Help! Non-fruiting Oyster Mushrooms

Hello all,
I was hoping to find some advice to get my Oyster Mushrooms to start pinning and bear fruit.
I have them sitting in 1/2 gallon jars as a fruiting chamber, I spray them with distilled water very sparingly to keep the jar environs moist and I open the jars for about 15 minutes in the morning and evening for air exchange.
The mycelium looks very impressive and it has for at least THREE weeks now. I just don't know what else it could need to starting pinning.

I have attached two images. I also put a few tablespoons of vermiculite in the jars to retain moisture. I also have them sitting on top of the fridge (for warmth ~69 degrees...), facing a window that gets about 7-8 hours of sun.

I should also mention that the substrate was from a grow-kit and I am trying for the second flush.

I appreciate anyone's help, or suggestions.

-Ben-

I can't help you, but now I want to know too.
John S
PDX OR

Looks a little dry and spent to me. Have you tried dunking or feeding them?

I think Landon's got a good point. These could be used to "seed" larger masses. Make sure the water you're adding is free of chemicals like chlorine and chloramine. Also, the amount of substrate is tiny. Make a big mass of something to get a lot more mushrooms.

Yes, I remember watching a vid that said that the mycelium is 95% of the life of the thing. So, if you want 5 pounds of mushrooms you need 95 pounds of mycelium.

Thank you all for your time and input.
I was misinformed that multiple flushes could be achieved without feedings.
I will feed it my used coffee grounds and take pics of the results.
Thanks again,

Ben

Update.

So, I followed some good advice and fed my Oyster Mushrooms. I fed them coffee grounds, mixed with vermiculite and a small amount of water.
I also shredded the blocks of spawn into smaller pieces within the jars.

I am not doing this to the most sterile degree. I am mainly just curious if I can get anything substantial to develop.

Well, I got some promising results.

The first image is from outside one, of the three jars. The growth has been amazing in just 1- 1 1/2 weeks.
The second image is of the inside of one of jars. Is this what is they mean by leap-off ability? It's like a little furry alien!


In a related note, I also have some mycelium colonizing some smaller jars. It's been about two months and the jars are only about 90-95% colonized.
I may have packed the substrate too tightly. Does anyone see an issue with just birthing them at 90% and hoping for the best in the fruiting chamber?
My experience so far is that the mycelium is pretty resilient. However the smaller jars were inoculated with a mail-order spore syringe.

Thanks again,
Ben

Cool! Glad your having good luck! and remember...

Contaminants Happen! It's not the end of the world, but it might be of that particular culture. Don't get too discouraged and save your spores!

Awww. It looks like a little tribble.

I've heard raking spent substrate can provoke another flush.
You may need more substrate though.

Yeah Thomas, I've had successes (and failures) just like breaking up spent substraight and tossing it out into something that looks suitable. I'm pretty sure that anytime that mycellia have enough stored energy and adequate moisture available disturbing them creates a strong 'must survive' type flush. I've totally noticed that anyway.

Try this, Ben:

http://youtu.be/5Vmhxt_QhqI

Our conversations about solving this problem inspired me to post a blog update about the situation, with brand new pictures of the mycelium
growing through spent beer grains and coffee grounds. A fair amount of darkish, digestive liquid is being generated. I thought I saw a small spot of contamination,
so I tilted one of the jars to pour some of the digestive liquid on it. The spot seems to have disappeared under a renewed growth of mycelium.

I am even experimenting with growing mycelium through the soil of my house plants (also added with spent pop sickle sticks and coffee grounds) picture below with another pic of the spent beer grains being overtaken.
I've found that a natural plant overgrowth (ground cover-style plants) help act as a protective barrier for the mycelium.

Thank you so much, guys!

Please, check out the update and my other amateur experiments with homesteading and permaculture:

http://germanardi.weebly.com/blog/a-second-harvest-quick-update

Alright folks,
I want to thank you very much for the guidance.
I have some good news and some questionable news.
The good news is that I filled my jars, they fully colonized, I dunked them, and they're PINNING!

My questionable news is that I have gotten two different results so far on the two jars pinning.
As I will show below in pictures, one jar seems to have perfect pins growing and the other had great growth and has now stalled and the pins have not
developed the right color.
I mist them twice a day and kept them in their same jars after dunking (I drained the excess water from them after dunking by tilting the jar).
I also keep them facing a window that gets pretty good light.
I am concerned that the discolored pins mean that there is something wrong with the spawn. I am not sure what to do. Should I cut them off? Should I re-dunk, or re-feed to
reset? Should I wait and risk contamination?

I know the colors at the surface of the spawn seem off, but I can assure you that this is simply a result of misting a substrate of pure coffee grounds.

Any insight yall have would make me very happy.
Thank you,
Ben

looks great pick them when the cap edges start to turn up and keep them out of direct sunlight. if they dry out to much they stop growing. no worries though if they dry out they are great for stews and stocks.

Hi All, I am also trying to grow blue oysters on coffee grounds. I inoculated almost 4 weeks ago into various plastic containers. I went on a trip for Labor day and when I came back 2 of them were contaminated with the green mold. I suspect it is because they got saturated from precipitation couldn't be drained while I was gone. I still have one beautiful canister (half gal size ish) that seems to be completely overgrown with mycelia, but I don't see any signs of fruiting. I keep them nice and humid but not too wet, now that I have a mold paranoia. Should I put it in a sunny window to fruit? What must I do to get the beautiful delicious mushies?!?!?

Hi, Here is a picture of the surface mycelia. Can anyone help and tell me what needs to happen to get them to fruit? They have colonized the entire container now, but not fruiting after 4 weeks +. Thanks!