Once the bag has gone solid white, you change every condition at once. That is the signal the mushroom has been waiting for.
Through incubation the mycelium is comfortable — warm, dark, and undisturbed. It has no reason to fruit.
Fruiting is a reaction to change. When you open the bag, fresh air, light and a cooler temperature all arrive at once. In nature a change like that means the wood has been exposed — time to reproduce.
The small white bumps that emerge are called pinheads. These become the mushrooms.
| Requirement | General rule | When it is lacking |
|---|---|---|
| Fresh air | Continuous air exchange | Long stems, small caps — the classic sign of too much CO₂. |
| Humidity | High, but not dripping onto the mushrooms | The edges of the caps crack and dry out. |
| Light | Enough to read by — never direct sun | Pale, long stems; the shape never forms properly. |
When the stems are long and the caps small, it is not a pest and it is not contamination. There is not enough fresh air. It is the easiest problem to read off the look of the mushroom, and the easiest to fix.
The general rule for oyster mushrooms is to harvest before the cap flattens out completely and its edge turns upward. At that point it begins releasing spores, weight drops, and quality falls.
The whole cluster is harvested at once, not mushroom by mushroom.
When and how the bag is opened; how many days to pinning; how often to water and with what water; when a cluster is ready; cut or twist; and what a single day's delay costs.
How long the rest between them; how many flushes before a bag is retired; and how many kilos per flush.
In all 51 videos on the channel there is not one shot of a fruiting bag or of an actual harvest. This chapter is the first thing to be photographed at the next harvest.
The whole explanation as a PDF you can print and carry out to the farm — and the full course with it, for one payment.
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