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1. Concept and Advantages of Stick Spawn

Stick spawn is a tertiary edible mushroom spawn made from bamboo sticks, wooden sticks or popsicle sticks, mainly used for oyster mushroom and wood ear mushroom cultivation. It has prominent advantages in mushroom production:

• High inoculation efficiency: The inoculation operation is simple and fast with rapid mycelial germination.

• Low contamination risk: Only a small opening is required to insert the stick into the medium center, avoiding full exposure of the cultivation bag and shortening medium exposure time.

• Fast mycelial colonization: Sticks penetrate deep into the medium to realize multi-point germination at the top, middle and bottom, forming a three-dimensional radial mycelial growth. It shortens the bag/bottle colonization period by 5–7 days and improves the uniformity of mushroom fruiting.

Stick spawn production requires professional skills and generally adopts high-pressure sterilization treatment.

2. Production Steps for Oyster Mushroom Stick Spawn

The complete production flow: Wood material selection → Stick soaking and boiling → Auxiliary material preparation → Filling and bagging → Sterilization → Inoculation → Incubation

2.1 Wood Material Selection

• Applicable materials: Poplar, mulberry, oak, linden, willow and other mushroom-cultivation-suitable woods. Poplar is preferred for its low cost. Disposable chopsticks and popsicle sticks are also available.

• Specification: Standard stick size is 12–15 cm long, 0.5–0.7 cm wide and thick, which can be adjusted according to cultivation bag size.

2.2 Stick Soaking and Boiling

• Soaking method: Submerge bundled sticks in pH 10 lime water with 10 cm overlying water. Soak for 24 hours at normal temperature or 36 hours in cold seasons to reach 60% moisture content. Sticks are fully saturated when no dry white core exists after splitting, then drain thoroughly.

• Boiling method: Prepare nutrient solution (per 100 kg water: 1 kg sucrose + 0.3 kg potassium dihydrogen phosphate + 0.15 kg magnesium sulfate). Boil sticks for 30–40 minutes until no internal white core appears, then take out and drain.

2.3 Auxiliary Material Preparation

• Function: Fill gaps between sticks and supply nutrients for mycelial growth, with an optimal addition rate of 30%.

• Formula: 78% cottonseed hulls (or sawdust), 20% wheat bran, 1% gypsum, 1% adjustable lime.

• Parameters: Adjust mixture to 60%–65% moisture content and pH 8.0–9.0. Mix well with sticks to ensure uniform adhesion on stick surfaces.

2.4 Bagging

• Bag specification: 17 cm × 33 cm polypropylene bags, thickness 0.005–0.007 cm (not thinner than 0.005 cm).

• Operation: Place a 2 cm auxiliary material layer at the bag bottom, fill with about 200 coated sticks, compact gaps on both sides, and cover the top with a thin material layer to form a protective "bridge". Fill the bag to 70%–80% capacity, install collar and cotton/plastic plug. Double-layer bags can be used to prevent contamination.

2.5 Sterilization

• Sterilization parameters: Atmospheric sterilization at 100°C for 15 hours; high-pressure sterilization at 126°C for 2 hours.

• Quality judgment: White exudate from bags indicates complete sterilization; yellow exudate means incomplete sterilization, which easily causes Trichoderma (green mold) infection.

2.6 Inoculation

Perform aseptic inoculation when the substrate temperature drops below 25°C. One tube of master culture can inoculate five cultivation bags.

2.7 Incubation

Incubate in dark environment at 20–25°C, with 40%–50% relative humidity and proper ventilation. The breathable stick medium accelerates mycelial growth, shortening the incubation period by 5–7 days compared with conventional spawn.

3. Application of Mature Stick Spawn

• Maturation requirement: Do not use spawn immediately after full colonization. A 10-day after-ripening period is necessary to ensure mycelium fully penetrate the sticks, ensuring high survival rate and fast colonization.

• Common mistake: Early use of immature spawn will lead to mycelial death and germination failure.

• Inoculation operation: Disinfect the cultivation bag surface with alcohol cotton, remove the neck ring and old mycelial crust, insert mature stick spawn into the bag opening, seal the top with a layer of solid spawn, and close the lid tightly.