Ain't No Cure for the Summertime Blues

I realize it is December but now is the time to gather your materials and prepare for spring cultivation. Remember, daffodils bloom here in late winter and warmer mushroom cultivation temperatures follow closely behind.

I have been reasonably successful at finding great mushrooms with the help of many FFSC gurus. And, through my involvement in the Master Gardener program, I certainly know how to grow vegetables. Mushroom cultivation skills though, have eluded me until recently. The breakthrough was turning my “green thumb” white slowly but surely. Yes the “white thumb” as MSSF’s Ken Litchfield calls it, does help.

There is a lot to learn on the subject. I’m learning more through simple steps such as starting with easy varieties like Oyster Mushrooms. With my busy holiday schedule, I do not have time to fully discuss what I have learned, so I am referring the reader to our first Master Gardener Program report on the subject.

We are in the second phase of the mushroom trial project for Blue and Yellow Oyster cultivation. I’m busy documenting and quantifying what we have learned with our various approaches. Our third phase will expand to Shiitake Mushrooms and garden varieties such as the King Stropharia and maybe the Shaggy Parasol.

The key to success is “fighting the competition” of ever present molds in the air using both pasteurization and sterilization techniques. We also get big help from a fine Laminar Flow Hood for clean air and culture transfers donated to our Master Gardener program by FFSC’s own Henry Young. There are some less exotic approaches to the problem, which I hope to describe in future issues as we learn more.

Oh, so you turn up your nose with Oyster Mushrooms? Just try using mushrooms in the India Joze recipe for fritters with Skordalia sauce. Jozseph Schultz can make an Oyster Mushroom sing and so can you.

Jim Maley

UCCE Master Gardener SCC