How to Grow Oyster Mushrooms Commercially using Pasteurized Straw

yeah hi my name is derek production manager here at field forest products and today we'll be going over growing oyster mushrooms in straw this is by far the most popular way to grow oyster mushrooms for commercial production [Music] growing oysters on pasteurized straw or cotton seed hulls is the highest yield per substrate method of oyster mushroom production pasteurization is a way to kill off objectionable organisms without significantly altering the chemical and physical composition of the substrate after pasteurization straw can be inoculated and packed into either buckets or bags for incubation and cultivation to pasteurize straw you will need a large vessel in which you can heat water several water permeable bags straw and twine for this video we're going over how to do this on a larger scale but keep in mind that you can do this on a small scale with a large pot over your stovetop at field forest we use chop straw you can use unchopped straw as well but chop straw is easier to work with and allows for a denser pack more straw equals more mushrooms we mentioned using water permeable bags we repurpose dowel bags but you can use burlap bags pillow cases or anything that will allow water to pass in and out of stuff the bag full of straw and tightly tie twine around the opening to ensure the straw doesn't escape during pasteurization while you're stuffing your bags full of straw you will want to begin filling and heating your water as this can take some time depending on the size of your vessel aim to keep the water temperature between 160 and 180 degrees fahrenheit once the water reaches that temperature you can toss your bags of straw into the water the straw will need to be completely submerged for proper pasteurization so you will likely need to find a way to weigh down the bags keep the bags submerged for 45 to 60 minutes maintaining an internal bag temperature between 160 and 165 degrees be careful about increasing the heat of the water at this time as you will want to avoid the straw temperature reaching above 180 degrees as soon as the 45 to 60 minutes is up drain the water away and let the bags cool for 24 hours the following day you can inoculate your straw at this point you want the straw to be cooled to at least 85 degrees before inoculating but preferably closer to 75 to get started you will want to choose whether you want to grow your mushrooms in bags or buckets next you'll need your spawn you can either use grain or soda spawn but the more popular choice is grain because it breaks up so easily use an inoculation rate of five percent per wet weight of the straw this translates to one pound of spawn per 20 pounds of straw another way to think about it is you'll need one pound of straw per sleeve or oyster bag or about one half pound of spawn per 5 gallon bucket before getting started wipe down your work area with a bleach or alcohol solution in order to lower the risk of introducing any contaminants today we're going to use a bag we're going to stuff about five to seven handfuls of straw into the bag before adding spawn lightly incorporate a layer of spawn and then compress the straw as much as possible we use a slam and compress technique in order to get rid of as much air space as possible layer straw and spawn using your fingers to tease and spawn at each layer compressing after each addition after filling the bag zip tie it shut and cut small x's every four to six inches in staggered rows place your bag or bucket in a warm environment ideally somewhere in the 70 to 75 degree range for two to five weeks depending on strain and incubation temperature during this time the mycelium will begin running through the bag or bucket if you're using a sleeve you'll be able to see condensation appear after a day or two this is good it means the mycelium is healthy after three to four weeks you will start to see pins develop at several of the cut sites in the bag or holes in the bucket these pins will look nothing like mushrooms at this stage but rather just textured blobs at this stage move the bags to a fruiting room fruiting rooms should be cooler than incubation space 65 degrees is optimal with a humidity of around 85 to 90 percent bags should also have 10 to 12 hours of natural or incandescent light if you have any questions drop them in the comments below you

Channel: Field & Forest Products Mushrooms

Views: 32,055

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Id: wQd4ZwOtBuk

Length: 5min 0sec (300 seconds)

Published: Wed Jan 05 2022