How to get oyster mushroom mycelium

Growing mushrooms at home is a rather unusual activity. However, many mushroom growers do it very well. They manage to minimize costs by growing mycelium on their own. It happens that suppliers cannot give a 100% guarantee of the quality of the goods, and this cannot be determined by appearance. As a result, the substrate may simply turn green over time and the mushrooms will not grow.

Self-growing mycelium allows you to save money, as well as give confidence in the future harvest. In this article we will try to reveal all the secrets of this process. You will learn how to make oyster mushroom mycelium at home.

What is mycelium

Oyster mushroom mycelium is a mycelium that must be planted in the substrate. In the right conditions, it will begin to germinate and give its harvest. There are two options for how you can get mushroom mycelium at home. To do this, you can use grain or wood. Most often, mushroom growers make grain mycelium. To do this, it is necessary to apply uterine cultures on a cereal substrate.

For the second option, you will need to prepare wooden sticks. This method is practiced in cases where mushrooms will be grown on stumps or logs. Mycelium grown on wood sticks has a strong immunity and is rarely exposed to various diseases. In addition, when propagated in this way, the material has a longer shelf life.

How to grow mycelium

Mycelium cultivation occurs in 3 stages:

1. Mycelium uterine. Such material is propagated in specially equipped laboratories. This requires spores that are stored in test tubes. Abroad, this process is strictly controlled and checked for compliance with the strain. But in Our Country they take it easier and do not carry out selection work. As a starting material, you can use not only spores, but also pieces of the tissue of the fungus itself. This method is practiced less often, but no less effective.
2. Mycelium intermediate. This is the name of the material that is transferred from test tubes to a specially prepared nutrient base. Specifically, the intermediate material is the finished culture that is used to make the seed mycelium.
3. seed mycelium. At this stage, the material is transferred to the substrate for further growth of fungi. It can also be used as a mother culture. This means that the mycelium can be grown again from the seed. To do this, use a cereal substrate.

Prepare

Of course, for growing oyster mushrooms at home, you need to create the right conditions. The highest quality product can be grown in a special laboratory. But if everything is done according to the instructions, then a pretty good mycelium can be obtained at home. Few people have a specially equipped laboratory at home. But its presence is not absolutely necessary. The main thing is that the room has gas, electricity and running water.

Then you will need the necessary equipment and fixtures. Be sure to purchase a thermometer, several pipettes, glass test tubes, agar and tweezers. As you can see, most devices will serve you for a long time. So you will need to make a one-time investment, and then just bribe the materials as needed.

It is hard to imagine, but there are at least 5000 microorganisms per square meter of the room. Often this number can rise to 20000. Therefore, it is very important to take care of sterility and disinfection. The workplace should simply sparkle, otherwise all efforts may go down the drain.

There are 2 options for growing oyster mushroom mycelium at home:

1. Full cycle of growth. The first method involves performing all the steps described above. To begin with, they take spores or a piece of the body of the fungus. Then a uterine culture is removed from it, from which an intermediate, and then an inoculum, is subsequently obtained.
2. Abbreviated way. In this case, they acquire ready-made mycelium and grow mushrooms on their own.

The first stage is the cultivation of mother culture

To grow uterine mycelium, you need to prepare fresh oyster mushrooms. As mentioned above, the material can be obtained from part of the fungus itself. So, you need to cut the oyster mushroom in half, and then cut a small piece at the top of the leg. Next, you need to place a piece of oyster mushroom in a special nutrient medium. However, the fungus must be completely sterile. Therefore, it should be placed in peroxide for a couple of seconds. Then a test tube with a nutrient medium is held over a flame and a prepared piece of mushroom is lowered into it. The cork for the test tube is fired over the fire and the glass container is well closed.

After done, the test tubes with the material should be transferred to a dark place. The air temperature in it should be about =24 °C. After a few weeks, the finished material can be planted in the substrate.

Also, the question may arise, how to make a suitable nutrient base for growing mother culture? So, it is also very easy to do with your own hands. To prepare a special medium, different types of agar are suitable:

• oat;
• potato-glucose;
• carrot;
• Malt-if.

This medium is poured into test tubes that will need to be sterilized. Then they are installed slightly tilted. This is done so that the nutrient medium has more space. When the medium has completely cooled down, you can add the prepared piece of mushroom.

The second stage is the breeding of intermediate mycelium

Next, they move on to breeding mycelium. Intermediate mycelium is most often grown using cereal grains. Proven and high-quality grains are poured with water in a ratio of ½. Then they are boiled for about a quarter of an hour. After that, the grain must be dried and combined with calcium carbonate and gypsum.

Then the resulting mixture is filled with a glass container by 2/3. Then it is sterilized and a nutrient medium is added (a couple of pieces). Intermediate mycelium can grow in a couple of weeks. You can store such a mycelium for quite a long time. In the right conditions, it will last up to three months. In the room for oyster mushrooms, the temperature should not be lower than 0 ° C and not higher than +20 ° C.

Now we have come to the most important stage – the production of seed mycelium. Intermediate material, which is an active culture, can be used immediately or divided into several times. It all depends on the purpose for which oyster mushrooms are grown. If for yourself, it is better to gradually grow young fresh mushrooms.

The last stage is the production of seed mycelium

The oyster mushroom mycelium at this stage looks like a white fluffy coating. It already has a rather pleasant smell of fresh mushrooms. The cultivation of the inoculum proceeds in the same way as the production of intermediate mycelium. The prepared white plaque is placed in a jar with a substrate and they are waiting for the mycelium to grow. Only one tablespoon (tablespoon) of intermediate material is added to a liter container.

Conclusion

Growing oyster mushroom mycelium at home is a rather painstaking task that requires a lot of time and patience. However, you will receive high-quality hand-made material, and you will not worry whether your mushrooms will grow or not. As you can see, anyone can grow oyster mushrooms at home. The production technology does not require expensive materials and equipment. The growing process takes place almost without human intervention. And you can plant mycelium on ordinary stumps or logs.