Shashi Prasad

Hi, after going through Kotter book many of my problems got resolved. However a few are still remaining.
1. Very thin long stem and small head of florida Oyster Mushrooms. Though from same spawn I got good size of oyster mushrooms but recently 1 crop went totally haywire. The stems became thin and long and head became small. When I looked around I found one of the reasons as High CO2 concentration which was likely as the substrate was eggtrays which have high carbon content. May be I have to add som wheat bran and keep the container in a high air exchange area in future. This should be true even for cardboard substrates.

2. The 2nd more intriguing phenomenon is short thick stem and short head. Almost opposite to 1st one. I don't see any way I gave exposed the substrate to high oxygen.

Any help in this matter will be appreciated.

I didn't understand meaning of "breakdown ink"? Do you mean it will neutralize it or absorb it?  In case the mycelium grows on the newspaper, which is happening as I have innoculated small amount of it already and I use them only as spawn will the mushroom fruit will still remain toxic if they have absorbed the toxins?

If I innoculate cardboard as suggested by you should I use it only as spawn or even growing oyster mushrooms? I have put Oyster Spawns in cardboard mixed with sterilized broken wheat and sterilized whole wheat separately. Mycelium is growing well in it.

Thanks Dennis, I will do as you suggest.
I have innoculated some news paper recently. While pasturizing and taking the newspaper my hands got lot of colour from the ink. I have read that people do grow oyster on newspaper or old stock piles of A4 papers accumulated in houses and offices. Now my doubt is if the printer ink on A4 size paper or newspaper is harmful and the mushrooms grown on them can take some of the harmful materials in the ink? Please guide me.

Hi Dennis, is it really necessary to put the bag in dark even after sterilizing? I understand moulds also grow in darkness and humid condition. I have seen people advising poking small holes in beginning itself and make bigger holes when pin heads start showing. If we don't make small holes there will be a build up of CO2? Is CO2 not harmful for mycellium growth?

Thanks Joylinn for your answer. I will try it on cardboard or paper as suggested by you. I understand that all the mushrooms that grow on wood can also be grown on wheat or rice straws? Now the main problem is finding Enoki mushroom spawns? I am not getting it in India. Any suggestions.

Hi, Dennis, I kept the wheat grass bag in dark. The wheat grass is becoming yellowish. There is hardly any mycelium growth.

Can I sterilize the straw with wheat grass and re-innoculate it? I read somewhere that nitrogen helps improving the quality of mushrooms. So I was thinking to leave open the bag and let it dry completely so that wheat grass also gets dried and gives nitrogen to the substrate. I can then sterilize/pasturise the straw and wheat grass together and re-innoculate it. Can it help?

I am wondering why mycellium is not growing in this bag with wheat grass? Is it because of nitrogen?

I am planning to grow winter musheoom in house. I am from Solan, Himachal Pradesh, India. It is a small hill town. Winter is setting in. The temperature is ranging from 5deg to 12deg celcius. Some how we don't get hardwood in this area. The area is dominated with Pine and Cedar trees. We can get wheat straw here. I would like to know if wheat straw will be good for growing these (Enoki) mushrooms? If so can I add wheat bran to enhance the substrate with Nitrogen?

Thanks Dennis.

Thanks. How can I use these spores to preserve for a long time in my fridge?

Thanks Dennis. May I ask you what is colour of oyster spores? Black or white? I find some white colour paint like thing around the yoghurt can which has fruited but not harvested yet.