Growing oyster mushrooms on straw

In recent years, more and more Russians are fond of growing mushrooms at home. There are many substrates for harvesting. But if you are doing this for the first time, then it is best to use straw. It is, in fact, a universal substrate for fungal mycelium.

With the proper organization of business with straw for oyster mushrooms, you can get about three kilograms of tasty and healthy fruit bodies. We will try to tell you more about how to grow oyster mushrooms on straw.

Why choose oyster mushrooms

Home-grown mushrooms are not only a healthy food product, but also an opportunity to create your own business to make money.

Oyster mushrooms are considered safe and delicious food that can be consumed even by young children. In China and Japan, scientists have been researching the fruiting body and have proven the usefulness of oyster mushrooms in practice.

What is the role of the fungus in maintaining health when eaten regularly:

• blood pressure is normalized;
• problems with the nervous system disappear;
• the risk of developing cancer is reduced;
• the level of lipids in the blood returns to normal;
• the cardiovascular system is strengthened;
• due to the presence of antioxidants, the body ages more slowly;
• oyster mushroom - a sorbent capable of absorbing heavy metals and radionuclides and removing them from the body;
• the level of cholesterol with the constant use of this mushroom is reduced by up to 30%.

Methods for preparing straw for growing oyster mushrooms

If you decide to start growing oyster mushrooms on straw, you need to know the specifics of preparing this substrate. Wheat straw works best.

Pickling

Before sowing the mycelium, the substrate for oyster mushrooms must be soaked, or, as mushroom businessmen say, it must be fermented. The fact is that in an untreated substrate, molds can infect mycelium. To prevent this from happening, the straw is placed in the water for fermentation. During this process, an acidic environment is created in which pathogens and bacteria cannot exist.

Pasteurization process

The straw must be pasteurized to eliminate the presence of harmful bacteria. The process requires a crushed substrate, no more than 10 cm. In small straws, the mycelium forms mycelium and oyster mushroom colonies faster. In addition, it is more convenient to work with such straw.

Soak the straw in water and bring to a boil. Here's how the required substrate is pasteurized:

1. Fill a large container with water halfway, boil and cool to 80 degrees. In the future, this temperature must be maintained during the pasteurization stage. Use a thermometer to know the exact temperature.
2. We place the straw (how much will fit in the container) into the net so that it does not crumble in the water, and put it in the container for 60 minutes. The base for growing oyster mushrooms must be completely covered with water.
3. Then we take out the mesh so that the water is glass and cool to room temperature. After that, you can repopulate the mycelium.

Cold incubation method

This substrate preparation is suitable for mushrooms that grow in cold weather. This method is also suitable for oyster mushrooms.

So, how is incubation carried out:

1. Soak the straw for 60 minutes in cold water, then lay it out to drain, but do not dry it.
2. In a large container, mix with mycelium and put in a bag or other convenient container. If the mycelium is pressed, it must be crushed before planting.
3. Cover the top with a film and put it in a room where the air temperature varies within 1-10 degrees.
4. When the straw is covered with a white bloom, we rearrange the "nurseries" in a warmer room.

With hydrogen peroxide

Despite the fact that this is questionable, it is still used to prepare straw for growing oyster mushrooms. Hydrogen peroxide destroys pathogenic microorganisms, but does not harm the mycelium.

Preparation stages:

• the straw is soaked in water for an hour, then washed twice;
• prepare a solution of peroxide in a ratio of 1: 1 and lay the straw: you need to keep it for several hours;
• then the solution is drained and the future substrate is washed in several waters;
• after that, the mycelium is populated.

other methods

In addition to the above methods, you can steam the straw in a water bath or use dry heat.

We hope everything is clear with a water bath. Let's dwell on the dry preparation method:

1. We set the minimum temperature in the oven, no more than 70-80 degrees.
2. We put the straw in a baking bag and leave for one hour.
3. After that, we soak the future base for settling the mycelium in boiled water. After cooling to room temperature, we populate the oyster mushroom mycelium.

We talked about possible ways to prepare straw for growing oyster mushrooms. Choose the one that best suits your conditions.

What do you need

So, the straw is ready, you can populate it. But before that, you need to prepare everything you need for successful work:

• straw;
• mycelium;
• thick bags made of polyethylene, or other containers that are pre-treated with hydrogen peroxide or alcohol;
• a knitting needle or sharp stick, which is convenient for punching holes;
• elastic band or string for tying the bag.

Put the mycelium mixed with straw into the prepared container and fill the container, but loosely. In the upper part, before tying, squeeze out the air.

After that, we pierce holes in a bag of straw with a step of 10-12 cm: these are the holes for the mushrooms to come out.

We grow the harvest

First stage

As mentioned above, for several weeks bags with straw seeded with mycelium are placed in a cool room. As soon as they turn white and white strings appear, we take them out into a warm room with a temperature of 18-20 degrees.

While the mushrooms are growing, the room is not ventilated, since oyster mushrooms need a high concentration of carbon dioxide and humidity for normal growth. Indoors, you need to carry out wet cleaning with chlorine-containing preparations every day. After 18-25 days, the incubation ends, the growth of oyster mushrooms begins.

The first mushrooms

Straw bags are installed vertically, at some distance from each other, so that air can circulate freely between them. For a month and a half, the humidity should be from 85 to 95 percent, and the temperature should be 10-20 degrees.

The light should not be intense, no more than 5 watts per square meter. It is necessary to irrigate the straw "container" in a dry way, for example, using a spray gun twice a day, on the caps from top to bottom. Airing at this time is a mandatory procedure necessary to dry the caps.

The first fruiting bodies can be harvested after 1.5 months.

For mushrooms ready for picking, the caps are wrapped up, and the diameter of the largest cap should not exceed five centimeters. But this does not stop the fruiting of oyster mushrooms on straw, you can harvest twice more. But on condition that the legs are removed, and the blocks are sorted out. With the correct organization of the case, the straw substrate gives a crop within 6 months.

Useful advice instead of a conclusion

Growing oyster mushrooms on straw at home:

It is important:

1. The water in the bags must not stagnate. Noticing such a phenomenon, make additional drain holes at the bottom. Overdrying the straw is also harmful.
2. If the mycelium in the straw has changed to blue, black or brown instead of white, this is a sign of mold. Growing mushrooms in such a bag is impossible, it must be thrown away.
3. There should be no trash cans near oyster mushroom incubators, as bacteria spoil the mycelium.
4. If you first started growing oyster mushrooms on straw, then do not start a business on a large scale. Let it be one small bag. On it you will test your abilities and desire to grow oyster mushrooms in the future.

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