I officially declare the mushroom season open! And to honor this appropriately, I’ve started new king oyster mushroom cultures that I hope will thrive and grow. This time, I used store-bought grain spawn (this shop is cool, give these guys a try!) – the last propagating attempt with the used up mycelium didn’t work out sooo well.

The whole action doesn’t take much time and effort (and it’s perfectly doable, sitting, with a broken knee…). But it is absolutely vital that you work as cleanly as possible, so to give your spawn an edge over any possible competing contaminats. I’ve got two versions:

 

Mushroom beds:

Two plastic storage boxes, about 25 x 35 cm with a lid, filled with pasteurized straw substrate and inoculated each with 1/3 of the grain spawn. These will go outside as soon as they’re fully colonized and ready to sprout. Here’s what I did:

 

 

 

  1. Make holes in the lids, about 1 cm dia., disinfect thoroughly with alcohol and seal the holes with Micropore™ tape to ensure gas exchange.
  2. Disinfect the boxes thoroughly with alcohol, close and set aside.
  3. Bring about 1.5 l of water for each box to a rapid boil. Add 1 kg of straw pellets to a box (you can obtain this in the small animals supplies aisle in your local garden market. Make sure to buy organic material).
  4. Then pour in the boiling water. Stir thoroughly with a disinfected spoon to distribute everything evenly and close the lid. Let the straw soak through and let cool to room temperature. Repeat for the second box.
  5. Once cool, drain off the condensate from the inner side of the lid and mix in 1/3 of the grain spawn, again using a disinfected spoon. Try to keep the open time as short as possible. Close immediately and stow away.

 

Propagating jars:

Three glass jars, filled with a straw- / rye grain mixture to propagate the last third of the spawn. They’re intendend for storing and using them later. The approach was the same as last time:

 

 

 

  1. Make holes in the jar lids, about 1 cm dia., disinfect thoroughly with alcohol and seal the holes with Micropore™ tape to ensure gas exchange.
  2. Sterilize the jars (I steamed them for 15 minutes on the stove), close them and set them aside.
  3. Cook 500g of rye grains with 400 ml water and 15g of gypsum until they’re mostly dry and covered nicely with a white-ish gypsum coat. Fill into the jars immediately, close and let cool to room temperature.
  4. When cooled, use a sterilized spoon to top with the grain spawn, close instantly and let sit in a dry and cool place to thrive.