Saturday 2 January 2010

Golden Oyster Mushrooms (Hopefully)

With the weather being as cold as it is there isn’t really much I can grow at the moment. Inside there is no such weather restraints so I thought I’d have a go at growing some mushrooms.
I got given some Golden Oyster Mushrooms spawn for Christmas and its only growing condition is that it needs to be grown at room temperature - the spare room isn’t very full at the moment so I thought that would be the ideal place!

First of all I sterilised the straw by pouring a kettle full of boiling water over each bag (I wanted bigger bags but this was all I could find, although it’s big enough to see if it will work) and then seal the tops and left for two hours. This stops the straw being contaminated by any other fungi.


While I waited a couple of hours for it to cool, I left my rather ill wife at home and went for a nice long walk to the next village and back, using different footpaths. I really enjoyed it, but a couple of the fields were so muddy my boots were twice the size by the end!
When I returned the bags had cooled down so I tipped out the excess water (leaving just a little water in the bottom to keep it moist) and then I added the spawn to the bags. The spawn is carried on dried cereal grains and although the pack says to add it all I just put about a teaspoon in each (it’s like yeast and so long as there is a bit it will grow but it will just take a little longer to multiply). I then tied the bags again and shook them up to spread the spawn. Placed near to a radiator they should have the heat they need (but not too much) with a couple of small holes in the top to allow it to breathe.

2 comments:

Anonymous said...

Hey, I'm definately going to try this. Hope you don't mind, but added a link to your blog from my own. Always good to keep in contact with like minded people,

All the best,

Geoff

Kev Alviti said...

Cheers Geoff,
Let me know how you get on with the mushrooms.
I've added your gardening site to my blog roll as well.
Thanks
Alvt