Mushroom burritos- stage 1

      At long last, the blue oyster mushroom spawn that has been patiently hibernating in my refrigerator can spring to life! In the spirit of a 5th grade science project, I submit to you the first stage of my experiment with "Mushroom Burritos."

Primary question: Which is the best substrate for blue oyster mushrooms: hay, grass clippings, cardboard, paper, or wood mulch? 

Hypothesis: The materials with the most mass and surface area will produce the most mushrooms. Grass > Mulch > Hay > Cardboard > Paper.

Secondary question: Which substrate is the easiest to incorporate into plastic-wrapped "burritos?"

Materials: Blue oyster mushroom spawn, hay, grass clippings, cardboard, paper, wood mulch, boiling water, plastic wrap, a wheelbarrow, 4 plastic recycling bins, and a 10-level metal shelving unit.

Methods: I lined the porous bottoms of the recycling bins with plastic wrap, then prepared each material as displayed in the below photograph:

The cardboard strips took the most time to prepare by far, while the grass clippings and mulch required minimal preparation. The paper took a little time to tear into strips, while the hay was somewhat difficult to compress into a small enough bunch to wrap. That answers my secondary question!

As I was preparing each material, I boiled large pots of water and poured it in each container to sanitize each medium, which will hopefully allow the mushroom spawn to successfully colonize each medium. After allowing a few hours to cool, I then separated each material into small burrito-shaped mounds on strips of plastic wrap. Here is how the grass, hay, and cardboard looked just before inoculation:

I then sprinkled each burrito with about a spoonful of blue oyster mushroom spawn, obtained from the Mushroom Mountain booth at the Mother Earth News Fair:

Here is how the paper looked once it was inoculated:

And the mulch:

After employing my best Chipotle-style burrito-wrapping skills, I randomly placed each sachet onto a metal shelving unit in my outbuilding, where it will be humid and in the low 50's to high-80's for the next couple of months-- ideal mushroom-growing conditions!

I'm interested to see if there will be a correlation between position (upper vs lower, inner vs outer position on the shelves) and production, in addition to substrate and production. We shall see in a few months. Stay tuned for the results... and let me know if you've heard about any science fairs I can enter!