Growing Your Own

Growing your Own

I recently had a go at growing my own Oyster Mushrooms (Pleurotus pulmonariuss). I obtained an Oyster growing kit from Mushroom Gourmet, who supplies a number of different kits for home growing and educational use.

Mushroom Gourmet

What I Started With

The oyster kit contained grain spawn, a bag of substrate (food), a piece of string, a label, and instructions. The grain spawn is to be kept in the fridge till required. I soon had the water, grain, and substrate, mixed according to the instructions and then only had to wait for my oysters to appear.

Growing Kit

What I Ended Up With

I was able to watch the mycelium slowly grow through out the bag and after about 3 weeks the first pre-mordia appeared, the exact time taken depending on temperature. It took another week for these to develop into edible oyster mushrooms.

Oyster mushroom

The Developing Oyster

The oyster mushroom fruiting body as it grew over a period of a week. Other Photos of Pleurotus sp. growing in the wild can be found here.

The Hidden Forest | Forest Fungi | Site Map