Hi Mycotek Community, Great to be a part of the community. During this pandemic , picked up mushroom cultivation and wanted to start off with cultivating Oyster Mushrooms ( Pleurotus Florida ) , I had few questions regarding the cultivation as i keep facing a lot of issues with contamination and slow colonization. I hope this helps other newbies who are starting out mushroom cultivation. Here is my process of cultivating : Substrate - Dried Paddy Straw Pre-soaking it for 4 hours with 2% Hydrated Lime and 2 hours Pasteurization at 80C using a Steam generator and an Oil Drum. After steaming it , letting it dry for 30 to 60 minutes before packing them into bags. I poke holes on the side and fill it up with Polyfill for FAE. I have had few contamination problems , having Trich regularly in my bags. I lost like 5 bags out of the 10 i made recently. I cleaned the whole place down with Bleach and Peroxide but the problem remains. I have tried soaking for more time like 10 to 16 hours , that was even worse , Bottom half of the bag would not be colonized and it start growing Trich or some other disease. I even tried putting drain holes at the bottom but still it didn't work the mycelium would not spread to the higher moisture part of the bag. So for moisture level , 4 hours Soaking and 2 hours Pasteurization was good. Questions : 1. Preventing Trichoderma? How more time for soaking or more time in pasteurization? 2. If affected by Trichoderma , what solution can i use to fix the bag if possible? 3. How do you know when to harvest after the mushrooms start fruiting? 4. Few of the mushrooms , i started fruiting are kind of curling inside , I have my Humidity set at 95% and it is constantly at 95% , As for Fresh air , i have an Exhaust fan sending in fresh air through a filter. What wrong am i doing here? I will keep this thread updated. Regards, Hiddenx
1. Preventing Trichoderma? How more time for soaking or more time in pasteurization? Your Trich problem is most likely coming from excess moisture. If the oyster mycelium doesn't colonize it, something else will. Could also spawn a little on the heavier side and give the good mycelium a better fighting chance (after the moisture content is correct). 2. If affected by Trichoderma , what solution can i use to fix the bag if possible? Put it outside and hope that you get fruits. 3. How do you know when to harvest after the mushrooms start fruiting? Harvest while the outer edge is still pointed downward. Once it starts to curl up the fruit is really dumping spores and won't last as long (still perfectly edible though). The fruits in the picture are way past prime. 4. Few of the mushrooms , i started fruiting are kind of curling inside , I have my Humidity set at 95% and it is constantly at 95% , As for Fresh air , i have an Exhaust fan sending in fresh air through a filter. What wrong am i doing here? They are curling in on themselves because they should have been picked a while ago. If they aren't getting big enough for you then the FAE needs to be increased. Oysters are the most sensitive to cO2 levels and need lots of air exchange. The best fruits come from constantly pulling in fresh air from outside, or just fruiting them in open air and misting constantly. Good Luck!
Thanks @GreenGills , Maybe i should increase one more exhaust fan to get in more fresh air. Is it better to attach a Duct from the exhaust fan above the racks and cut in holes in the duct or just plain exhaust fans pulling in air from outside?
Try lowering your pasteurization heat also. You said that you are pasteurizing at 80c and that is 176F.....Lower your temps to be in proper pasteurization range which will be 60c to 71c. which is 140f-160f. Also try using heat only(no lime) on a batch cause hydrated lime can be tricky if you buy the wrong brand. On that note also try a batch of lime only pasteurization without heat and follow the tek youre using line by line and word by word to see if the lime is the culprit. When youre buying hydrated lime look for a brand with low magnesium. Less than 1% .. I hope this helps.
