Editor’s note: The Farm Progress Show will be Sept. 1-3 in Boone, Iowa. Visit FarmProgressShow.com.
by Alaina Friesleben
Gina Buelow is noticing a growing interest among Iowa communities: mushroom cultivation.
While some with an eye for fungi grab their mushroom knives and regional guides to forage for wild mushrooms outdoors, Buelow, a natural resources field specialist with Iowa State University Extension and Outreach, is teaching Iowans a new way to enjoy fungi through cultivating them at home.
At the Farm Progress Show, Buelow will showcase a tried-and-true practice for growing oyster mushrooms at home, and visitors can learn how to diversify through fungi, either as a hobby or a potential supplemental enterprise.
The ISU exhibit space can be found at the corner of Seventh Street and Central Avenue.
How it works
Buelow said the easiest way to cultivate mushrooms requires just a few items: a plastic bucket, a pasteurized and hydrated substrate (wood chips, straw or recycled cardboard), and mushroom spawn.
The substrate and spawn are alternated in layers inside the container, and within a couple of weeks, you’ll have mushrooms ready to pick and eat. Once growth begins, the mushrooms need to be misted twice daily to prevent them from drying out.
A mushroom bucket will typically produce up to three rounds (flushes) of growth from the same container if rehydrated. While most mushrooms have specific growing preferences, oyster mushrooms are the least picky, making them a great choice for beginners.
“I call oyster mushrooms the cockroaches of mushrooms because they will send up fruiting bodies under a lot of different conditions, and they’ll eat about anything,” Buelow said. “They’re the easiest to grow because they’re not specific about their environment like some mushrooms are.”
Value-added opportunities
But why cultivate mushrooms? While commonly a home hobby, cultivation also presents opportunities for expanding farm enterprises. A log-based cultivation method can produce higher-value species for farmers’ markets, like shiitakes — though the process takes considerably longer.
Buelow’s work at Iowa State’s Horticulture Research Station bears that out: it took almost a year of watering an inoculated log to produce shiitake mushrooms, a timeline those who wish to try should plan for.
Cultivation also can put materials that might otherwise go to waste to good use.
“When we’re thinking about cultivating on logs, if you cut down a tree for timber stand improvement, now you can use that to grow mushrooms,” Buelow said.
Ecological stewardship
Buelow also addresses the importance of identifying invasive fungal species and what responsible mushroom growing and foraging look like in her workshops.
“The golden oyster mushroom is an invasive and was introduced to the Midwest via cultivation, so I always give people the list of native oyster species, so they don’t end up accidentally contributing to the issue we’re already having,” Buelow said. “I also tell people, if you’re out in the woods and you find and identify golden oysters, feel free to pick them and eat them because you’re doing an ecosystem service by getting rid of invasive species.”
At the ISU exhibit space, Buelow will bring stacked buckets where oyster mushrooms have grown. Visitors can bring their questions to Buelow and other experts on-site, whether they’re curious about exploring this unique form of diversification or just want to see the mushroom display.
Buelow hopes visitors can leave with a new perspective on caring for a different type of organism than the crops they’re used to.
“You have to acknowledge that they’re not plants; they have different needs than plants,” she said. “You’re not going to grow them by putting them in a sunny windowsill. Mushrooms need nutrients that they can absorb and grow from, so we’re teaching people about ecology.”
Buelow can be reached at 515-357-0553 or gbuelow@iastate.edu.
Friesleben is a communications specialist with Iowa State University Extension and Outreach.