King Oyster (pleurotus eryngii)
This is Growers Block (GB), which means it does not come with a spray bottle and directions. King Oyster blocks are not sold as grow kits because they do not work well growing them on a countertop rather than in a fruiting chamber.
Weight: 5 pounds
Fruiting Temp: 55 – 60F
Humidity: Initial pinning – 80-90%, Maturing – 70-80%
King Oysters are an intermediate mushroom that take a little more care than Pearl Oyster mushrooms. They grow best in a fruiting chamber rather than grown on a table top and will not pin well at temperatures above 63F. Most growers fruit King Oysters from the top of the block, rather than cutting open the side.
Initial humidity needs to be high for a good pin set, 90%. Keeping the bag closed until they start to pin is one way to achieve this high humidity.
The King Oyster has thick dense stems with smaller caps. Growing them in an environment with a slightly high CO2 level will help achieve thicker stems. Growers often leave the bag up around the block to create a CO2 sink in the bag, creating nice thick stems.
Refrigerating king oyster blocks for 24 hours will also help encourage pinning.
We always use UnicornTM bags filled with hardwood sawdust and soy hull substrate hydrated to 58%, all 100% sourced and made in the USA.
King oysters do best in a fruiting chamber by themselves due to the preferred lower humidity after pin set than most mushrooms.
