Content
- 1 Description of oyster mushroom
- 2 A little about the history of mushroom growing
- 3 What you need to grow oyster mushrooms in the country
- 4 What kind of oyster mushrooms can be grown in a summer cottage?
- 5 What should high-quality mycelium look like?
- 6 Stages of growing oyster mushrooms
- 7 Conclusion
Summer and autumn are busy times for avid mushroom pickers. The forest beckons with a scattering of mushrooms. Boletus mushrooms, butter mushrooms, boletuses, boletuses, milk mushrooms and honey mushrooms just beg to be added to the basket. It is a great success for a mushroom picker to find a family of oyster mushrooms - very useful mushrooms for humans. You can no longer leave the forest with an empty basket. But you don’t have to go to the forest to pick these mushrooms. It is very easy to grow oyster mushrooms in the country.
Description of oyster mushroom
This lamellar mushroom belongs to the pleurotaceae or oyster mushroom family, which is very numerous - about 100 species. All of these fungi, with rare exceptions, grow on dead or dying wood because they feed on cellulose. Oyster mushrooms can often be found on tree stumps. Mushrooms are saprophytes; they do not require symbiosis with tree roots.
The cap of oyster mushrooms is shaped like an ear; in adult mushrooms it can reach a diameter of up to 30 cm. The stem is short, sometimes it is not there at all - the mushroom is attached to the tree directly by the cap.The color of the plates and pulp is white. Mushroom caps are colored differently. In the oyster mushroom they are dark brown, in the late oyster mushroom they are lighter, and in the pulmonary oyster mushroom they are very light. There are very elegant oyster mushrooms with lemon yellow, bright pink and orange colored caps. The photo shows an oyster mushroom growing wild in the Far East.
Not all types of these mushrooms are suitable for home or industrial cultivation.
A little about the history of mushroom growing
People have been trying to grow mushrooms artificially for centuries. First experiments on growing oyster mushrooms date back to the 40s of the last century. They turned out to be successful. In the 60s, this mushroom began to be grown industrially. Oyster mushroom production is increasing every year. Now in Russia they are harvesting a considerable harvest of artificially grown oyster mushrooms - 3.8 thousand tons.
Anyone can grow oyster mushrooms at home. You can do this at your own summer cottage. Oyster mushrooms in the country can be grown on stumps or on an artificial substrate.
What you need to grow oyster mushrooms in the country
This requires very little:
- healthy hardwood;
- mushroom mycelium.
What kind of oyster mushrooms can be grown in a summer cottage?
Initially, naturally occurring oyster mushrooms or oyster mushrooms were grown. Thanks to the efforts of scientists, special hybrids of these mushrooms have been developed that are characterized by higher yields. They are better suited for growing in artificial conditions.
These mushrooms grow well both on artificial substrate and on stumps.
If you are going to grow mushrooms in a small volume, it is better to buy ready-made mycelium. When starting a large plantation, it is more economical to grow it yourself. Unfortunately, manufacturers do not always sell high-quality mushroom mycelium.Therefore, there is a risk of wasting money and labor and ultimately being left without a harvest.
What should high-quality mycelium look like?
The color of the mycelium should be white or light cream. The only exception is oyster mushrooms with brightly colored caps. Their mycelium may be a different color. The contents of the package must not include unhealed stains. They say that the mycelium is weak. It is clear that such mycelium will not produce a good harvest.
They indicate that it is infected with mold. A mushroom harvest cannot be obtained from such mycelium, and the seeded woody material will become unusable.
Often, bags with mycelium are equipped with a special gas exchange filter, which not only improves its quality, but also allows you to control the smell of the product. It should be intensely mushroomy and under no circumstances sour.
Recently, special wood sticks overgrown with mycelium have been increasingly sold. There are also criteria to check their quality. The sticks in the bag should be a single whole due to the white threads of the mycelium completely entangling them. The color of the mycelium is white, without green or gray inclusions. The smell is rich mushroom.
How to grow oyster mushrooms in the country on tree stumps? This process is simple. Let's take a closer look at it.
Stages of growing oyster mushrooms
To get a good harvest when growing oyster mushrooms in the country, you need to plant the mycelium on time already in the year of planting.
Landing dates
All operations for growing mushrooms should be carried out in April or May, or, as a last resort, in early June. During the summer, the mycelium will have time to take root well and grow.
Selecting a location
Any piece of free space in the garden is suitable for planting a mushroom plantation. But it must meet certain conditions. For growing you need to choose a shaded place. Without access to direct sunlight, moisture in wood is retained much better. This will not only increase the yield of the plantation, but will also reduce labor costs - it will be possible to water the wood less often. If there is an excess of carbon dioxide, mushrooms will not grow well. Therefore, you should not grow mushrooms next to rotted manure or compost heaps - there is always an increased concentration of carbon dioxide there. The place where the mushrooms will grow must be well ventilated.
Wood preparation
If you have stumps from recently felled hardwood trees on your property, you're in luck. Mushrooms grow very well on such stumps. If they are not there, you will have to take care of suitable wood. The diameter of the log should not be less than 18 cm and no more than 40. The wood should be fairly fresh. Trees that have been cut down for a long time are not suitable. The logs should be cut into lengths of about 40 cm.
The side surface of each prepared log needs to be covered with holes into which the mushroom planting material will be placed. They are made up to 10 cm deep and up to 1.5 cm in diameter. They are located at a distance of 12 to 15 cm from each other.
Prepared log trims need to be soaked. Soft well or rain water is suitable for this. Soaking time is 2-3 days.
Installing logs and planting mycelium
At the selected location, we dig holes about 20 cm deep. Their diameter should be slightly larger than the diameter of the logs being dug in. The distance between the logs should be at least a third of a meter. Place a layer of moistened material in the hole. Sawdust, straw, and shavings are best suited. It should not be thick, 1.5 cm is enough. Add a layer of mushroom mycelium. Its thickness is 1 cm. We place logs on it.
The drilled holes also need to be filled with mycelium or wood sticks with mycelium inserted there.
After placing the mycelium in it, each hole must be closed with raw sawdust or sealed with wax. This is necessary so that moisture does not evaporate from them. We also close the top cut of the wood.
Add soil and compact it. We cover each log separately or all together with clean perforated plastic film. It needs to be pressed well so that it does not blow away with the wind. It can be removed after 3 weeks.
In conditions of constant humidity, the mycelium will take root faster, and the mushroom harvest can be harvested earlier.
Plantation care
You need to make sure that the ground next to the logs is moist. If necessary, water. If the weather is dry, watering should be done up to 3 times a week.
When to expect the harvest
If everything is done correctly, mushrooms can be collected already in the first year, starting in September. Plantings bear fruit for 3-4 years. Mushrooms appear in waves.
Conclusion
Mushroom growing is a fascinating activity and a tangible help to the family budget. If you decide to grow mushrooms in your summer cottage, it’s better to start with oyster mushrooms. A simple technology that requires a minimum of material costs, and a guaranteed result if you follow all the rules of planting and care, will allow you to enjoy delicious and healthy dishes from mushrooms grown by yourself.
