How to Cultivate Oyster Mushrooms in Early Autumn? A Detailed Guide to High-Yield Growing Techniques

Oyster mushroom, also known as the side ear fungus, is a species in the family Pleurotaceae, order Agaricales, under the Basidiomycota, and is also a mushroom type with relatively high nutritional value. At present, the oyster mushroom cultivation market is still fairly promising, so how do you cultivate oyster mushrooms?What are the high-yield cultivation techniques for oyster mushrooms in early autumn?

1. Determining the cultivation time

The requirement is that the fruiting period should be both a period when local mushrooms are scarce and prices are high, and a period when medium- and high-temperature-type oyster mushroom varieties can carry out normal mycelial growth and fruiting. This locality belongs to the southern edge of the Huang-Huai Plain in the warm temperate semi-humid zone, with an average temperature of 24.3°C in June and 27.5°C in August, so the early-summer inoculation period should be chosen in early to mid-April, and early autumn should be chosen from mid-to-late August to early September. Other regions should decide according to their local actual conditions.

2. Cultivation method

The cultivation method is mainly three-dimensional cultivation of sterilized substrate in plastic bags. This cultivation method is easy to move and manage, and both the success rate and biological conversion rate are very high, at over 95% and over 150% respectively.

3. Selection of spawn

Since high-temperature-type mushroom species mostly have low yields and poor quality, affecting economic returns, we use medium-temperature and wide-temperature-type varieties, such as Shuangnai, SP-46, Jiangdu 109, Huafeng No. 1, etc. Spawn for early-summer cultivation is easy to produce, while for the spawn needed for early-autumn cultivation, to ensure quality, it is best to use air-conditioned cooling for culturing or to place an order with a nearby spawn factory.

4. Raw material preparation

The raw material ratio is 92% cottonseed hulls, 2%-3% gypsum, 3%-4% lime, and 0.2% carbendazim with 25% content, with a material-to-water ratio of 1:1.3. When preparing, adjust the pH value to 8-9 to prevent the pH value from dropping too quickly during the high-temperature period.

5. Bagging and sterilization

For the culture material of oyster mushrooms cultivated in early summer and early autumn, normal-pressure steam sterilization is adopted rather than raw-material fermentation sterilization, to ensure sterilization quality. Cut low-pressure polyethylene tube bags prepared in advance, 22-24 cm wide and 6-8 filaments thick, into 45-55 cm lengths (shorter is suitable for early summer, longer for early autumn). First tie one end tightly with cotton thread (machine-tied finished products are now available for purchase), and after filling with material, tie the other end tightly as well. When filling material, never pack it too tightly; generally a 55 cm long material bag can hold 1.3-1.4 kg of dry material. Because packing too tightly affects air permeability and is unfavorable for oyster mushroom mycelial growth. After filling, sterilize the culture material with normal-pressure steam; after the temperature reaches 100°C, maintain it for 8-10 h, then stop the fire and let it steep for 4-6 h, after which it can be removed from the stove.

6. Inoculation

(1) Use a hole puncher to punch holes for inoculation, punching 3 rows per bag. The spawn to be inoculated should first be broken by hand into round wooden-wedge shapes, 3-4 cm long with the middle diameter slightly larger than the hole opening. When inoculating, insert the tip of the wedge-shaped spawn into the hole, leave a small half outside the bag, and twist with appropriate hand force, using the spawn itself to seal the hole opening, so as to prevent contaminating bacteria from entering; at the same time, it can also meet the oxygen needs of oyster mushroom mycelial growth.

(2) The simple sterile inoculation tent method using plastic film (or plastic mulching film) for inoculating both ends is suitable for years with special high temperature and drought. Beforehand, in the mycelium-growing greenhouse, use new plastic film to enclose a simple inoculation tent, with a height of about 1.7 m, and width and length depending on the space in the mycelium-growing shed and how much is inoculated each time; generally 2 m wide and 10-20 m long, which can hold 2500 kg of dry material at one time.

7. Management during the mycelium-growing period

(1) Cover the cultivation bags with straw curtains to shade light, so as to prevent the light from being too strong and inhibiting oyster mushroom mycelial growth, but first cover the mushroom stack with 1 layer of new plastic mulching film to prevent the straw curtains from piercing the mushroom bags or seals and causing contaminating bacteria infection.

(2) At night or when the temperature is high, add straw curtains on top of the greenhouse to keep warm or cool down;

(3) After 10:00, check the temperature frequently to avoid burning the mycelium at high temperature; once the air temperature inside the shed exceeds 30°C, ventilate quickly or add straw curtains on top of the shed.

(4) The early-autumn climate is dry and windy, so the humidity inside the shed should be kept slightly higher, generally around 75%.

8. Management during the fruiting period

Oyster mushrooms cultivated in early autumn generally undergo mycelial growth indoors and fruit indoors; alternatively, indoor mycelial growth with fruiting in an outdoor greenhouse, or mycelial growth in a greenhouse with fruiting in a greenhouse, may also be used. Since the temperature gradually changes from high to low during this period, management is relatively easy; simply refer to the management measures for early-summer cultivation and apply them flexibly.