posted 4 years ago
I assume this person got an answer somewhere, but in case someone else wants to know - no, the straw does not need to be sterilized. You can "cold sterilize" by soaking it in water (look for that online for instructions). It washes out anything you need to worry about and also wets the straw, which you need to do anyway. Just don't use rotting straw that may already have fungus in residence. I use burlap bags filled with straw to make it easy to remove and carry. I soak the bags in a plastic garbage can. The burlap releases tannins, but that doesn't hurt anything and you can use the water for watering, assuming that your burlap bags are untreated. I use burlap bags to top the bed. The stropharia love them - it greatly increases my yield.