Oyster mushrooms are one of the simplest varieties of mushrooms to grow at home since they will grow on a wide variety of substrates.
They are most vigorous among the edible mushroom species and can be grown in almost any type of organic material and unlike many fungi, these mushrooms can be cultivated year round.
The oyster mushroom has many advantages as a cultivated mushroom: rapid mycelial growth, high ability for saprophytic colonization, simple and inexpensive cultivation techniques and several kinds of
Species available for cultivation under different climatic conditions.
They can be easily grown at home , All you need to do is choose the correct species of oyster mushroom according to the temperature of your area.
Mycelial growth of all the Pleurotus spp. can take place between 20-30°C. However, for fruiting different species have different temperature requirement. Depending upon the temperature requirement of a species, they can be categorized into two groups -winter or low temperature requiring species (10-20°C) and summer or moderate temperature requiring species (16-30°C). Summer varieties can fructify at low temperature but the winter varieties will not fruity at higher temperatures.
Commercial varieties, which can be cultivated during summer are P. flabellatus, P. sapidus, P. citrinopileatus and P. sajor-caju. Low temperature requiring species are P. ostreatus, P. florida, P. eryngii, P. fossulatus and P. cornucopiae.
Once you have decided which strain you want to grow then the next step is to select your growing medium (Substrate).
Oyster mushrooms can grow in wide varieties of substrate like hardwoods, wood by-products such as sawdust, paper, pulp sludge, all the cereal straws, corn and corn cobs, coffee residues such as coffee grounds, hulls, stalks, and leaves, banana fronds, and waste cotton etc.
If you can grab hey or wheat, paddy straw which are readily available.
The goal of the substrate is to provide a hydrated nutrient-dense food source which is also clean of other micro organisms that would normally compete with the mushroom mycelium.
Straw, cardboard, sawdust pellets and coffee grounds are all easy substrates to use for growing Oyster mushrooms that achieve this goal.
ONCE YOU HAVE SELECTED THE SUBSTRATE , THE NEXT STEP IS PASTURIZATION.
FIRST CLEAN WASH YOUR SUBSTRATE THROUGHLY IN CLEAN WATER .
Next step is pasteurization and preparation of substrate:
Here’s a quick overview of how to prepare each one.
Straw & Cardboard
Straw is the most commonly used Substrate for Oyster mushroom cultivation. It is usually cheap, contains essential nutrients and Oyster mushrooms thrive on it.
Pasteurize by soaking in hot water (65-80C / 149-176 F) for 1-2 hrs, or in a cold water high-pH lime bath for 12-18 hours
Oyster mushrooms loves to grow on straw as they are rich in nutrients for mycilium growth. Straw can be easily pasteurized by boiling. All you need to do is simply cook it for 30 minutes . That's it. Boiling the substrate will decontaminate and pasteurize your substrate enough for mycelium colonization.
Sawdust pellets
The great thing about using these is that they are already pasteurized by the heat & pressure of pellet production process. Add equal weight of water to weight of pellets, soak for 30 mins. And then mix to break up the pellets into hydrated sawdust.
Coffee grounds
Waste coffee grounds – a plentiful (and already pasteurized) resource
Despite a lot of misinformation on the internet, coffee grounds can actually be a pretty good substrate for growing oyster mushrooms.
The key is to only use fresh grounds (within 24 hours of brewing) which are already pasteurized and hydrated by the coffee brewing process.
Beyond 24 hours, competing molds start to develop and will out compete your mycelium.
Ideal as a substrate on it’s own in small amounts.
NEXT STEP IS INNOCULATION
Inoculation is the process of adding your mushroom spawn to your prepared substrate.
How much Spawn do I need?
For wet substrate 5 % OR For dry substrate 10 %
Before you start mixing, clean your hands well with soap and wipe down all surfaces you’re about to work on with a cleaning spray.
Make sure your substrate has the right moisture content. The pasteurization process will probably moisten your substrate to the correct level, but it’s essential to check that your substrate is not too dry or too wet.
Depending on the material, you are aiming for anything between 55% hydration (sawdust and coffee grounds) to 74% (straw). The easiest way to check is with the squeeze test.
Squeeze the substrate slightly in your hand. It should bind into a ball in your hand, and couple drops of water should come out. If more than this occurs, you’ll need to dry your substrate out a bit. If it doesn’t hold together in your hand, it is likely too dry, and you’ll need to add more water.
Next, mix the substrate and mushroom spawn in a container of some sort (large plastic box, barrel, whatever you have to hand) then load the substrate into your growing vessels and close the top with a rubber band, paperclip, tape or tie of some kind.
If you’re not using a filter patch bag, then make a few tiny holes every 10cms around the bag plug it with cotton for air exchange.
Inoculation Instructions
- Clean work surface & mixing container
- Weigh out all materials before mixing
- Mix thoroughly, breaking up any pucks of coffee as you go
- Fill grow bags & seal
· 3kg fresh coffee grounds
· 600g pasteurized straw
· 300g Oyster mushroom spawn
NEXT STEP INCUBATION
It is the step the mycelium spreads through out the substrate , savoring the nutrients in the substrate.
Maintain room temperature of 20-28 °C and soon the colonization shall be complete in 10-14 days.
FINAL STEP FRUITING AND HARVESTING
Once the bag is completely white, it’s time to start fruiting.
Now for the moment you’ve really been waiting for!
After all your efforts, it’s time to reap the reward and harvest some delicious Oyster mushrooms.
Mushrooms grow in the wild in response stress (like running out of food) or to changes in their environment.
You want to replicate this process in your home or garden.
Once the bag is fully colonised (i.e the mycelium is soon going to run out of food) it will now be keen to grow mushrooms in a bid for survival.
All you need to do is provide the optimal conditions for the mushrooms to develop.
Fresh Air
Provide ample fresh air during the fruiting stage . They need high O2 level during this stage.
If the mushroom start growing in trumpet or funnel shape , that is a sign of high CO2 level . Open all the ventilation and provide fresh air for 7-8 hours a day and it will be fine.
Humidity
Spray with water twice a day to keep the substrate hydrated and the environment in which the mushrooms are developing humid. This will encourage the mushrooms to form and stop them from drying out as they develop.
Humidity level of 70-90 % is favorable.
Temperature
Maintain temperature between minimum 15 to maximum 30 °C .
Temperature requirement varies from mushroom strain to strain. Oyster mushrooms comes in several verities and strains . It is recommended to chose the perfect strain according to your climate condition.
You can always choose you perfect strain from our online shop at www.bmmushroom.com
Harvest & Growing More Crops
Once the edge of the caps of the Oyster mushroom starts to flatten out or turn upwards, it’s time to harvest before they begin dropping lots of spores.
This can be difficult to judge the first time around, but you soon get a feel for it.
A couple of tips: if you see them stop growing any bigger, starting to dry out, or dropping lots of white ‘dust’ (spores) then it is time to harvest!
You can either twist them off with your hands and they will come off.
Two days later, after you’ve devoured your leftovers, submerge the mushroom substrate in water overnight to rehydrate, or spray it regularly with water twice a day, then follow all the same instructions as earlier.
Spray twice a day in the same hole you cut out earlier, and 1-2 weeks later you’ll have more mushrooms beginning to emerge.
You can repeat this for a smaller 3rd crop before the substrate starts to run out of available nutrients.
Then you can break up the substrate and add it to your compost or as a mulch/top layer dressing for the soil in your garden.
Next Steps
So, now you have some basic knowledge about growing oyster mushrooms which is sufficient for hobby growing and small scale cultivation at home.
But, for commercial cultivation this knowledge is just a tip of an ice burg. You will need to have far greater in-depth knowledge in mushroom cultivation ,before you embark upon commercial or large scale cultivation .
Unlike any other cultivation, mushroom cultivation needs a little bit more expertise and guidance . Mushrooms are neither plants nor animal . They are fungi. They belong to a distinct and unique kingdom of their own . Understanding the microscopic and macroscopic world of the fungi , their component like mycelium, spore, life cycle and factors effecting their growth, pest and disease management, post harvest management and food processing is very essential for successful commercial cultivation.
At BM mushroom we have trained hundreds of successful mushroom entrepreneurs .
What we have come to understand from our experience is that, there are in total three ultimate essential factors , on which it depends ,if a mushroom cultivator or enterprise will be successful or not.
They are :
1. Scientific-technical knowledge about the
mushroom species they are dealing with.
2. Knowledge in mushroom preservation,
post-harvest management and food processing.
3. Marketing.
First off all , yes it is absolutely true, that mushroom farming is very profitable. Mushrooms are cash crops. They command market value like no other vegetable. They take very less time to grow and neither take huge space or huge capital to start up.
But still, why most of the startups fail ?
Because of lack of knowledge !
The problems they face are several, among them a few are:
Contamination, pest & disease attack, over expenditure in cultivation, wrong cultivation procedure, poor harvest or poor quality harvest, unable to market the products on time, unable to preserve and process etc.
Mushrooms are delicate in nature with very little shelf life of 1 to 2 days, hence just think , what you will do if someday for some reason or other your product remains unsold .
Now think , how advantageous it will for a mushroom grower, who is well trained and prepared to deal with such situation and knows all the nitty-gritty about the mushroom food processing, in-fact it mushroom products likes pickle, noodles, etc, commands even greater market price than the raw one.
Hence we train the cultivators , about the methods and technologies which they can use to extent the shelf life of fresh mushrooms by several days and export the same at distant places.
MARKETING
Last but not the least, marketing. The buck stops here. Even the biggest and best brands, be it in any field , invest their best resources in marketing. Generally , Salary of a marketing manager is always greater than production manager !
It is reflective of how important is marketing for any business.
We at BM mushroom mushroom believe in creating entrepreneurs, imparting marketing skills to each and every cultivator, so that they create their own market.
It is quit easy to say " We will buy your products or we will provide you suppliers" . But that is just a temporary solution and a shortcut which in long run is bound to fail.
Are you going to invest your hard earned money and time, depending upon one single market, person or company ? In todays world , rapid change is the harsh truth and nothing remains same forever. To be a successful entrepreneur it is very essential that you have the skills and ability using which you can carve out your own market.
Hence we invest in long term goal and towards permanent solution of marketing. We use our mushroom expertise and impart you with the marketing skill, secrets and knowledge which will make you absolute confident in your-self, about your ability to market your valuable products with ease and ignite the courage and innovation in you to embark upon successful mushroom cultivation journey.
We can't teach you how to grow rapid rich , by growing mushrooms (Which is absolutely possible) , but we will teach you how to build sustainable long time market for your mushrooms and mushroom products and churn out profit every time.
Isn't it better to have the ability to create your own market ?
Oyster mushroom cultivation is one such niche market, that it commands an astonishing high market value and it is just the beginning. The bull run of demand for mushrooms is just beginning and going to sustain for ages.
The only challenge remains to solve is acute shortage of suppliers and producers. Are you willing to contribute towards this challenge ?
There are two ways to overcome the above mentioned challenges in successful mushroom cultivation:
First way is to just to embark upon the mushroom cultivation journey and invest your time and money and commit hundreds of mistakes , then fail, then rise again and don't stop, just keep repeating the cycle , until you have invested years of efforts and money and then you become successful .
OR THE
Second way:
Learn from us. From the person who have already gone through the first way.
Simple !
Why not Invest on your skill and knowledge first ?
In our mushroom journey , we have committed , not hundred, in fact thousand mistakes and failed several times. Restarted every time, faced hard realities of entrepreneur journey, lost lots of money and time by committing serious mistakes . But the journey and every failure was worth it.
Each failure and experiments taught us some of most valuable lessons and about the deep world of fungi. It taught about new and better approach towards mushroom farming, spawn making and marketing.
We are talking about our mushroom entrepreneur journey and sharing it with you so that you can save your valuable time and money and really start making money ,from mushroom cultivation.
My name is Biprojyoti Bhowmik, I am the founder of BM Mushroom.
I am an ex-engineer and banker. I left my safe and secure job as bank manager in a PSU , to embrace my love & passion towards entrepreneurship and mushroom.
And I am absolutely loving it !
Being an entrepreneur means to be able to empower the needy and contribute towards solving the problems in the world, be it environment, employment or health ,through innovative approach.
Our mushroom training course, will impart you skills and scientific knowledge in fungi and train you in innovative market approach so that you are better prepared towards your successful mushroom cultivation journey.
If you are really passionate about mushroom farming and want to be a successful mushroom entrepreneur , grower or just exploring your passion towards this wonder species called mushroom, I welcome you to join our Scientific Mushroom Training Certification Course.
I guarantee it to you , it is absolutely worth your time and hard earned money.
I am certified Master Trainer at Govt Krishi Vigyan Kendra, in mushroom cultivation .
We have trained and produced hundreds of successful mushroom entrepreneurs all across India through online and offline mode.
Our online course are designed in such a way that students doesn't feel any deficiency or requirement for offline classroom training.
The training course materials and videos are so illustrative and engaging that in our view it is much better than offline training which you cant't even replay.
The engaging course is full of materials , quiz , task and imparts knowledge in an innovative way using the technology that nullifies any physical appearance of student.
Our team consists of experts in Horticulture, Tissue culture and subject matter specialists who are there to guide you at any point or stage ,once you complete the course.
Our cutting edge research, development and marketing work on verities of mushroom species like oyster, button, milky, paddy- straw, shiitake, enoki etc. is an ever going work ,which we will keep on pursuing and sharing with you.
To join the mushroom mastery course visit the training course tab on our websitewww.bmmushroom.com
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