Oyster mushroom cluster, a delicious and healthy food that's easy to grow!
Mushrooms and Appropriate Technology
Gourmet and Medicinal
For The Novice Grower
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Oyster mushroom cluster, a delicious and healthy food that's easy to grow! |
Mushrooms and Appropriate Technology
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"Mushrooms are also very nutritious as food because they contain all the essential amino acids and are an excellent source of vitamins. Evidence suggests that exotic mushrooms ö such as the shiitake, enoke and oyster varieties which are used in many modern recipes ö have major dietary benefits." By Professor John Smith from the University of Strathclyde
Growing mushrooms is an easy, fun, and exciting way to learn more about mushrooms. The rewards range from education to delicious gourmet mushrooms. Mushroom growing kits are offered by numerous fungi companies and are made for the novice mushroom grower. Indoor patches, outdoor patches, and spore plugs are simple methods of growing mushrooms. For the more technical grower mushroom spores can be can be bought or collected and introduced to sterile environments. This technique requires precise conditions and sterile environments to keep from contaminating the desired fungi. At Humboldt State's Campus Center of Appropriate Technologies (CCAT) we have chosen to use mushrooms kits consisting of mycelium pre-inoculated on sterile substrate. Providing the right conditions CCAT should have a diverse array of edible and medicinal mushrooms.
Indoor spawn bags are mushroom mycelium growing on a sterilized substrate such as hardwood sawdust or pasteurized straw, and put into a plastic bag (some come in a box). The bags have small holes for the mushrooms to grow out of and for water to enter into. Some bags produce mushrooms as quickly as two weeks. These bags are generally set up to be placed in a shady spot indoors (like a north facing window) or outdoors if monitored closely, and be misted regularly. The sensitivity varies with each species but in general temperatures ranging from 50 degrees to 80 degrees (Fahrenheit) are ideal. The more care put into regulating the species environment to an ideal state the more productive the crop will be.
Pictures of Spawn Bags at CCAT
Pearl Oysters (Pleurotus Ostreatus)
Outdoor patches require a bit more work then indoor patches, but they are longer lasting and provide an intricate addition to the landscape or garden. These patches need to be located in a shady area that gets plenty of moisture. Noting the individual species requirements is imperative to insure that the climate is appropriate for the mushroom of choice. Fresh hardwood chips or sawdust, pasteurized straw, and compost piles are and ideal substrates to grow in. There are many benefits to growing an outdoor patch in the garden or landscape.
Pictures of Outdoor Patch at CCAT
Spore plugs are an easy way to grow mushrooms for the patient fungi cultivator. Typically logs take 9 to 12 months before the first harvest of mushrooms. Spore plugs are usually a wooden dowel about 1 inch long and covered in active mycelium. Plugs can be introduced into hardwood logs or into stumps that are 1-3 months old. Generally, each type of mushroom has a preferred type of wood to inhabit. Logs are drilled with appropriate size holes for the plugs being used, and then sealing the logs with wax is recommended. This step helps keep pests from eating the plugs and also helps to protect against contamination. The logs are then placed in a shady spot where they will receive ample moisture. With time and patience mushrooms should fill the log. Logs 6-10 inches in diameter will generally last 3 to 5 years.
Pictures of Log Inoculations at CCAT
Mushrooms and Appropriate Technologies
"The problem with pollution is you have an overlay of multiple contaminates and toxins simultaneously on the same landscape. So, we have to create mosaics of mycelial masses orchestrated and customized to the toxic profiles of the environment." - Paul Stamets Fall 2003 Tilth Producers Conference: Bellingham, WA
There is much more to mushrooms then meets the eye. Fungi are complex organisms that can do wonders for our environment. Paul Stamets is a renowned mycologist leading the way in the mushroom world. Stamets, with the support of his company Fungi Perfecti, and Battelle Laboratories, have come up with some exciting new ways to utilize mushrooms unique characteristics. The term they have coined, "mycotechnologies," appropriately describes how mushrooms can be used as a beneficial technology in the environment. Mycotechnologies is broken down into sub categories.
Mycoremediation: Using mushrooms to break down paper, coffee grounds, wastes, etc. and fungi and permaculture
Mycofiltration: Using mushrooms as filters to breakdown pesticides, hydrocarbon bonds in oil, and more
Mycoforestry: Using mushrooms in forestry techniques such as spore oils in chain saws
Mycorestoration: Using mushrooms to help restore disturbed ecosystems such as the restoration of old logging roads
** Mycotechnologies are patented terms. Permission was granted by Fungi Perfecti the company to use this information. ** There are many other people in the field utilizing the properties of fungi to help the environment
Mycorrhiza restoration projects in California by Dr. Ted St. John, Ph.D.
Fungi as pest control by University of Florida
Mushrooms for restoration in Australia through the FungiBank
Fungi Perfecti Paul Stamets web site for his mushrooms company
MykoWeb lots of great articles, and extensive lists of mushrooms of California
Tilth Producers Conference Bellingham, WA Stamets lecture on Mushrooms as Allies as well as Mycofiltration and Mycoremediation Strategies
North American Mycological Societies list of mycological clubs of North America and contact info
Battelle Labrotories the lab that Stamets is working with on mycotechnologies
A Practical Guide to Mycorrhiza by Dr. Ted lots of good info on mycorrhiza fungi
Resources for mushroom hunters information put out by The Journal of Wild Mushrooming
Mushrooms and Cancer research in the UK
Health benefits of medicinal mushrooms; maitake, shiitake, and reishi
Free Definitions web page of free definitions
Web Page by Kristina Prosser (kmp38@humboldt.edu)
All Photos taken by Kristina Prosser
Last Up Dated: Dec 10th, 2004