It would seem that everything is simple, buy it and don’t fool yourself. But there are two important points here. Firstly, the purchase of grain mycelium accounts for about 40% of all costs when growing mushrooms. Secondly, often purchased mycelium is of low quality. Those. When you buy mycelium, you don't yet know what quality the mycelium is. You will find out that the mycelium is bad later when your bags of substrate turn green with mold. Well, and finally, there may not be a laboratory near you that produces the mycelium of especially rare mushrooms, such as white mushrooms.
However, any mushroom grower knows that it is not always possible to find high-quality seed material, especially in small quantities, because companies specializing in the production of mycelium sell it in wholesale quantities. What to do in this case? The solution is simple - make your own porcini mushroom mycelium.
The simplest method, accessible to any novice mushroom grower, of obtaining grain mycelium of artificially cultivated porcini mushrooms is as follows.
Making white mushroom mycelium at home
· Add 15 liters of water to 10 kg of purified dry grain of wheat or oats, rye, millet; The mixture is boiled for 15-20 minutes over low heat.
· After cooking, the water is drained through a sieve, the boiled grain is dried a little, then 120-125 g of gypsum and 30-35 g of chalk are added. These additives regulate the acid-base balance of the environment (pH), acting as a protective buffer. In addition, gypsum helps to structure the grain mass, promoting better aeration of the substrate.
· Grain is poured into clean vessels (1-liter milk bottles or 1-2-3-liter jars, flasks). The most convenient for growing mycelium are 1-liter bottles. The substrate should occupy no more than 2/3 of the vessel. Usually 350-400 g of grain is poured into 1-liter bottles. The vessels are closed with cotton plugs and autoclaved in industrial or household autoclaves. Even a regular pressure cooker can be used for sterilization.
· Sterilization of the substrate is carried out at a temperature of 120-122° C for 1.5 hours while maintaining a pressure in the autoclave of about 1 atmosphere. After autoclaving, the pH of the medium should be 6.5-6.7.
· The substrate is cooled to the sowing temperature (about 22-25° C).
· Inoculation is carried out with sterile main mycelium of the porcini mushroom grown in test tubes on an agar medium. We will tell you how to do this below. Before transplantation, the tubes are slightly heated over a gas burner flame. When heated, the medium lags behind the glass and slides towards the downward opening of the test tube into the vessel with the substrate.
· The mycelium, germinating, permeates the nutrient substrate in the incubation chamber at appropriately controlled temperature and humidity. The optimal temperature for its growth is 22-25°C; raising the temperature to 35°C destroys the mycelium. The most suitable relative air humidity for this stage should be in the range of 60-62%.
· A week after sowing the mycelium onto the grain substrate, the contents of the vessels must be shaken. This prevents the grains from sticking together and accelerates the growth of mycelium.
A few days after sowing or after shaking, an infection may appear in the form of microscopic molds and bacteria, which enter when sterility is violated during the introduction of mycelium or during shaking (air with pathogenic microorganisms may be sucked in). Therefore, the nutrient substrate must be carefully checked regularly for the presence of infection. On the seventh day, it becomes noticeable how mycelium begins to grow on the grain.
About half of the jars may be contaminated with green mold if sterilization is not taken seriously enough. It will be necessary to take this error into account in future experiments. In other jars, the mycelium usually grows normally. No mold infestation is visible. Let's see what will happen next...
· After about 24-28 days, subject to microclimate conditions, the mycelium matures and can be used for growing mushrooms. It should be remembered that the mycelium should be stored in a cool place, preferably in the refrigerator on the bottom shelf at a temperature of 1-2°C, or in a cellar. However, it is best to try to use it as quickly as possible.
Simple laboratory of white mushroom mycelium
First you need to organize a suitable workplace. The room must be clean and convenient for cleaning. Air humidity should not be too high, otherwise harmful microorganisms develop very well. The optimal relative humidity is from 60 to 70%. The optimal temperature is from 20 to 24 °C. The room temperature can be maintained using an electric heater. It is important that there is no dust, since dust is the main source of infection. For the same reason, drafts are also undesirable. The required working area is approximately 1.5 m2. The easiest way to keep plastic surfaces clean. A few shelves above the desktop will come in handy.
The workplace will need lighting and a power source; It's good if there is water nearby. To obtain mycelium you will need: at least 15 test tubes with suitable cellulose or cotton stoppers, a stand for test tubes, at least 1 500 ml conical flask with a suitable stopper and a beaker of the same capacity. In addition, pipettes (10 ml), tweezers, scalpel, bacteriological needle and inoculation hook with handle. You also need plastic Petri dishes, which are sold sterilized and in sterile packaging. You will need an electric stove, a Bunsen or alcohol burner and a disinfectant such as sagrotan. All this is purchased in specialized stores. In the kitchen you can borrow: a large saucepan, aluminum foil, wide-neck glass bottles with a capacity of 1 liter. or canning jars of the same capacity.
From pure culture to porcini mushroom mycelium
To make mycelium, you first need a pure culture of porcini mushroom. The easiest way to obtain it is from tissue culture. To do this, you will need young, healthy and, if possible, fresh fruiting bodies.
If you transfer a piece of porcini mushroom tissue to a suitable nutrient base, mycelium hyphae will soon grow from it. Potato glucose agar and malt extract agar are used as a nutritional base. Both can be bought ready-made. Detailed guidance on preparing the nutritional base can be found in the relevant specialized literature.
Sterile work
Before starting work in the laboratory, you need to thoroughly clean the room and first of all disinfect the work surface with a 2% solution of potassium permanganate. To avoid raising microorganisms into the air, sudden movements should be avoided. Culture needs to be dealt with in an organized and fast manner. It is important to sterilize the equipment before each stage of work: tweezers, scalpel, bacteriological needle, inoculation hook, stoppers and tube necks, for example, several times in a burner flame. The lids of sterile Petri dishes are never completely removed. To add a nutrient solution or pieces of tissue, the lid is only slightly lifted.
Nutrient medium for porcini mushroom
The prepared nutrient medium is dissolved in boiling water in an Erlen-Meyer flask. For each Petri dish you will need approximately 10 ml of nutrient solution. Test tubes with nutrient solution (10-15 pieces) must be prepared in advance and sterilized. They must be closed with stoppers; the stoppers should be wrapped in aluminum foil to protect them from moisture. Sterilize them in a beaker for 20 minutes at 120 °C in an autoclave or oven. The remaining nutrient medium is also sterilized or stored in the refrigerator (for 1-2 days).
After sterilization, the nutrient medium is poured sterile into Petri dishes, measuring 10 ml of solution with a sterile pipette. If the medium has cooled down and become dense, it is heated in a water bath. When pouring the medium into the cups, you need to make sure that it is evenly distributed along the bottom; to do this, slightly rotate the cup with careful movements.
Placing pieces of porcini mushroom tissue on a nutrient medium
As soon as the nutrient medium has cooled, pieces of fabric are laid out on it. First, the porcini mushroom must be washed and disinfected with a 2% sagrotan solution. Using a scalpel, the mushroom is cut in half, small pieces of tissue are removed from the middle with a bacteriological needle, and 3-4 of them are placed in the center of the nutrient base plate. Petri dishes are left at room temperature. If the work was carried out under aseptic conditions, after a few days white fluff of mycelium will appear.
Often, however, gray, green or red molds or slimy colonies of bacteria appear. Severely affected cups should be thrown away. Pure porcini mushroom mycelium should colonize at least part of the nutrient plate without contamination. If after 2-3 weeks it has spread over the entire surface of the medium, the most difficult stage of obtaining a pure culture is over.
Pure cultures of porcini mushroom
For better preservation, pure cultures are transferred to so-called slants agar. To prepare them, take approximately 5 test tubes with a sterile nutrient medium melted in a water bath. The upper end of the test tube is placed on a lying empty test tube so that the medium solidifies in an inclined position.
Using an inoculation hook, small pieces of the nutrient medium with the porcini mushroom mycelium growing on it are transferred onto the slanted agar. It is good to label the test tubes with the date and name of the mushroom.
If the work was carried out cleanly, the mycelium of the porcini mushroom develops on agar at room temperature in about 3 weeks.
The tubes are tied, wrapped in aluminum foil and stored in the refrigerator. After 3-4 months. the mycelium is replanted on fresh slanted agar approximately every 12-16 months. Reseeding of pure crops is necessary.
Obtaining mycelium of porcini mushroom
To obtain mycelium, you need cereals of the highest quality. One part of the grains is mixed with two parts of water, boiled for 15 minutes and, after drying, laid out on a clean towel. The grains are mixed with 1.3% gypsum and 0.3% calcium carbonate.
The jar or bottle is filled with grains to about 3/4 of the volume. The bottle is capped and wrapped in foil, and the jar is closed with a suitable lid. Sterilize in the oven for 2 hours at 120 °C. After cooling, 3-4 pieces of nutrient medium with sprouted porcini mushroom mycelium are transferred to each jar. After 3 weeks at room temperature, the grains germinate. They can be used for inoculation or stored in the refrigerator for a while. For the mycelium of the porcini mushroom, you need to add one more stage of work: chop the straw into pieces about 3 cm long and moisten.
Production of seed mycelium - mycelium
Now grain mycelium is used by most mushroom growers in the world. In modern mushroom growing complexes, mycelium grown on grains of wheat, rye, barley, oats, millet, corn and other cereals is used for cultivating mushrooms. When growing oyster mushrooms and other mushrooms that grow naturally on wood, the seed mycelium can be prepared both on grain and on sunflower husks, grape pomace, a mixture of sawdust, etc. ...
In 1894, the first pure culture of the fungus was obtained at the Pasteur Institute in France, grown on a special nutrient medium from champignon spores.
Mycelium grown under sterile conditions had significantly greater potential. The spore mycelium quickly took root, grew actively on the compost, and fruiting occurred much earlier than when using “wild” mycelium. Therefore, already from the mid-20s, laboratories for the production of mycelium operated in most champignon producing countries. In the Soviet Union, a method for obtaining sterile mycelium was developed in the early 30s.
Initially, the mycelium was grown on sterilized compost, while at the same time a search for other nutrient media was carried out. In 1932, a method for growing mycelium on wheat grain was patented. Now grain mycelium is used by most mushroom growers in the world. In modern mushroom growing complexes, mycelium grown on grains of wheat, rye, barley, oats, millet, corn and other cereals is used for cultivating mushrooms. When growing oyster mushrooms and other mushrooms that grow naturally on wood, the seed mycelium can be prepared both on grain and on sunflower husks, grape pomace, a mixture of sawdust, etc.
Mycelium production technology
The mother culture (mycelium) is obtained as a result of sowing spores, isolation from part of the fruiting body and as a result of breeding work. The following are recommended as nutrient media for the cultivation of higher basidiomycetes:
Wort agar: to prepare it, take 1 liter of beer wort 7-8 degrees. according to Balling, add 20 g of agar-agar and cook until it is completely dissolved. Hot wort agar is poured into test tubes (about 1/3 of the volume), closed with cotton-gauze stoppers and sterilized for half an hour at a pressure of 1.5 atmospheres and a temperature of 101 degrees. C. After sterilization, the test tubes are placed on the table in a strongly inclined position, so that the medium does not reach the stopper by 3-4 cm and, when solidified, has a large surface;
Oatmeal agar: oat flour - 30 g, water - 970 ml, agar - 15 g. Oatmeal is boiled in water for 1 hour with stirring, then filtered through a Gause filter;
Carrot agar: carrot extract - 400 ml, water - 600 ml, agar - 15 g, pH = 6.0. Crushed carrots are mixed with water in a ratio of 2:5, boiled for 30 minutes, filtered.
In addition to the above examples of nutrient media, there are a number of others. The most commonly used is wort agar.
After the medium has solidified, a mother culture, spores, or part of the fruiting body of the fungus is introduced into a test tube under sterile conditions.
Rice. 33. Stages of growing seed mycelium:
1 - a piece of the fruiting body of the mushroom; 2 - test tube with pure culture; 3 - Petri dish with a fungal culture; 4 - milk bottle with grain mycelium; 5 - three-liter jar with mycelium; 6 - ready-made seed mycelium in a plastic bag
This operation is carried out using an inoculation loop, which can be made from an ordinary knitting needle or steel wire, bending its end 100 mm and grinding it down to nothing. To avoid the entry of foreign microorganisms, the inoculation loop is heated over an open fire before use. Then, if part of the fruiting body is used to obtain the culture, the mushroom is carefully broken into two halves and a piece of mushroom tissue is cut out from the upper part of the stem using an inoculation loop. To ensure sterility, it is dipped in hydrogen peroxide, and then a test tube with a nutrient medium is opened over a burner flame and a piece of mushroom tissue is placed on it. The loop is removed, the test tube is closed with a stopper previously burned over the fire. During this operation, you cannot place the cork on the table; it is held with the little finger of your right hand (Fig. 34).
Rice. 34. Sequence of operations when adding a piece of the fruiting body of a mushroom to a sterile nutrient medium
During the period of overgrowth, the test tubes are placed in a thermostat or a darkened room with an air temperature of 24 degrees. C. After a couple of weeks, the mycelium will completely master the nutrient medium, and it can be used for further reproduction. Stock cultures are stored at a temperature of 1-2 degrees. C, reseeding annually onto fresh nutrient medium. During long-term storage and frequent reseeding of mother cultures, microbiological control is carried out.
When growing champignons, compost and grain mycelium are used as seed material. To prepare compost mycelium, take ready-made champignon compost prepared using the technology described above and place it in three-liter jars. The jars are filled to 2/3 of the volume, the substrate is compacted, a hole with a diameter of 2.5-3 cm is made in the center of the compost. After this, the jar is rolled up with a metal lid having a hole with a diameter of 2.5-3 cm. The hole is plugged with a cotton-gauze stopper. Jars of compost are sterilized in autoclaves for 1.5-2 hours at a pressure of 2 atmospheres.
After the substrate has cooled to 24 degrees. In a special sterile room (box, inoculation room), a pure culture of a fungus grown on a nutrient medium or on grain is added to a jar.
25-35 g of grain mycelium or the contents of one test tube with a pure culture are added to each jar through a hole in the lid. If inoculation is carried out with a culture grown on an agar medium, then in order to separate the contents of the tube from its walls, the tube and the inoculation loop are held for some time over the burner flame. Then the test tube is opened over the flame, an inoculation loop is inserted into it, and the medium with the pure culture is peeled off the glass.
After this, quickly remove the stopper from the lid of the jar and use the inoculation loop to add the contents of the test tube into the jar. The hole in the lid of the jar is immediately closed (Fig. 35).
Rice. 35. Addition of pure culture to a sterile substrate when obtaining compost mycelium
We will dwell in more detail on the preparation of grain. To obtain grain mycelium, add 15 liters of water to 10 kg of grain and cook, depending on the hardness of the grain, for 0.5-1 hour over low heat. The finished grain should not be boiled, but soft. To produce champignon mycelium, you will have to cook the grain a little longer than to prepare mycelium.
oyster mushrooms Then the water is drained, and the grain is placed on a clean surface in a layer of 2-3 cm to dry. Sometimes, to speed up the process of surface drying of grain, the device shown in Fig. is used. 36,
consisting of a wooden box 1
with a regular room fan built into it. The top of the box is covered with fine mesh 3, onto which grain is poured 4.
120 g of gypsum and 30 g of chalk are added to the grain.
Rice. 36. Device for accelerated drying of grain
With this operation, the acidity of the substrate is regulated and its structure is improved. Then the grain is filled into liter milk bottles, one-, two-, three-liter jars or polypropylene bags. The containers are closed with cotton-gauze stoppers and placed in an autoclave.
Autoclaving is carried out for 1-1.5 hours at a pressure of 2 atmospheres.
After the substrate has cooled, the containers are transferred to the inoculation room, the bactericidal lamp is turned on and left for an hour. 15 minutes after turning off the bactericidal lamp, mycelium is added to containers with sterile grain in the same way as in the production of compost mycelium described above.
After inoculation, the containers are placed in thermostats with a temperature of 24 degrees. C, until the substrate is completely absorbed by the mycelium. High-quality grain mycelium can be used to sow new containers with grain; depending on the type of fungus, there may be 5-7 such reseedings, after which a fresh mother culture must be used again.
The finished grain mycelium (if glass containers were used in its production) is packaged in plastic bags and sold, and glass containers are used for further production of mycelium. Polypropylene bags are used once; when used, there is no need for packaging and the likelihood of foreign microorganisms getting into the grain is reduced.
Grain mycelium can be stored at a temperature of 0+2 degrees. From 3-4 months, and compost - about a year.
During cultivation, containers with developing mycelium should be periodically inspected. If green, brown or orange spots (fungal contaminants) or darkened mucous grains and liquid with a characteristic odor (bacterial contamination) are detected on the grain, such containers are immediately removed from the temperature-controlled room and sterilized in an autoclave specially designated for this purpose at a pressure of 2-2. 5 atmospheres for two hours.
The growth rate of the mycelium of different types of mushrooms is not the same. Thus, oyster mushroom mycelium is capable of mastering the volume of grain placed in a liter milk bottle in a week, while ring mushrooms and champignons will need three times as much time for this. These features must be taken into account when producing mycelium.
Mycelium production laboratory
To obtain high-quality seed mycelium, a special laboratory and qualified mycologists are required. In Fig. Figure 37 shows the approximate arrangement of rooms in such a laboratory.
Rice. 37. Approximate location of rooms in the mycelium production laboratory
It has: a pantry for storing grain, chalk, cans, bottles and other equipment; cooking room - equipped with cooking kettles or stoves, in which the process of cooking grain, drying it and packaging it in containers takes place; a washing room in which glass containers are washed; autoclave, with preferably pass-through autoclaves; a box (inoculation room) equipped with a bactericidal lamp and equipped with bactericidal filters (the Petryaninov filter has proven itself well), in which sterility must be maintained and where subcultures are carried out; incubation room, in which containers with growing mycelium are placed on shelves; refrigeration chamber - for storing mother cultures and mycelium ready for sale.
Amateur mushroom growers often have a question:
Is it possible to prepare mycelium at home? In principle, it is possible, although it is hardly worth focusing on this. The grain prepared using the technology described above is packaged in liter milk bottles, capped and topped with aluminum foil. Then the bottles are placed in a pan of water and boiled twice for two hours at intervals of a day. In this case, the substrate is sterilized, and the microbes present on the grain die.
When boiling, you need to make sure that the water does not wet the plugs (Fig. 38).
Rice. 38. Fractional sterilization at home
A stumbling block when growing mycelium at home can be the moment of introducing pure culture into containers with grain. The fact is that 1 m3 of air contains from 5 to 20 thousand microorganisms, so under normal conditions it is difficult to avoid infection. In order to ensure sterility at the time of inoculation, a microbiological microlaboratory is used, the general view of which is shown in Figure 39. A home microlaboratory is a hermetically sealed box with built-in glass on the top
cover, a germicidal lamp and a regular incandescent lamp attached to the side walls, and sleeves with elastic bands located on the front wall. Having such a microlaboratory and maintaining sterility in it, you can do subcultures in almost any room.
Rice. 39. Home microlab
EPILOGUE, OR BEFORE
Before you roll up your sleeves and get down to business, it's a good idea to spend a day or two thinking about it with a calculator in your hands. The newest and most progressive in mushroom growing is not necessarily the most profitable. A high yield with expensive technology does not necessarily mean the highest return on investment.
Before you start building a mushroom greenhouse, look around: maybe there is an abandoned bomb shelter or house nearby. Or maybe there is an old shed under which you can grow something unpretentious without special capital expenditures, say, summer honey fungus.
Before investing in production, take the time to grow at least one mushroom yourself. The experience will pay off handsomely!
Before you plan to profit from selling mushrooms, think about other sources of income related to mushroom farming. Thus, the price of one ton of average-quality champignon compost at the beginning 1994
year exceeded $50. Perhaps compost production itself will bring more profit than mushroom harvest. Spent compost or straw substrate is a much better additive to greenhouse soil than peat. Wood permeated with summer honey fungus mycelium is an excellent material for mechanical processing, for example
wood carvings.
Before you start canning mushrooms yourself, find out if there is a government cannery nearby. Most likely, it sits idle for many months a year.
Before you start making mushroom soup or powder, consider adding summer honey fungus to the mix. This mushroom is characterized by low production costs and has the property of stimulating appetite.
Before renting a space to grow mushrooms, think about your neighbors. If you have chosen the basement of a residential building, then an asthma patient living on the second floor may die suddenly. Residents are at risk of becoming allergic to the spores, especially oyster mushrooms. If there is no other choice, install air filters.
Before setting up a compost yard or mushroom garden, think about the environment. Smells of ammonia, formaldehyde, sulfur, leakage of slurry - all this must be provided for, otherwise complaints and fines will not occur.
Before hiring a person, ask if he (she) has any professional contraindications.
Before you start growing any one mushroom, become familiar with the methods for cultivating others described in this book. You are likely to come across a number of valuable technical ideas. Remember that mushroom growing is an art.
Growing mushrooms at home and in garden plots has not yet become widespread. What for? After all, every autumn the forests are filled with white mushrooms, honey mushrooms, chanterelles and boletus. But there are mushrooms that either do not grow in our forests at all, or do so with great reluctance. They can perfectly diversify the menu, and also make good money on them. For example, planting oyster mushrooms at your own dacha is more than possible! This is an ideal mushroom for cultivating at home. Tasty, inexpensive (in terms of labor costs and cost of the technological process). You can grow oyster mushrooms in different ways, but there is an option chosen by the time and experience of many amateur mushroom growers.
For the first phase of growing mushrooms, which is their propagation using mycelium (mycelium), you can get by with any above-ground room - a shed, for example.
It is better for the mushrooms to “live” the second, main phase in a cellar or basement, that is, underground in the cool.
Growing oyster mushrooms - photo
Both premises for a mushroom plantation must be carefully prepared and equipped with ventilation, electricity and water supply. You will definitely need thermometers from your inventory to control the degree of heating and cooling of the air in the room. The equipment you will need is a water heater.
By the way! Temperature regulation in a room with growing oyster mushrooms is best controlled by regular ventilation. To do this, you will have to provide for the possibility of wide opening of windows or doors.
There are several mandatory procedures that should be carried out in a building or underground room where mushrooms will grow.
What do mushrooms grow on?
Oyster mushrooms differ from their forest counterparts in that they do not grow in soil. They need a substrate to grow successfully. You can create a suitable mixture from numerous components:
- dried straw of field cereals;
- Sunflower seed shells are suitable;
- it is very good to use sawdust from trees, but not from coniferous trees, but from deciduous trees;
- Corn stalks and reeds are suitable.
All this will become an ideal “soil” for planting oyster mushrooms. The components can be used separately, or they can also be mixed in arbitrary combinations and proportions. The ingredients must be dry. Before use, they need to be crushed (the optimal fraction size is in the range of 0.5-3 cm). The resulting mixture should have a pleasant smell and be free of mold, fungal debris and foreign objects.
Prepare the substrate on the surface of the earth; this is not necessary in the cellar. To ensure proper preparation and compliance with all regulations, certain procedures must be followed.
Stage one: mycelium – mass building
The preparation is complete. Mycelium purchased. You can proceed to the first stage, the task of which is to increase its mass.
Advice! How to check the quality of the mycelium of the oyster mushroom progenitor? It must have certain characteristics. Snow-white color, with a small proportion of substrate inclusions having a darkish tint. The second parameter is smell. Despite the fact that this mushroom does not grow in the forest, the mycelium should smell like forest mushrooms.
Advice! There should be more holes at the bottom: this is necessary to drain the liquid that is constantly forming in the bag.
Immediately after the procedure, a clear separation of the layers into dark and light (substrate and mycelium) will be visible through the film of the bag.
The temperature required to increase the mass of the mycelium should be kept at +18...26°C. The germination of mycelium spores will begin in three days, and ten days later you can observe a miracle. The entire mass will turn into mycelium and become completely white. After this, the bag is untied and reproduction continues to the required quantity.
One full standard bag gives “life” to 8-10 other bags with a layer (substrate + mycelium). When, finally, the required amount of mycelium for your purposes is formed, then 2 packets from every ten are left for subsequent mass gain, and 8 are transferred to obtain the long-awaited oyster mushroom harvest.
Fruiting process
The whitened substrate must be kept in its “native” bag for another 5-6 days after ripening, if this bag is sent for fruiting. During this period, it will finally mature, become “monolithic”, and become as dense as possible.
To activate the beginning of crop formation, bags with completely processed mycelium on the substrate are kept for another three days at +3...5°C. To allow the mushroom fruiting body to grow, it will need space to grow. To create it, holes of 3-5 cm in diameter are cut out in polyethylene (one per square meter). The packages are moved to an underground room at temperature conditions of +10...16°C. Here they are installed at a distance of at least 30-40 cm from each other, always vertically. To make it more convenient to water the mushroom “plantation,” the bags are arranged in ribbons in three rows with a gap of 70 cm between them.
Advice! If you are the happy owner of a high basement, then you can also place bags of future mushrooms on additional shelves located along the walls. Such placement will increase the usable area, and therefore the mushroom yield.
Caring for future mushrooms
Once a day, the bags should be slightly moistened, and the room itself should be thoroughly ventilated, since during the fruiting process of oyster mushrooms a large amount of carbon dioxide is formed. As for the lighting in the dungeon, during the first week it will not be needed at all, and then it would be nice to illuminate the room. Mushrooms will grow in any case - both with and without light - but lighting can significantly increase the yield.
If all conditions are met, the first fruiting will begin in 10 days. When the mushroom heads begin to lighten (after the whitish, dark and grayish-brown stage), you can harvest. After some time (about three weeks), a second fruiting will begin with much lower productivity. Two series of fruiting, taking into account a well-chosen base and high-quality mycelium, yield up to 45 kg of oyster mushrooms with 100 kg of substrate used. When the harvest of mushrooms from the second wave is completed, the bags are taken out of the basement, and, after sanitizing the underground room, a new batch is placed in it. This conveyor method allows for 6 double fruiting cycles per year.
Table. Growing conditions by cycle
| Cycle number | Description of the cycle | Cycle duration in days | Temperature in °C | Humidity in % | Illumination in lux/m² |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Germination of mycelial bodies into the substrate | 10-14 | 20-24 | 90 | not required |
| 2 | Ripening and fruiting | 4-5 | 22-28 | 95 | not required |
| 3 | Extension of the fruiting body (1 wave) | 7-10 | 15-19 | 85 | 100 |
| 4 | Extension of the fruiting body (wave 2) | 7-10 | 13-17 | 85 | 100 |
| 5 | Harvesting, substrate unloading, chamber disinfection | 2 | doesn't matter | doesn't matter | not required |
Value and use
Oyster mushroom is highly valued due to its beneficial nutritional properties. In taste, it is not inferior to other cultivated mushrooms and even surpasses them, and in terms of the value of its composition, it has no competitors among them. Not hard, but dense texture, light bread flavor and subtle anise notes on the palate. For cooking - a godsend, since oyster mushroom is a universal mushroom. It can be boiled, fried, canned (pickled and salted), stewed, dried. The only product that the popular mushroom cannot be combined with is fish. Otherwise, in salads, hot dishes, soups, or as a stand-alone culinary masterpiece, oyster mushrooms are wonderful.
Fresh oyster mushroom - photo
Important! A prerequisite when preparing any mushroom dishes is its heat treatment. In its raw form, it contains chitin, which is not digestible and is rejected by the human body.
Growing mushrooms, if you have the right premises and some free time, can become not only a useful and nutritious hobby, but also a way to make good money by supplying healthy and tasty oyster mushrooms to the retail chain.
Video - Room for forcing Oyster mushrooms
Video - Harvesting Oyster mushrooms
Mycelium is a mycelium that is planted in special soil. If the necessary conditions are met, the mycelium will grow, turning into edible mushrooms. This happens quite quickly, in about 6-8 weeks. At home, oyster mushroom mycelium can be prepared using cereal grains or wood. The first option, a cereal substrate, enjoys great success among mushroom growers.
Mycelium cultivation technology
Important! The closed flask is very carefully transferred to a warm, dark place (24 degrees plus). After 2-3 weeks, the material will be ready for planting in a special environment. The medium is also easy to prepare at home. This gelatinous substance, agar, is obtained from oats, carrots, and potatoes. This agar is sterilized and poured into a test tube, and when it cools down, a piece of mushroom is thrown into it.
We must remember! The entire process must take place in exceptional sterility.
Cultivation of intermediate mycelium
Next comes the cultivation of the mycelium itself. High-quality cereal grains are boiled in water for about 15 minutes, dried and mixed with calcium carbonate and gypsum. After this, the mixture is poured into glass containers up to 2/3 of the volume and sterilized. Once it cools down, add a piece of royal mycelium. In two weeks at temperatures from 0 to +20 it will grow to the desired size.
The finished mycelium can be stored for up to three months. It is recommended to store the intermediate material in sealed bags.
Growing seed mycelium
Seed material is diluted in the same way as intermediate seed, only in larger volumes. Again, prepare containers, for example, plastic bags with substrate, and add a little intermediate product to each. The proportion for a liter vessel is one tablespoon. Ready mycelium can also be planted on stumps or dead wood.
Growing champignon mushrooms at home
The yield of oyster mushrooms greatly depends on how to propagate the oyster mushroom mycelium and the quality of the substrate. It is recommended to steam the soil material well in boiling water for at least two hours and squeeze it thoroughly. Permissible substrate humidity is 70%. High humidity is unacceptable.
To organize the production of mushrooms, a greenhouse, a barn, a garage and even a balcony will be suitable. You just need to create optimal conditions for the successful development of mycelium. This is a constant humidity within 85-90%, a temperature of about 15-20 degrees, good ventilation and lighting 9 hours a day.
Mushroom cultivation methods
Oyster mushrooms are the most successful mushrooms to grow, providing a quick harvest. From sowing to cutting the first mushrooms is only a month and a half. From one square meter of mycelium per month you can get up to ten kilograms of products.
The seed material for growing oyster mushrooms is mycelium. Not only the appearance of the mushroom and its size, but also the volume of the harvest depends on its quality. Mycelium can be purchased at specialized retail outlets. But if you wish, you can prepare it yourself. To do this, you need to know how to grow oyster mushroom mycelium at home.
Oyster mushroom mycelium, which is offered commercially, is intended for growing mushrooms on an industrial scale. It is grown using special technology, taking into account further processing with organic and chemical preparations. Therefore, it is almost impossible for a household consumer to control its quality.
To grow a small batch of mushrooms, it is better to use homemade mycelium. The main advantage of this method is constant monitoring of the quality of the seed.
To make oyster mushroom mycelium, you will need a separate room and sterile containers. It is important to fully comply with the technology. If cultivation complies with all recommended rules, mycelium can be grown in 16-28 days. The period depends on the conditions and variety.
It is important to create the necessary microclimate in the room. To do this, the temperature is maintained around the clock at +24 degrees, the humidity should be high 80-90 percent. During the germination of mycelium, you cannot ventilate the room or turn on the light.
To prepare mushroom mycelium at home, you must first prepare:
- Room
- Equipment
- Dishes
- wheat grain
- Hydrogen peroxide
- Healthy fresh mushroom or mycelium sticks
In industrial conditions, mycelium is grown in the laboratory. Therefore, when preparing a room at home, it is necessary to create approximate conditions in it. To do this, all surfaces are thoroughly washed and treated with disinfectants. The room must have water, light and ventilation. It is also necessary to consider a method for heating the room. For this, gas or electric heating is used.
Equipment you will need is a thermometer, tweezers, and a vertical rack for test tubes.
If possible, laboratory test tubes made of glass are used as glassware. But you can also use glass jars with airtight lids.
Agar or wheat grain is necessary to create a nutrient medium. Mycelium develops in it.
Peroxide is used to treat the mushroom fragment. It helps destroy the larvae of harmful insects and diseases.
To maintain sterility, the room is pre-treated with a chlorine solution at a concentration of 1% or the walls are whitened with lime. You also need a torch, alcohol and sterile medical gloves. The entire procedure is carried out indoors.
Growing royal mycelium on agar
All tools and work surfaces are pre-treated with a disinfectant. The test tubes are heated on fire. Next, they are filled with nutrient medium. It is prepared from:
- Potato glucose agar
- Wort agar
- Oat agar
- Carrot agar
To prepare a nutrient medium, you need to dissolve agar in water at room temperature, add a decoction of grains, vegetable juice or glucose to it. The mixture is brought to a boil over low heat and kept on the fire until completely thickened. During cooking, the agar is constantly stirred. Burning in this case is unacceptable.
Next, the resulting broth is cooled to room temperature and poured into prepared test tubes. They are tilted so that the nutrient mixture takes up a large area. The tubes are left in this position until the agar completely hardens. The mixture should become jelly-like.
Then a fragment of the fungus is placed into each test tube with tweezers. It is separated from the inside of the cap. Each piece is carefully wiped with a swab dipped in hydrogen peroxide, or completely dipped into it. This is necessary for disinfection.
After this, the test tube is tightly sealed. The cork is pre-sterilized over an alcohol burner.
The finished closed test tubes are placed in a warm, dark place. If the technology has been fully followed, mycelium will appear in the test tube within 14 days. It can be used for sowing into substrate.
This method of growing oyster mushroom mycelium at home requires effort, as it is necessary to carefully process all surfaces and working tools.
Growing royal mycelium on grain
This method is considered one of the most common ways to grow mushroom mycelium at home.
For this purpose, seeds of corn, oats, and millet are used. The most productive option is to grow spores on rye grains.
Before sowing, the grain must be prepared. The preparation process consists of three stages:
- First. The grain is boiled in clean water. To do this, the prepared container is filled with 30 liters of water. 30 kg of grains are poured into it. After boiling, stand on low heat for half an hour. Then the remaining water is drained. The boiled grains are dried and mixed with gypsum 350 g and chalk 95 g. These impurities are necessary to improve ventilation. They also prevent the grains from sticking together and make them crumbly.
- Second. Boiled grains are poured into 2 or 3 liter glass jars. Containers are filled 4/5. The neck is covered with a gauze napkin. The jars are then placed in a saucepan or medical autoclaves. Boil jars of grain twice for 2 hours. The interval between sterilization is one day. It is important to prevent water from getting into the jar when cooking.
- At the third stage, the sterilized containers are transferred to a disinfected room. The grain is infused for 13-15 hours.
After such preparation, the grain is sown with oyster mushroom spores. To do this, place pieces of the fruiting body of the mushroom in a container.
It is better to select fragments for sowing from the top part, closer to the cap. Mushroom pieces must be disinfected with hydrogen peroxide.
Then the jars are placed in a warm, shaded place. They should not be exposed to drafts or direct sunlight.
If the technology is followed, after a couple of weeks a fluffy white coating will appear in the grain containers. This is oyster mushroom mycelium, which is used to grow mushrooms in the substrate.
When growing oyster mushroom mycelium on grain, it is important to use high-quality seed material. For propagation, a fresh, ripe mushroom with a large cap is selected. It is also important to choose clean grain without chemical treatment.
Growing royal mycelium on cardboard
The easiest and cleanest way to prepare mushroom mycelium yourself is to grow oyster mushroom mycelium on cardboard.
Advantages of this method:
- Pathogenic microorganisms do not develop well on cardboard
- It quickly colonizes fungal spores
- On corrugated cardboard, the necessary air is better supplied to the mycelium
- Paper retains moisture well
- Cardboard does not require long-term sterilization
- Cardboard sheets are available for any consumer
- You can grow a large amount of mycelium on cardboard at little cost.
- It is important to choose cardboard carefully. There should be no seals, inscriptions, stickers, glue or paint on it. Such places are cut out.
Sequence of growing oyster mushroom mycelium on cardboard:
- Sheets of cardboard are crushed and filled with hot boiled water. Stand for an hour.
- Plastic containers are prepared. Drainage holes are made in the bottom. Then the container is scalded from the inside and outside with boiling water.
- Seed material is being prepared. These can be special strips with mycelium, fragments of the above-ground part of the mushroom, or pieces of root. The trunk and cap of the oyster mushroom are separated into fibers using a sterile knife or blade.
- The soaked cardboard is wrung out and mixed with seed material.
- Next, everything is placed in prepared containers. The cardboard is slightly compacted. They are covered with a bag or cling film on top.
- Containers are placed in a dark, warm place.
- Every day it is necessary to remove the plastic covering for a few seconds. It is also important to monitor the moisture content of the cardboard.
- If necessary, moisten with clean water using a spray bottle.
- Provided the sequence and conditions for growing the mycelium are observed, within 1-2 months, the cardboard will be covered with a white, fluffy coating. This mycelium can be used to cultivate oyster mushrooms at home.
The resulting mycelium can also be used to start a new batch. To do this, fragments of cardboard, densely covered with spores, are placed in clean, soaked paper. The quality of seed material does not decrease during such cultivation.
How to prepare a substrate for growing oyster mushrooms at home
Under natural conditions, this mushroom grows on stumps and tree trunks. With artificial cultivation, oyster mushrooms can be grown on wood and in special soil.
The yield level is affected by the nutritional composition of the substrate. It should have enough proteins and fats. Therefore, the most productive is considered to be a mixture containing cereal straw harvested in regions with a clean environment.
The main components of the substrate are often:
- Cereal straw
- Sunflower grain husk
- Fruit wood sawdust
High-quality sunflower husks are usually harvested at the beginning of the processing season. Such material should contain no more than 3% fat and no more than 5% dust. Its humidity is not higher than 16%.
Sawdust must also be of high quality. The admixture of coniferous wood shavings is strictly prohibited. If sawdust contains cotton floss, this improves the quality of the material. But this impurity is very rare and significantly increases the cost of sawdust.
Nutrient and mineral additives are also added to the substrate for growing oyster mushrooms. They are necessary to optimize nitrogen content and maintain acidity levels. Most often, the following are added for this purpose: hay, malt sprouts, soy flour, wheat bran, gypsum, alabaster, slaked lime.
To improve the structure and maintain the necessary humidity, purified drinking water is added. It is strictly prohibited to use water from open wells and natural sources.
The substrate preparation technology involves several stages. They are performed in the following sequence:
Initially, all components are thoroughly ground. It is especially important to thoroughly crush the substrate, which is made from straw. The smaller the fraction of components, the easier it is for the mycelium to fill the entire area of the prepared block in the future.
Then additional components and necessary chemical components are introduced into the crushed base. Everything is thoroughly mixed and brought to homogeneity.
Next, the substrate is moistened. To do this, it is soaked for several hours in special containers. Pure water is used for humidification. The mixture is kept in such conditions until it is completely saturated with moisture.
Also, by soaking, the soil is cleared of large particles that reduce productivity. Afterwards the soil is wrung out.
Its humidity must be at least 70%. With a lower value, it will be impossible to grow mushrooms.
Using a specially prepared substrate will significantly reduce the cost of growing oyster mushrooms at home and will help you get a high yield the first time.
While watching the video you will learn about growing oyster mushrooms.
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