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Mushrooms have long been transformed from forest inhabitants into cultivated plants, so many gardeners want to learn how to grow oyster mushrooms at home. Why oyster mushrooms? Yes, because they are the most unpretentious and the most productive of cultivated mushrooms. Yield of cherry-wings - about ten kilograms per square meter of area per month, they start to collect only a month and a half after planting. Therefore, it is with these fungi that we need to start.
How to grow oyster mushrooms in the home, where to take mycelium
Any mushrooms grow from mycelium - that is, mycelium, which consists of thin threads of white color. To develop a mycelium can be from mushroom spores caught on a moist substrate or a moist surface under optimal conditions for their growth. In a natural environment, such conditions occur in the forest, where before they collected a mycelium for the cultivation of mushrooms at home. Later, they learned how to excrete mycelium (mycelium) in the laboratory and produce it for sale.
Buy mycelium should be in the profile stores or companies involved in the cultivation of these fungi. The second option is preferable, because the companies engaged in the cultivation of mushrooms professionally, are obliged to change the mycelium every year, and the used ones are sold. Such a mycelium is much cheaper than a new one, although it is quite capable of reproducing fungi.
When acquiring a mycelium, make sure that its color is white, small inclusions of the substrate are allowed. Smell a good mycelium can only forest mushrooms. To begin with, it is enough to buy a kilo of mycelium, it should be stored in the refrigerator.
Buying a ready-made mycelium, a gardener risks getting a poor-quality product, and this will disrupt the whole enterprise. It makes sense to learn how to grow mycelium oyster mushrooms on your own. This is done in this way:
- A fresh healthy mushroom is taken, cut in two, and a piece of cap is separated by tweezers.
- This fragment is treated with hydrogen peroxide for disinfection and placed a tube with crushed grains of wheat or other substrate.
- The closed test tube is left for 14 days in a warm place without drafts and sunlight.
These operations require sterility! Dishes and instruments must be sterilized, substrate contact with the environment is excluded.
If too much spores got into the tube, or the temperature in the room was higher than normal, a mycelial crust might appear, then the operation should be repeated. Also, everything will have to be altered if an odor has appeared and the surface is covered with moisture, which indicates the infection of the substrate with bacteria.
The finished mycelium looks like a white fluffy coating and has the smell of fresh mushrooms.
Preparation of substrate
Unlike other suburban cultures, fungi do not grow in the ground, so for any method of cultivation it is necessary to prepare a substrate for oyster mushrooms at home. Fans who are not serious about preparing the substrate, then disappointed in the venture, not seeing the expected harvest. In fact, it is not difficult to make a normal substrate, it is only necessary to study the rules for its preparation. Often used as a substrate used:
- husk of sunflower seeds;
- straw of wheat, barley, buckwheat and other cereals;
- wood sawdust of hardwoods;
- bran;
- corn tops, reeds.
Each of these materials can be used individually, and can be mixed in any proportion, pre-chopping fragments up to a size of up to 3 cm. It is necessary that the material is dry, free from signs of mold and has no unpleasant odor. For beginners, 10 kg of substrate is sufficient. Prepare it according to the following technology:
- Grinded to the desired size, the mixture is poured with boiling water to destroy the harmful microflora. For greater reliability, some experts recommend this mass to cook for two hours.
- The steamed and mixed substrate is compacted in barrel-type containers and left to swell for 12 hours.
- The swollen mass is spread on the film with a thin layer for cooling.
To check whether the substrate's moisture content is sufficient, you can: squeeze it in your hand. If at the same time water does not drip from it, and a lump holds a shape, then the humidity is normal.
Where is best to grow oyster mushrooms
You can raise mushrooms of oyster mushrooms at home in basements and in greenhouses, barns, chicken coops and other auxiliary premises, provided that necessary conditions are created there.
Suitable conditions for growing oyster mushrooms are as follows:
- humidity not less than 70%;
- air temperature from 20 to 30 degrees;
- excellent ventilation is required;
- artificial lighting.
Further it is necessary to understand how oyster mushrooms grow at home. These conditions are best met by the cellar or cellar of a private house. At the same time the building needs careful preparation and equipping. In the beginning, it is recommended to disinfect: clean from dirt, spray with a solution of sulphate, walls and ceiling, whiten with lime or process with copper sulfate. After processing, all doors and windows are closed for two days, then dried by ventilation.
To control the temperature, a thermometer is required, and humidity is recommended to be maintained by irrigation or using an air humidifier.
If the humidity is high enough, water should not accumulate on the surfaces, otherwise a fungus may appear, which will ruin the yield.
Another important condition is preventing the flying insects from entering the room, so all ventilation openings must be equipped with a mosquito net.
When growing oyster home strong lighting is not required, just one lamp with a capacity of 50 watts or a fluorescent lamp per square meter is enough.
To grow oyster mushrooms, a constant temperature is necessary, so a small heater will be needed in winter.
Cultivation process
Beginners are easiest to learn how to grow oyster mushrooms in bags. In addition to this method, there are others, for example, on stumps, in containers, in glass jars. Over time, there are new options, because the imagination of our summer residents is unlimited. The technology of growing oyster mushrooms at home is suggested to be the most accessible.
The next stage is the preparation of blocks. Blocks are most often polyethylene bags (other capacities are also possible) filled with a compacted mixture of substrate and mycelium. Bags are recommended to be decontaminated in a 1% solution of bleach.
How to plant a mycelium of oyster mushrooms in bags? Sowing of the mycelium is done in a clean room, which is pre-sprayed with hydrogen peroxide, then ventilated. Clothes should also be clean, a hat and gloves are needed. The mycelium is kneaded to separate grains before mixing with the substrate. At the same time, white color disappears, but this need not be afraid - the mycelium will be preserved. Stirring is carried out on a table or in a container.
How much mycelium needs on the bag depends on the size of the bag. The optimum width of the bag is 35 cm, 300 grams of mycelium will go to it. The recommended packing density is from 400 to 500 grams of substrate per liter of bag volume.
After packing, the pack is bandaged - the block for growing mushrooms is ready at home.
Arrange the blocks in the room in various ways, the most convenient - hanging on the ropes, it is also allowed vertical or horizontal installation on the shelves. The main thing is that the bags are installed steadily and could not collapse. In addition, too tight installation of the blocks should be avoided so that air can freely circulate between them.
Stages and modes of cultivation
The incubation period lasts two weeks:
- the growth temperature of oyster mushrooms during this period is maintained in the interval 19-23 ° C;
- the humidity of air should be equal to 90 - 95%;
- lighting at this stage is not necessary;
- to ventilate at this time, too, should not be, because the carbon dioxide emitted by the mushrooms is necessary for them to develop.
After 4 - 5 days, the mycelium should appear as a white cannon. After another 4 days, its color will change to brown, which indicates the ripening of the mycelium. The entire bag is filled with white threads.
At the subsequent stage of growing oyster mushrooms at home, a temperature of 10 to 16 ° and lighting of at least 8 hours per day is needed. In the bags holes are cut for growth in each square. m. one at a time. The diameter of the holes is up to 5 cm.
Further care is the watering of bags with warm water once a day and regular airing. To maintain high humidity in the room, in addition to watering, it is recommended to water the walls and the floor with water from the sprayer.
How many days does oyster mushroom grow? 10 days are passed from the end of the incubation period to the harvesting of the first crop. About the readiness of the veshenok to the collection says some brightening of the hats. After another three weeks, the second fruiting begins, but it is much inferior to the first one.
With all the recommendations for growing chicken in the home, for two periods it is possible to collect up to 45 kg of mushrooms per 100 kg of substrate.
How to grow oyster mushrooms in sawdust
Growing oyster mushrooms in bags with sawdust is a more complicated way, but also more effective. Of great importance is the freshness of sawdust, since pathogens can develop pathogenic microorganisms.
Sawdusts of coniferous trees for the substrate are not suitable.
Sawdust should be dried to a moisture level of 7 - 10%, while they should be light, loose and dry to the touch. Nutrients in the sawdust a little, increase their content is recommended with the addition of beer wort. It can be purchased at a brewery or cooked independently.
Preparation of substrate
Wheat or barley grains washed in running water, fill up some kind of pan-like pan with a layer no thicker than two centimeters. This layer is covered with cold water and left for one and a half days. After that, the liquid is drained, and the swollen grain is covered with cotton cloth. The tissue is kept wet, periodically watering. After two days the grain will sprout. When the sprouts reach a length of up to 8 mm, the grains are dried in the oven at 60 ° C. You can dry and simply distribute the grain on the surface of the table at ordinary temperature.
The dried malt is ground to a consistency of ground coffee. Dilute water at the rate of one part of the powder, five parts of water. This mixture is steamed in a water bath for an hour and a half, stirring occasionally. After steaming, the mixture is filtered through gauze. The resulting wort contains a lot of sugar, rich in vitamins and amino acids.
Run the process
Before filling bags with sawdust, it is necessary to pasteurize them. It is carried out as follows:
- Sawdust laid in a bowl, pour boiling water with a wort at a rate of 200 g per 1 liter of water. Liquids should be three times more than sawdust.
- The dishes are carefully covered and left for 8 - 10 hours. Then the excess liquid is drained off.
Cooled substrate and mycelium layered into bags.
Substrate and mycelium should have the same temperature, so that the mycelium does not fuse.
After 45 days, the bag is opened, making crosswise slits from the sides. After the appearance of the rudiment of the fungi, watering starts and the illumination is switched on for 8 hours a day.
Mushrooms ripe for collection are twisted, leaving hemp. The slots should be sealed with adhesive tape, so that the moisture in the bags does not evaporate, and wait for the appearance of the mycelium. Then comes the second, and then the third wave of fruiting.
Cultivation of the veshenky at home at first glance may seem difficult. But having carefully studied all the recommendations and having performed this procedure for the first time with their consideration, you will receive a most valuable experience. In the future, all actions will become familiar and will not cause difficulties. The resulting harvest will not only benefit and save the family budget, but will also give the opportunity to deservedly be proud of their work.
