Warm Weather Oyster Mushrooms Pleurotus ostreatus

Spawn run- when you get the bag Dont open the bag. Sit it in the dark and let the mycelium run all through it. Once thats done, let it rest for a month. Bags which are fully colonized are unlikely to ha e problems with contamination. !f it starts to form mushrooms you can probably assume its ready. "ungus isnt precise like tissue culture, its a field for total slackers who are ne er definite about anything #-$ %hen open the bag and place it in a terrarium with lots of fresh air e&changes as below. "ruiting Small aggregations or coralloid growths on the surface indicate that a culture is beginning to fruit. 'lthough lowering the growing temperature is usually not re(uired for fruiting, a small amount of indirect light is definitely important. "or normal-shaped fruiting bodies, more air e&change is re(uired than during spawn run, but high humidity must still be maintained. %o achie e this condition, opened culture bags are often kept in a bo& or terrarium, sometimes with a moistened tray of gra el underneath. )ou can mist using a handsprayer to keep humidity up in the terrarium. *ust dont mist the fruit or the bag directly+ they need a moist en ironment but direct watering can reduce (uality and amount of fruit set. "or best fruit set we find changing or fanning the terrarium two or three times a day and then misting indirectly immediately after is the most effecti e and least demanding. ' good indoor location can be near a window with the light diffused through the lid of the terrarium. ,ight helps those caps de elop. !t can take as long as a week for an Oyster mushroom to grow from a pinhead to maturity depending on temperature and humidity. -hen the cap margin starts to turn up, the fruitingbody is past its prime, so by this point you ought to ha e either used it to start another series of culture, or to ha e eaten it for supper. !f they are malformed then pull them off and eat anyway. %here is nothing to&ic in the substrate which would cause malformation. .alformed caps are an indication of poor aeration, not enough light, incorrect temperatures or low humidity. .ushrooms are fairly forgi ing, and you can gently mo e the bags around until you find a place that suits them .ushrooms will occur in flushes- surges of sudden growth. )ou can get one or two of these out from your colonized spawn bag. %o induce another flush or two, /ust dunk the whole colonized brick in some water for four hours. Once you cant get anymore growth flushes from your colony, take the lot outside and mi& it with some fresh woodchips or bury the whole brick up to its neck in some fresh sawdust, or touching a stump. Oyster mushrooms are aggressi e colonizers. )oull get mushrooms again from these- somewhere, sometime, depending on the weather and your location