maximum yield of mushrooms in the third year.

Growing mistakes

Oyster mushrooms rarely get sick and generally create fewer problems than other mushrooms. If something went wrong, most often we ourselves or poor-quality mycelium are to blame. Let’s look at the most common mistakes when growing oyster mushrooms:

• Weak germination of the mycelium and the appearance of green or dark spots on the surface of the block is caused by poor quality of mycelium or non-compliance with hygiene standards during inoculation. Oyster mushrooms will appear later, there will be fewer of them, but the quality will not suffer.
• Weak and late overgrowth of mycelium – errors in the preparation of a block for growing mushrooms, overheating, hypothermia or other violations of the content of oyster mushrooms. Fix the bugs.
• Unpleasant smell and color of the content of the mushroom block – overheating or waterlogging. You may have forgotten to make drainage holes in the bottom of the bag of mycelium-inoculated growing medium.
• Developmental delay – errors in temperature or water conditions, lack of ventilation.
• The appearance of midges is the storage of vegetables in the immediate vicinity of mushroom blocks or non-compliance with hygiene rules when growing oyster mushrooms. Disinfect the room and eliminate the source of insects.
• Reduced yield – violation of the rules for growing oyster mushrooms or poor-quality mycelium.

Mushrooms may be non-marketable for the following reasons:

• a small hat on a long stem – lack of light;
• funnel-shaped oyster mushroom hat, the leg bends – lack of fresh air or overripe mushrooms;
• a small hat on a thick leg – the substrate is too loose and wet;
• oyster mushroom druse is similar to coral – lack of oxygen.

Conclusion

You can cultivate champignons, shiitake, reishi, honey mushrooms, tinder fungi and other mushrooms at home, but oyster mushrooms are the easiest and fastest way to grow. This exciting activity will not only diversify the diet, but at certain material and labor costs, it can turn into additional (and considerable) earnings.