wrote on Monday 20 Sep 2004 5:59 pm:

In article . net,
"Claire Petersky" wrote:

I have some older oyster mushrooms that are a little too far gone to eat.
I'd like to cultivate them. When I did a google search on the topic, I
either got instructions that were very complicated, or hits for people
selling kits.

I don't care about sure-fire methods, so having something complex is not
worth it. I need something relatively simple that has a chance of
working, as opposed to excellent chance of working.

Any suggestions or URLs you could recommend?

I'm surprised that google did not turn up our conversation here about
the toilet roll method. ;-)

Take two unbleached toilet paper rolls and seal each one in a plastic
ziplock. Pour enough boiling water over each one to just get it nice and
wet.

Let cool, then puree the mushrooms in a sanitized food processor or
blender, (I used bleach to clean mine) and stuff that into the holes of
the toilet rolls.

Keep sealed and in the dark for 6 weeks, then take them out into the
light and punch some holes in the bags.

I used a similar method to this, only I used an ice chest. I got one
flush from that, but later lost my culture to the heat. I had them out
in the greenhouse. This is better done indoors as they fruit best at
between 70 and 80 degrees.

Warning:- Oyster mushrooms produce a vast quantity of
spores. It is recommended that growing them is *not*
done indoors as inhaling the spores could result in
a nasty fungus infection in your lungs (even producing
mushrooms there!?).


Good luck and keep us posted! :-)

K.

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....Grant we beseech Thee that, ... during our journeys through the
Internet we will ... treat with charity and patience all those souls
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