Growing Oyster Mushrooms at Home
Ingredients:
- 3 cups of newspaper kitty litter
- 2 1/2 cups of de-chlorinated water
- 1/3 cup of rabbit food (alfalfa pellets)
- 3/4 cup of oyster spawn
Procedure:
- Soak Kitty litter with water and stir together.
- Mix 1/3 cup of rabbit food with the litter
- Mix in oyster mushroom spawn
- Pour mixture into plastic bag and tie off at the top. Remove as much air as possible.
- Take Home and cut 4-5 slits in bag.
- See below for instructions at home.
Instructions at home:
- After cutting the slits, place your bag in a dimly lit or dark cool area (60°-70° F) Oyster mushrooms grow at a wide temperature range, but it is best to keep them at 55°-75° F.
- After 2-3 weeks from putting the bag in a dark room, white mycelium should have formed and colonized the bag. Then move the bag to a well lit room, but keep it out of direct sunlight.
- Inspect the bag daily for baby mushrooms called primordia. If any primordia are growing under the plastic, slit it carefully and free them. Mist the babies several times a day using only bottled water or water that has stood overnight. Do not soak or over-wet the kit.
- the developing mushrooms will double in size each day. once they are 2 in in diameter you can pick them off individually or in a cluster.
- Cook in a favorite dish! Here is one of my favorite recipes!
- Once the initial fruiting is finished, store the kit in a dark room once more for about 2-3 weeks. Repeat 2-5. You should get a second round but there will not be as many mushrooms.
- Take the spent kit and incorporate it in your compost pile or directly in the garden.
Troubleshooting:
- Mushrooms with long stems and small caps = not enough sunlight. Make the light brighter but no direct sunlight.
- If you don’t see primordia in 4-5 weeks, refrigerate (without freezing) it for a day or two. Take it out and mist with water and start the process again.