Oyster Mushrooms on Coffee Grounds with Renee Jacobson - Mushroom Webinar 

Renee, thank you for the great information! I've learnt so much! Now I am curious: when you grew mushrooms in buckets, did you experience less problems with Trichoderma and other contaminants? I am wondering if the fact that there's some airflow through pre-drilled holes, would it actually discourage bacterial and mold growth?!

@@yuliadudina Yulia, I have been on vacation, thus the delayed reply. Growing mushrooms in buckets gets a nice first flush of mushrooms. After that, the mass shrinks as it respires and produces mushrooms. It becomes difficult to keep the mycelium mass humid and also pin without having distorted mushrooms. So I gave up on buckets because growing on coffee grounds provides a much longer ability for the mass to continue to flush and produce mushrooms. It is something best left to full sawdust. Best of luck, Renee Jacobson Firefly Farm of Hornby

@@reneejacobson8355 Thank you for a detailed reply!!!

Hello Mach, unfortunately there was no paper that I did. This was a lecture that ended up being posted to RU-vid by Cornell. I can direct you to the SARE grant and this may help as there is quite a bit of information to read. I am also available for questions. projects.sare.org/sare_project/fne17-874/ In this you can view the final report. Good luck.

@ItsLuis Hi Luis, No Im still hoping to receive an answer from Renee.

First off, sorry for the delay and thank you for watching the video. I had no idea the CCE was recording it for publication when doing the talk. Perhaps that was for the better for me. Pickling lime is calcium hydroxide. It gives pickles crunch and raises pH. Therefor it must be completely rinsed off of pickles before processing them. Baking soda is sodium bicarbonate. The sodium portion becomes available when moisture is added. Sodium tends to antagonize Trichoderma species. Bicarbonate is a much more complex item when moisture occurs. In soils, it can become more abundant with rain thus raising the pH of soil and reducing the available nitrogen to certain crops. In our case, the crop is mycelium. As the mycelium grows, the available water changes back and forth. Be sure that the medium is moist as any standing or free water will cause anaerobic conditions and the interface will provide a preferential environment for Trichoderma and bacteria. Consider your substrate more like a soil for the mycelium and look into how bicarbonate works in a soil. This may give you some knowledge into the intricate workings and growing of your mushroom blocks. If you want more information contact Roger Ort at the Schuyler County Cooperative Extension office in New York State.

@ING_Ghost I have given a response now to Sjoerd Ries. I hope this helps. Simply put, they are 2 different chemicals. Hope this helps.

Yes, it can seem overwhelming. Let's break it down. Mushrooms need three things to grow. 1 oxygen 2 water 3 food The mushroom needs these three in abundance. They respire, drink and eat. Each mushroom species does this at their own temperature range, rate of growth and with their specific food requirements. An outdoor mushroom business does not need the tending and attention to detail of an indoor growing operation. So perhaps you might find outdoor on totems a good fit. An indoor mushroom business can survive well on ordering blocks that have been prepared and inoculated elsewhere. Then you only need moisture and one room. Heating and cooling are a matter of preference as each species has it's optimal temperature range. Here in NYS, I grow year round. I do not cool so therefor, must grow mushrooms in the summer that fruit within the natural temperature range. In the winter I heat to 60F in the inoculation room and the fruiting room stays slightly cooler due to the air flow. Either way, indoors requires fans for air flow and humidity for moisture or your mushrooms will either die of asphyxiation or dehydrate and not pin unless it is wet outside. You only need separate rooms if you are inoculating yourself. I have tried many different ways to grow mushrooms and have failed many times. It has been worth while to try and try again and to successfully grow them. They are tasty and fun to watch both the mycelium run and the fruiting. It is a growing experience so start out small and see if it is what brings joy to you. Hum, sounds like grilling some large caps will make a great supper tonight. Yum. Let me know if you have any other questions.