Oyster mushrooms update, 07-21-04
 

Yay!!!

I went out to the greenhouse this morning to check on plants and stuff,
and looked into the ice chest with my oyster mushroom culture and there
were 2 nice little clusters of mushrooms growing out of the top of the
toilet paper roll! :-) :-) :-)

I am just so thrilled as I've never tried to grow mushrooms before, and
did not buy a grow kit... I started these from scratch using some pureed
fresh oyster mushroom stems and bases.

Many MANY thanks to the person that posted on RGE about the toilet roll
method! I did not use a bag, I used an ice chest instead and even tho' I
don't remember the exact date I planted them, I think it's been 10 to 12
weeks.

They sprouted up literally overnight and I did not go out there until
about noon, so they were looking a little dried and curled due to the
heat, so I picked them and put them into some cold water in the
refrigerator and they plumped right up.

They are not very large but that's ok as the smaller ones are usually
more tender anyway. They will be lightly sauteed in some butter in the
skillet with some steak juice. ;-d

Darn I wish I had a digital camera. :-(

Yay!!!

K.

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Oyster mushrooms update, 07-21-04
 

Katra wrote in message ...

They sprouted up literally overnight and I did not go out there until
about noon, so they were looking a little dried and curled due to the
heat, so I picked them and put them into some cold water in the
refrigerator and they plumped right up.

They are not very large but that's ok as the smaller ones are usually
more tender anyway. They will be lightly sauteed in some butter in the
skillet with some steak juice. ;-d


If oysters do not have enough light, they will stay small. It happened
to me a couple of times. It is probably too late for this fruiting,
but two toilet paper rolls may have another fruiting in them 6 weeks
from now (put them in the shade, with a moisture tent -clear garbage
bag with holes, not touching substrate- around them). After the second
fruiting break the mycelium up and spread it into a larger substrate
(say, 4 gallons of wood chips with some coffee grounds, all boiled)
outdoors in the shade to see if you can get more.

BTW I tried blending some stems and mixed them in a boiled
wheat-sawdust blend. It did not work. I am guessing that the initial
mycelium needs a substrate that is easier to penetrate than boiled
wheat or sawdust. It was also only one cup in one gallon of substrate.
Toilet paper is, I am sure, a lot easier to penetrate, and the ratio
of mushroom to substrate much more favorable. so next time I will
follow your recipe verbatim.

Oyster mushrooms update, 07-21-04
 

In article ,
(simy1) wrote:

Katra wrote in message
...

They sprouted up literally overnight and I did not go out there until
about noon, so they were looking a little dried and curled due to the
heat, so I picked them and put them into some cold water in the
refrigerator and they plumped right up.

They are not very large but that's ok as the smaller ones are usually
more tender anyway. They will be lightly sauteed in some butter in the
skillet with some steak juice. ;-d


If oysters do not have enough light, they will stay small. It happened
to me a couple of times. It is probably too late for this fruiting,
but two toilet paper rolls may have another fruiting in them 6 weeks
from now (put them in the shade, with a moisture tent -clear garbage
bag with holes, not touching substrate- around them). After the second
fruiting break the mycelium up and spread it into a larger substrate
(say, 4 gallons of wood chips with some coffee grounds, all boiled)
outdoors in the shade to see if you can get more.

I'm fixin' to add coffee grounds to the wood shavings that the rolls are
sitting in. :-) I recently purchased Stamet's book on raising culinary
and medicinal mushrooms. LOTS of good advice. seems that oyster
mushrooms are one of his favorites.


BTW I tried blending some stems and mixed them in a boiled
wheat-sawdust blend. It did not work.

Contams?

I need to find hardwood sawdust/shavings! The pine bedding available at
the petshop is clean, but pine seems to be too acidic, so I'm wondering
if adding Calcium carbonate to the current semi-colonized shavings I
have if it'd help. :-)

I am guessing that the initial
mycelium needs a substrate that is easier to penetrate than boiled
wheat or sawdust.

Supposedly, you can start them in sterile grain media in sterile jars,
but I think you'd need to start with a mycelial block off of a PDA agar
plate. You can use a piece of fresh, sterile tissue (cut from the inside
of the cap preferably) and place that onto an agar plate to get a good
strong mycelia start, then just take a block of that and drop it into
the grain jar using sterile technique. Pre-poured fungal agar plates are
pretty cheap. I'm seriously considering getting some and playing around
with larger batches of substrate.

Once that is colonized well, (should not take more than a week), you'd
then mix the colonized grain spawn with hardwood sawdust and some coffee
grounds to provide more nitrogen.


It was also only one cup in one gallon of substrate.
Toilet paper is, I am sure, a lot easier to penetrate, and the ratio
of mushroom to substrate much more favorable. so next time I will
follow your recipe verbatim.

I did use an ice chest instead of a bag. :-)
An enclosed bag would probably be better as it'd keep the bugs out
better. :-P

K.

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