All About Oyster Gardening

Find out all about oyster gardening along the Chesapeake Bay! As an oyster gardener, you’ll raise baby oysters in a wire cage hung off your own or a public waterfront dock. After a year, your fully grown oysters will be planted on sanctuary reefs, creating a healthier Chesapeake Bay. To get involved, just follow these steps:

1. Register as a CBF oyster gardener at one of the links below.
2. Come to an oyster gardening event to pick up your oysters and cages.
3. Hang the cages of oysters in the water, making sure they don’t sit on the bottom.
4. Check your oysters every one to two weeks. When needed, shake the cages to ensure shells don’t grow into the wire, clean the cages with a brush, and spray the oysters and cages with water.
5. Watch your oysters grow!
6. After one year, return the oysters at a CBF event and pick up new baby oysters to begin the process again.
7. Your oysters will then be planted on a sanctuary reef.

To find out more or to register, visit the following links.
In Virginia: cbf.org/vaoystergardening
In Maryland: cbf.org/mdoystergardening
In Baltimore: cbf.org/baltoystergardening