Growing oyster mushrooms in the country
Unpretentious oyster mushrooms do not require careful care and do not require large cash costs, therefore, even inexperienced summer residents use oyster mushrooms in the country.
Growing oyster mushrooms in the country
Suitable premises
To grow oyster mushrooms in a summer cottage, you will need a suitable room: growing them in a heated living room or on a summer cottage loggia is very problematic. The most suitable option is a cellar or basement, where a relatively cool and, most importantly, constant air temperature is maintained.
Before planting mushrooms in a room allocated for this purpose, disinfection is carried out to get rid of possible mold and pathogenic microorganisms. This is done using 1-2 times staining with lime, followed by spraying with bleach, dissolved at a concentration of 4%.
Growing on a substrate
When growing on a substrate, a mixture is prepared, which consists of:
- cereal straw;
- corn cobs;
- sawdust, while coniferous sawdust must be excluded.
All components are crushed so that the particles are not more than 3-8 cm, then pasteurized by keeping in hot water with a temperature of + 70 ... + 80 ° C for 5-8 hours or boiled for 1.5-2 hours. From the cooled substrate drain the water.
The additives introduced into the composition of the substrate allow to accelerate the fruiting process of mushrooms. This is what their percentage of the total mass of the soil looks like:
- bran - up to 10%;
- ground limestone - up to 2%;
- gypsum - up to 2%;
- urea - up to 0.5%;
- superphosphate - up to 0.5%.
Sowing
Sowing mycelium into the substrate mixture can be performed in one of the following ways:
- The substrate is laid out in bags in layers 10-15 cm thick, between which the mycelium is laid out. The layers are not compacted, but they also do not allow the formation of air gaps. The bag is filled to 2/3 of the permissible volume, tied and vertical slits are made on the surface at intervals of 10-15 cm (in a checkerboard pattern). The consumption rate of the mycelium is about 3-5% of the total volume of the used substrate mixture.
- The bags are filled with the substrate (3/4), tied. Vertical cuts are made on the surface, through which the mycelium is laid. The slots are sealed with tape for 7 days, after which it is removed. The consumption rate of the mycelium for each slot is 1 tsp.
Follow-up care
The incubation period is on average 10-15 days. At this time, bags with mycelium are placed in a room with a temperature of + 18 ... + 22 ° C, no lighting is required. The growing white mycelium appears 3-4 days after sowing. It is possible to determine that the mycelium has begun its development by the presence of a white gun on the surface of the soil.
When the temperature regime is exceeded more, i.e. at temperatures higher than + 30 ° C, the mycelium dies.
Temperature is very important for mushrooms.
At the end of the incubation period, bags with sprouted mycelium are transferred to a place where the temperature is maintained at + 10 ... + 15 ° C. For additional lighting, fluorescent lamps are used, creating an artificial daylight hours with a duration of at least 8-10 hours.The required humidity level is 90-95%. When creating optimal care conditions, fruiting occurs after 1.5-2 weeks. The mushrooms are harvested by twisting the bunches out of the substrate. The number of harvests from 1 bag can be up to 4.
Irina Selyutina (Biologist):
Despite the fact that the air humidity in the room where the oyster mushrooms are grown must be maintained at 90%, the bags must be protected from moisture ingress into them (on them). Humidification of the room air is carried out 2 times a day, and in the case of high dry air - up to 5 times, i.e. until the moisture concentration reaches 95%. Attention! The place where you grow the mushrooms should be well ventilated.
To start collecting oyster mushrooms, you need to take into account the size of the caps of the fruit bodies: if in the vast majority of mushrooms the diameter of the caps has already reached 8-10 cm, then you can start cutting off the bunches, because it is these mushrooms that contain a large amount of protein. By the way. Selective cutting of mushrooms is not carried out, because this degrades the yield.
Growing on stumps and chocks
It is also possible to grow oyster mushrooms in the country on tree stumps and chocks. The most suitable tree species for such purposes are deciduous, including apple, maple, alder, acacia, linden.
When growing oyster mushrooms on stumps, they choose healthy wood, free of mold and fungi.
Chocks up to 30-40 cm long with a thickness of 15 cm or more are suitable for planting. They are soaked in clean running water for several days to absorb moisture. Freshly cut wood is not soaked.
In the upper horizontal cut of wooden chocks to a depth of 10-15 cm, holes are made with a drill with a diameter of 1.5-2 cm. Additional holes can be made from the sides.
Sowing
Most often, for growing oyster mushrooms in the country on stumps, self-sprouted grain mycelium is used, which is placed in each hole, then "sealed" with a cotton swab dipped in water or smeared with clay on top.
Sowing mycelium is recommended to be carried out when the air temperature is at least + 10 ° С. For the incubation period, wood chunks are placed in a room where the temperature does not drop below + 15 ° C. As a cotton-like white bloom appears on them - a sprouted mycelium - they are taken out to an open area, choosing as a location the shadow side near a building, a fence or under the crowns of shrubs and trees.
Follow-up care
Caring for oyster mushrooms grown on stumps consists in regularly moistening the soil around the chocks.
Irina Selyutina (Biologist):
Since oyster mushroom belongs to wood destroyers, this property can be used to "eliminate" the hemp of old deciduous trees left after cutting down in the ground. To do this, you just need to place mycelium in these stumps and wait for the mushrooms to "sort out" them.
The number of fruiting seasons on chocks or stumps directly depends on what kind of wood you took as a basis - hard or soft, and the size of the base is also important. The larger the size of the base blank and the harder the wood, the correspondingly more seasons it will serve you.
Fruiting on chocks begins with the full development of the nutritious woody environment by the mycelium, which occurs no earlier than 3-6 months later, however, the mycelium in the wood tolerates wintering well and allows the mushrooms to grow for several years in advance. They are collected by cutting the bunch with a knife under the base.
Conclusion
It is permissible to grow oyster mushrooms in a summer cottage in two main ways: on a substrate or on tree stumps. In the first case, the fruiting process begins much faster: after 2 weeks, but ends in 2-3 months. In the second method, the mycelium is grown, laying it for several years. In case of successful wintering, it bears fruit in subsequent years.
