I’ve added the fungal spawn I got at Jess’s Intermediate Mushroom Growing workshop to coffee grounds from my favourite cafe. There are Elm and Yellow Oyster mushroom spawn and I found a bag of inoculated grain for White Button Mushrooms that was several years old. The jars and grounds in the microwave for a good 15 minutes to ensure no opposition from other, unseen, competitors. 15 minutes was just a guess, but seemed more than enough. The jars were closed with tight fitting, plastic, lids to stop critters getting in and give the fungi a head start. Then they were left for 5 days in a cool, dark, part of the laundry until the white fuzz of the mycelia could be seen in every jar, ensuring colonization. This ensured there was no transplant shock either. I removed the plastic lids and replaced them with cheesecloth held on by rubber bands and moved them into the temporary greenhouse whyere it is
mycelium
Mycelia from Slape’s
I got two kinds of mushroom spawn, Blue and White Oysters, from Slape’s Mushroom House a couple of weekends ago. The mycelia are growing well, covering the straw at the top of the bags and slowly moving south. About a month from now we should be tucking into some fresh mushrooms!
Mushrooms do grow on coffee.
Mushrooms are easy to grow on recycled materials.
Here I have white button mushrooms growing on coffee grounds that were scavenged from a local coffee shop.
I spread some innoculated grain over the surface, made sure all was moist, but not wet and covered them to keep them moist and warm. To house them I am using a $10.00 mini greenhouse from Bunnings and placing them in a repurposed cupboard (though I took them out to take these pics).
These pics were taken after 4 days, and in pic 2 you can see the mycelium (the white fuzzy stuff) forming around the grains.
The source material is commercially available from most hardware stores. The range they stock is ‘Mr Fothergills’ which come in packs like seeds.
Next, I will try oyster mushrooms on straw.
