Oyster mushrooms in a summer cottage, how to grow oyster mushrooms yourself, useful tips
Oyster mushrooms are in high demand among buyers, a huge number of them are sold through the distribution network. But few of the summer residents know that growing oyster mushrooms at home is a troublesome, but quite possible thing. There are several ways to grow this mushroom, they will allow you to get a rich harvest throughout the summer-autumn period, and even year-round. In addition to the method of growing oyster mushrooms natural for oyster mushrooms, there is a technique for growing on straw or a mixture of straw with sawdust.
Content
- Growing oyster mushrooms on stumps video
- Growing oyster mushrooms on the beds
- Intensive method of growing oyster mushrooms throughout the year
- Oyster mushroom diseases and pests
Growing oyster mushrooms on stumps
The easiest way to get oyster mushrooms at home is to grow deciduous trees on stumps obtained by sawing; conifers are not suitable for this. Cereal mycelium is applied to a fresh cut in a couple of centimeters, covered with polyethylene, and sprinkled with earth. The best time for sowing is the beginning of April. For sowing one hemp will require about 100 grams of mycelium. The second method of seeding involves making mycelium in cuts on stumps or holes drilled in them. After making the mycelium, they are closed with sawdust. Slices of hemp are covered with polyethylene and covered with soil.
The process of mushroom development lasts from 3 to 4 months, at the end of September it will be possible to harvest. Before fruiting, from the middle of the month, the soil and the film from the stumps are removed. We should not forget that the growth of mushrooms requires high humidity and a nutrient medium, so several times a week the soil around the stumps should be watered.
Growing oyster mushrooms on the beds
how to prepare a substrate for growing oyster mushrooms
To grow mushrooms of this species, you can use not only hemp or wood chocks - the use of a straw substrate makes it possible to speed up the process of obtaining the crop and even contributes to its increase. In addition, when cooking it there is no need for heat treatment, and the period of possible cultivation of mushrooms in it reaches two years.
To prepare the substrate, you can use a mix of their sawdust and straw, best of all rapeseed, pea, wheat. Use only fully matured and finely chopped straw. It should be borne in mind that to prevent mold infection of mycelium, it is desirable to subject the straw not only to moisture, but also to fermentation without air.
Fermentation of straw is carried out as follows: it is placed in a container with water, pressed down with a load and kept for 2 to 3 weeks, depending on temperature. It is undesirable for the temperature to drop to +10 or drop even lower - the fermentation process will slow down significantly. In the fermentation process, water should be added to the tank as needed.
The fermentation taking place will lead to the creation of an acidic environment that the oyster mushroom mycelium loves and the fungal bacteria tolerate very poorly. After processing, the color of the straw will become lighter, it will acquire a characteristic sour smell.
Next, the straw must be removed from the tub and decomposed in such a way that excess water is removed from the glass, this will take a day. Next, the straw is mixed with sawdust of hardwood, best of all beech, in the proportion: 6 parts of straw to 7 parts of sawdust. Chalk is added to the mixture - 3% of the total weight and urea, not more than 0.5%. Exceeding this amount is not recommended - productivity can be significantly reduced. If alfalfa or pea straw is used, then the addition of ammonium potassium nitrate is allowed, also not more than 0.5%. When using wheat or rapeseed straw, the maximum amount of mineral fertilizers is calculated from the weight of the dry mixture and is not more than 0.8%, urea can be used half as much.
creation of beds for growing mushrooms
Further, the technology for growing oyster mushrooms involves the creation of beds. Lay it in the following way: dig a trench 20 cm deep and 1 m wide, it collects the formwork slightly expanded downward, its dimensions: 30x100x20 cm.The substrate is pressed tightly into the resulting wooden mold, and it is pressed. After removing the mold, a block for oyster mushrooms with an area of \u200b\u200babout 0.3 square meters and a height of 18-20 cm should remain. The blocks are laid in a trench nearby, with an interval of 15 cm. It is covered with soil, but it is impossible to prevent surface contamination of the blocks. Experienced mushroom pickers recommend, in order to increase productivity, lay sections of beech branches 2 cm thick and 7-8 cm in diameter in the top layer of the substrate.
how to lay oyster mushroom mycelium
To begin with, it should be noted that storing oyster mushroom mycelium for a long time is not recommended, it is advisable to buy it no more than a couple of weeks before the planned planting. The laying of the mycelium is made to a depth of 3-4 cm, for laying one square meter of the area of \u200b\u200bthe mycelium it will take from 1 to 2 liters. The pieces to be laid should have the size corresponding to the chicken egg, they should be placed at the same distance. Sown beds are covered with foil, then boards.
The laying of beds is carried out in August, they should be covered until the third decade of September. Next, you will need to remove it, and surround the beds with a structure of boards up to 15 cm high. Direct sunlight should not fall on the beds, for this a canopy is built over them.
The first fruits can be obtained in early October, the duration of fruiting depends on weather conditions. Harvest as oyster mushrooms grow. When fruiting ends, the beds are left in the same condition until spring. The only measure of care may be watering the beds in case of severe drying of the soil.
With the onset of spring or autumn of next year, fruiting may recover, but the productivity of oyster mushrooms will be already lower.
Judging by the results obtained by experienced mushroom pickers, it can be argued that the best option for the substrate is a mixture of rapeseed straw and beech sawdust, it practically does not suffer from the development of molds that impede the development of oyster mushrooms.
Pre-cultivation of mycelium in boxes is considered to be a rather effective measure: they are placed in a room with a controlled temperature, which allows for more complete colonization of the substrate with mycelium. Boxes used for the growth of mycelium should have an area of \u200b\u200b0.5 square meters and a height of 0.2 m. At an indoor temperature of about 22-25 degrees, the process will last from 3 to 4 months. To make the substrate easier to remove from the boxes, their bottom is lined with foil. Blocks of oyster mushrooms after eversion from the boxes are used to form beds of open ground.
Also, for growing oyster mushrooms in the country, you can use bales of straw without adding sawdust, they are subjected to fermentation, then urea and nitrate are added.
This method of growing oyster mushrooms at home is called extensive. There is another, more expensive intensive method of growing in special lighted rooms, the main advantage of which is high productivity.
Intensive method of growing oyster mushrooms throughout the year
In such conditions, it is rational to use a substrate that can be colonized with mycelium for the shortest possible period: wheat straw, corn stalks, bulrushes. In nature, fungi cannot grow on such materials - it is difficult for them to compete with microorganisms and mold. Therefore, it will be necessary to slow down the development of harmful microorganisms by artificial methods:
- by sterilizing the nutrient medium by heating and continuing to grow under sterile conditions - the option is complex, expensive, but reliable;
- by initial sterilization of the substrate and growing under non-sterile conditions - a more affordable option popular with amateurs-mushroom growers.
substrate preparation
It is the second method that can be considered in more detail and used in practice of growing mushrooms in a suburban area. The substrate is prepared from peeled corn cobs and chopped straw, preventing the ingress of rotten material. 2-3% of limestone flour is added to the mixture. Then the substrate is moistened, about 1 liter of water should be used per 1 centner of ground ears. It will be necessary to achieve by mixing uniformly strong moistening of the material - when crushing any sample taken, water should drip.
Next, the substrate is subjected to heat treatment, if possible - steaming. At a temperature of the order of +55 +60 C, it is required to withstand for 12 hours. Small containers can be autoclaved.
If it is not possible to use steam, you can provoke a natural heating of the substrate - it is trampled into boxes, put together in a pile and wrapped in foil for 8 days. Heating of the material can also be carried out in a bathtub with hot water - bags with a substrate are placed in it for 12 hours. In addition to sterilization, heating helps to improve the structure of the material.
sowing mycelium
At the preliminary stage, at a temperature of +16 to +27 C, the prepared nutrient mixture is packaged in boxes or bags, the weight of each container is from 5 to 15 kg. After lowering the temperature of the mixture to +30 C, inoculation is performed, i.e. they are mixed with a substrate of oyster mushroom mycelium or laid out with a thin layer on the surface. There is a possibility of laying lumps of oyster mushroom mycelium in nests. The amount of seeded mycelium is up to 5% of the total mass of the moistened substrate.
If oyster mushroom is grown in plastic bags, then cuts are made in them at a distance of 12-15 cm through which mushroom bodies will come out during fruiting.
preparation period
An important condition for the proper cultivation of oyster mushrooms is to maintain perfect cleanliness in the room. Humidity should be 90%, but wetting the substrate directly is not allowed. The temperature necessary for the development of mycelium is in the range +25 +27 C. If, during measurement, its increase is detected, the room should be well ventilated.
How well the sowing is done will be seen quickly enough, after about 10-12 days, numerous hyphae will appear. Be sure to check the substrate for the presence of moldy areas of a greenish or bluish tint - they must be removed.
After cooling the substrate, the temperature inside the room is lowered to +20 C. Lighting at this stage of cultivation is not required. In the process of ripening of the mushrooms, it will be necessary to maintain the temperature within +22 C, direct watering of the substrate is undesirable. maintain humidity should watering the walls of the room. This period lasts about 3 weeks.
features of oyster mushroom care during fruiting
The coming fruiting period will require:
- convenient location of oyster mushroom blocks,
- maintaining temperature within +16 C,
- humidity of the order of 90-95%
- high-quality ventilation of the room, but without drafts,
- illumination for at least 10 hours a day.
Regarding the lighting, it should be noted that its norm is determined in each particular case separately, the purpose which is being pursued in this case is to obtain a normal fruit body of the fungus, in which the length of the mushroom leg is two times less than the diameter of its cap. The growing mushroom should be illuminated from above, in which case its leg will not stretch too much. Excessive stretching of the leg can be observed in the absence of proper ventilation. You can only place bags with growing oyster mushrooms on the floor or shelves, but do not create multi-story structures - lighting in this case will not work properly.
Experienced mushroom growers recommend to create the so-called. cold blow - lower the temperature to +5 C for a period of 3 to 5 days, then raise to +15 C. The appearance of fruiting bodies can be expected in 10-12 days.
harvesting
Collect oyster mushrooms upon reaching their caps with the optimum size. Oyster mushrooms should be cut with a thin, very sharp knife, stacked in a prepared container. A good crop is considered to be about 25% by weight of the dry substrate by weight. Perfectly maintained growing conditions can lead to a 10% increase in yield.
Since oyster mushroom usually gives up to 75% of the potential yield in the first wave of fruiting, experienced mushroom pickers prefer to start the next growing cycle.
Oyster mushroom diseases and pests
Usually there are no problems with pests or diseases during the first turn; flies or mushroom mosquitoes may appear during re-cultivation.
With poor heating of the nutrient mixture, the appearance of a weed mushroom dung beetle can be observed. His spores do not always die from exposure to elevated ambient temperatures. Every plant that appears that differs from a typical oyster mushroom, for example, the excessive fragility of the stem or the bright separation of the stem and cap, must be destroyed.
Mold damage can cause significant yield losses - to prevent the disease, it is necessary to carry out high-quality processing of the substrate and disinfection of the room before each new tab.
