Oyster mushroom mycelium loves coffee grounds .... and coffee filters ... and tea leaves. I put some moistened shredded paper in the bottom of a small bucket. To that i add a handful of oyster mushroom spawn and mix it up. We put the bucket in the cabinet under the sink. Each morning Robin puts her used coffee grounds and filter into the bucket. We also add tea leaves when we make a pitcher of iced tea which is about every other day. It takes 2-3 weeks to fill up a small bucket. By the time it is full the mycelium has run up to about the 3rd layer from the top.
When a bucket is full we put it on the screen porch and start another bucket. It took about 3 more weeks for the mycelium to completely colonize the bucket and start producing mushrooms. We expect to harvest several flushes of mushrooms from the bucket. After that we can dump the mass out of the bucket and use the mycelium to start more buckets.
We bought the bucket from Happy Donuts (used to contain donut glaze) for $1.00 We paid about $30.00 for a bag of mushroom spawn from Mushroom Mountain. We can start about 100 buckets from a bag so that cost is $0.30. Total cost $1.30. We will get at least $5.00 worth of mushrooms. Not a bad profit from a waste product.
I will update you on the actual amount of mushrooms we can harvest from a bucket.
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17 comments:
Holy smokes, we've been wanting to do this forever, and now we have a how-to. Thanks! :o)
Great idea! Question for you, though. Do you mix the coffee/tea grounds after adding them? Or do you just mix during the first step? Do the grounds "smother" the mushrooms?
Valerie - No you don't do any mixing after the initial mixing of mycelium and paper. The grounds don't smother the mycelia. There is plenty of air space between the grounds. The mycelia grows up through the grounds.
How do you prepare oyster mushrooms?
I've been obsessed with this idea of growing mushrooms ever since I saw this post! I found a kit for shitakes and white button mushrooms, but it seems a little pricey.
I'm sure you have a better way, you know everything! :o)
SDF - I saute´them with garlic and put them on pizzas, in soups and stews, on cheese sandwiches, burgers, whatever. they are delicious. You want to saute´them on medium heat for about 25 minutes. The cell walls of mushrooms are very tough and need to be broken down by heat so that we can digest them well. Otherwise they will give you gas and little nutrients. This is true of all mushrooms. Mushrooms should not be eaten raw. Enjoy.
Duane - can you tell me if it was the 5 lb bag of sawdust / mushroom spawn you started with from Mushroom Mountain? They have many kits, etc. on their site. You mentioned oyster mushrooms at your house today ... does this method work with all the different types of oyster mushrooms listed (elm, golden, king, etc)? THANKS for your help!
you want the outdoor bulk spawn use either the king mushroom or the cold blue. they are strains of the same species as is the warm blue which fruits best outdoors in hot weather. Have not tried the golden species yet but that should work too. I'm going to try it when i run out of what I have
Thanks, Duane! I'm definitely going to try this - that golden looks tempting! I appreciate your help!
Wow, that is very interesting! Something I may have to look more into. Thanks!
Did you used sawdust or grain spawn to the coffee sub?
Tks
Fernando, i have used both grain and sawdust spawn. Both work well.
I get quicker colonization with grain spawn therefore reducing the possibility of contamination. Molds can quickly colonize the grounds but in most cases the pleurotus will be aggressive enough to overcome it.
hey Duane, awesome post, do you mind if I post this as a success story on our website? this is Olga from Mushroom Mountain :)
Olga,
I just saw this comment. Yes you can post this on your site.
Duane
My daughter is able to get a 5 gallon bucket full of coffee grounds at work. Should I mix the spawn into paper and put it on the bottom of the bucket and then put all the coffee grounds in, or should I put them in a little at a time?
TIA, Terri
HI Duane,
Thanks so much for sharing this information. I appreciate it very much. At the end when you dump the bucket and use the mycelium for the next generation, how exactly do you do that? Do you do the shredded paper at the bottom of the bucket and add mycelium to that then add coffee grounds? Thanks for your help!.
Milagros
Thanks for sharing this information Duane! When you're done with the first bucket and you have mycelium, how exactly do you reuse this to generate more mushrooms? Do you do the same thing as you do with the spawn?
Thanks for your help.
Milagros
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