Hi! I have successfully grown 2 batches of Pleurotus ostreatus and I can say I am addicted! I want to know more about growing (general) and funghi in general. I got the basics covered already.
Any book recommendations? (paper back or hard cover)
Thanks!
You definitely have to check out **Paul Stamets’ ** books!
Growing Gourmet And Medicinal Mushrooms is, as the name already suggests, about how you can cultivate them and what different kinds of them exist, with their according use.
And in Mycelium Running, the author explains the many potential use cases, e.g. for mycoremidiation (pulling toxins from the environment), medicine (antibiotics, cancer therapy, etc.) and their ecological role (mycorrhizae, decomposition of dead matter, and more).
Those two are must-reads imo and exactly what you want.
Thank you! I am planning to start with gourmet (using waste I can get my hands on for free) to sell locally all to fund a more sofisticated setup (I’ve been using buckets so far, with success) and then explore more exotic species just for fun and knowledge.
Funghi is so cool! Thanks again
Sadly, I have given up on that.
Buckets are great in theory, for sure. But I had tons of contamination, low yield and had to use a lot of harmful chemicals (alcohol or bleach) to clean and disinfect the containers after use.
Now, I use grow bags.
They’re very cheap, I can sterilize them in the pressure cooker and pack in way more nutritious substrate for way higher yields.
Another plus-point is that I can already include the grain spawn and injection port, so I don’t have to open up anything for the inoculation. That allows me to work 100% sterile, even without a flow hood. I just flame sterilise the needle and push in my LC.
Contrary to my initial believe, they’re way more convenient and less wasteful.
Consider them if you get problems with buckets.