Growing Porcini Mushrooms At Home

2024 Author: Gavin MacAdam | [email protected]. Last modified: 2023-12-16 13:38

It is not necessary to go to the forest for whites, they can be grown on your site. Consider two methods of reproduction: from caps and mycelium. Details on how to independently obtain planting material, planting, care and advice for beginners

Growing from mycelium

This method is used in the absence of natural mushrooms. Having the Internet, finding mycelium is not difficult. You will also need compost and growing 8-10 year old trees. Planting events are best planned between May and September.

Near the selected tree (coniferous or deciduous), remove the top layer in a circle (10-20 cm). The diameter of the bare area should be 1-1.5 meters, the tree is in the middle. Put compost (1-2 cm) into the formed circle and put mycelium on it. It is advisable to observe the "checkerboard pattern" with an interval of 25-30 cm. Now we cover the planting with a layer of soil, which we dug up and watered abundantly. Use a watering can so as not to wash out the soil. For one tree, 3-4 buckets of water will be enough.

The next step is a shelter that will keep moisture in the ground. You can use straw, old fallen leaves, or grass cuttings. The layer is made thick enough (20-30 cm). Care consists of regular watering and maintaining moisture, at the level of the planted mycelium, not lower than 50%. To improve germination, it is recommended to periodically use Baikal EM-1 for irrigation or any microbiological additives to improve fertility.

At the end of autumn, insulation will be required. The area with mycelium is covered with moss, straw, spruce branches. The radius should be larger than the landing area (2 m). In the spring, the "veil" is removed. The first mushrooms appear a year after the mycelium has been planted. In one place, fruiting lasts 3-4 years. This period can be extended to 7 years if you occasionally water the ground with a solution of mycelium. How to get it, read on.

Growing from fresh hats

A good seed will come from mature mushrooms. Therefore, go to the forest and look for white hats with large and open hats in diameter (10-20 cm). At the break, the tubular flesh should have a slightly greenish tint. In your case, insect larvae and wormy mushrooms are also suitable. On the site, as in the first method, you will plant near a deciduous or coniferous tree.

Seed preparation

Take 5-10 mushrooms intended for sowing, place in a bucket and cover with water. After a day, they will become soaked, and you will just need to knead the mushrooms with your hands in the same bucket with your hands until smooth. After filtering through a sieve, you will get a solution with spores and separated mushroom tissue.

Sowing

A place near the selected tree is prepared in the same way as in the previous case. Planting will be carried out by watering. Only not over the entire prepared area, but directly on the open roots of the tree. The solution with spores should be enough for 1 sq. meter turned out to be 2 liters.

After such a "sowing", spread the mushroom tissue, which remained after filtering, on the roots and adjacent ground. Now it remains to cover the planting with soil, which was removed, and water. The earth needs to be well saturated with moisture, so at least 5 buckets of water will go to one tree. When watering, do not wash out the top layer, so use a watering can with a fine spray. Now cover with plant material to retain moisture. Care is the same as when planting mycelium with regular watering. For the winter, a shelter is created only in the first year after planting.

In a year, if the mycelium is born, you will harvest the first crop. The area of one tree will give up to 5 kg of white ones. The interval from planting to harvest is exactly one year, so keep in mind that if the caps are planted in the fall, then the harvest must be expected only in the fall of next year. One mycelium will bear fruit for 3-4 years. To prolong growth, it will be necessary to plant in 2-3 years.

Tips for beginner mushroom growers

Planting activities in the southern regions are best carried out in May-early June, in the middle zone of the temperate climate, in August-early September. When collecting "planting" mushrooms, try to find them under the same trees near which you plan to plant. If you have a spruce or birch on your site, then you are looking in the forest under such species.

Soaking the caps should occur no later than 10 hours after cutting the mushroom. You can add a little alcohol (10 l - 3 tbsp / l) or granulated sugar (10 l: 50 g) to the water with caps. The mycelium takes root better if the soil is spilled with a tanning solution before planting: brew 80-100 g of black tea in a liter of boiling water. You can prepare a decoction of oak bark: for 3 liters - 100 g. 2-3 liters of tanning water are consumed per tree.

It is not recommended to lay the mycelium at the end of September, since the probability of mycelium taking root is too low. Depending on your region, you need to calculate the interval from sowing to frost 1, 5 months. In hot weather, watering is required weekly, 3-4 buckets per area with mushrooms.