I'm trying (for the first time) to grow oyster
mushrooms at home, on a fairly small scale.
I have, however, run into trouble. The batch I have growing in
coffee grounds seems to be doing nothing at all, after a week (I even shook the bag to find the spawn, and the mycelia have grown not 1 mm.). I know the temperature it right, and I'm fairly certain that my pasteurisation and general cleanliness was adequate (there aren't any moulds or anything), so can anyone suggest what the problem might be?
My other batch is in some old birdseed (mostly millet, which is apparently good for growing oyster mushrooms), but despite previously heating it, the birdseed is now germinating. I assume this will be detrimental to the fungus' growth, since it doesn't grow on living things? That one seemed to be doing rather well, too, until the birdseed started growing. Would you recommend I remove the growing mycelia, such as they are, from the bag and put them in a new, definitely not alive substrate?
And I know poor quality spawn is not the issue, because I put some in a jam jar with some damp
cardboard (to cultivate more spawn for later, in case of failure), and that's growing like mad.