Key Technical Points for Growing King Oyster Mushrooms and Management Methods During the Fruiting Stage

King oyster mushroom (Pleurotus eryngii) is a common edible mushroom, named for its thick, fleshy fruiting body and faint almond-like aroma. Its stipe is thick and sturdy, with a crisp, tender texture and rich nutritional value, making it very popular in the market. King oyster mushroom is a medium-to-low-temperature fruiting fungus, and cultivation is mainly done with bag substrate, making it suitable for facility-based growing in mushroom houses, greenhouses and similar settings.

To grow king oyster mushrooms, you must first prepare the substrate, commonly using cottonseed hulls, sawdust, corncobs, bran and other materials, mixing them in proportion, adding water and stirring evenly, then bagging and sterilising. Once the substrate temperature has cooled to room temperature, inoculation is carried out under sterile conditions. During the mycelial running stage, the bags should be kept in a clean, dark, well-ventilated environment with relatively stable temperature, and once the mycelium has fully colonised the bags, you can move on to fruiting management.

The fruiting stage is the most important part of the whole growing process. At this time, you should lower the temperature appropriately, raise the humidity, provide a certain amount of scattered light, and keep the air fresh to encourage the primordia to differentiate successfully into mushrooms. King oyster mushroom is relatively sensitive to carbon dioxide; poor ventilation can easily lead to small caps, thin and elongated stipes or deformed mushrooms, so regular ventilation and air exchange are needed, while also avoiding excessive humidity fluctuations.

Harvesting is generally carried out when the caps are basically flat and spores have not yet been released in large quantities; if harvested too late, the flesh becomes loose and the texture clearly declines. Throughout the growing period, you should also pay attention to preventing contamination by competing microorganisms: the substrate must be thoroughly sterilised, and site hygiene must be maintained at all times. Overall, the threshold for growing king oyster mushrooms is not particularly high; the key is to do solid work on the basic management of temperature, humidity, ventilation and hygiene in order to obtain a relatively stable harvest.