Golden Oyster Mushrooms

Purchased from Etsy: https://www.etsy.com/listing/866114552/2-of-3-pound-golden-oyster-mushroom-grow?ref=shop_home_active_8&frs=1&crt=1 (I only got one log, but it seems they don't have this option anymore)

Timeline (5 days to first harvest!)

- 8/24/20: arrived in the mail and opened and spritzed for the first time

- 8/26/20: see the beginnings of a little alien growth in the middle

- 8/27/20: overnight all of a sudden little bumpy mushrooms had arisen on the surface of the log!

- 8/28/20: mini alien mushrooms appeared! Once a growth appeared, they grew so fast. Literally I would take a pic in the morning and it would look completely different by nighttime 8 hours later

- 8/29/20: first harvest of golden oyster mushrooms! They were fine and plump in the morning, with caps turned down, but by evening the caps had already started to flatten out. So I guess I harvested them slightly too late, but they were by no means ready the day before. That's how quickly they grew!

- 9/6/20: second flush and harvest of mushrooms (again probably should've harvested a day earlier on 9/5) - took only a week between harvests!

- 9/12/20: third flush of bumpy little alien mushrooms coming

- 9/14/20: harvested 3rd flush (again, 1 week btwn)

- 9/25/20: fourth flush started

- 9/27/20: harvested 4th flush (taking a little longer now...almost 2 weeks between, and not that many mushrooms this time)

- 10/19/20: surprise mushrooms (3 weeks since, so honestly I thought they had produced all they could) - 5th one grew out from the center (which was gross and filled with stagnant water from all the sprays), we didn't end up eating these because they had some weird grey dust on them

TOP LESSONS:

- These grow QUICK once they start, so harvest once they look mature. Usually only takes about 1-2 days once they appear to grow to maturity

- Spritz a couple times a day to keep the growing medium moist, put in an area with good air flow. I also made sure they did get some indoor sunlight.

- They also don't last very long once harvested, I see why regular oyster mushrooms and not the golden ones are sold in stores.

- Cook well, or else they taste a bit funky.

This was kind of a fun experiment more than anything. My husband says I buy mushrooms so often that I might as well try to grow them, so I did! for $15, I got 4 good sets of oyster mushrooms, so it was about $3.75 per set of mushrooms. More expensive than usual? Yes. But fun.

Don't know if I'd do it again, or maybe try a different type like Lion's mane mushrooms next time. We'll see!