stiltgrass as bedding for oyster mushrooms?

I wonder if you all think this will work-
I have a big patch of invasive stiltgrass that I want to go away eventually, but I can't plant it out right now (except for the willow that i will be putting there)
And i have seen straw used as bedding to grow mushrooms (oyster, in this case)
the stiltgrass flowers in early fall, so i usually start pulling it out right before then. Do you think I can then use this for growing the mushrooms the next year in place of straw?

Hi Danielle and welcome to Permies.

I have never tried what you are thinking about doing but I like the idea.  My suggestion is to boil the straw to sterilize first.  Normally Oysters are so aggressive that they don’t need sterilization, but being your first try, it might be worth the effort.  You didn’t say in your post, but I assume that these are being done outside?

Good luck!

Eric

Yes, I was thinking of doing it outside.

I was mostly thinking of doing it for a few years until the stiltgrass dwindles down to "not the only thing growing in the back" Plus it would provide a lot of motivation for pulling it out, i.e. instead of "battling the stiltgrass" it would turn into "gathering bedding for delicious oyster mushrooms."

I did have one thought that crossed my mind.  Generally straw is preferred over hay and your stilt grass may be closer to hay than straw.  I have tried using dried grass clippings and not had much luck.

That being said, perhaps you could mix some straw or even some woodchips with your stilt grass and the project might still work.  Maybe even half some pure straw areas in your mixed straw/Stilt grass bed so as to really encourage the fungi.  Also, make sure the fungi gets access to the soil beneath or in fertile holes dug for the purpose.

This is an interesting project and I look forward to seeing how things work out.  Please keep us updated.

Eric

Danielle, I love your idea for growing mushrooms and would love to find out how this turns out.

To get rid of the stiltgrass be sure and not let it go to seed.
Pulling up any new baby plants is usually easier than waiting until they are mature.

Eric Hanson wrote:I did have one thought that crossed my mind.  Generally straw is preferred over hay and your stilt grass may be closer to hay than straw.  I have tried using dried grass clippings and not had much luck.

That being said, perhaps you could mix some straw or even some woodchips with your stilt grass and the project might still work.  Maybe even half some pure straw areas in your mixed straw/Stilt grass bed so as to really encourage the fungi.  Also, make sure the fungi gets access to the soil beneath or in fertile holes dug for the purpose.

This is an interesting project and I look forward to seeing how things work out.  Please keep us updated.

Eric

I have some woodchips I can mix in. I do not have straw, and in fact have hay on hand, so you have preemptively answered whether I should mix it with hay. and thank you for the reminder about getting it access to the ground. The spot I am thinking of has a quite thick layer of leaf litter, so maybe I will move that to the side a bit.

Anne Miller wrote:Danielle, I love your idea for growing mushrooms and would love to find out how this turns out.

To get rid of the stiltgrass be sure and not let it go to seed.
Pulling up any new baby plants is usually easier than waiting until they are mature.

Thank you for the support!
I am very careful not to pull any stiltgrass that has gone to seed. The last thing I want to do is give it new ground to colonize. However, it is quite easy to pull up and if I pull it up early, it just comes back even stronger in place. I was trying to minimize my time fighting it, but if this works, I could end up pulling it in the summer to let it grow back and give me more bedding while also exhausting its seed bank. I expect to have the stiltgrass problem for 5-7 years.

I think it would depend on how much seed is included in the stilt grass.  Seed acts as a rich substrate that encourages other things like mold  to grow.  To try it a simple way first, let the grass dry.  Take a five gallon bucket and a drill with a quarter inch bit.  Drill drain holes in the bottom.  Then drill holes about 4” apart all over the bucket.  Soak the stilt grass, then press 2-3” into the bucket, add oyster spawn, and repeat these layers until the bucket is full.  Put a lid on the bucket and let it sit a couple weeks.  Straw takes five weeks for pinning to start.  You should be able to take the top off and see if the stilt grass is being colonized.  This will give you an idea if it will work with little output of time or money.

This is the way I grow oysters on straw.  I harvested over five pounds of oysters in the past two weeks from six buckets.

Kevin Hoover wrote:I think it would depend on how much seed is included in the stilt grass.  Seed acts as a rich substrate that encourages other things like mold  to grow.  To try it a simple way first, let the grass dry.  Take a five gallon bucket and a drill with a quarter inch bit.  Drill drain holes in the bottom.  Then drill holes about 4” apart all over the bucket.  Soak the stilt grass, then press 2-3” into the bucket, add oyster spawn, and repeat these layers until the bucket is full.  Put a lid on the bucket and let it sit a couple weeks.  Straw takes five weeks for pinning to start.  You should be able to take the top off and see if the stilt grass is being colonized.  This will give you an idea if it will work with little output of time or money.

This is the way I grow oysters on straw.  I harvested over five pounds of oysters in the past two weeks from six buckets.

This looks amazing. I like the idea of limiting factors to try and control for the stilt grass factor. I have ordered the oyster spawn, but I have about a week until it gets here to start the experiment. how many pounds of spawn did you use per bucket?

I had a five and a half pound bag and split it between 8 buckets. But more spawn per bucket makes it grow faster.   What type of oyster spawn did you order and from who, if you don’t mind my asking?

Kevin Hoover wrote:I had a five and a half pound bag and split it between 8 buckets. But more spawn per bucket makes it grow faster.   What type of oyster spawn did you order and from who, if you don’t mind my asking?

I ordered pink oyster grain spawn and winecap sawdust spawn from north spore. I was also looking at Mountain Mushroom, but they were out of the pink oyster.

There's not a guide to mushroom sellers here on permies is there?

There is no specific guide for mushroom sellers, but I use Field & Forest for my projects.  I have found them to be very helpful.

Eric

So far I’ve bought spawn from the following companies:
Mushroom Mountain
Everything Mushrooms
2funguys
Field and Forest
North Spore

Now I order exclusively from North Spore.  Field and Forest has a fantastic print catalog.  But the grain spawn I got from them was wheat, any I really like smaller grains like rye as it gives the mycelium more surface area. That’s my only complaint and it’s personal preference.  The people in my mushroom club use Field and Forest.

North Spore resolved one of my problems growing lions mane when I called them.  The only mistake they have made is in one shipment they shipped shiitake instead of oyster spawn.  They quickly shipped the missing oyster spawn and told me to keep the shiitake spawn and wished me good luck with it.

North Spore has done many educational videos, which I appreciate. I haven’t seen many from Field and Forest.  I get regular emails from North Spore, a rarely get one from Field and Forest.

That my personal opinion, but please, order from whoever you want.  We need to keep these businesses going.

One note on spawn ordering.  Look closely at shipping costs when comparing prices.  I have found they vary greatly.

If I were going to get heavily into shiitake production I would definitely use Field and Forest as my spawn supplier.  They are obviously very into Shiitake, as they have something like 13 different shiitake strains.

If I can make it work, I might do a lot more shiitake logs.  Need to talk to a local family who is selling a house and 89 acres about letting me thin their woods a little.

Thank you, Kevin. This is really useful. I was going to order from mushroom mountain, but they were out. And a place near me, Haw River mushroom didn't have what I wanted either. I have enjoyed north spore's YT videos.  They make good content.

I just wanted to update everyone with a non-update. I tried making a mushroom beds out of stiltgrass (before it went to seed) vs hay. I put oyster spawn in one and wine caps in the other. It had been a year and I haven't seen any mushrooms from any beds. So, I can't say the stiltgrass was the problem, since my non-stiltgrass beds didn't work either. If I figure this out, will update.