Brent Mj Williams

I have written an article about  sterilizing mushroom substrate that may be of interest to permies growing or considering growing mushrooms.

In addition to the usual methods like pasteurisation and pressure canners, it also covers a couple of techniques that work well for those off-grid like:
- Fermentation (only requires water)
- Hydrated lime method (sometimes called cold pasteurisation )  water & hydrated lime
- A Microwave oven technique, for smaller growers or people starting out

There is also a comprehensive guide to using pressure canners/cookers with a lot of tips specific to mushroom growers.

I have a small-scale commercial mushroom growing business on a 6-acre permaculture farm in NZ. Growing mainly Oyster mushrooms and Shiitake sold at local farmers' markets.
If you have any feedback on the article or questions please let me know.
Brent

I really enjoyed that, thanks for posting.

Hands down the best variety would be Pink Oyster Mushrooms. It's a native of South East Asia, so tropical. It's also very aggressive, once established it will usually outcompete mould or other contaminants. Grows well on most hardwood sawdust. In my case I have them growing on Radiata Pine (pellets). They are fast to grow, and in your climate, you would be able to harvest yeat round. Plus they are awesome to cook with.

My suggestion would be to source a local supplier of pre-inoculated grow kits and see if your growing conditions suit. Once you've mastered growing them, work backwards to master each stage.

Here's more information about the Pink Oyster, and some advice on how you would grow it. Growing Pink Oyster Mushrooms
While you are there, also check out some of the recipes for the Pink Oyster.

I would be wary of Shiitake. In nature, they grow in fairly northern latitudes. They require fairly low temperatures to fruit. So very seasonal even if you have the right climate.
Hope this is helpful. If you get some growing, I'd love to see some photos.
Brent

Most likely the larvae of the Phorid and or the Sciarid Fly. The eggs are laid in the substrate, from there they consume the underground portion of the mycelium. When mushrooms start growing, they will eat their way up the stem and eventually make their way to the cap. Here they will pupate and then hatch as adult flies from the cap. Look for pinprick holes in the cap to check.  

Most of the damage is occurring at the substrate level. If there are enough of them they may eventually consume the entire mushroom patch from the inside, killing it. There's more info about them, plus what to do here: https://mycobio.co.nz/mushroom-growing-pests-what-to-look-out-for/

Some commercial mushroom growers use nematodes as a biological agent to deal with them. I use yellow sticky flytraps to try and keep the adult population under control, so less egg-laying.

They're okay to eat, they've been living and eating mushrooms all their life! We usually refrigerate the harvested for a few hours, in a plastic container (using paper for longer-term storage. The cold forces them out, as does soaking in salty water.

On harvesting, as soon as we harvest mushrooms we put them in plastic containers. These are lined with kitchen cloth (used for catering) to prevent condensation. After the mushrooms are harvested their respiration rate increases tremendously, and the plastic container allows a buildup of CO2 which will quickly put the mushrooms to sleep. This, plus dropping the temp to just above freezing will allow a longer storage life. If you like, you can move them into paper bags after 24 hours.

Hope this helps