Growing oyster mushrooms at home

Fans of mushroom pickers are always looking forward to the onset of the summer-autumn mushroom season to please themselves and loved ones with generous gifts of the forest. With the arrival of winter, some are upset that the time for fresh mushrooms is over, while others say with confidence that we will grow a delicious mushroom delicacy at home. Indeed, the cultivation of oyster mushrooms at home, in the country, in the basement is not difficult: the mycelium is able to bear fruit all year round, it is important only to follow the simple rules of their cultivation.
Oyster mushroom mushrooms are very nutritious, unpretentious in care, high-yielding, resistant to diseases, very quickly and actively grow.

When thinking about how to grow oyster mushrooms at home, at the very beginning it is very important to determine the location of the future mycelium. It is possible to grow mushrooms both in the open area in the garden, and in the basements of houses and even in apartments.
Oyster mushrooms in the garden
For growing oyster mushrooms in the garden, old stumps, remnants of linden, poplar, willow or aspen logs are perfect as a substrate. The wood before planting should be well moistened and make small recesses in it. Mycelium is laid in these recesses - a mixture with mushroom spores, after which the place of the closure is closed with moss or wood bark. Small pits are dug up in the ground, wood is laid there with mycelium in place, watered and covered with foil.
If the weather is dry, the logs should be watered from time to time. Such a mushroom place can bear fruit for more than one season, and it does not need any special care, except for timely watering and harvesting.

Growing oyster mushrooms at home (video)
Oyster mushrooms in the basement
The ideal place for the cultivation of oyster mushrooms in the home are basements, they are very easy to maintain the microclimate necessary for these fungi. In the basement, oyster mushroom mushrooms can also be grown in old snags and stumps, or in sacks with a previously prepared substrate of straw, husk, sawdust, grain, or other filler. Here it is important to remember that the substrate must be clean, without foreign smell and traces of mold. Straw should be cut into small pieces 2-4 cm long.

The technology of growing mushrooms in the basement in the wood remains the same as in the open air. But the substrate for the bags must be subjected to heat treatment.
- To do this, straw or sawdust is placed in a container of water, brought to a boil, boiled for several minutes, then removed from the heat, kept in hot water for 3 hours, drained and allowed to cool.
- Then the material is placed in the bag as follows: a layer of substrate 2 cm, a layer of mycelium, then repeat the sequence until the bag is full. Planting material should be no more than 5% relative to the weight of the substrate.
- After a day on the bags in a staggered manner make vertical 5-centimeter slits for the germination of mushrooms.
Sometimes the mushrooms start growing not where the holes are made, then additional cuts should be carefully made on the bags.

In the basement, where the mushrooms will grow, there should not be hot and dry, the optimum temperature is from 18 to 24 °, the humidity should be from 70 to 90%. From time to time, the room should be well ventilated and moistened; water containers may be suitable for this purpose. The first 2 weeks after laying mycelium in the basement should be complete darkness. After the appearance of the first germ of fungi, the dim light should burn in the basement for no more than 8 hours a day.
When harvesting mushrooms, the most important thing is not to miss the right time: today, the oyster mushroom cap may be with a pinhead, and tomorrow it is ready for harvesting. After harvesting the first harvest, the bags are not thrown out, but are waiting for a new growth of the mycelium. Each bag in its short age can produce 4 mushroom waves, after which it is removed and replaced with a new one.

Growing mycelium for planting
In addition to growing the mushrooms themselves, it is necessary to figure out how to grow oyster mushroom in my own home, this will make the cultivation of this mushroom absolutely free, and the necessary planting material will always be at hand. For these purposes, you will need corrugated cardboard, the remains of mushrooms and a small plastic bag. The cardboard should be cut into squares measuring 15 by 15 cm and soaked in water for 20 minutes so that it can be divided into layers.

Next, the corrugated part of the cardboard is laid on the bottom of the package, and pieces of mushrooms are poured on top of it at a distance of several centimeters from each other, on which non-corrugated cardboard is put. Next, the laying process is repeated in several layers until the pyramid pack becomes about 20 cm high. After this, the bag is tied and placed in a warm place for 2 weeks.
When the mycelium covers the whole "pyramid", it is ready. To use it as a planting material, you must remove a piece of cardboard from the package, break it into small pieces and place it in the substrate. If there is traces of mold on the cardboard or there is a bad smell from it, then such a mycelium is not suitable for planting, it must be discarded.
Oyster mushrooms - very tasty and healthy mushrooms. Even beginners, amateurs who take the first steps in home cultivation of mushrooms, can figure out how to grow oyster mushrooms.
With the right place and all climatic conditions, breeding oyster mushrooms will not cause much trouble and can bring a rich harvest.
Oyster mushroom cultivation technology (video)
Gallery: oyster mushrooms at home (15 photos)


























