Tag Archives: Coffee Grounds

Cultivation, Miscellaneous, Montana Mushrooms News

Oyster Mushrooms

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One of the Oyster Mushroom projects had a successful flush after sleeping through the winter.

The project started with burlap sacks filled with coffee grounds and oyster mushroom spawn. The sacks were stacked , bunker style outside, and left through the winter.

There was encouraging signs of life this spring and the bunker started getting water regularly. The gunny sack material sprouted mycelium throughout.

The first flush was large, and the mushrooms were tender and had a light licorice smell. The clusters pulled from the fabric easily, and were pretty clean.

I think the burlap material helped keep the moisture correct. This has been a problem when growing oysters in buckets. The material seems to wick the moisture where needed, much like mycelium. No wonder fungus loves burlap! Give it a try,

Dean

Cultivation, Montana Mushrooms News

Happy New Year cont.

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Happy New Year to  all of my fungal friends! It was a great year for mushrooms, and I am looking forward to another great year ahead.

Along with wild mushrooms, last year was a great year for growing mushrooms!

The oyster mushrooms proved to be aggressive and versatile again this year. We grew, harvested and consumed oyster mushrooms growing on cornstalks, coffee grounds, wood chips and garden waste. I even had oysters growing out of the bottom of my compost bin. They flushed at different times and were a treat each time!

New projects last year were interesting,

The garden giant outdoor kit was planted in the spring. The fungus consumed half of the wood chips and spread all over, but they did not flush before fall. I know they will flush next spring.

I ordered reishi and shiitake plugs early in the year. The summer slipped away and the plugs didn’t get plugged until late fall.  I look forward to spring to see if they grow.

A close friend of mine received a shiitake growing kit in late fall and so far has had 1 small flush. We are hopeful for the next flush. The kit will be put to good use this spring after it is done producing.

My mom planted her morel mushroom patch. It is in a good spot so it should produce. We have seen this one work in Oregon, so we are excited to see it work closer to home!

All in all, it was a productive year for a budding mushroom farmer!

Cultivation, Miscellaneous, Montana Mushrooms News

Attention Mushroom Farmers!

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Mushroom growers and farmers…now is probably our last chance to complete fall projects for spring flushes! I still have some plugs to put in logs and will get them completed soon. From what the mushroom growing literature says, October is the last month to inoculate outdoor projects in this area.

I will make sure my mushroom beds have have plenty of cover and are well watered. The Garden Giant mushroom bed has not flushed yet, although I know the mycelium is distributed throughout the wood chips. It will flush next spring when waterd well, unless I get a surprise flush before then! The Oysters continue to flush off and on from the coffee grounds, mushroom bed with woodchips and they even flush out of the bottum of my compost bin.

Garden Giant Mushroom BedMushroom Bed Closeup

Oyster Mushroom BedOyster Mushroom Bed

So if you are like me, you have to get these things in order before the snow REALLY settles in.