Oyster mushrooms are one of the easier mushrooms to cultivate. This is because the mushroom grows on a wide range of substrates and tolerates a broad range of cultivation parameters. But what can someone expect to achieve growing oyster mushrooms? To figure that out, we will today compare the results of 7 different research projects on the cultivation of Pleurotus ostreatus with each other. In doing so, we will look at different substrates and sterilization methods and analyze these two regarding time and biological efficiency. The fastest time was roughly 20 days. The highest BE was around 188. But how to get there?

The mushroom substrate is usually sterilized by using an autoclave. But this method is not accessible for small mushroom growers. This paper, therefore, investigates alternative methods for disinfection.

Finding the right sterilization method for your substrate can be tedious. While some methods need a high upfront cost and have a high running cost, others may not be sufficient. In today’s video, I will talk about an alternative sterilization method for sugarcane bagasse.

Using ground limestone as an alternative method for sterilization is common. But how much should you use to get the best results? This question will be answered in today’s video.

The cultivation of Agaricus bisporus is a highly engineered process that is time and energy-consuming, which leads people to search for non-composted alternatives. But these methods were not found commercially economical for small scale growers. As previous studies could show, aeration helps to maintain the appropriate condition during the composting phase. Therefore, the authors of today’s research project investigated the influence of passive aeration on a composted substrate in terms of physicochemical characteristics and composting period.

To cultivate Agaricus bisporus know as the button mushroom takes time as the pasteurization process is divided into three phases with a total length of up to 8 weeks. Researchers, therefore, trying to find ways to reduce the time. In doing so they found that phase I is not a pre-requirement for phase II. In addition, it could be demonstrated that phase II is also not necessary to grow Agaricus bisporus. Today’s research project build upon these results and could show that by using the self-heating pasteurization method phase I and phase II can be skipped. How they did it? Let us find out.

In my last video, I talked about a research paper in which the authors used the composting method to sterilize the substrate for the cultivation of Pleurotus. The results of these authors showed a yield of 16.9% on a fresh substrate base. As Pleurotus is a primary decomposer, the use of composting is, for me, counterintuitive. But I was curious to find more about it. In doing so, I found a thesis investigating the influence of composting on the yield of Pleurotus. The author could show that by using the right conditions, a yield of up to 35% on a fresh substrate base is possible. Which is doubling the yield in comparison with the results in my last video. How he did it? Let us find out.

I talked in several videos about different research projects which focused on sterilization methods. As the step by step process of each one of them might be not always clear, I thought, talking about them helps you to improve your mushroom production. In today’s video, I will, therefore, talk about 5 different sterilization methods. I will give you first a brief description, followed by the step by step process and then giving you some results for each one of them.