Grow Oyster Mushrooms at Home
Your Grow Kit’s Instructional Guide
The gist of it.
Indirect light. Well-ventilated. 65-75°. High humidity, if possible. Leave it in the box, still wrapped. Cut an X. Mist with water daily. Wait until the edges of the mushrooms start to curl upwards. Twist and pull to harvest. Devour. Continue misting and wait for the second, and hopefully third, flushes. Compost the block.
But enjoy the ride. Learn a little bit. This isn’t a sure thing.
- Select your location.
- Light. Oyster mushrooms aren’t fans of direct sunlight, but they do need some light to grow. A spot with indirect light will mimic their natural growing conditions under the forest canopy.
- Fresh Air. Mushrooms need fresh air to thrive. A well-ventilated area can prevent mold and other nasties from attacking your crop.
Unlike plants, mushrooms consume oxygen and release carbon dioxide like we do!
- Temperature. Room temperature is just fine, oyster mushrooms thrive in the 65-75° range. But too hot or too cold, and they’ll refuse to grow to their potential, if at all.
- Humidity. Mushrooms are about 90% water, so they like a humid environment to grow. You’ll be misting the block regularly, but every little bit helps.
2. Prepare your kit and start the show.
- Inspect. The block should be covered in white mycelium, but make sure there isn’t any green growth anywhere. This is bacterial contamination and will hurt your yield significantly. We will replace it!
- Oxygenate. Cut two slits, each about 2.5" in length, into an X-shape on one face of the bag of substrate. Make sure your blade is clean and sharp. 70% isopropyl is the disinfectant of choice. It's ok to cut into the block itself, but try to minimize it.
- The substrate block is made entirely of organic materials, in this case sawdust and agricultural roughage, inoculated with mushroom mycelium. (my-SEE-lee-uhm)
- The mycelium is the main vegetative body of the fungus. It is a mass of filaments that absorb the required nutrients, water, and minerals from the environment around it. The mushrooms we know and love are the fruiting bodies of the fungus, which grow out of the substrate where we can harvest them.
You can think of mycelium as the roots and
the mushroom as the flower of the fungus.
The change in conditions brought on by exposing the substrate to fresh air initiates the processes for forming the fruiting bodies. (Mushrooms!)
3. Keep the humidity up.
- Hydrate. Use a spray bottle filled with clean water to mist the cut you made at least once a day. You want the substrate block to remain moist but not soggy.
- ...Selectively. Once you begin to see growth, it's important to limit the accumulation of water on the mushrooms themselves. That increases the risk of mold and other contaminants. It's the substrate we want to water, not the mushrooms.
- Keep an eye on them. They might surprise you with how quickly the mushrooms maturate once the fruiting stage begins. Your daily misting gives a great opportunity to observe the changes.
- Twist and pull. Just as they begin to curl is when you want to harvest them. Put your hands around the entire cluster—near the substrate block itself—and give the whole thing a gentle twist... and pull. It should separate from the block without too much resistance or substrate left attached. Remember, it's just a bit of organic material. A little knife work to remove it and you’re ready to cook.
4. Harvest at their peak.
Oyster mushrooms are at their peak just as their edges begin to curl upwards.
5. Devour the goods.
- Keep it simple. Before committing them all to one recipe, you should taste the fruits of your labor. Try a few browned nicely in a heavy skillet using the fat of your choice. Salt and pepper—garlic and fresh thyme if you're feeling fancy.
- Storage. If you're not using them right away, store your mushrooms in a paper bag in the fridge until you're ready. But, the sooner you use them the better they'll be.
6. Keep going for more.
- You will be rewarded. Mushrooms can produce more than one crop from the same block of substrate if you maintain the favorable conditions and mist daily. Each subsequent crop will be smaller as the nutrients in the substrate are consumed, but there will be three flushes of edible mushrooms if you're lucky.
7. Compost the block when it’s done.
- Spent mushroom substrate is fantastic compost feedstock. It’s entirely organic, excellent for water retention, and teaming with microscopic life. You might even get mushrooms to pop up where you use it!
Take pictures of your results and be sure to tag us!
@funguyfarmsdallas
