They are extremly fast and can grow on a wide range of substrates. They are in fact "meat eaters". Oysters send out lasso-like apparatuses to ensnare their prey. Most people think of them as "vegetarians" but thats not the case. Besides cellulouse they also love to eat live prey like nematodes.
For some time i've had jars of three of my favorite Oysters. Pearl , blue and phoneix. The first two grow in clusters but the last one phoneix grows as a large single mushroom. After I haitus in growing Oysters I wanted to get back at it , so here's what I did ...
Oyster Buckets
First:
- Shredded straw with blower/vac
- Soaked shredded straw
- Drilled holes in buckets (more holes for single fruit phoneix)
When the overnight soak of the straw was done I drained the buckets and then filled them 2/3's with very hot tap water. At the same time I boiled 3 pots of water on the stove. I added the boiling water to the hot tap water in each bucket and my thermometer told me they were 165 F. I still left room at the top so I could add more boiling water 1/2 way through the pasturize.
After 3 hours pasturizing in the hot sun I drained each bucket very well. To do this I put a piece of window screen over each bucket tied tight with a string.
After this cooled I took jars of the colonized wbs for each species and broke it up over the straw. This gets laid into the bucket and then more straw until it was near the top. I used a spare bucket to insert and press the straw a bit.
Once each bucket was done I labled and dated them. Then they were placed one on top each other in the incubator / fruiter. This is how I hope to fruit them , stacked as pictured below.
They should move fast from the wbs into their new home in the straw. I'll keep you updated and hopefully soon we'll be eating Oysters and handing out prints...
those look yummy! good work H!
