Growing Blue Oyster Mushrooms (Pleurotus ostreatus) in a Box Kit

I have to hand it to my husband and business partner, Brian, for trying new things all the time.  He loves to branch out and learn new practical skills.  In his spare time of late he’s been growing Blue Oyster Mushrooms for food and loving every minute of it. 

Mushroom Box Kit results 2011

He’s always loved mushrooms while I’ve never been a big fan.  I love mushrooms for their mycoremediation ability allowing contaminated land to regenerate and for their knack of creating the soil conditions my perennial plants prefer: fungal dominated soils.  But Brian, he just loves to eat them so why not start growing them too.

He started out simply with Blue Oyster Mushrooms.  Blue Oyster’s are one of the easiest mushrooms to grow in a box kit.  We purchased our kit in mid March from Mushroom Adventures in Marysville, CA.  After letting the box sit undisturbed for a few weeks in our cool garage we took it outside when the garage started to warm up in early April.  We placed the opened box on a side of our house where there is little wind but with a bit of sunlight.

Box kit placed outside with growing mycelium 4-9-2011

The mycelium had started to grow considerably in the 80 degree warmth of the garage so knowing what was going to happen when the box was placed outside was a bit of a mystery.  To grow well Blue Oyster's need even temperatures (mid to upper 60’s) and regular moisture.  It definitely wasn’t even temperatures outside all the time last month. Temperatures ranged from 40 to 80 degrees with intermittent rain and hail.  Brian had faith though and it paid off because well into April we saw big clumps of mushrooms!

Box kit with first flush of mushrooms 4-20-11

After harvesting his first big bunch Brian took them inside and proceeded to dry some, cook some, save some and also share some with friends and Clients.  They have amazing storage capabilities lasting well over two weeks in the fridge with no decay what so ever.  I really loved one particular way Brian cooked them.  He cut them into strips and dipped them in flour, egg, then flour again.  Then he fried them in pork lard until golden brown (olive oil or butter works well too).  Simply delicious!  I really don’t like the texture of mushrooms but cooked this way they were excellent.  They are so much better than fried calamari (less chewy) but they still have a very mild earthy-sea flavor (if that makes any sense).  For one who has always held disdain to eating mushrooms I’m looking forward to trying the re-hydrated Blue Oyster Mushrooms on pizza this summer too!

Blue Oyster Mushrooms after first harvest

Now it’s well into May and we haven’t seen any more signs of mushrooms but we have seen the mycelium growing a bit more recently.  The weather has not been cooperative with all the rain we’ve had lately and now with such cool temperatures I expect it will be a while before they grow anymore.  As Paul Stamets tells us, mushrooms have their first ‘flush’ where they grow rapidly then when harvested they can stop and sit for a spell (go dormant).  When they have the goods (water, sugars, even temperatures etc.) necessary to reproduce again they will.  Oyster mushrooms have the potential to produce 2-3 more flushes of harvestable growth from one box kit. 

If the mushrooms stop growing and it seems they aren’t going to grow anymore in the box there is a way to increase the ‘mycelial mileage’ of the kit (as Paul Stamets explains here).  The substrate the mushrooms grew from (in our case inside the black bag) is still full of mycelium and has plenty of growing capabilities if given a fresh medium to start over (wood, sawdust, wood chips, straw).  Just open it up and break the chunks into smaller pieces then dig the ‘spawn’ pieces into a woody, moist part of the landscape.  Or you can use bits to inoculate logs continuing the cycle of mushrooms in your life.  It can take a lot longer than a box kit but does well to keep the little guys about if you’re fairly diligent about their care. 

All in all I’m impressed with the box kit for growing Blue Oyster Mushrooms; it does the trick to produce mushrooms for the kitchen on a regular basis.  The only thing that bothers me is that this method of mushroom cultivation relies on the fairly consistent purchase of a box kit -which can be less than ideal. Inoculating logs or applying spawn to mulch beds and pathways seems to be a method that would supply the landscape ecosystem with the spores necessary to provide seasonal growth and harvest with little to no more box kit (or spawn) investment.  It seems possible that one kit –and the ‘mycelial mileage’ provided- would be sufficient to get started building a legacy of mushroom cultivation within the landscape.  But we'll have to do more experimenting to find out for sure.

What’s your experience growing mushrooms?