Grow Your Own Pink Oyster Mushrooms

Difficulty: Beginner

Pink Oysters are a tropical Oyster strain that thrives in warm weather. It produces beautiful clusters of pink to near red mushrooms that are a favorite at farmers' markets. The color intensifies when they grow with adequate light!

Cooking: Pink Oysters can easily replace button mushrooms in most recipes and pair well with many cuisines and flavors. Like all Oyster mushrooms, they retain water and may develop a viscous texture when undercooked. If you prefer a firm or dryer texture, continue to cook Pink Oysters until their liquid has reduced and cooked off and they begin to brown.

Properties: Oyster mushrooms have a high protein content, several B vitamins, and all the essential amino acids (Marley, 2009). Their medicinal benefits include promoting anti-tumor activity and lowering high cholesterol. Oyster mushroom fruiting bodies and distillations have been shown to reduce tumor size in several studies on mice, rats, and hamsters (Hobbs, 1995). Additionally, Oyster mushrooms have been used in the Czech Republic as the main ingredient in a dietary supplement used to treat high cholesterol (Hobbs, 1995). Studies in animals have shown that a diet of Oyster mushrooms reduced the development of plaque in major arteries (Bobek et al., 1995).

Directions

1) Your Pink Oyster mushroom grow kit is an amended sawdust block that has been completely colonized by Pink Oyster mushroom mycelium. Do not open your bag. Instead take the block and place it on its side, exposing a side where the block presses right up against the plastic bag. Take a sharp knife and slice a 5-6 inch slice along the bag, slicing the bag with as little damage done as possible to the block. Gently squeeze out any air left in the bag, take the loose flap without mushroom substrate in it, and fold it underneath the kit. The Pink Oyster mushroom mycelium will sense the oxygen in the air and produce mushroom ‘pins’, another word for ‘baby mushrooms’. This should begin to happen within two weeks of slicing your bag.

2) Mushrooms need proper humidity and ventilation to survive. Place your sliced bag in the most humid part of your home and outside of direct sunlight. We suggest putting your bag on a kitchen counter somewhat close to a sink. If your home is really dry you may want to make a humidity tent to place over your bag. Simply take a trash bag or other loosely fitting plastic bag and put PLENTY of 1/2 inch holes in it (THIS IS IMPORTANT: Mushrooms exhale CO2 and inhale oxygen. They will suffocate themselves if there isn’t adequate airflow! Oysters that look stringy or strange are usually growing that way because they need more air!). Spray the outside of your block near the slice at least once per day. If you choose to use a humidity tent make sure to spray the inside of the tent once per day to maintain humidity.

3) Harvest your mushrooms when they resemble the photograph on the front of your kit! Harvest before the caps flatten out and become concave. Mushrooms grow quickly, so when you spot your first mushroom pins keep a close eye on them. The warmer the environment the faster they will grow. Mushrooms should be ready to harvest 2-5 days after pin formation.

4) We guarantee the first harvest of Pink Oyster mushrooms, but you may choose to attempt a second, third, or even fourth fruiting off your block! Harvests usually diminish in size with each consecutive fruiting. We recommend giving your block a 3 day break from spraying, then soak your block in cold water for 20 minutes, and then re-start the process of spraying your blocks with water daily!

*CAUTIONS AND CONSIDERATIONS:

IF YOU PLAN ON CONSUMING YOUR HOME-GROWN MUSHROOMS, MAKE SURE TO COOK THEM THOROUGHLY. IF IT IS YOUR FIRST TIME EATING THIS SPECIES, IT IS BEST TO START WITH A SMALL AMOUNT TO SEE HOW YOUR BODY RESPONDS!

MUSHROOMS PRODUCE SPORES AS THEY DEVELOP. THIS IS A NATURAL MEANS OF REPRODUCTION FOR THE FUNGUS. THEY USUALLY APPEAR AS A DUSTY SURFACE ON YOUR GROW KIT BENEATH THE MUSHROOM CAPS. PEOPLE WITH ALLERGIES OR COMPROMISED IMMUNE SYSTEMS MAY WANT TO CONSIDER PUTTING FRUITING MUSHROOM KITS OUTDOORS OR IN A WELL-VENTILATED AREA AS AIRBORNE SPORES SOMETIMES CAUSE RESPIRATORY IRRITATION. SPORES MAY ALSO CAUSE IRRITATION FOR SOME NON-ALLERGIC OR IMMUNE COMPROMISED MUSHROOM GROWERS, THOUGH THIS IS RARE. HARVESTING MUSHROOMS WHILE STILL IN THEIR YOUNGER GROWTH STAGES WILL REDUCE THE OVERALL SPORE LOAD.