Oyster mushroom (Pleurotus ostreatus)

Oyster mushroom is an easily cultivated mushroom, appropriate for the beginners, because of its vigorous mycelium growth. The mushroom can efficiently compete with other fungi while growing on a substrate and is thus resistant to moulds.

Caps of the oyster mushroom are grey in colour and can grow more than 10 cm in diameter. Mature mushroom becomes pale; in general caps are darker when grown at lower temperatures.

Oyster mushroom cultivation

Oyster mushroom can be cultivated on wood or straw. When cultivated on wood, it can be inoculated either with plug spawn or grain spawn. If inoculation is carried out early in the spring and wood is left in a warm and shaded place, mushrooms are expected to grow late in the autumn. Usually, mushrooms start growing when the environment temperature drops and precipitations are more frequent (most often during the fall). Cultivation on wood is most successful when carried out outdoors, where the spawn has enough fresh air and humidity to develop into mushrooms.

Oyster mushroom cultivation on straw is faster and gives higher yields, therefore is generally used in commercial mushroom production. At an optimal temperature the colonisation of substrate takes two to three weeks and then fruiting bodies begin to develop. Three flushes of mushrooms can be expected from the same substrate in the intervals of one to two weeks.

Growth parameters for oyster mushroom (Pleurotus ostreatus) cultivation

For oyster mushroom cultivation, beech, hornbeam, birch or poplar tree wood is recommended, whereas oak and coniferous wood most often does not support spawn growth.