Oyster mushroom (Pleurotus ostreatus (Jacq. ex Fr.) P. Kumm.) is involved in the destruction of dead wood which is the main place of settlement of several living organisms. After humification, dead wood also becomes an important component of forest soils.
The purpose of the research is to study temperature and moisture conditions of extensive cultivation of oyster mushrooms on various wood substrates. To accomplish this goal, the following tasks were set: to determine the amount of effective stress temperatures and moisture content of substrates and their influence on the appearance of fruiting bodies of the oyster mushroom; to study the features of the extensive cultivation of oyster mushrooms on the tree stumps of cutover areas, in the hollows of broadleaved trees, using brushwood, on inoculated log sections in trenches, on log sections of dead dry trees. The oyster mushroom fruiting bodies collected in the suburban forest formed the basis of the experiment on the inoculation of different types of substrates. The inoculation of the log sections was carried with a relative air humidity of 85%, the process of overgrowing lasted from 2 to 3 months. The edaphic-climatic factors of different types of space - closed and open - were taken into account.
The amount of effective temperatures necessary for the development of fruiting bodies has been determined. It was found that the intensive growth of the mushroom fruiting bodies begins after a sharp cooling (a drop in night temperatures to 4-8 ° C), which causes a stressful state of the mushroom. The amount of the effective stress temperatures is 4.6 ° C. Long-term phenological observations have revealed that the amount of the effective temperatures in the spring is 76.4 ° C, and in the autumn - 59.4 ° C. The duration of fruiting of oyster mushroom on log sections of hardwoods is 14 days in spring and 17 days in autumn longer than on softwoods blocks. It was found that the biomass of the fruiting bodies is directly dependent on the thickness of the log section, and, therefore, it is recommended to use log sections ranging from 35 cm to 50 cm in diameter and up to 30 cm in length.