How to increase the yield of mushrooms

An interesting note: in the Russian-speaking audience, the term "wave" is used to refer to the fruiting stage. "The first wave of oyster mushroom".
On English-language sites they write "the first flush."
Therefore, if you see the word "wave" somewhere on my site, you will know what I mean. 😉

There are two ways to increase the yield of oyster mushrooms:

• raising the nutritional value of the plant mixture with hay or legume grass straw, more on this;
  If you are very lucky and there are cotton products in your area, the yield on this substrate is very high.
  Many mushroom growers in Turkey, for example, harvest 27-30% of oyster mushrooms in one flush and discard the substrate.
• adjust the operation of microclimate systems in such a way as to avoid drying, wetting, condensation, and, as a result, the death of primordia and young mushrooms.
  The fewer mushroom clusters die, the more productive your work will be.

For example: do all slits on mushroom bags have primordia?
When primordials appear en masse, you will conduct an experiment. Stick stickers near those holes holes where there are no primordials. If after two or three days the primordia begins to grow in this hole, remove the sticker.

When it's time to harvest, you'll see exactly how many slots are left empty. And count the crop loss. It is possible that primordia began to develop there, but died from condensate. If there are a lot of empty holes, this can significantly reduce the yield.

Watch for such holes on the second flush - if a large beautiful and heavy bunch bursts into them - that's good. If they are still empty, you need to look for a problem. This is either a problem with the preparation of the substrate, or an incorrectly configured microclimate.

Read about the optimal microclimate.

Will the yield of oyster mushrooms increase if more grain spawn is put into the block?

The amount of oyster mushroom grain spawn affects the rate of its growth, the block becomes white faster.

Primordia leaves a couple of days earlier. But the yield will not increase.

You can increase productivity with a dose of spawn (mycelium) quite a bit, but only if you have a poor substrate.

For example, straw grown in a dry year, when spawn is added in an amount of 7%, will give you not 10% of mushrooms, but 11.5-12%.

This straw is so low in nutrients that adding more of the mycelium's grain base works like a food store.

And here you have to consider - will such an increase in yield give you profit? After all, the grain spawn itself is quite expensive.

If the substrate composition is balanced, then the increase in mycelium will only cause the appearance of primordia a couple of days earlier, and will not affect the yield of oyster mushrooms.

 How to reanimate old mushroom blocks

Soaking dry spent substrate will not revive mycelium fruiting. If the mushroom blocks are dense and heavy, you will be able to harvest a small crop of oyster mushrooms. How?

Read the article What to do with waste bags.

Read: Oyster mushroom yield