What do you need to grow oyster mushrooms at home?

How to grow oyster mushrooms at home? By a certain technology. Then you don't have to spend money on buying mushrooms. And it will certainly be possible to safely eat them without fear of poisoning.

Where to begin

You always need to start by getting to know the experience of other people, so to speak - studying the materiel. There are many articles and videos about growing oyster mushrooms at home. After acquaintance, you will need:

Two rooms. One directly for growing, the second for the incubation period. It is assumed that this will be one room. Then it is necessary to strictly observe the temperature regime and regulate the level of air humidity.

• Nutrient substrate. Sold ready-made, packaged.
• The mycelium itself. Pay special attention to the expiration date.
• Fan. The most common, household.
• Antiseptic. Rubbing alcohol or chlorine solution.
• Rubber gloves, a gauze bandage for the face, a sharp knife, thick plastic bags.

Naturally, you have to be patient (a process of more than one day) and the desire to taste your own grown oyster mushrooms.

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Requirements for the premises

For growing mushrooms at home, you need to allocate a separate room. It doesn't have to be a bedroom or living room. A basement, a cellar, a shed, a garage - they all fit perfectly. For the incubation period, the temperature should be maintained no higher than 24-26 ° С, the air humidity should be no more than 70%.

Separately, it must be said about cleanliness. Do not wash every centimeter with bleach. It is better to treat it with a sulfur-smoke bomb or simply whitewash the walls with lime with the addition of copper sulfate. Then no extraneous mold will infect the mycelium.

The main condition is that all ventilation openings must be closed with a fine mesh. Mushroom flies strive to fly into the aroma of mycelium and ruin the whole idea from the very beginning.

For the period of germination and harvesting, the humidity in the room should be at the level of 80-95%, the temperature should not be higher than 18 ° C.

Advice. A basement or cellar is the most optimal room. In such places, there is always high humidity, and the temperature can be increased with an ordinary heater.

Preparing the substrate for oyster mushrooms

As a nutrient medium for growing oyster mushrooms at home, you can use any substrate available, as long as it contains cellulose. It is she who feeds on the mycelium. Experienced mushroom growers use sawdust, small branches or shavings. For beginners, it is best to use:

• barley straw
• sunflower seed husks
• corn stalks, leaves
• wheat straw
• buckwheat husk
• corn cobs

First of all, you need to carefully sort out the prepared raw materials. The mass must be clean and dry. The presence of mold or the presence of only the smell of decay already indicates that the raw materials are not suitable for growing oyster mushrooms.

After taking the mass, it is necessary to thermally process it for reliability. This will get rid of harmful bacteria, insect larvae, and at the same time moisturize it.For this, raw materials are poured into metal dishes, poured with clean water. Heat to a boil, boil for about 40 minutes. Then leave for 3 hours.

Then the excess water is drained, and the raw materials are put under a press to remove the remaining liquid. Alternatively, the substrate is poured into a tissue bag and hung.

As soon as the temperature of the mass drops to 24-26 ° C, you can start planting.

Advice. For best results, a little fresh yeast is added to the raw material before planting. Approximately 50 g per 15 kg total weight.

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Planting material

It is very difficult to prepare a good quality mycelium on your own. Therefore, it is better to buy it from seed shops or from oyster mushroom growers. How many grams do you need? The calculation is very simple. For 10 kg of raw materials, you need about 400 g of mycelium.

First of all, before buying, you need to carefully examine the package with planting material. Gray or black spots, a distinct smell of ammonia are signs of incipient mold. This mycelium is not suitable for planting. The color of the vegetative body of the fungus should be from bright yellow to orange.

It is not recommended to order planting material through Internet resources. Indeed, the photograph may show something completely different from what will be in the package.

Advice. If the mycelium was purchased in advance, then it must be stored in the refrigerator before planting, no more than 9 days. Temperature 3-5 ° С is the most optimal.

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The most crucial moment

The substrate has been prepared, the planting material has been purchased and has already lain for a day at room temperature. We took a deep breath, we can start.

The most important thing is that there should be no slightest draft in the room. Fungal spores are very volatile. The slightest breath and then you can find oyster mushrooms in places that are completely unsuitable for them.

All instruments must be disinfected. Knife, tight bags, hands. You can wash it thoroughly with laundry soap or wipe it with aseptoline. Hands can be additionally protected with gloves. They also need to be treated with an antiseptic. Be sure to wear a gauze bandage. The ingestion of fungal spores into the lungs is not a very pleasant event.

The process itself:

• The mycelium is crumbled without opening the bag.
• Raw materials are poured into the bottom of the prepared plastic bag.
• Oyster mushroom vegetative body is laid out on top with a thin layer.
• Layers are repeated all the way to the top.
• The bag is tightly tied.

In order for the mushrooms to sprout faster, it is advisable to lay out the planting material closer to the walls of the bag than to the center.

You can do it even easier. Raw materials are poured into prepared bags, small cuts are made with a knife. Mycelium is laid in them, then sealed.

Advice. Don't take huge packages. Anyway, oyster mushrooms will only grow outside. The most optimal size holds about 5-8 kg of the finished mixture.

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Incubation period

So, the bags are full, tied, awaiting their fate. Which? Warmth, darkness, tranquility. The incubation room should have a temperature not higher than 18-20 ° C. The substrate gets very hot, the vegetative body may die. It is impossible to ventilate the room, the emitted carbon dioxide is very important for the germination of oyster mushrooms.

What to do? Fan! Saves the day, helps to cool the bags, does not make drafts.

One day after the laying, the previously made incisions are opened. If the mycelium was laid in layers, then it is imperative to make cuts with a sharp knife. Vertical 2-3 cm high, horizontal about 0.5 cm wide, the distance between them is 10-12 cm.

Packages should not fit tightly to each other. A free space of at least 7-9 cm is left between them.

The incubation time depends on the variety, ranging from 16 to 24 days. Detailed information can be obtained from the manufacturer, or read on the packaging.

It is important to periodically enter the room and inspect the bags.The appearance of black spots and an unpleasant odor indicates that the tools and materials were not sufficiently disinfected. The normal state is a light, almost white color of the contents, a characteristic pleasant aroma of mushrooms.

Advice. Inspection is carried out as quickly as possible. Any light is not desirable for mycelium right now.

First fruiting. Important aspects

It is important not to miss the moment when oyster mushroom rudiments appear. They can be seen with the naked eye. On a white background - gray tubercles. In the meantime, bags with mushrooms are transferred to another room, or the conditions are changed in the same:

• The temperature is reduced to 10-18 ° C.
• Increase air humidity up to 90-95%.
• They put artificial lighting with fluorescent lamps for a period of at least 8 hours per day.
• Be sure to ventilate the room. At least 4 times a day.

The main factor for the first fruiting period is moisture. At the same time, it is impossible to water the oyster mushrooms. They can rot before reaching their size. The ideal way out of the situation would be frequent spraying of walls, floors, spraying water in the air. Care should be taken not to get water on the mushroom caps and bags.

Advice. If light-colored oyster mushrooms are needed, then the temperature is kept at 12 ° C. To obtain a dark cap, the temperature is raised to 18 ° C.

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Second fruiting

After the first crop is harvested, the mushroom blocks are not thrown away! Oyster mushroom gives up to 5 harvests from one planting. The mushroom holder rests for about 12 days, then pleases with a new portion of a healthy treat. It is very important not to change conditions during breaks between harvests. Then one block can bear fruit up to 4 months.

And if there is no separate room

How to grow oyster mushrooms at home if there is no separate room? It's also very simple! When did this stop a Russian person, if he needed to? There is no basement, which means growing on stumps is a completely alternative option.

This will require:

• Smooth stumps of non-resinous trees.
• Planting material.
• A secluded spot in the garden with good shade.
• Burlap, film.
• Enthusiasm is welcome.

The wood must be healthy, free from mold, rot or debris. It is advisable that before use it lay no longer than 10 months. Poleshki are soaked in clean water for 3 days, pressing with oppression so that they do not float.

Then holes are made in the tree, preferably with a drill. The diameter is about 1-1.5 cm, the depth is about 5-7 cm. The oyster mushroom planting material is poured inside, the holes are plugged with moss. If there is no drill at hand, then they simply cut off the upper end of a log 5 cm thick, apply a vegetative body. The resulting saw cut is placed on top. For reliability, you can strengthen the structure with nails.

The procedure is carried out in March. Before the logs are planted in the garden, they are folded into a pyramid, covered with burlap and foil. Periodic ventilation, regular inspection for mold growth is the key to success. After a while, the mycelium will completely braid the wood, the hemp will turn white.

With the onset of warm weather (mid or late May), the woods are planted in the garden. They choose shaded places: under trees, vines, on the north side of buildings. The stumps are installed vertically, burying 12-15 cm into the ground. Damp foliage or soaked old barley grains can be placed at the bottom of the holes.

Caring for the logs consists only in carefully watering the soil around, if the weather is dry, hot.

Subject to the technology, the first harvest appears from the end of August. Lasts until mid-November depending on climate and weather conditions. For the winter, the poles are covered with spruce branches or covered with leaves. Ideally birch. They disinfect well and do not allow the mycelium to rot.

Of course, this method is not suitable for industrial cultivation of oyster mushrooms, but for home use it is very good. Good yields can be obtained at low cost. The only negative is seasonality. Oyster mushrooms do not grow under the snow in winter.

Advice.Such poles with bunches of oyster mushrooms can become an original decoration of the site. They can be cooked as much as there is enough free land. There will be enough mushrooms for themselves and their relatives and for sale.

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Several nuances

1. All work on the cultivation of oyster mushrooms is recommended to be carried out in a gauze bandage. Mushrooms secrete a large number of spores, which can lead to allergies.
2. When harvesting, oyster mushrooms are twisted by hand from the substrate. When cutting with a knife, you can infect the mycelium with putrefactive bacteria, then you will have to forget about the next crops. The remaining roots of the mushrooms also harm the mycelium. A large amount of moisture is lost through them.
3. If the slightest signs of mold appear in one of the bags, you must immediately remove it from the room so that the rest does not become infected.
4. The spent substrate is an excellent fertilizer, it will be a pity to throw it in the trash. Taking it out into the garden or pouring it out in the garden is the right decision. By the way, the remains of mycelium next year can give a small harvest of oyster mushrooms, if you pour the mixture somewhere near a reservoir or under trees.
5. When grown indoors, the first two waves of fruiting are the most productive. The second and third years of cultivation are the most prolific on the woodlands.

Growing oyster mushrooms on your own at home is a very real thing. Just follow the instructions and enjoy the result!

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Video: technology for growing oyster mushrooms

Growing mushrooms at home and in private plots has not yet become common. What for? After all, and so the forests are filled with white mushrooms, mushrooms, chanterelles and boletus mushrooms every autumn. But there are mushrooms that either do not grow in our forests at all, or do it with great reluctance. They can perfectly diversify the menu, and also make good money on them. For example, an oyster mushroom plantation in your own dacha is more than real! It is an ideal mushroom for household cultivation. Delicious, inexpensive (in terms of labor costs and the cost of the technological process). Oyster mushroom can be grown in different ways, but there is an option chosen by the time and experience of many amateur mushroom growers.

Growing oyster mushrooms at home

"Children of the Underground"

For the first phase of growing mushrooms, which is their reproduction with the help of mycelium (mycelium), you can do with any ground room - a shed, for example.

The second, main phase is better for mushrooms to "live" in a cellar or basement, that is, underground in the cool.

Growing oyster mushrooms - photo

Both premises for a mushroom plantation must be carefully prepared and equipped with ventilation, electricity and water supply. From the inventory, you will definitely need thermometers to control the degree of heating and cooling of air in the room. The equipment will need a water heater.

By the way! Temperature regulation in a room with growing oyster mushrooms is best controlled by conventional ventilation. To do this, you will have to provide for the possibility of wide opening of windows or doors.

There are several mandatory procedures that must be performed in a building or underground room where mushrooms will grow.

1. The premises are whitewashed with lime and then dried using active ventilation.

   The walls are whitewashed with lime - photo

2. Then the place of cultivation is sprayed with bleach (4% solution).
3. After processing, the doors / windows are closed and the inside is left to disinfect for two days.
4. Then the object is ventilated for the same amount of time.
5. A similar disinfection treatment for conveyor re-cultivation must be performed every cycle.

What mushrooms grow on

Oyster mushrooms differ from their forest counterparts in that they do not grow in soil. They need a substrate for successful growth. You can make a suitable mixture from many components:

• dried straw of field cereals;
• the shell of sunflower seeds is suitable;
• it is very good to use sawdust of trees, but not conifers, but deciduous ones;
• corn stalks, reeds are suitable.

Substrate preparation

All this will become an ideal "soil" for oyster mushroom plantations. The components can be used separately, and it is acceptable to mix them in arbitrary combinations and proportions. The ingredients must be dry. Before use, they need to be crushed (the optimal size of fractions is in the range of 0.5-3 cm). The resulting mixture should have a pleasant smell, not contain any traces of mold, fungal debris and foreign objects.

Prepare the substrate on the surface of the earth; this is not necessary in the cellar. For proper preparation and compliance with all regulations, certain procedures must be followed.

1. The crushed mass is poured with boiling water until it is completely covered, to destroy all kinds of competing organisms in the form of other varieties or harmful microflora.

   Moistening and stirring the substrate

2. The substrate thus poured, steamed to the state of "porridge", is tamped into large barrels or other containers suitable for the capacity and left to swell up to half a day.
3. Then the mass is taken out of the barrel and laid out for complete cooling and evaporation of some of the moisture on a wide film with a thin layer.

Stage one: mycelium - building up mass

Oyster mushroom mycelium

The preparation is over. Mycelium purchased. You can proceed to the first stage, the task of which is to build up its mass.

Advice! How to check the quality of the mycelium of the oyster mushroom progenitor? He must have some characteristics. Snow-white color, with a small proportion of substrate blotches with a darkish tint. The second parameter is smell. Despite the fact that this mushroom does not grow in the forest, the mycelium should smell like forest mushrooms.

1. A layer of wet cold substrate is placed in a dense transparent polyethylene bag with a volume of 20 to 60 liters. Layer height - 8 cm. Carefully leveled by hands.

   Laying the substrate

2. Lay on top, ramming tightly, mycelium, in a three-centimeter layer (you can simply break it into small pieces to tamp without voids).
3. Then the substrate is laid and compacted, but already with a layer of 15 cm.
4. Again a three-centimeter layer of mycelium.

   Mushroom substrate bags

5. The procedure should be repeated until all the acquired mycelium ends. In this case, there should be a substrate layer of 8 cm on top.
6. The resulting "puff cake" is compacted, the bag is tied tightly with twine and set in a vertical position.
7. The entire surface of the bag is pierced with a long disinfected (can be ignited on fire) nail, 120-150 mm in size. Not every 25 cm² has one hole.

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Advice! There should be more holes at the bottom: this is necessary to drain the liquid constantly forming in the package.

Immediately after the procedure, a clear separation of the layers into dark and light (substrate and mycelium) will be visible through the film of the bag.

The temperature required to increase the mycelium mass should be kept at + 18 ... 26 ° С. Germination of mycelium spores will begin in three days, and ten days later you can observe a miracle. The whole mass will turn into mycelium and become completely white. After that, the bag is untied and multiplication is continued to the required amount.

Hanging substrate bags and growing oyster mushrooms

One full standard bag gives life to 8-10 other bags with interlayer (substrate + mycelium). When, finally, the required amount of mycelium for your purposes is formed, then 2 bags from every ten are left for the subsequent increase in mass, and 8 are transferred to obtain the long-awaited harvest of oyster mushrooms.

Fruiting process

Growing oyster mushrooms

The whitened substrate must be kept in the "native" bag for another 5-6 days after ripening, if this bag is sent for fruiting. During this period, it will finally mature, become "monolithic", will be as dense as possible.

To activate the beginning of the crop formation, bags with completely processed substrate mycelium are kept at + 3 ... 5 ° С for another three days. To enable the mushroom fruiting body to grow, it will need room to grow. To create it, holes 3-5 cm in diameter are cut out in polyethylene (one per square meter). The packages are moved to an underground room in temperature conditions of + 10 ... 16 ° С. Here they are installed at a distance of at least 30-40 cm from each other, always vertically. To make it more convenient to water the mushroom "plantation", the bags are placed with ribbons in three rows with a 70 cm gap between them.

Advice! If you are the happy owner of a high basement, then you can also place bags with future mushrooms on additional shelves located along the walls. Such placement will increase the used area, and hence the mushroom yield.

Care for future mushrooms

Once a day, the bags should be slightly moistened, and the room itself should be thoroughly ventilated, since in the process of fruiting oyster mushrooms, a large amount of carbon dioxide is formed. As for the lighting in the dungeon, during the first week it will not be needed at all, and then it would be nice to illuminate the room. Mushrooms will grow in any case - with or without light - but backlighting can significantly increase the yield.

Watering oyster mushrooms

If all conditions are met, the first fruiting will begin in 10 days. When the mushroom heads begin to lighten (after the whitish, dark and greyish brown stages), you can harvest. After some time (about three weeks), the second fruiting will begin with a much lower productivity. Two series of fruiting, taking into account a well-chosen base and high-quality mycelium, yield up to 45 kg of oyster mushrooms from 100 kg of the substrate used. When the harvesting of mushrooms of the second second wave is completed, the packages are taken out of the basement, and, after sanitizing the underground room, a new batch is placed in it. This conveyor method makes it possible to carry out 6 double fruiting cycles per year.

Basic rules for growing oyster mushrooms

Oyster mushrooms grow in a bag of hay

Table. Growing conditions for cycles

1	Germination of mycelium bodies into the substrate	10-14	20-24	90	not required
2	Ripening and fruiting	4-5	22-28	95	not required
3	Growth of the fruiting body (1 wave)	7-10	15-19	85	100
4	Growth of the fruiting body (2nd wave)	7-10	13-17	85	100
5	Harvesting, unloading the substrate, disinfection of the chamber	2	does not matter	does not matter	not required

Value and use

Fresh Oyster mushrooms

Oyster mushroom is highly valued for its beneficial nutritional properties. In taste, it is not inferior to the rest of the cultivated mushrooms and even surpasses them, and in terms of the value of the composition, it has no competitors at all. Not hard, but dense texture, light bread flavor and subtle aniseed notes on the palate. For cooking - a godsend, since oyster mushroom is a versatile mushroom. It can be boiled, fried, canned (pickled and salted), stewed, dried. The only product that the popular mushroom doesn't go well with is fish. Otherwise, in salad, hot, soups, as a stand-alone culinary masterpiece - oyster mushrooms are wonderful.

Fresh oyster mushroom - photo

Important! A prerequisite for the preparation of any mushroom dishes is its heat treatment. In its raw form, it contains chitin, which is not absorbed and rejected by the human body.

Growing a mushroom, given the right premises and some free time, can become not only a useful and nutritious hobby, but also a way to make good money by supplying healthy and tasty oyster mushrooms to the retail network.

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Video - Harvesting Oyster mushrooms

It will be about tasty, healthy, unpretentious mushrooms, how to grow oyster mushrooms at home, about all stages of this process.After all, we all eat mushrooms with pleasure, we love to wander through the forest, collecting them, but if there are suitable conditions, interest, a great desire, then it is quite possible to grow mushrooms ourselves. It is worth noting the amazing adaptability of oyster mushrooms: they can grow on stumps, on tyrsa (sawdust), even on paper. They don't need soil. They are characterized by fast fruiting - 1-1.5 months.

Choosing a room and preparing a substrate

To grow oyster mushrooms, it is necessary to equip a non-residential place in advance. For these purposes, basements, garages (in which there are no cars), cellars, sheds or rooms specially equipped for these purposes are excellent. Before starting any preparatory work, it is necessary to decontaminate the place where we will grow oyster mushrooms.

A lime solution (4%) will do this well. Floor, walls, ceiling - all existing surfaces must be thoroughly disinfected, and then the room must be closed for a couple of days. After the specified time has elapsed, you need to open the doors wide open and thoroughly ventilate this place until the smell of lime completely disappears.

The technology of growing oyster mushrooms at home implies the choice of the material most suitable for these purposes. The substrate creates optimal conditions for growth: it can be wood shavings, corn stalks, buckwheat or sunflower husks, and cereal stalks. Large fragments of the substrate on which we will grow oyster mushrooms should be finely chopped.

Any material you choose needs processing - pasteurization:

1. Fill the substrate with warm water, not hotter +23 .. + 25 ° С, holding time - 20-30 minutes. At the same time, stir the mixture in a container, as if washing it from dirt.
2. We drain the dirty water, squeeze out the material and re-fill it with hot water (+80 .. + 90 ° С) and press it down with a heavy object (under oppression). We leave the substrate like this for 6-7 hours, after which we drain the water and finally squeeze it out.
3. To increase the productivity of the material and subsequent fruiting, it is necessary to saturate the substrate with active elements. Superphosphate, gypsum, limestone and urea are taken in a proportion of 0.5%: 2%: 2%: 0.5%.
4. During the "fertilization" of the substrate with additives, its moisture content should be about 70% - this will allow the chemical elements to stay inside the mixture, not to leak out with water.

After the room is prepared and disinfected, and the substrate is pasteurized, it is the turn of laying the mycelium into the mixture. You can buy oyster mushroom mycelium in the mycological laboratory. You can choose the best quality product from the wide selection of commercial varieties of mushrooms. Specialized online stores are also at your service.

Pre-calculate the volumes - for sowing a 10-kilogram block, you will need 200-250 g of oyster mushroom mycelium (if it is of imported origin) or 100 g more if the raw material is domestic.

↑ to the table of contents ↑ How to grow oyster mushrooms at home step by step

The mycelium is added to the substrate at the rate of 300-500 g per 10 kg of the mixture. In this case, it is necessary to ensure that the temperature of the material at the time of adding the mycelium does not exceed + 30 ° C (so as not to ruin the raw material).

This is followed by the preparation of bags for laying the mixture and oyster mushroom mycelium. For these purposes, it is very convenient to use dense plastic bags and bags. Sizes 40 × 60 cm and 50 × 100 cm are the most optimal. We lay out the resulting composition in bags and carefully twist them, while there should be no air inside.

We make holes in the blocks with a knife. The incisions should be located arbitrarily - at a distance of 10-15 cm from one another. After the performed manipulations, the bags are stacked on top of each other (2-4 pieces each) or suspended on special hooks pre-installed in the ceiling or walls. There should be a distance between the bags to ensure comfortable air circulation.

Also, for growing oyster mushrooms, it is very convenient to use special wooden stakes on a stable basis - blocks with a substrate are simply strung on them in several pieces.

Growing oyster mushrooms at home in bags involves maintaining a certain temperature and light conditions. Thus, for full-fledged germination, mushrooms require a temperature level of about +18 .. + 24 ° С along with high humidity (90-95%).

Sometimes, for additional humidification, buckets of water are placed between the rows of bags, and the necessary air exchange is maintained with the help of fans. Ventilation is important in this case - the excessive release of carbon dioxide inhibits the growth of oyster mushrooms. No light is needed during the incubation period. Make sure that flies do not enter the room at all stages of growing and fruiting.

Growing oyster mushrooms at home includes an incubation period of approximately 14-17 days.

In the first days, the temperature inside the blocks rises, make sure that it does not exceed the level of + 30 ° С. If the temperature is about to reach a critical level, direct the running fan towards the bags. As mentioned above, such an indicator (elevated temperature) is detrimental to the mycelium. At the end of the incubation period, the blocks are covered with a white bloom - this is the beginning of germination of oyster mushrooms.

Growing at this stage involves maintaining certain conditions indoors:

• humidity of air - at least 80%, and preferably up to 90-95%;
• air temperature at the level of +12 .. + 17 ° С;
• the required 8-hour lighting is 100-170 lux (as on a cloudy day), ordinary day lamps will do;
• frequent ventilation.

It is possible to maintain humidity by sprinkling the walls and floor with a spray bottle, but the water should not get onto the blocks. This fruiting period lasts about 2 weeks; by the end of the term, the caps of the oyster mushrooms become quite large.

It's harvest time. In this case, you do not need to cut off the myceliums with a knife, but carefully twist them out of the bag with the substrate. After the first removal of the oyster mushroom, you should thoroughly ventilate the room and wait for the second round of fruiting.

The first harvest is the largest, the second is slightly smaller, the third is less than the second - that is, the yield waves follow each other in decreasing order.

The rest period between the "waves" is 8-10 days, and the "waves" themselves can be 4 or even 6.

The substrate, which has already served its term, becomes an excellent fertilizer for summer cottages.

↑ to the content ↑ How to grow oyster mushrooms at home on stumps

An excellent option for owners of summer cottages is the method of growing oyster mushrooms on stumps - this method does not require excessive efforts. For these purposes, it is better to choose freshly cut hemp, but you can also prepare it in advance. They should be placed in shaded areas where there is no access to sunlight, for example, under spreading tree crowns or under vineyards.

Stumps need to be soaked in water and kept for about 3-4 days, older specimens - a week. Then, using a drill (20-25 mm), you need to drill 8-10 holes 7-10 cm deep. These depressions are then filled with oyster mushroom mycelium, the top is covered with clay or clogged with moss.

The stumps must be constantly wet, for this they can be covered with cling film and placed in the basement for a month and a half. When the stumps become overgrown with mycelium (in appearance something like a white film), they can be taken out into the air, placed in shady places.

Studying the possibilities and options for ways to grow oyster mushroom at home, it should be recognized that this method does not require excessive efforts, it is ideal for the owners of summer cottages.

Important information - a prerequisite is the use of respirators and protective masks when working with mycelium, as well as during fruiting! If it enters the respiratory tract, fungal spores can seriously harm your health.

This will require commitment and patience from you. Mushroom growing is truly a fun and rewarding activity. The topic of how to grow oyster mushrooms at home is finding more and more fans among summer residents and enthusiastic gardeners.In addition to the presence on the dinner table of this delicious and rich in useful elements, the cultivation of oyster mushrooms is an interesting and profitable business. Try and grow oyster mushroom at home - a rich harvest for six months will undoubtedly please you.

If you decide to grow mushrooms on your own, it is better to start with oyster mushrooms. Growing these mushrooms at home does not require the study of complex theoretical information or special skills. Oyster mushrooms are not as demanding as other types (for example, mushrooms). Another argument in their favor will be the high yield. You can cook many delicious dishes from them, the taste of which will not leave anyone indifferent. Let's figure out what are the ways of growing oyster mushrooms and how to cope with the difficulties arising for beginners.

Growing methods, their pros and cons

There are two ways to grow oyster mushrooms at home - extensive and intensive.

Positive aspects of the first method:

• it does not require the creation of special conditions, since a natural environment is needed for maturation;
• for the same reason, the extensive method does not have to spend a lot of money;
• in addition, the mushrooms do not need constant observation in this case.

But there are also negative aspects:

• the appearance of the crop depends entirely on the season and suitable weather;
• ripening period is quite long;
• due to the impossibility of control, it will not be possible to turn this hobby into a business and grow mushrooms at home for sale.

With intensive technology, the growing conditions are created by the mushroom grower himself at home.

Pros of the intensive method:

• the ability to control the time of harvesting;
• You can also regulate the amount of harvest - when using this method, it will be more;
• thanks to this, there is the possibility of selling mushrooms and compensating for costs.

Some cons:

• you will have to make more effort and spend a lot of time doing landings;
• cash investments will also be required - to create the necessary conditions at home.

In the intensive method, the mushrooms are ripened in a cellar or other suitable room.

Mycelium selection

First of all, you need to purchase "seeds" - in mushrooms they are called mycelium. Recently, it has become much easier to do this - there are many online stores with mail delivery throughout the country. But there are also local companies. For beginner mushroom growers who fear failure, it is enough to purchase one kilogram of mycelium. The result will be about three to four kilograms of mushrooms. You can purchase the material in advance. Mycelium is stored in the refrigerator for up to two months, but it cannot be put in the freezer. It is not allowed to get mycelium on the skin, therefore, when opening the package, do not forget to wear gloves.

When buying, pay attention to the following recommendations.

• Check reviews for a store or individual seller.
• Even if you are an experienced mushroom grower, purchase a small amount of planting material from a new supplier for the first time.
• Learn all the information about the selected variety, the time of mycelium growth, mold resistance.
• Check the expiration date on the packaging.
• Check the temperature of the mycelium immediately after delivery - it should be about +20 degrees Celsius.
• The mycelium should be free of black and green spots.
• The color of the "seeds" is bright orange, interspersed with yellow.

Growing on stumps

If you are a beginner and are not yet ready to invest a lot of effort and money in growing mushrooms, try the extensive method.

To plant oyster mushrooms in this way, you do not need a lot of materials.

• Hemp that is on the site of your house. But they can be sown only in late April or early May, when a constant high temperature is established.
• Pruning from deciduous trees such as beech or aspen. They should be no more than half a meter in height and fifteen centimeters in diameter.

Check every stump carefully - they should be free of mold.

Advice

If the wood is dry, soak it in water for several days. Only in such conditions will mycelium be able to develop.

The technology is as follows:

• drill or cut out six centimeters in the stumps (they should be staggered);
• mycelium is placed in these holes;
• then they need to be covered with moss;

There is another way - you need to saw off a disk two centimeters thick from the top of the stump. Apply a layer of mycelium to the cut. Cover with a disc. For strength, nail it down.

After sowing, stack the logs on top of each other in a room where the temperature is maintained at +15. Leave them there for three months, covered with plastic wrap or thick cloth. By the end of the term, a white bloom will appear on the stumps. This means that it is time to "plant" them. To do this, they dig holes in the ground at a distance of half a meter and fill them with wet leaves. Hemp is placed in them - to a depth of fifteen centimeters. The soil around them must be constantly moist.

The harvest will appear at the end of summer. You can collect it throughout the fall. For the winter, the planting must be protected by sprinkling with straw.

Preparing for growing in the basement

To grow oyster mushrooms in an intensive way at home, you will need to prepare a basement that meets the following requirements:

• it must maintain a temperature of +15 degrees;
• a good ventilation system is needed in the basement;
• its depth can reach five meters;
• you need to create bright lighting;
• there must be a source of clean water in the basement.

Other types of premises are also suitable:

• cellar;
• poultry house;
• greenhouse;
• garage;
• cowshed.

The main condition is that this basement should not be adjacent to the living rooms of the house, since spores can cause allergies.

The next important condition for harvesting is a good substrate. This is a breeding ground, thanks to which mushrooms will grow. To prepare it, you can use:

• buckwheat husk;
• wheat straw;
• barley straw;
• cobs of corn.

Grind one of these materials or a mixture of them. Fill it with warm (up to twenty-five degrees) water for twenty minutes. Stir the workpiece periodically. Drain this water and fill a container with hot water (not boiling water). Cover with something heavy and let sit for five hours. Drain, squeeze out the substrate (liquid residues can cause mold) and add nutrients (urea and superphosphate) to it.

Basement landing

In this growing technology, it is not only the place and the basis for planting that are important. The vessels must also be prepared. Oyster mushrooms are usually grown in bags. At home, ordinary garbage bags as large as possible are also suitable.

Punch holes in them at intervals of twenty centimeters. Through these holes, the mushrooms will break out.

The bags need to be filled with substrate and mycelium. The bottom layer should be the substrate - pour fifteen centimeters of the mixture. Sprinkle it with a layer of mycelium. Alternate them, filling the volume of the vessel by 2/3. The bags should be moved to the basement and placed on top of each other or hung from the ceiling.

Planting care

In the early days of growing oyster mushrooms, it is most important to maintain suitable conditions.

• The temperature in the bags will rise, but it is important to ensure that it does not reach +30 degrees (when growing at home, in a small basement, it is enough to use a fan for this).
• Keep flies out of the basement.
• The lighting can be switched on after three days.
• The humidity in the basement should be about 95% (for this you need to spray the walls and floor with water, but not the oyster mushroom plantings themselves).

When collecting oyster mushrooms, you also need to follow some rules.

• They do not need to be cut off, but unscrewed from the substrate.
• After the first harvest, it is important to maintain the same conditions in the basement for two weeks, then another batch will appear soon.

Conclusion

Oyster mushrooms are the most suitable mushrooms for growing at home.They don't need much care. The conditions for their development are easy to maintain even at home.

There are two ways to grow them. One of them requires less effort, but the result will be a long wait for the harvest. For another, you need to prepare the room, but thanks to this you will quickly get a large amount of mushrooms.

Choose the method that seems to you the most successful, and feel free to start planting. In this case, you will be satisfied with the result.