Experience the Online Oyster Mushroom Class and Get Growing

Join our online oyster mushroom class to learn all about growing oyster mushrooms. Oyster mushrooms are one of the best species of mushrooms to start growing. They grow quickly, can grow on a wide range of substrates and fruit prolifically. IF you want to learn how to grow oyster mushrooms we have an awesome booklet outlining the process. Once you have read this booklet you will be ready to go for cultivating. But if you still have questions our online oyster mushroom class will give you the confidence and knowledge to grow oyster's for home or business. Some of the common ways of growing oyster mushrooms we talk about are:

1. Growing oyster's in coffee
2. Growing oyster mushrooms on toilet paper (this video also shows you how to do that)
3. Growing oysters on straw (You can watch part of the lecture here)
4. Growing oyster mushrooms in bed's of straw
5. Growing oyster mushrooms from stem butts

Why take an oyster mushroom class?

Really the best way to learn how to grow oyster mushrooms is to just start growing them. To skip the whole class thing order some spawn from our website and start growing next week. If you want to cover some of the basics of what oyster mushrooms are, how to grow them from start to finish, and how to be sure you have a consistent supply for home or business use we have some pointers. In this class we will also discuss some easy ways to involve kids in oyster mushroom cultivation. We believe it is important to teach the youth about fungi, what they are doing, and how we can work with them. At Fungi Ally we have been growing mushrooms for over 6 years and have learned some good do's and don'ts from our experiences. Rather than doing all the same testing and mistakes let us give you a boost up.  

Important take aways from an Oyster mushroom class

What are some important aspects to think about when growing oyster mushrooms? In this oyster mushroom class we will talk about things some of these key things like: what is spawn, how to obtain spawn, how to create your own spawn (if you want more around this topic check out our online mushroom lab pro class.) Inoculation procedures: including how much spawn to use, what substrate to use and at what ratio's, common issues that happen with substrates, how to treat the different substrates to successfully grow mycelium, different containers and bags to hold the substrate in. Incubation and fruiting parameters.

Opportunities for at home propagation and outdoor cultivation. Oyster mushrooms are the easiest mushroom to grow indoors and on high nutrient substrates but they can also easily be cultivated outside with home grown spawn. This oyster mushroom class teaches you how to grow the spawn using low tech methods to inoculate outdoor beds of straw or logs. Most of all HAVE FUN! Growing oyster mushrooms should be an exciting and rewarding process. You can easily get beautiful tasty mushrooms to fruit in abundance with oysters.

Growing Healthy mycelium: Oyster mushroom class step 1

Growing oyster mushrooms always starts with growing healthy mycelium. To grow healthy mycelium you first off need a viable culture or good spawn. Spawn is simply mycelium grown on some sort of mycelium like sawdust or grain. Grain is better to use for indoor cultivation like coffee grounds or straw while sawdust is better for outdoor projects involving logs or straw beds. Once the mycelium has grown out onto the desired substrate the mushrooms are ready to fruit. If you don't want to grow the mycelium you can buy one of our mushroom grow kits

Fruiting the mushrooms:

Mushrooms breath oxygen just like people so they will grow towards the oxygen rich environment. If you cut holes in plastic or are growing out of bottles the mushrooms will find the opening or holes themselves. All you need to do during this fruiting process is to mist the outside of the container the oyster mushrooms are in, creating a humid environment the mushrooms can grow into. Unlike plants the mushrooms have all the water they need to grow inside the substrate, so water doesn't need to be added into the material they are growing in, just the surrounding environment. Once the mushrooms are full size meaning the cap margin is close to flat simply pull and twist the mushrooms off. It is fine if some of the substrate comes off with the mushrooms but try not to leave little pieces of mushroom behind.

Some common questions during our oyster mushroom class are:

1. How much spawn should I add? At the beginning it is good to spawn at a 10% ratio so if you have a 5 pound bag of spawn you can inoculate 50 pounds of substate. As you get better or if you are working in a sterile environment you can inoculate closer to a 2-5% ratio with a 5 pound bag inoculating 200 pounds of material. The ability for mycelium to expand and continue to grow is massive. A small piece of tissue from a single mushroom can be expanded out to 20,000 pounds of substrate within 4 months.
2. If there is green or other color molds what should I do? Never expand a material that has green mold on it, but you don't necessarily have to throw it out. If it is just a little bit of mold simply cut the mold off or spray with alcohol. If the substrate is 50-60% colonized by oyster mushroom mycelium it will likely still fruit mushrooms. Mushrooms that fruit from substrate with mold on it are still safe to eat. If the mushrooms themselves have mold then you might not want to consume them.