There is a way to grow oyster mushrooms on straw bales. Initially, the straw must be soaked.

Why is this being done? The fact is that oyster mushroom mycelium is very sensitive and grafting the mycelium in classical cultivation on straw bales (even if it is of perfect quality), i.e. simply by pouring water, mycelium damage by mold fungi is possible. To deal with this, we developed new way: a bale of straw is subjected to anaerobic fermentation, similar to how it happens when sauerkraut. During fermentation, microorganisms create an acidic environment. In this environment, unwanted fungi and bacteria cannot exist, but this does not apply to oyster mushrooms. Its mycelium can spread in fermented (fermented) straw, dominating competing organisms.

For this method, any straw of cereal crops is used: winter and spring wheat, barley, oats, rice. The main thing is that it should not be treated with antifungal agents or herbicides.

So, it is important to initially decide what type of mushrooms you want to grow: gray-blue oyster mushrooms, with dense pulp or light brown, more tender. It is also important to plan the timing of the harvest. best time bookmarks of mycelium of summer oyster mushroom - May and June, winter - from July to September.

Straw fermentation process

To obtain straw that does not contain unnecessary microorganisms, we subject the bale to a fermentation procedure before grafting. Then it is completely immersed in water for several weeks. Do not allow the bale to come into contact with oxygen. Therefore, it is necessary to use a large container (a rainwater barrel or an old bathtub). To prevent the straw from floating up, install the weight.

Building a container

Under the container, you can build a large box, which is lined with a strong plastic film or wrap a bale of straw in a fairly thick (at least 0.2 mm) film.

You will need a rectangular piece of film with a length of at least 2.5 m. The bale is laid on straw and all four corners are folded at the top. To fill the briquette with water and allow the gases formed during fermentation to escape, a hole must be left on top.

You can, for example, pull the corners of the film around a short and wide plastic tube. Tie the whole structure thoroughly and firmly so that the water pressure does not separate the ends of the film.

Additional stability of this temporary container can be given by wrapping it several times with adhesive tape (scotch tape). Now you can fill the "design" with water from the hose.

Whatever container you use, it is important that the bale is always covered with water. It must be checked regularly, and if necessary, immediately add water.

Straw fermentation process

How quickly the fermentation process ends depends on the temperature. At an average temperature (about 20 ° C) it will pass in 2 weeks, at 15 ° C it will last a week longer, and at 10 ° C it will go with great difficulty. Of course, straw can also be fermented in the cool season if the container is installed in a room with a constant temperature.

In summer, a semi-shaded spot in the garden is ideal. In a bale that has been in the water for a long time, the straw acquires a light yellow color and has a sour smell.

Now it is necessary to let the water drain, for about a day, and then inoculate the mycelium.

Cultivation of oyster mushrooms. Mycelium grafting

It should be noted that in this method it is not worth using oyster mushroom mycelium grown on straw, as it grows poorly. It is better to take a planting mycelium grown on wheat grains.

They planted a mushroom picker, wrapped it in foil, pierced it with pitchforks

To inoculate the mycelium, it is necessary to make holes (15-20 cm deep) on the upper and side surfaces of the bale with a sharp peg. Then, in these holes, add seed (2-3 tablespoons of planting mycelium). Cover holes with straw. At the same time, it is necessary to maintain cleanliness and disturb the sensitive mycelium as little as possible. The remaining grains are scattered over the straw.

Freshly grafted bales are wrapped in plastic wrap, in which about two dozen holes are made with a fork.

During the growth of oyster mushrooms, the film prevents ventilation, as a result of which the content of carbon dioxide released by the mycelium increases, and in this environment the fungi develop better. In addition, the film protects the bale from rain and prevents rapid drying.

Temperature regime

In order for mycelium to grow rapidly in straw, the temperature should not be below 15 ° C. It is better if it is from 20 to 25 ° C. However, the temperature in the straw bale must not exceed 30°C, otherwise the mycelium will die. In a shady place, the bale is unlikely to get so hot.

The temperature can be controlled with a thermometer. If necessary, you can remove the film for a while until the temperature is below 30°C. Depending on the temperature, after 3-5 weeks, a bale of straw is overgrown with oyster mushroom mycelium.

Ripening and harvesting

Now the bale must be moved to its permanent place. Or you can leave it here. The film must be removed. In prolonged rainy weather, you can cover the bale with perforated film or build a simple canopy. In dry weather, the surface of the straw must be constantly slightly moistened, otherwise small mushrooms may dry out. No more than 1 liter of water is poured onto a bale of straw at a time.

Depending on the weather and temperature, the first small fungi appear after 2-3 weeks. It takes about 10 days for them to reach harvest maturity. It is best to pick mushrooms when the edges of their caps take a horizontal position. Most often, oyster mushrooms grow in bushes.

When most of the specimens are ripe, the entire bush is carefully torn off. Over the next 2-3 months, if the temperature remains suitable for this type of mushroom, several waves of oyster mushrooms follow.

The culture of oyster mushroom is quite frost-resistant. In greenhouses, winter oyster mushroom can bear fruit through December, without requiring heating.

The exhausted bale of straw crumbles. Such straw can be used in the garden for loosening the soil. From one bale of straw you can get 4-5 kg ​​of mushrooms.

Possible mistakes when growing oyster mushrooms

Growing oyster mushrooms can end in complete failure if a bale of hay is flooded with water.

Long rains are also a cause of failure if the bale is not well protected.

If instead of white mycelium you find green, red or yellow threads, then molds have settled here. The reason may be insufficient cleanliness of work, contaminated straw, improper fermentation or sterilization. Severely affected substrate must be destroyed.

When growing oyster mushrooms on hay bales, hay dung beetles may appear first, but oyster mushroom mycelium usually overcomes them.

Oyster mushrooms hardly suffer from worms, unless they are allowed to overripe.

Slugs are a great danger: they can destroy small mushrooms overnight with almost no residue. Therefore, the place where the bales are located must be enclosed in the form of a ring of wood ash or small sawdust. good service can serve well-known "beer traps".

Mice love planting mycelium and deftly pull out delicious grains with mycelium from freshly grafted bales of straw. So it is necessary to put mousetraps in a timely manner.

If indoor oyster mushrooms have disproportionately long legs, there is a lack of air or light - perhaps both.

Subscribe

Straw bales, of course, can be watered in the same way as it is done when growing stropharia, and then grafted with oyster mushroom mycelium.

However, its mycelium is more sensitive than the mycelium of the ringworm. Even if the straw is of perfect quality, the application of this simplest method may well lead to the defeat of the mycelium by mold fungi.

To cope with this, they developed a new method: a bale of straw is subjected to anaerobic fermentation, similar to what happens when sauerkraut is fermented.

During fermentation, microorganisms create an acidic environment. In this environment, unwanted fungi and bacteria cannot exist, but this does not apply to oyster mushrooms.

Its mycelium can spread in fermented straw, dominating competing organisms.

As already mentioned in the section on stropharia. only straw that has not been treated with antifungal agents or Roundup herbicide should be used.

Unlike stropharia, you cannot buy oyster mushroom grown on straw, as it grows poorly. As a rule, planting oyster mushroom mycelium is grown on wheat grains.

One package usually contains 2 liters of mycelium, about 1 liter is required per bale of straw (1 liter of planting mycelium weighs approximately 650 g). Oyster mushroom mushroom in the refrigerator is stored for a short time. At a temperature of 2-4 * C, it will last from 3 to 4 weeks.

So it is advisable to purchase it no earlier than 2 weeks before the planned inoculation, and first of all check its quality. Oyster mushroom mycelium usually coalesces into dense lumps. Shortly before vaccination, the lump must be divided into pieces of a suitable size, if possible without touching the delicate mycelium with your hands. It is best to do this in a closed package.

Before purchasing a mycelium, you need to decide what type of oyster mushroom you want to grow. The choice may be determined by external criteria, for example, whether you like blue-gray mushrooms with dense flesh or light brown, more tender ones.

You also need to think about when it is more convenient for you to harvest: in summer, winter, or almost all year round? In the latter case, there are also two possibilities: either to grow a year-round crop, or to deal with both summer and winter varieties.

The best time for laying mycelium of summer oyster mushroom is May and June, winter - from July to September. Year-round species can be planted from spring to autumn. For better growth oyster mushrooms require more moisture than stropharia. Therefore, it is necessary to find a place for her in the shade.

Straw preparation

In order to obtain as far as possible a microorganism-free straw, the bale must be fermented before grafting. To do this, the bale must be completely immersed in water for several weeks. Do not allow it to come into contact with oxygen. T

o there will need a fairly deep container, for example, a rain barrel or an old bathtub. A dry bale of straw may float. To prevent this from happening, you need a load.

If there is no suitable container, you can build a fairly large box, which is lined with a strong plastic wrap. If there is neither a ready-made container nor a home-made box, you can wrap a bale of straw in a fairly thick (at least 0.2 mm) film for fermentation.

You will need a rectangular piece of film with a length of at least 2.5 m. The bale is laid on straw and all four corners are folded at the top. To fill the briquette with water and allow the gases formed during fermentation to escape, a hole must be left on top.

You can, for example, pull the corners of the film (foil) around a short and wide plastic tube. The entire structure must be thoroughly and firmly tied so that the water pressure does not separate the ends of the film.

Additional stability can be given to this temporary container by wrapping it several times with adhesive tape. Now you can fill it with a hose.

Whichever container you use, it is important, as already mentioned, that the bale is always covered with water. It must be checked regularly and, if necessary, immediately topped up with water. How quickly the fermentation process ends depends on the temperature.

At an average temperature of about 20 * C, it will pass in 2 weeks, at 15 * C it will last a week longer, and at 10 * C it will go with great difficulty. Of course, straw can also be fermented in the cool season if the container is installed in a room with a constant temperature.

In summer, a semi-shaded spot in the garden is ideal. In a bale that has been in water for a long time, the straw acquires a light yellow color and has a sour smell. Now it is necessary to let the water drain, for about a day, and then it will be possible to inoculate the mycelium.

Inoculation, germination phase

Vaccination is carried out in the same way as for ringworms. For each hole, you will need 2-3 tablespoons of planting mycelium. At this stage, it is also necessary to keep cleanliness and disturb the sensitive oyster mushroom mycelium as little as possible. The remaining grains are scattered over the straw.

Freshly grafted straw bales are wrapped in polyethylene film, in which, for example, about 2 dozen holes are made using a pitchfork.

Oyster mushroom differs from stropharia in another characteristic feature: with its growth, the CO2 content increases. The film prevents ventilation, as a result of which the CO2 released by the mycelium does not evaporate immediately.

In addition, the film protects the bale from rain and prevents rapid drying. In order for mycelium to grow rapidly in straw, the temperature should not be lower than 15 * C. It is better if it is from 20 to 25 * C, however, the temperature in a bale of straw should not exceed 30 * C, otherwise the mycelium will die. In a shady place, the bale is unlikely to get so hot.

In semi-shaded - you can control the temperature with a thermometer, if necessary, remove the film for a while until the temperature drops below 30 "C. Depending on the temperature, after 3-5 weeks, a bale of straw is overgrown with oyster mushroom mycelium.

The bale must now be moved to its final location. The film must be removed, otherwise CO2 causes deformation of the fruiting bodies. With a slight lack of fresh air, oyster mushrooms grow with long legs and funnel-shaped hats.

At high concentrations of CO2, only white growths often form. Therefore, in prolonged rainy weather, it is better to cover the bale with perforated film.

But you can also build a simple canopy. In dry weather, the surface of the straw must be constantly slightly moistened, otherwise small mushrooms may dry out. No more than 1 liter of water is poured onto a bale of straw at a time.

Ripening, harvesting

Depending on the weather and temperature, the first small fungi appear after 2-3 weeks. It takes about 10 days for them to reach harvest maturity.

It is best to pick mushrooms when the edges of their caps take a horizontal position. More often, oyster mushrooms grow in bushes, the fruiting bodies of individual mushrooms are connected to each other on the common base of the stem.

It makes no sense to separate larger mushrooms, because small ones can die because of this. When most of the specimens are ripe, the entire bush is carefully torn off. Over the next 2-3 months, if the temperature remains suitable for this type of mushroom, several waves of oyster mushrooms follow. On bales grafted in autumn, mushrooms often begin to appear only next year.

The culture of oyster mushroom is quite frost-resistant. In greenhouses, winter oyster mushroom can bear fruit through December, without requiring heating.

The exhausted bale of straw crumbles. Such straw can be used in lard for loosening the soil. From one bale of straw, you can expect to get 4-5 kg ​​of mushrooms.

Causes of possible failures when growing oyster mushrooms

Growing oyster mushrooms can end in complete failure if a bale of hay is flooded with water. Long rains are also a cause of failure if the bale is not properly protected. If instead of white mycelium you find green, red or yellow threads, then molds have settled here.

The reason may be insufficient cleanliness of work, contaminated straw, improper fermentation or sterilization. Severely affected substrate must be destroyed.

When growing oyster mushrooms on hay bales, as in the case of ringworms, dung beetles or peppers may appear first, but oyster mushroom mycelium usually overcomes them. Oyster mushrooms hardly suffer from worms, unless they are allowed to overripe.

Slugs pose a great danger: they can destroy small mushrooms almost without a trace overnight, and mushroom growers will then wonder why mushrooms do not want to appear from a well-grown mycelium.

From snails and slugs, the measures already mentioned in the description of methods for growing ringworm help. Mice love planting mycelium and deftly pull out delicious grains with mycelium from freshly grafted bales of straw. So if necessary, it is necessary to put mousetraps in a timely manner.

If indoor oyster mushrooms have disproportionately long legs, there is a lack of air or light - perhaps both.

Reuse and disposal of oyster mushroom blocks is very diverse. Throwing them in a landfill is the worst option. Left in the film, they rot, midges and larvae start up in them. But polyethylene does not rot. The result is a mess that pollutes the environment.

Here are the main processing methods:

Fertilizers from waste blocks.

If you want to earn extra, master the production of vermicompost.

Biohumus is a high-quality natural top dressing. Suitable for all types of cultivated crops, improves soil structure and increases the content of nutrients - exactly those that plants need, but are not processed by oyster mushrooms.

The easiest option is to dig several holes in order to gradually fill and empty them. Depending on the volume of biomass, determine the parameters of the recess and throw off the mining without a film there, tamping it not too tightly.

Periodically, the mass is watered, the wet is converted into fertilizer faster. If you have hydrothermia, use water after steaming vegetable raw materials. If you add lime to the raw material for steaming, check the alkalinity of the drained liquid. Perhaps in your region the soil is already calcareous, then it is better not to use this water.

It is advisable to cover the pit from above with polyethylene or tarpaulin so that the top layer does not dry out. The compost is overripe and decomposed by soil microorganisms and worms. Six months later, bio-fertilizer will be obtained. Straw in this case splits up to a homogeneous greasy brown substance similar to humus to the touch. The husk is worse, cow, goat or horse manure, chicken droppings are added in layers to it. You can also make slurry from the litter and periodically water the pits from above.

During decay, the mass warms up and even if there was some kind of infection, it will disappear.

You can take up the production of biohumus seriously: with the help of prospector worms, accustomed to processing the plant mixture. To do this, heaps are poured with slurry from chicken manure and previously obtained humus.

This is a more expensive method, but it also gives more profit: in addition to biohumus, families of worms can be obtained and sold. A business needs warm rooms to keep the worms from freezing in winter, and adherence to certain composting rules. As a rule, firms selling worms advise on the technology of compost production and keeping worms.

Mulch from oyster mushroom blocks

In addition to fertilizers, waste material is used as mulch under trees and shrubs. Free from polyethylene and dry the mass, and then spread it under plants or between rows. When dried, microorganisms, molds (which love a humid environment) and mycelium die, so oyster mushrooms will not grow from dried straw or husks laid out in the garden. In the future, when watering, the mulch will get wet and gradually rot, but soil microorganisms multiply there, which do not pose a danger to plants. They process the mushroom protein and cellulose of the plant residue of the husk or straw, thereby improving the structure and fertility of the soil. This mulch is suitable for all types of plants.

pet food

As a feed, working off oyster mushrooms is not realistic to use. If the mixture is straw, then of course you can try. There are authors who claim that there is a lot of protein in such waste. But we must take into account that this is a mushroom protein, and in order for the animals to eat such food, they must be accustomed to it from childhood. In any case, this mixture should take up no more than 10% of the diet and be absolutely white, without traces of green or black mold, without signs of decay.

Will chickens peck at waste? Most likely - yes, they like to shovel garbage. Perhaps they will find larvae, the remains of grains, some pebbles. But it is impossible to consider the spent substrate as significant in the bird's diet.

Harvest oyster mushrooms from old bags

If everything is piled up at the enterprise, then in the spring we see such a picture, beautiful fleshy druze, photo on the right.

After freezing, the mycelium is activated - if the nutrients in the straw or husk are still left, then new hyphae will necessarily germinate to the perforations and fruiting begins.

Outdoor grown oyster mushrooms are heavy and fleshy. The clusters contain 5-6 mushrooms, but the diameter of the caps is larger than when grown indoors. Young dense mushrooms can be 10-15 cm in size. Regardless of the strain, the color of the cap is light - a shade of coffee with milk, if there is a lot of sun. And dark brown, sometimes with a gray tint, if the growth fell on cloudy days.

If the briquettes are heavy, firmly knocked down and white inside, then they are placed in the shade and watered around the earth - they will certainly still bear fruit.

If the contents of the bags are loose but not dehydrated, try to resuscitate them:

untie the bag, squeeze the substrate - as if tamping it down. Then squeeze out the air, collecting the loose film in the "tail" and tie it with a rope.

The package will then be of a smaller height, more compact, and will give another 200-300 grams of crop.

Mushroom briquettes as fuel

If after two or three harvests the substrate is dry and light, it can be dried and used as fuel. It is desirable to dry under a canopy, since even in the summer after the rain, all the drying work goes down the drain. It is better to remove the film from the briquettes during drying, but if the contents fall apart, then the polyethylene should be cut lengthwise in five to six places, for better weathering. By themselves, dry straw and husks do not burn very well, first you need to melt and warm the boiler with firewood, then throw in dried briquettes. I had a 65 kW solid fuel boiler. We threw 3-4 straw blocks at the same time on hot coals from firewood, and more firewood was laid on top. Half an hour later, the same components were again thrown in, in the same proportion.

The disadvantage is that it often needs to be thrown up, it burns out quickly, there is a lot of soot. A couple of times in the middle of winter they chose warm days, stopped the boiler and cleaned it of soot. I think this is a mushroom protein and organic compounds of straw, not completely burning down, give such a resinous soot. They cleaned it with iron stacks, like a hoe, only straight in relation to the handle, like a spatula.

Mycelium from the substrate

The only thing that is impossible is to use spent blocks instead of mycelium. If you steam the plant mixture for new batches and put pieces of the old substrate mixed with fresh in layers in bags, the mycelium will NOT germinate in the freshly processed plant mass and you will NOT get a crop.

If you are interested in conducting an experiment, read the last section Substrate mycelium.

There is a growing number of gardeners who want to grow mushrooms on their plot. For example, oyster mushroom. The agricultural technology of its cultivation is so diverse that, in principle, each of us can collect a fairly high yield of mushrooms. And the harvest of oyster mushrooms can be obtained in a shorter time if grown on a straw substrate. To do this, you need to have a sufficient amount of straw. It can be purchased simultaneously with organic fertilizers from villagers.

Option N 1.

Growing oyster mushrooms on a straw bed.

A bed 20 cm high is built from pressed straw. The straw is saturated with water (drops of moisture should come out when pressed by hand).

A straw bed is "infected" with a mycelium at a depth of 8 cm. A kilogram of mycelium is required per 1-1.5 square meters.

The bed is covered with a thick film for four weeks. A month later, it is removed, and the bed is sprinkled with a 5 cm layer of earth, it is covered for the winter to protect it from excessive dampness.

A mushroom plantation is usually laid in May, but this can also be done in September for the winter.

For two years of vegetation, 3-7 kilograms of mushrooms are harvested from each square meter.

Option N 2 provides:

Growing oyster mushrooms on a straw substrate.

Straw is crushed into pieces 2-4 cm long, ground into powder, soaked with moisture and kept in hot water for at least an hour or soaked at a temperature above 70 degrees. Then the straw substrate is cooled, thoroughly mixed with mycelium and laid out in perforated plastic bags with holes 5–10 mm in diameter, located at a distance of 10 cm from each other. These blanks are stored for a month at a temperature of 20-25 degrees and taken out into the fresh air in the shade. On the eighth day, the plastic bags are removed.

And after 2-3 weeks they get the first harvest of mushrooms.

Collect mushrooms for four months. On average, at each stage of collection, the yield of products is 20-25 percent of the weight of the straw substrate. When frost sets in, mushroom plantations are covered.

Oyster mushroom is a very tasty mushroom that is not difficult to grow. Cooking substrate for growing oyster mushrooms- a responsible process on which the harvest of mushrooms directly depends.

Substrate composition

The substrate for the intensive cultivation of oyster mushroom can be a straw chaff about 2-3 cm in size with the addition of crushed corn cobs with a particle size of about 0.5 cm. The ratio in the mixture of starting materials may vary, and as additives or in pure mass different materials containing cellulose - grain waste, bark, hardwood sawdust and others.

Humidification of the substrate for oyster mushrooms

The prepared crushed mass is moistened. Humidification on a mushroom farm is carried out in a collar, or by flooding.

When moistened in a shoulder, the initial substrate mass is placed in the form of a shoulder on the cleaned surface. Watering is done 2-3 times a day. The moisturizing process usually takes from 3 days to a week depending on the material used. During the saturation of the substrate with moisture, it is desirable to mix its mass 2-3 times.

Photo of royal oyster mushroom on a subtract block

Humidification by flooding is carried out in a special pool. The duration of soaking is from 3 to 6 days, while it is necessary to carry out water exchange in the pool.

The optimal humidity of the prepared substrate for oyster mushrooms is 70-75%.

Heat treatment

Moistened substrate intended for growing oyster mushrooms must be thermally treated, The best way processing - steam pasteurization at a temperature of 55-60 ° C for 10-12 hours. After pasteurization, the substrate is cooled to 22-25 °C. The cooling process can take place independently or by forced ventilation of the room with fresh cold air.

Mycelium sowing

The substrate prepared for sowing oyster mushroom mycelium should have a light golden color, a moisture content of 70%, a specific pleasant smell, and an acidity of the medium pH of about 6.5-7.0. The content of total nitrogen should be 1.3% (dry matter).

With the help of a conveyor with a dosing hopper and a sowing machine, the finished oyster mushroom substrate is placed in containers. At the same time, simultaneous sowing of oyster mushroom mycelium is carried out.

For the manufacture of subtractive blocks, polymer bags with perforation are usually used (hole diameter 2–3 mm in increments of 9–15 cm).

If you do not have the means of mechanization for the implementation of mushroom growing, namely for filling containers with a substrate and sowing oyster mushroom mycelium, then mix the mycelium with the substrate manually on a clean plant film. Containers with a substrate (blocks) after the introduction of oyster mushroom mycelium are placed for germination in a prepared incubation room.

Read the article

In the photo, the growth of oyster mushrooms on the substrate