well I guess here is the place to post this. If not please move it to the appropriate forum. I grow Oyster (Pleurotus ostreatus) mushrooms on a continual basis. This is an easy and tasty mushroom to grow. They grow on just about any substrate. I use straw mostly, but do use paper as well. This mushroom could be used as a great environmental help. It can decrease the amount of paper n landfills while supplying a great food source as well as compost for the more naturally minded people to use. They also can be used to "clean up" oil and chemically contaminated ground. The mushroom will not be edible as it absorbs the petroleum and heavy metals. But it also breaks them down quickly into their base components. So the ground is clean and usable again. A process known as bio remediation. We are also trying to get Shittake (Lentula edodes) going as well. This mushroom takes a bit more time and nutrients to grow. These are grown on supplemented sawdust blocks. This mushroom is known for it's medicinal properties more in the orient than here in the U.S.A. but it is really beginning to catch on here as well. I'll get some pictures posted soon.
Oyster mushrooms are so yummy! Where did you get yours for starters? I've never tasted the Shi-itake, only heard that it's popular in the East.
I love mushrooms,, an oyster mushrooms are so good too. I've had the shi-taki also,, Here in the Artic we do have alot of mushrooms that grow, but i am so scared to eat them,, because we also have alot of look-a-like mushrooms,, we have chanterelles, oyster (or i think it is) straw mushrooms,, but like i said we have all the good ones but we have all the look a likes that grow here too. How do you tell the difference?
Well I got a culture from fungi Perfecti. I have a sterile laboratory for sterile culture work. As you may guess I'm into mushrooms. hahaahahaha They also sell grow kits that are ready to grow. I also sell these but only in the United States. As to the look a likes Biita, the safest way to learn about mushrooms that you'd collect in the wild is from an experienced forager/hunter. There are subtle differences in the edibles and the poisonous ones. Here in the States we have the Honey mushroom also known as "stumpers". They grow right near their look a like the Galarina, a very toxic mushroom. The Honeys grow on old stumps and their bases, The Galerina grows on the dirt right next to them. PLEASE DO NOT USE THIS AS A POSITIVE ID OF THE MUSHROOM!!! But you can also spore print a mushroom to help in the ID of the species. I'll do a write up on that some time. But go out and get a field guide for your area and start reading. You'll be able to ID many types from that. But be sure to check with an expert or a local mycological society for a positive ID.
I worked at a mushroom plant for over 8 years.The growers of Shiitake and Oyster wear resperators as the spores can be inhaled and grow in your lungs as they open they release spores and can attached to your lungs as they are warm and moist and can cause you to have bad lung problems and this is never mentioned with the kits I have been told this by people that have bought them.All mushroom will do this but Oyster and Shiitake are worse.
I know of a spot near me where chantrelles grow abundantly, but I also know folks who've staked a claim on them- I respect those folks too much to snitch *sigh* I'd love to get some mushrooms going, Grandma used to gather morels in the forest so I guess that's where I get it- but she was braver than me!!! Maybe I'll look into one of those growing kits, then I could be sure. Hmmm....
Glendann told me the mushrooms were grown here in Penna abonded coal mines......I didnt know that. How is that for a texan.. ha ha Good girl. b
Chantrells are a wonderful mushroom that's for sure. I collect them here as well. Morels....mmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmm.... We collect them by the sack fulls at a few of my honey holes. Was on the Travel Channels show Places to find Cash and Treasures hosting a Morel foray here in SW Michigan. They are easy to ID and the false Morels are quite different from the real thing. Now to the sporulation of shrooms. Yes oysters are one of the heaviest sporulators in the fungal world. But they will not grow in your lungs. They will give you respiratory problems if you're exposed to them for a long period of time at a high content. That's the reason for the respirators being worn.
Wonderful info so far . . . I love to eat 'em, but I only hunt for them in the local grocery stores, I would have NO idea where to seek them in the wild around here, :-? and really don't know anything about growing my own - so maybe that's something I can learn . . .
I think I am the strangest person on the stew and people have asked me if i am a true gardener. I am eccentric in my mind but I have a fear of wild growing mushrooms. I passed it on to my girls "mushroom fear." A small phobia that is not debilitating. I always view them as something alien because of the life span and germinating habit of the spore. i get close and look at them because their shape and forms are so intriging. But there is an uneasyness I feel around them. I guess fear is too strong of a word. It is almost like a car wreck curiousity. You don't want to look but you can't help yourself. I have eaten them (they are not scary once cooked) but I am not in love with them. Cool info like yours takes some of the mystery away making them seem more friendly. How fascinating that they can be used to make unusuable land useable again. Keep growing mushrooms!!
I love the mushroom compost I get it yearly by the dump truck load I also eat mushrooms .I just learned lots about them and my son is a forklift operator at a mushroom plant and has to wear a resperator in cerain areas of them growing . Yes they grow all over the USA in places and plants you wouldn't believe.
