how to grow Oyster mushrooms

You've tried the mushroom grow kit and now you're ready to kick it up a notch or two.  Well we're going to cover the six basic steps to growing mushrooms at home. 

It all start with clean high quality  grain spawn. What is grain spawn?  Sterilized grains that have been inoculated with live mycelium  culture. You can use oat, rye, millet, wheat or even popcorn as your grain. As you go deeper into the process you'll chose the right one for you. If I had to give a comparison, it'll be similar to seeds. But not seeds, grains to grow mushrooms. Visit our shop to purchase ready to use oyster mushroom grain spawn.

Now that you've acquired or decided to make your own grain spawn. You'll need a bulk substrate. What is bulk substrate or substrate? Substrate is the material used to allow the mycelium to colonize and eventually fruit mushrooms. There are many versions of substrate one can use, but to keep it simple we'll work with pasteurized straw, which oyster mushrooms love. I've found that using the Cold Water Lime Pasteurization Method was cheap, effective and least cumbersome for new mushroom growers. Simple process - soak pre-cut straw in a cold water bath with hydrated lime for 12-24 hours. This process will kill off mold spores or other contaminants that could compete and harm mycelium growth.  After soaking, drain water from straw. The straw should be wet but not soaking. Now that you have clean straw you can inoculate with your grain spawn.   

What You'll Need:

Hydrated Lime(Low in Magnesium-Don't use gardening lime) 6grams per gallon of water

55 Gallon Container ( I use a large garbage bin)

Pre-Cut Wheat Straw or Oat Straw

Water

2.5lbs of grain spawn per 25lbs of wet straw

Now you're ready to pack your  plastic bag with pasteurized straw and grain spawn.  Layer- straw, grain spawn. etc put about 2-3 inches of straw than grain spawn. Make sure to press down as you're packing to remove any air pockets. Keep layering until you reach the top. Tie off and poke holes in bag, which allow the mycelium to breath while colonizing.

Oyster mushroom colonization happens pretty fast. Keep your bags away from direct sunlight and maintain room temperature. In 10-15 days the bag should be fully colonized and ready for fruiting conditions.

Fruiting conditions - you'll want to expose your mushrooms to natural light at least 12 hours a day and fresh air. Not direct sunlight and not too much wind or your mushrooms will dry out. You can fruit outside or inside with a humidity tent.

Before your mushroom caps are fully uncurled, that’s when it’s time to harvest. To do so, twist the stem off as near to the growing block as you are able to. You’ve now harvested your mushrooms.