Sustainable Urban Mushroom Farming, turning garbage into food.
Growing gourmet Oyster mushrooms (Pleurotys Ostreatus) on paper waste and used coffee grounds.
Growing its organic food on its garbage, isn’t it a sustainable dream of any large city. NYC recycles only 50% of 2100 tons of paper a day.
That is, 1050 tons of paper a day becomes a waste.
However, we see a resource behind every type of waste stream. The readily available corrugated cardboard and other paper happened to be the perfect substrate for growing gourmet Oyster mushrooms. Our goal is to see specialized urban farms popping like mushrooms, which eventually translates into thousands of jobs and most of all, environmentally healthy generation of citizens.
Our incubator for the waste-fueled farm is at www.thepoint.org Where we teach children and adults how to grow their own food in any given space.
We grow mushrooms in community gardens in South Bronx and teach members myselium propagation techniques.
Oysters grown on used coffee grounds or cardbord in containers
There are many ways to grow gourmet mushrooms: in a container, a bottle, vertically on the wall or in a plastic bag- standing or suspended. Mushrooms need some indirect light to fruit, not even close to what plants are required.
Mushrooms not only delicious, but they are high protein food, - Oyster about 30%.and 30% dietary fiber, high in B vitamins, vitamin D and Potassium. Besides this, Oyster mushrooms have antiviral, anticancer and cholesterol-lowering properties.
To make your own mushroom patch, you will need:
-Cardboard. Do not use cardboard made in China, some of it may contain harmful chemicals.
-A bin or a garbage bag of any size. The size of the container depends on how much space you have available.
You can make several; 3-5 gallon is optional for an apartment size.
-2% Peroxide solution to disinfect the cardboard
- Mushroom spawn (available here or via many other suppliers)
-Water, oxygen, indirect light. Lack of light causes Oysters to malform into coral-like structures.
Soak cardboard in 2% Peroxide solution for 30 min; rinse with fresh water.
Place the cardboard in your container of choice and mix with the spawn. To ensure successful, use at least 20% of spawn. Close the container loosely with a lead to ensure oxygen delivery. If using a plastic bag, punch small holes.
Incubate a patch for 2-3 months at a room temperature, see white mycelium take over the cardboard, make sure it stay moist. When the cardboard is fully colonized, soak the container in cold water, fully submerged, for 24 hrs. Take out, spray few times a day with water and watch mushrooms pop. Harvest while caps are still concave.
Mushrooms not only delicious, but they are high protein food, - Oyster about 30%.and 30% dietary fiber, high in B vitamins, vitamin D and Potassium. Besides this, Oyster mushrooms have antiviral, anticancer and cholesterol-lowering properties.
To make your own mushroom patch, you will need:
-Cardboard. Do not use cardboard made in China, some of it may contain harmful chemicals.
-A bin or a garbage bag of any size. The size of the container depends on how much space you have available.
You can make several; 3-5 gallon is optional for an apartment size.
-2% Peroxide solution to disinfect the cardboard
- Mushroom spawn (available here or via many other suppliers)
-Water, oxygen, indirect light. Lack of light causes Oysters to malform into coral-like structures.
Soak cardboard in 2% Peroxide solution for 30 min; rinse with fresh water.
Place the cardboard in your container of choice and mix with the spawn. To ensure successful, use at least 20% of spawn. Close the container loosely with a lead to ensure oxygen delivery. If using a plastic bag, punch small holes.
Incubate a patch for 2-3 months at a room temperature, see white mycelium take over the cardboard, make sure it stay moist. When the cardboard is fully colonized, soak the container in cold water, fully submerged, for 24 hrs. Take out, spray few times a day with water and watch mushrooms pop. Harvest while caps are still concave.
Outdoor mushroom patch
You can make a patch outdoors. Find a tacked-away corner or a place between trees with indirect sun light, which stays moist after rains and where little dogs don’t piss (Hard to find in NYC!)
Lay the cleaned cardboard directly on the ground - this will provide constant moisture- or put a plastic under the patch, if you think the ground might be contaminated. Disperce spawn evenly between the sheets of cardboard. You can stack cardboard vertically as high as you want. Cover with large plastic bag or plastic sheets to prevent drying and protect from contaminants. Punch small holes in plastic for oxygen delivery, make sure the patch stays moist. Let mycelium run through the cardboard and mushrooms fruit naturally.
I make my patches 5-6 cardboard tall, this way I don’t need to spray them, for there is enough moisture is absorbed from the ground; I cover them with old leafs or whatever natural debris i see on the spot to reduce the use of plastic and to hide the patch.
Spore-Mass Inoculation
One of the simplest ways to grow mushrooms is to broadcast spores into prepared substrates outdoors. collects spores by making spore prints or make a spore-mass slurry. Choose mature mushrooms ( buy at store or use once you have grown before) and submerge them in 5 gallon bucket of water. Adding a courple grams of salt will inhibit growth of bacteria yet will not harm spores. Adding 50 milliliters of molasses will stimulate spores into germination. After 4 hours of soaking remove mushrooms from the bucket- after mushroomed released tens of thousands of spores. Allow the broth to sit for 24-48 hrs at 50-80F (10-26C). The slurry can be expended by a factor of 10 in 48 hrs. Prepare cardboard patch outdoor as described above. Pour the slurry in between the cardboard sheets. Cover with debries and try not to miss the fruitation.
Thank you Paul Stamets for sharing his experties with us!
We support guerilla food growers. Turning thousands of acres of NYC public parks into food forests is our vision.
Lay the cleaned cardboard directly on the ground - this will provide constant moisture- or put a plastic under the patch, if you think the ground might be contaminated. Disperce spawn evenly between the sheets of cardboard. You can stack cardboard vertically as high as you want. Cover with large plastic bag or plastic sheets to prevent drying and protect from contaminants. Punch small holes in plastic for oxygen delivery, make sure the patch stays moist. Let mycelium run through the cardboard and mushrooms fruit naturally.
I make my patches 5-6 cardboard tall, this way I don’t need to spray them, for there is enough moisture is absorbed from the ground; I cover them with old leafs or whatever natural debris i see on the spot to reduce the use of plastic and to hide the patch.
Spore-Mass Inoculation
One of the simplest ways to grow mushrooms is to broadcast spores into prepared substrates outdoors. collects spores by making spore prints or make a spore-mass slurry. Choose mature mushrooms ( buy at store or use once you have grown before) and submerge them in 5 gallon bucket of water. Adding a courple grams of salt will inhibit growth of bacteria yet will not harm spores. Adding 50 milliliters of molasses will stimulate spores into germination. After 4 hours of soaking remove mushrooms from the bucket- after mushroomed released tens of thousands of spores. Allow the broth to sit for 24-48 hrs at 50-80F (10-26C). The slurry can be expended by a factor of 10 in 48 hrs. Prepare cardboard patch outdoor as described above. Pour the slurry in between the cardboard sheets. Cover with debries and try not to miss the fruitation.
Thank you Paul Stamets for sharing his experties with us!
We support guerilla food growers. Turning thousands of acres of NYC public parks into food forests is our vision.
