How to Grow Oyster Mushrooms in Bags? The Latest Cultivation Techniques and Methods Tutorial

The oyster mushroom is a widely cultivated edible fungus, belonging in biological taxonomy to the phylum Basidiomycota, class Agaricomycetes, order Agaricales, family Pleurotaceae, genus Pleurotus. It is a tetrapolar heterothallic edible fungus, and its life cycle is similar to that of many higher basidiomycetes: the mature fruiting body produces basidiospores, and it contains rich nutrients. Now let us take a look together at bag-cultivation techniques for oyster mushrooms!

Advantages of Bag Cultivation

Bag-cultivated oyster mushrooms help control the harm of contaminating microorganisms and pests, offer a high success rate, make full use of space, and occupy a small area (a 15-18 sq m cultivation room can hold 1500-2000 bags). Moreover, the production cycle is shortened: by using stacked incubation to raise the material temperature, incubation is accelerated and the mycelial growth period is shortened. At the same time, it is easy to move around for management, makes full use of the site, helps control temperature, maintains humidity, produces uniform fruiting, gives good mushroom shape, and yields stable output.

Culture Material Formulas

There are many sources of culture material for oyster mushrooms, such as cottonseed hulls, sawdust, rice straw, tree leaves, and the stalks of other crops and vegetables, all of which can be used to cultivate oyster mushrooms. Usually cottonseed hulls and rice straw are the main materials for cultivating oyster mushrooms. (1) Formula One: 98% cottonseed hulls, 1% lime, 1% gypsum powder, pH 6.5. (2) Formula Two: 60% cottonseed hulls, 33% rice straw powder, 1% lime powder, 1% gypsum powder, pH 6.5. (3) Formula Three: 80% rice straw powder, 18% cornmeal or rice bran, 1% superphosphate, 1% lime powder, pH 6.5.

Mixing the Material

After weighing out the raw materials and chemicals according to the formula, place them in a clean room or on open ground, add water at a dry material-to-water ratio of 1:1.3-1.8, and mix thoroughly with a spike-tooth rake or iron shovel. After mixing, squeeze the culture material tightly in your hand; if water seeps out between your fingers but does not drip, the moisture content is suitable.

Bagging and Sterilization

For the plastic bags, use low-pressure polyethylene tube film 22-25 cm wide, cut into plastic tubes about 40-50 cm long, fill the prepared culture material into the plastic tubes, press tightly, slip a plastic neck ring or fiber band ring over each end, fold the mouth of the plastic tube down, tuck it inward along the outer side of the ring from the side nearest the center, then cover the ring opening with kraft paper or newspaper and secure it with a rubber band. Put the material bags into a large earth steam cooker for steaming and disinfection, placing multiple bags together, and after steam builds up (100°C) maintain for 8-10 hours.