Might be time to try Oyster mushrooms

It’s been a while since I last posted, school has kept me plenty busy.  I have thought about expanding from Wine Caps to oyster mushrooms for some time now and I think I have the perfect opportunity.

In December we had an extremely cold snap come through and the main pipe draining my house partially froze.  After melting the ice I plopped 10 straw bales on top of the pipe for insulation.  Now I have 10 bales of straw in need of disposal, and I think the perfect solution is to use it as Oyster mushroom substrate!

I know it is a bit early to start outside, but I am thinking about starting some oyster buckets inside by our water heater.  This could be an interesting, climate controlled way to experiment with growing oyster mushrooms.  I imagine this uses one bale of straw at the very most.

For my outdoor experiment, I plan on starting the oysters on straw in the woods, under shade and well away from any competing Wine Caps.  If this is successful, I might see about expanding the Oysters and perhaps using forest residue for a substrate.  Also, if this is successful, I might see about growing other mushrooms in the shade of the forest.

But I have 10 bales with which to experiment!  Maybe this is actually worth a couple of different tries—a smaller pile for quick results and a larger one for more disposal and more mushrooms.  And of course I have plenty of bales for my gardening this summer.

I will keep everyone updated.

Eric

Eric,  I admit I've never cultivated wild mushrooms so don't know if the following would work...?  In addition to your efforts with the straw, if you have any elm trees of sizeable girth that either need to be cut down or were cut down recently with the stump remaining, you may wish to try inoculating the stump with some of the spores/culture.  The photo below is of a ~15 inch diameter American elm stump.  Oddly, I'm pretty sure we felled this tree due to dutch elm disease, but it soon after felling (1-2 years?) gave rise to a nice crop of oyster mushrooms.  Oysters are not uncommon on other elm stumps on the property, so inoculum must be floating around at opportune times.  The experiment now, as the stump is going on 5 years old, is if or when the mushroom crop will "play out" and no longer 'bloom' each year.  In the best years, up to 3 crops will emerge on that stump before late fall ends the season.  Good luck!

John,

I have one elm tree that is Dutch Elm resistant and given it’s beauty and perfect location, I can’t bear to cut it down.  So I guess I will have to rely on a straw substrate and buy in the spawn.  I use Field&Forest.net.  

But your stump looks beautiful with all those mushrooms!  Too bad it can’t last forever.

Eric