Month: March 2017

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Notes: Growing Mushrooms on coffee ground [EN]

These are the expanded notes of a workshop I was participating a while ago.  You can maybe find some useful information in here, it’s a sort of a very resumed article that explain a method for cultivating mushrooms on your own at home + some background information. More than a guide, is an overview over the method. Enjoy!

Mushrooms Workshop

Theory

Mushrooms that grows in the nature are mainly decomposing the matter. They are at the base of life: they break materials like lignine, cellulose and minerals and split complex elements into smaller chemical substances that are beneficial not only for the organism itself, but also more easily absorbed from the organisms in the surrounding environment. What we call “mushroom”, is just the visible part of a very extended system of “roots” (hyphae) called mycelium, which is the actual organism.

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Growing King Oyster Mushroom on coffee ground in a plastic container [EN]

Today I will write about growing Pleorotus Eryngii – the King Oyster Mushroom – in a plastic container.

I used a plastic container suited for keeping your spaghetti dry in the shelf.
As substrate, I used spent coffee ground (about 60%), carton (20%), peanut and pistachio shells (20%).

The plastic container I used is made in PP 5 (Polypropylene).

Details:
The container is about 2.2 Liters and I used water at 90 degrees to sterilize it internally, just a couple of washes. In addition, I cleaned it internally with alcohol, as the top lid is big enough to fit my hand inside. Apparently, PP 5 could even support a steam-pasteurization, but I didn’t try that yet. Continue reading “Growing King Oyster Mushroom on coffee ground in a plastic container [EN]”

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Growing Oyster Mushroom on coffee ground in a plastic bottle [EN]

Today I will write about growing Pleorotus Ostreatus – the Oyster Mushroom – in a plastic bottle.

As substrate, I used spent coffee ground (about 60%), carton (20%), peanut and pistachio shells (20%).

I used an empty water plastic bottle, made in PET 1 (Polyethylene).

Details:
The bottle is 1.5 Liter and I used water between 60 and 80 degrees to sterilize it internally, just a couple of washes. In addition, you can add some alcohol inside (don’t inhale in case you do this, hot water + alcohol creates gasses!). Higher temperatures are also possible, but water at 90-100 degrees modify the structure of Polyethylene 1, so it should be used very shortly. Continue reading “Growing Oyster Mushroom on coffee ground in a plastic bottle [EN]”