How to grow oyster mushrooms at home all year round?

Until recently, oyster mushrooms were considered a delicacy, but today you can enjoy them all year round.

Everything you need: a room free from human habitation, material for growing and full care, observing which, in a few weeks you can harvest the first harvest of oyster mushrooms.

After reading our article, you will learn how to grow oyster mushrooms with your own hands, what nuances of care are important for breeding them, what is the best way to harvest and where to store it.

Where to grow oyster mushrooms

Oyster mushrooms are usually grown in cellars, basements, in greenhouses, at home - in principle, any non-residential premises are suitable for this, although many mushroom pickers claim that growing oyster mushrooms in an apartment is dangerous to health.

For the growth of mushrooms, high humidity is necessary, creating which, you risk not only your own health (allergic cough, high body temperature), but also damage your own home (mold on the walls).

An ideal place for sowing and growing oyster mushrooms is a greenhouse. But, even there, the production of mushrooms is a daily hard work and control over the process.

If you decide to grow oyster mushrooms on your own in artificial conditions at home, remember to thoroughly disinfect the room. To do this: treat the walls and floor with a 4% bleach solution, and after two days, ventilate it.

The main stages of breeding oyster mushrooms

The process of breeding oyster mushrooms includes several stages:

Preparation and processing of the substrate

The substrate is a breeding ground for the growth of fungi, a kind of soil. As a raw material for the substrate, you can use, for example, sunflower husks, fresh straw, buckwheat husks. The main condition for cooking is clean material.

It is better to grind the substrate. To avoid the ingress of harmful microorganisms and foreign particles into it, the substrate is treated with steam (heat treatment). For this: the substrate (for example, take 10 kg) is placed in a container and heated.

Cook the substrate for two hours in a row. Next, drain the water and cool the substrate to a temperature of 25 ° C. The most common technology for processing a substrate today is xerothermal technology.

The essence of this process is that the substrate under the influence of steam is heated to 100 ° C and kept for a certain amount of time (1.5 hours in the case of using straw). After the specified period, the substrate is moistened with water.

Formation of mushroom blocks

Mushroom blocks are polyethylene bags with a size of 350x800 mm, filled with a substrate.For their formation, the substrate and the mycelium (mycelium) are placed in layers in the packages pre-treated with steam, alternating between them. You can easily buy mycelium on the Internet.

The top layer is a substrate. After filling, the bag is tied. Next, we make small holes (1-2 mm) in the bag, leaving a distance of 10 cm between them.

Seedling care

After the formation of mushroom blocks, the incubation period begins (the period of oyster mushroom maturation). At this stage, it is important to create proper oyster mushroom care. Monitor the temperature in the bags (the optimum temperature is + 20 ° C). In addition, the room must be ventilated.

Incubation lasts 2-3 weeks, after which the overgrown mycelium is transferred to another room (nursery room) for growing.

Fruiting

On the 7-10 day after transferring the mycelium to a new room, the first rudiments of fungi appear. At this stage, it is important to increase the air humidity to 100%... For this, the floor and walls of the room are sprayed with water. You need to ventilate the room even more often.

And also, mushrooms need lighting before 10 hours a day. Additional lighting can be created using ordinary fluorescent lamps.

Harvesting

It is believed that the correct harvest is the twisting of oyster mushrooms from the substrate. The fact is that when cutting them with a knife, there is a risk getting into the mycelium of microorganisms.

In one room you can spend 4-5 rotations (continuous cultivation) for a year.

Note! After harvesting, the premises are washed with water, disinfected and thoroughly ventilated.

Growing methods

We examined the technology of growing oyster mushrooms, now we will dwell on its methods in more detail. Consider two of the most popular and, as practice shows, effective methods of artificial cultivation of oyster mushrooms:

1. Extensive method - in natural conditions;
2. Intensive method - growing in a special room using a substrate.

Extensive cultivation methods

Oyster mushrooms can be grown in this way on sawdust, shavings, on stumps left in the forest, after tree felling, as well as on fruit-bearing garden trees.

Instructions for the extensive method of growing oyster mushrooms on stumps:

1. Preparing the stump for planting oyster mushrooms. The diameter of the stump is 20-40 cm, the length is 30-40 cm. It is best to use a freshly cut stump;
2. We set the stump in a small depression, on the bottom of which we lay the substrate (for example, wheat). We also add mycelium (seed) there;
3. Place the prepared stump in the recess and cover it with soil.

From time to time, the stump needs to be watered. No other maintenance work is required. The crop can be obtained in the same season when planting was carried out. It is best to plant mushrooms in the spring.

You can also grow oyster mushrooms using wooden blocks. For this:

1. We prepare the bars. To do this, we cut them off from a freshly cut hardwood tree. We soak them in water for a week;
2. We put the bars on top of each other, and on the end of each we pour the mycelium (mycelium) about 100-150 g. Another way to introduce the mycelium is to drill small holes (10-12 mm) in the bar;

Recommendation! The diameter of the finished bars should be 20-40 cm. The length of each bar can be up to half a meter.

1. We wrap the bars with cellophane wrap to prevent the mycelium from drying out;
2. On the sides of the bar we make holes with a diameter of 10-12 mm for the mycelium. We cover them with moss, wet sawdust or straw. 10 holes should be enough.

Instructions for growing oyster mushrooms on sawdust:

1. We fill up the substrate (nutrient medium) with a layer of 10-15 cm in a previously prepared trench and spray it with a suspension of "mushroom spores" for better reproduction of oyster mushrooms. The depth of the trench should be 15-20 cm. Width - 40-60 cm;
2. We prepare the wells for the introduction of the mycelium. The depth of the holes is 5-7 cm. We put 10-20 grams of mycelium in them;
3. We cover the holes with branches, cover with polyethylene film and pour a small layer of earth on top.

The first harvest can be expected after 2-3 months.

Intensive cultivation methods

For growing oyster mushrooms in an intensive way, the substrate is important. The substrate can be tree sawdust, cereal straw or sunflower husk.

Let's consider the most common technology for artificial cultivation of oyster mushrooms in bags.

This process consists of the following steps:

1. Chopped straw is poured into a large tank and filled with water;
2. Then a fire is made under the tank. While the straw is "boiled" at a temperature of 70-80 degrees for 8-12 hours, they prepare purchased plastic bags or make themselves from a plastic sleeve. Bags are used in sizes 40 by 60 cm or 50 by 100 cm;
3. The water is drained from the tank. The straw is placed in bags and stacked in layers, alternating each layer of straw with a layer of mycelium. At this stage, you can add 10% bran. An obligatory component of the substrate is a 1-2% bioactivator (slaked lime);
4. Small holes are made in bags with mycelium (diameter 2 cm). The bag itself is filled with a substrate for 2/3 of the volume;
5. The necks of the bags are tied with a rope and set in an upright position;
6. Watering the bags. Moreover, the first 5 days, watering is carried out with extreme caution - it is important to prevent water droplets from falling on the bags. Further - using a hose at least twice a day.

Important! The air humidity in the room where the oyster mushrooms grow should be 90-100%.

General growing conditions exist for the normal growth of mycelium. Pay attention to them:

• The mycelium can be sown when the substrate cools down to a temperature of +22 degrees, it easily crumbles and does not stick to the hands;
• The mycelium is introduced at the rate of 150-180 grams of mycelium per one mushroom block (6-8 kg of substrate).

Oyster mushroom care rules

To effectively grow oyster mushrooms at home and get a harvest, you must follow the generally accepted rules:

1. The room temperature should be + 22-25 degrees;
2. The temperature of the contents of the bag itself should be +28 degrees;
3. Air humidity in the room - 90-95%. For this, several cans of water can be installed indoors;
4. There must be good ventilation between the bags. They can be stacked on specially made racks or hung from the ceiling;
5. Growing temperature should be reduced to + 12-18 degrees;
6. For half a day, the room should be illuminated with fluorescent lamps;
7. Good air flow is the key to an excellent harvest. If the room is small, you can install ordinary fans and open windows and doors more often. But for rooms with large areas, ventilation with special equipment is needed;
8. In rooms where oyster mushrooms are grown, it is advisable to wear protective masks. The mask will help prevent allergies and the associated suffocating cough;
9. An irrigation system is indispensable. Oyster mushrooms are moisture-loving mushrooms. Remember to water them twice a day.

Oyster mushrooms are delicious, nutritious and natural. But their main advantage is profitability, i.e. ease of growing. By the way, you can cultivate these mushrooms both for yourself and for sale. The main thing is to master the cultivation technique and put a little effort into it.

You will learn more about how to grow oyster mushrooms at home from this video.:

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Growing mushrooms at home allows you to harvest all year round. This allows us to consider it as an additional source of income. From this article you will learn how to grow oyster mushrooms in a basement.

Different ways of growing

Oyster mushrooms can be grown in two ways: extensive and intensive. Extensive assumes the use of natural conditions and is considered more profitable in terms of investments. The intensive uses an artificially created environment.

Both methods have disadvantages.The disadvantages of growing in a natural environment include the ability to harvest only once a year and complete dependence on external conditions. The second method requires a fairly large investment and has many organizational nuances.

For those who want to grow mushrooms in the basement, both methods are suitable. It all depends on the equipment available and personal preference. In fact, the replanting technology is common, only the volume of the crop changes. This article will describe an intensive method using a special substrate.

Basement preparation

Before you start growing mushrooms, make sure that the conditions in your basement meet all the requirements. If at least one of them is not observed, you will not be able to maintain the required microclimate and your entire crop will die.

Oyster mushroom is successfully grown in basements.

So, what should be in the basement where oyster mushrooms are grown?

1. Stable temperature from 10 to 20 ° C.
2. Air humidity from 85 to 90%.
3. Sophisticated ventilation system.
4. Free from mold and pests.
5. Purity.

If you look at the list and find any problems, be sure to fix them. It is recommended to start preparation with cleaning. It will help you find sources of problems and free up space for shelving and equipment.

To achieve the required temperature, you need to make the room airtight and think over the heating system. Usually, to warm up the basement, you need to insulate the floor and walls. After that, one heater will be enough for you, which must be turned on once a day.

Air humidity is not only related to temperature, but also directly depends on the dryness of the basement. If it is periodically heated by groundwater, it will be difficult to regulate humidity. After solving all the problems with tightness, air humidification will be carried out during irrigation.

Mold in a vegetable basement can be a major obstacle to a rich harvest. Fight it by warming up the room, regularly cleaning and covering the walls with special antifungal paint.

At the slightest suspicion of pests, call professionals or carry out pest control yourself. It is most convenient to use a smoke bomb and industrial insecticides. Remember that after processing, at least 1 week must pass before laying the blocks with the substrate.

The final step in preparing the basement is thorough cleaning and disinfection. It is carried out using a 1% chlorine solution or bleach. Please note that in addition to the basement, you will need a separate warmer room for the incubation of oyster mushrooms.

Substrate procurement and processing

First, you need to buy mycelium and the substrate on which the oyster mushrooms will grow. Suitable substrates are dried stems, hay, buckwheat and seed husks, and hardwood shavings. The main requirement for the substrate is the complete absence of mold and rot.

Collecting the substrate yourself is a difficult task. All beginners are advised to purchase ready-made material, packaged in dense plastic bags. When buying, pay attention to its composition. It is important that it is suitable for growing oyster mushrooms.

Substrate processing can be carried out in the following ways:

• hydrothermia (use of hot water);
• pasteurization (blowing steam over a humidified substrate);
• xerothermia (blowing steam over dry material).

The purpose of such processing is to make the substrate looser, to fill it with oxygen and other useful substances. The root system of fungi will develop in a comfortable and fungus-free environment. This will speed up your oyster mushroom growth and allow you to harvest several large crops per year.

To prevent mold growth, dry the substrate thoroughly after rinsing. To do this, leave it to dry in a warm place for 2 days. During this time, all excess liquid will drain.

After that, the available raw materials are crushed and mixed. This will help the substrate to retain water better. The resulting material is completely ready for planting oyster mushrooms.

Oyster mushroom grain mycelium.

If you decide to purchase the vegetative body of the fungus, that is, the so-called "mycelium", carefully approach the choice of the supplier. To get started, buy a small trial batch. Be sure to check the information on the supplier's certificate and on the labels. The most important points for you are germination rate, resistance to disease and fungus, variety and shelf life.

Mycelium should be free of ammonia odor, black or gray spots (this may indicate incipient mold). It should have an orange or yellow tint.

It is very important to know if all storage conditions have been met. Oyster mushroom mycelium should be stored at + 3-4 ° C in a basement or refrigerator. Transport temperature should not exceed 20 ° C. Subject to these conditions, its shelf life is 6-9 months, depending on the variety.

After you purchase the mycelium in bags, leave it at room temperature for 1 day. Then fold them apart from each other so that they can freely access the air. Keep in mind that the shelf life at home is significantly reduced, so you should start planting as soon as possible.

Before laying, carefully chop the mycelium without opening the bag. After that, briefly transfer the bags to the room with the substrate, that is, to the basement. This is necessary so that the temperature evens out, and the mycelium does not die from shock.

The opening of the bag with mycelium should be done exclusively in a clean room. Use gloves and disinfect the table with an alcohol solution. It is worth noting that the cultivation of oyster mushrooms and the planting of mycelium should be carried out in different places in order to avoid infection of the mycelium. If you don't have a separate room, use a divider to create a small space in your basement.

Basics of cultivation technology

The whole technology of growing oyster mushrooms can be roughly divided into 4 stages. The first involves processing the substrate. Methods for processing it are given in the previous part of the article. At home, the easiest way to prepare it for use is with hot water. Add water so that it completely covers the substrate and boil for 1.5 hours.

Pre-boiling the substrate.

Many people prefer to boil the substrate directly in plastic bags. In this case, you need to make several holes in them so that the water can circulate calmly. After draining the water, it is advisable to place the substrate under a press and leave for a day to remove all excess liquid.

Laying of oyster mushroom mycelium should be carried out only in sanitary conditions. Disinfect the basement first, treat the bags with alcohol and put on gloves. If there is ventilation in the room, it must be temporarily blocked to prevent the spread of fungus. Also wash the work surface with disinfectant and water.

Pour the mycelium and substrate on the table, mix them, taking into account that the total mass of the substrate should account for 3% of the mycelium of domestic producers and 1.5-2% of the mycelium of foreign manufacturers.

Put the resulting mixture in special bags of 10-15 kg and tamp it tightly. If you are trying to grow oyster mushrooms in your basement for the first time, use 5 kg bags. The smaller the volume, the easier it is to regulate the temperature inside the block.

Mushroom substrate bags.

When you have filled all the mix available, flatten the bags slightly on one side and perforate on the other. The cuts are made with a sharpened and clean knife at an angle of 45 °. The length of each cut should be 50 mm.

The packed bags are transferred to the incubation room, where the average temperature is + 25 ° C. They are placed on racks so that the perforated sides have free access to air.In addition, there should be free space between the bags. It must be at least 5 cm. It is forbidden to put them on top of each other. Now the third stage begins - incubation.

Laying the mycelium into the substrate.

Incubation and cultivation

The temperature at the incubation site should be constant and not fluctuate more than 1-2 ° C. If the temperature rises above 30 ° C, the mycelium will experience heat shock and future fungi may die. Even small changes in temperature reduce the likelihood of germination.

During incubation, the room must not be ventilated. The emitted carbon dioxide creates suitable conditions and slightly increases the humidity. To prevent mold and disease, clean daily with chlorine-based cleaning products.

The emergence of fruiting bodies of mushrooms.

Typically, incubation takes 18-25 days. After that, the oyster mushrooms are ready for the last stage - cultivation. The bags should be carefully transported and laid out in the basement. They are installed vertically at a short distance from each other.

Further successful cultivation depends on the conditions that you create in the basement. Humidity should be between 85% and 95%. To grow mushrooms with a light cap, a temperature of 10 ° C is required, and at higher temperatures (up to 20 ° C), the cap will turn out to be dark. However, these differences do not affect the taste in any way.

The light intensity should be 5 watts per square meter. Mushrooms are watered 1-2 times a day with warm water using sprinklers.

Since mushrooms produce a lot of spores during cultivation, it is best to keep them away from living quarters. High concentrations of spores in the air can cause allergies.

Harvesting

The first mushrooms should be expected in 1.5 months. After removing them, you can wait for a re-harvest in 2-3 weeks. In order for the crop to appear quickly, you need to completely cut off the legs and sort out the substrate. If a block has become moldy, it must be removed from the basement immediately and used as fertilizer. If you do everything right, oyster mushrooms will bear fruit within six months.

Oyster mushrooms can be harvested several times throughout the year.

With the right approach, growing oyster mushrooms in the basement can be considered an additional source of income. The main disadvantage of this way of earning is the need for capital investment. But the numerous pluses clearly outweigh this minus. You will be able to grow a rich harvest that will not depend on the season, and will quickly return all your costs

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 numerous 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. In a dense transparent polyethylene bag, with a volume of 20 to 60 liters, a layer of wet cold substrate is laid. 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.

   How to make a perforation of a mushroom block

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 mycelium completely processed by the substrate 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 a while (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	irrelevant	irrelevant	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 other 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.

Video - Room for forcing mushrooms Oyster mushroom

Video - Harvesting Oyster mushrooms

02 October 2017 1386

You can grow mushrooms at home throughout the year, which gives a stable income 12 months a year. It is not so difficult to create conditions for a home mushroom farm, you just need to have the right information.

Selection and preparation of a room for planting mushrooms

Oyster mushrooms are grown in 2 ways:

• extensive is the cultivation of mushrooms in natural conditions. This method does not require additional investments, but due to the natural process, the harvest will be only once a year;
• intensive - mushrooms are grown in an artificially created environment and bear fruit all year round, but at the same time, large investments are required at the initial stage.

Since business requires year-round fruiting of mushrooms, we will consider an intensive method of growing them. It is worth mentioning that the room for oyster mushrooms can be very different: a garage, a shed, a basement.

The most common place is the basement, because it is quite damp, and this mushroom loves dampness.

To use a room for mushroom equipment, it must meet certain requirements:

• temperature from 10 to 20 ° C without sharp changes;
• the air must have a humidity of up to 90%;
• the presence of an excellent ventilation system;
• cleanliness and complete absence of mold and pests.

Any problem discovered during the preparation phase must be resolved before the main stages of mushroom cultivation start, otherwise the entire crop could be lost. Premises preparation takes place in several stages:

1. Sealing the room and installing the heating system. Usually the floor and walls are insulated in the basement, 1 heater is installed. This is quite enough for heating a small room, and the heater is turned on once a day;
2. Thinking over the humidification system, since due to the rise of groundwater, humidity can increase, then it is worthwhile to think over the issue of humidification in advance;
3. Complete destruction of mold by heating, cleaning and covering the walls with antifungal agents;
4. Pest disinsection;
5. Final cleaning and disinfection of the premises with bleach.

A week should elapse between preparation and placement of the first substrate. In addition, in addition to the basement, another separate warm room will be needed, which will be used for the incubation of oyster mushrooms.

How to grow oyster mushroom mycelium yourself

To grow oyster mushrooms at home, you need only two things: a substrate or soil for the mycelium and mycelium - an oyster mushroom mycelium. Both of these items can be bought, but it will take time and trust in the supplier, because they do not always guarantee quality.

Another way would be to grow grain mycelium in a separate room, after sterilizing all equipment in advance. The whole process can be divided into stages:

1. Cut fresh oyster mushroom in half and cut a piece from its leg (upper part);
2. Place the cut out part of the mushroom in a sterile tube and seal it;
3. Leave the test tubes with spores in a warm dark room for 2-3 weeks (temperature at least 24 degrees);
4. After 3 weeks, start growing grain mycelium;
5. Pour grain into a saucepan, add water and cook for half an hour;
6. After cooking, dry the grain and put it in sterile 3-liter jars;
7. Place all jars in a large pot and sterilize them;
8. Wait for the containers to cool completely and place the spores from the test tube in each of them;
9. Leave the jars in a warm room (20 degrees);
10. As soon as white fluff begins to form in the cans, it means the mycelium has begun to germinate;
11. 2-3 weeks after placing the mycelium in the grains, you can start sowing it into the substrate and growing mushrooms.

Instructions for growing mushrooms step by step

Now we will tell you how to properly grow oyster mushrooms at home. First of all, you should carefully choose suppliers, because the quality of the source material depends on whether there will be a harvest and in what quantity.

For the first time, it will be enough to buy 1 kg of mycelium (as a result, this is 3-4 kg of harvest), having recognized the variety and strain of the fungus, as well as the growing period and mold resistance.

The mycelium should not have green spots inside, its color is bright orange. The shelf life of the purchased mycelium is 2-3 months.

The process of growing oyster mushrooms at home consists of several stages:

1. Processing of material for the substrate: the raw material is placed in a tank, filled with water and boiled for 1.5 hours. Then it is filtered and placed under oppression, where the substrate cools down to 25 ° C, while the container must be with holes so that excess liquid flows down;
2. After all the water has drained off, the substrate bags are placed in a sterile room and the mycelium is placed in the nutrient medium;
3. During the laying of the mycelium, it is necessary to turn off the ventilation so that mold spores do not get into the bags;
4. Before the laying process, the room and the work surface should be disinfected;
5. The laying process is simple: the mycelium and the nutrient medium are mixed on the working surface so that the mycelium is 3-5% of the total amount of the medium in the case of domestic production and up to 2.5% of imported mycelium production. The mixture is tamped tightly into bags of 5 - 15 kg;
6. The bags should be flattened a little on one side and cuts should be made on the other for mushroom germination;
7. Cut the bag with a clean knife at a 45 degree angle. Each incision should be no more than 5 cm;
8. The blocks are placed around the room so that the sides with the cuts face the inside of the room and there is air access to them.

Thanks to the correct design of the premises and the observance of the rules when replanting the mycelium in the nutrient medium, after a couple of weeks it will be possible to harvest oyster mushrooms.

How to form mushroom blocks

The process of placing mycelium in the soil is an extremely capacious process that requires compliance with certain rules and conditions. The mycelium is stored in the refrigerator and 4 hours before transplanting it into the soil, the bags with spores should be taken out and allowed to warm to room temperature. Mushroom blocks are formed in the following way:

1. The substrate temperature should be around 20-24 degrees, and the mycelium should be at room temperature;
2. Hands should be well disinfected and sterile gloves should be worn;
3. All utensils with a tool are also disinfected so that bacteria and fungi do not get into the mycelium;
4. In an enamel or plastic bowl, knead the mycelium to separate grains;
5. Pour the substrate into a plastic bag and add mycelium to it: 300 g of spores per 1 block;
6. Spores are well distributed throughout the block and its layer is well compacted;
7. Pour the substrate to the very top of the bag;
8. You can either arrange the mycelium in layers over the bag, or mix it in advance with the medium on the worktable and then pour it into the bags;
9. Tie all the bags with sweaty twine and arrange them in places;
10. On each bag, on one side facing the room, make 5 cuts 5 cm long;
11. Cut off the corners of the block so moisture can escape unhindered.

This completes the process of forming the mushroom block.It is worth remembering only about the thorough disinfection of the room, hands and devices, as well as about the fact that the components must have room temperature.

Conditions during the incubation period

The incubation of oyster mushrooms takes from 18 to 25 days. All this time, myceliums should not be in the basement, but in a separate dry and warm room. The incubation period is very reverent, therefore, careful observance of all conditions is required:

• the temperature in the room should be constant, without drops and no more than 30 degrees;
• the room should have dim light and sufficient humidity;
• during incubation, there should be no drafts in the room;
• if the temperature rises and is more than 30 degrees, then all myceliums will die;
• cleaning with bleach should be done daily to avoid mold.

As soon as the oyster mushrooms begin to bear fruit, they are moved to the cultivation room.

Fruiting and the nuances of harvesting

The most exciting process is the fruiting process of mushrooms. As soon as the first mushrooms begin to appear, you can calm down - it means that the process of incubation and cultivation went right. Once the bags have been moved in the cultivation room:

• reduce the temperature to 10 ° С;
• turn on the lighting for 8-10 hours daily;
• increase humidity up to 90-95%;
• turn on the ventilation system up to 4 times daily.

Ventilation and humidity issues should be resolved at the stage of preparation of the premises, so that during the cultivation of mushrooms there are no problems with these points. The fruiting time of oyster mushrooms is 10-15 days.

During this time, the rudiments of mushrooms begin to appear, and at the end of this period, full-fledged oyster mushrooms are already on the bags. As soon as the caps become large enough, they can be collected, and it is better not to cut the mushrooms, but to twist them.

Once the crop is harvested, the room should be well ventilated and a second crop should be expected in 14 days. The conditions should remain the same.

Oyster mushrooms bear fruit up to 4 times, but the first two waves of the harvest are the most abundant - up to 75% of the total harvest.

As soon as the bags have stopped bearing fruit, they should be replaced with new ones. The used substrate is perfect for farmers to fertilize the soil.

Possible problems

Like any farming, mushroom farming has its common problems. Usually mushroom pickers meet with:

1. Poor development of mycelium - the reason for this most likely lies either in the poor quality of the mycelium, or in non-compliance with the conditions for maturation. Check the room temperature and remove excess moisture from the bags;
2. Weak pushing of the mycelium - this is due to improper temperature conditions or the presence of infections;
3. Spots on a mushroom block are a process of mold development, which occurs due to improper temperature, poor-quality mycelium. A small infection can be removed and its place filled with salt, but a large lesion will lead to the infection of the entire block and the rest of the myceliums, so such a bag will have to be removed completely;
4. Delayed harvest is caused by improper ventilation and temperature;
5. The appearance of other mushrooms - sometimes a gray dung beetle sprouts before the oyster mushroom harvest. This happens due to a violation of the cultivation technology or poor-quality mycelium;
6. Oyster mushrooms dry out quickly - this indicates insufficient humidity in the room. It should be increased to 90%;
7. Low yield - the reasons for this are very diverse from poor source material to improper care.

Any of the listed problems can be solved by returning and observing the correct technology for growing oyster mushrooms.

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How to grow oyster mushrooms on stumps

Oyster mushroom can be grown at home not only in bags, but also on woody stumps of cedar, larch, aspen or linden.The main condition for fruiting mycelium is clean, not diseased wood. Oyster mushroom has been grown on stumps since the beginning of March in basements.

This method does not require special costs, but you should carefully follow the technology:

1. Prepare larch hemp. Their diameter should be about 200-300 mm, and their length should not be more than 40 cm;
2. If the stumps are dry, they must be well soaked in water, and freshly cut stumps do not require this;
3. Drill holes up to 2 cm in diameter and up to 15 cm in length in the upper honor of the stump (according to the growth of the tree);
4. Make holes on all sides of the stump;
5. Knead the mycelium to separate fractions and fill all holes with 350 g mycelium;
6. Cover the holes with clay or plasticine (cotton wool, wooden chopik);
7. In the basement, dig holes for stumps of 15 cm and place the stumps there;
8. Fill the holes with sawdust or earth;
9. During warmer months, stumps can be placed throughout the garden;
10. Water daily 3 liters of water per 1 square meter;
11. Mushrooms will begin to sprout in 4-5 months, they can already be cut or broken.

Oyster mushrooms on stumps can also bear fruit in the cold season in specially equipped rooms.

And a little more information about growing oyster mushrooms at home can be found in the following video.