Oyster mushroom is easy to grow and rich in protein content. It has good prospects in time to come. In the beginning, it is always better to go in for low cost infrastructure because then the focus could be on mastering the skills to produce high-quality mushroom instead of selling to have quick return on investment. Moreover, if the quality of the product is good then selling happens on its own!
The infrastructure requirement is shed and mushroom beds. As the main prerequisite of oyster farming is maintaining the temperature 18-28 degree I recommend the low-cost structure made up of bamboo and walls covered with jute bags. It really works as I am growing oyster mushroom successfully in my farm for past one year in a bamboo based shed in Navsari district, Gujarat. In our region we have water scarcity and temperature is always high! Therefore to bring down the temperature inside the shed where we grow oyster mushroom we have jutes bags on the wall on all four sides of the shed. We spray water on the jute twice in a day, once in the morning and once in the evening. However in the summers when the temperature is really high we spray water in afternoon too. With this we are able to maintain the temperature between 18-28 degree Celsius.
Once the shed is ready, mushroom beds need to be prepared for cultivation. I am using 2*2 feet beds made up wheat or rice straw. It is a low cost material and available easily. Next requirement for oyster mushroom farming is good quality of spawn. There are many mushroom spawns growing laboratories well equipped for regular supply the spawns. Usually oyster mushroom spawns are available at Rs. 110-120/kg. In 2*2 feet bed approximately 200 gram spawns are transplanted. It requires watering twice a day and after 18-20 days it is ready for harvest. With one kg of spawn almost 9-10 kg mushrooms are produced.
Mushroom harvesting is referred as ‘flush’. First flush in oyster mushroom is obtained in 18-20 days, 2nd flush after 3 days, 3rd flush after 5 days and 4th flush after 7 days. Later than 7 days the quality of mushroom deteriorates and size reduces. Hence it is better to stop the harvest after 4th flush. Post-harvesting beds are turned into compost through vermicompost procedure. Hence nothing is waste in this farming model. It is beneficial at every step.
These days consumers are aware of button mushroom but totally ignorant that it is not healthy because it is produced using chemicals. On the contrary oyster mushrooms are grown organically and rich in protein content. Therefore consumers need to be educated on healthy benefits on consuming oyster mushroom. It might take some time to push the demand but if the quality of the product is good sales will pick for sure.
