Make Money With a Marvelous Mushroom

Article Tools

Image Gallery

Print

E-mail

Comments

RSS

Let the gooey mess cool in the growing trays until the internal temperature drops below 80°F. This natural cooling may take anywhere from 4 to 72 hours, because of the heat generated by fermentation. (If it's wintertime, you might let the trays cool off inside the mushroom house, to provide a little free warmth.)

When the mixture has cooled down, inoculate it with gray Pleurotus ostreatus spawn. For each 3' X 4' tray of substrate, you'll need four ounces of spawn, which you can order from the following distributors: The Kinoko Company, Dept. THEN, 8139 Capwell Drive, Oakland, California 94621 ($5.95 for one pound) . . . and Somycel U.S., Inc., Dept. TMEN, P.O. Box 476, Avondale, Pennsylvania 19311 ($4.75 for a four-quart bag).

Mix the spawn thoroughly with the growing medium ... but be sure to leave some spores on the top surface, just in case the internal temperature rises and destroys the more deeply "planted" mushrooms.

Ralph's "spawning room" is separated from the rest of the growing house by a wall, and has its own door to the outside. This chamber is not lit, but otherwise the spawning environment is the same as in the area where the fungi grow to maturity.

Rather than set an exact timetable for the spawn to run its way through the substrate, it's best to watch the spread of the mycelium on the surface. When your screened-in straw is covered with what appears to be a fine network of tiny, fuzzy threads, it's time to place the trays in the growing room.

MAGIC EMERGENCE

Once your mushrooms are "up and growin' ", most of the heavy work is done ... and you can sit back and watch the tasty morsels take shape. The only additional care needed is a sprinkling of fine spray on the growing beds—once or twice daily—to keep the straw from drying out. Don't overdo the watering, however! You must make sure there's no moisture runoff or buildup at the bottom of the trays.

It's also important to keep the mushroom house as sanitary as possible, to prevent diseases and pests from ruining your crop ... and excess water creates ideal conditions for such problems. The idea is to keep the humidity high, but to limit actual standing water within the structure to the lowest possible level.

Sometimes "weed" mushrooms will appear shortly after the trays are placed in the growing room: Such "toadstools" are easily recognized by their long, spindly stalks and small caps. There's no need to remove them (but never eat the "wild" fungi!), because their presence doesn't affect the growth of the Pleurotus.

Your crop will be fully grown when the caps no longer curl down and under (size is not an indication of a mushroom's maturity), and the perfect pickin' time is just before the caps finish uncurling completely. To reap your harvest, simply slice off the toothsome tidbits at screen level with an ordinary kitchen knife. You can expect the trays to continue to produce for up to two weeks after the first harvest. Once a tray goes dormant, just empty the old substrate and start with a fresh batch.

RSS | Comments | E-mail | Print