I grew oyster mushroom spawn in a layered coffee grounds and wet cardboard. It colonized wonderfully throughout the block but now it will not fruit. I have scraped off some mycellium that could be blocking pins but nada. It is in a location that did well with other oyster kits and shitake but will not fruit now. Temperature in area is about 66F. Gets decent sun and I had success with kits before. I mist it at least twice a day and have dunked it for 8 hours at one point to try and get it to fruit. Any suggestions are more than welcome
Since you're using cardboard, check out the thread today about cardboard being sprayed with disinfectants for Covid. This could change the pH of the cardboard, or inhibit fruiting in other ways. Lots of unknowns.
Can you stick to just coffee grounds? Cardboard is suspect as a food substrate in our household for a lot of reasons besides being sprayed with disinfectant. That's just the latest crud to be added to it.
Thanks for that information. I am thinking that I am going to break the cake up into smaller pieces and feed each piece with grounds and start it again.
Hi
how do you prevent the coffee grounds getting contaminated with strich oder
a?
Any way I tried a bag of fresh coffee grounds of the day from a cafe didn’t work out. As it is a sterile medium do you inoculate in a sterile air flow chamber?
and your shiitake block, what’s that made of?
Thanks, E
I wish I could answer all your questions on the oysters grown in coffee grounds but as they did not fruit, I am at a loss. Will try again and get back if I have answers.
I definitely feel the same and have resorted to pasteurising in water at 71-80 degrees Celsius. Barley straw, dried grass clippings/hay, a mix of both, a mix of either with cardboard and wood shavings from the lathe and so on.
Looks like the short dried grass clippings may be a way to go - and I am doing a favour for a lawn mower guy at the same time.
keen reading more experiences.
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